• Tobacco industry interference is believed to deter and thwart government efforts to protect public health through both overt and covert means.
• Report cites state's move to list tobacco products as part of the essential products as a consequence of industry donation of Sh10.6m into the Covid-19 Emergency Fund.
Kenya’s efforts to address interference in tobacco control has dropped seven points from last year’s score.
According to the Kenya Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2020 Report released on Friday, Kenya has scored 40 points out of the possible 100 compared to 33 points scored in 2019.
The higher the score, the worse the country is performing in implementing the guidelines for implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The report was released by the Consumer Information Network, with the global industry report expected to be released in November.
The global index is a review of how governments are responding to influences from the tobacco industry and protecting their public health policies from commercial interests as required by WHO.
The report shows that whereas Kenya has performed well in enacting laws and regulations - such as the Tobacco Control Act 2007, the Tobacco Control Regulations 2014 and the Shisha Ban 2018 - protecting tobacco control from industry interference remains a mirage.
“Public officers and authorities in a number of government departments seem not to be aware of or have total disregard of the provisions of the law that regulate interaction with the tobacco industry,” the report states.
The report notes that the Covid-19 pandemic has been used as an excuse to suspend critical provisions of the law that regulate the interaction of the tobacco industry.
“If allowed to continue, the unhealthy relationship traps the government to the charities of the industry during the pandemic, which could become the new norm thereby eroding all the gains made in tobacco control in Kenya,” it states.
The report lists the donation of Sh10.6 million into the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund by the industry and the move by the government to list tobacco products as part of the essential products as examples of the consequences of the government accepting donations from the industry.
The law forbids such donations and benefits to the tobacco industry.
When releasing the report, Consumer Information Network CEO Samuel Ochieng said the report will be presented to the Health ministry with recommendations for their consideration.
“The index will be updated annually to show scores on how well Kenya controls the industry’s level of participation in policy development, ensures transparency, conflicts of interest and measures that prevent industry influence,” Ochieng said.
The 2020 report notes that just like in the 2019 report, senior public officials continued presiding over tobacco industry-related activities while tobacco companies are still awarded prestigious awards even by government agencies.
In 2019 for instance, a tobacco company in the country was awarded the Solid Rock Commendation (lifetime achievement) for Exporter of the Year Award through a project of Kenya Export Promotion Council, which is a state agency.
The event was graced by senior government officials, including a number of Cabinet secretaries and other government officials.
The report also notes that some high-ranking tobacco industry officials continued to serve concurrently in strategic government agencies' boards.
The industry has also continued cascading their interference antiques to the county governments as they approach various national agencies.
Ministry's Division of Tobacco Control programme officer Anne Kendagor said the ministry is operationalising the Tobacco Control Fund.
The process is 50 per cent complete. We have very good laws as a country so we really need to protect them,” Kendagor said.
Smoking remains a major public health issue in Kenya.
Kenya has the highest recorded smoking prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa.
While overall smoking prevalence had fallen slightly to 11 per cent, the total number of smokers in the country continues to rise.
Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of death globally, accounting directly for more than eight million deaths annually and approximately four per cent of total diseases worldwide - just behind childhood underweight, unsafe sex and blood pressure.
“We can’t attain UHC unless we work hard to ensure the tobacco industry does not have a field day in the country,” Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance chairperson Joel Gitali said.
It is expected that by 2030, tobacco use will produce the highest-burden of premature mortality and disability in the world compared to other health risk factors, with low and medium-income countries being more affected by this burden.
In Kenya, every year, more than 8,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases, while more than 220,000 children and more than 2.7 million adults continue to use tobacco each day.
Additionally, 79 men and 37 women are killed each week as a result of tobacco use. The industry continues to be the biggest threat to tobacco control efforts in Kenya and globally.
Tobacco industry interference is believed to deter and thwart government efforts to protect public health through both overt and covert means.
Edited by R.Wamochie