The International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA) has urged Parliament to fast-track the Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill, 2024, warning that delays could leave children and young people vulnerable to emerging nicotine products.
IILA Programmes Manager Ken Marau said Kenya had made significant progress in tobacco control, with prevalence declining from 11.6 per cent in 2014 to 8.5 per cent in 2022.
However, he warned that the growing use of emerging nicotine products, particularly among young people, remained a concern.
Marau called on legislators to prioritise the passage of the amendment Bill, saying it would help address existing regulatory gaps, particularly concerning synthetic nicotine.
“I would request legislators to prioritise public health. The Bill currently before Parliament presents an opportunity for Kenya to prioritise public health by regulating new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products,” he said.
Similar calls were echoed during a stakeholders forum for the dissemination of the Tobacco Control Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategy in Nairobi.
Rachel Kitonyo Devotsu of the McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer said the proposed amendments would address gaps in the Tobacco Control Act, 2007, particularly in the regulation of electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches.
She said the products were increasingly being marketed to children, adolescents and university students despite their addictive nature.
“We have a tobacco control amendment bill that seeks to be able to regulate e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches among other things. And while the regulation of these products is critical, it’s because currently the tobacco industry is marketing them to young children and adolescents and youth up to university level,” she said.
Devotsu warned that the Bill, which has been under consideration since 2021, risked lapsing if it was not passed before the next elections, forcing the country to restart the legislative process.
“If this bill is not passed before we go to the elections, then this bill is going to lapse. And if it lapses, then it means that after the next elections, we start the process all over again,” she said.
She urged the National Assembly’s Parliamentary Committee on Health to fast-track the remaining stages of the Bill, noting that public participation had already been completed.
“The committee has already done the public participation. We need it to come up for committee stage, to come up for third reading and for presidential assent before we go to the next elections,” she said.
Ban flavours
Devotsu said the Bill seeks to expand the definition of tobacco products to include nicotine products, including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches, which are not adequately covered by the existing law.
“By amending the definition of a tobacco product to include definition that has nicotine products, then we’ll be able to regulate e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches,” she said.
She added that the proposed law would also ban flavours used to attract new users, particularly children and young people.
“Flavors are a marketing tactic of the tobacco industry because flavors mask the harsh flavor of tobacco,” she said.
The Bill also seeks to prohibit online advertising, sales and delivery of tobacco and nicotine products, which Devotsu said had made it easier for minors to access them.
She warned that children could order the products online without proper age verification, pay through M-Pesa and have a motorcycle rider deliver them directly.
“And then they make the payment by M-Pesa and an nduthi delivers the product to the child,” she said.
The proposed amendments also seek to expand the use of the Tobacco Control Fund to support enforcement activities and county-level programmes.
Devotsu said county governments had been given enforcement responsibilities without corresponding financial resources.
“We have got counties. We have devolved the enforcement function to them, but we have not devolved the money,” she said.
She called for funding to support county enforcement officers and healthcare workers providing cessation services, as well as greater accountability in the management of the fund.
Health and development economist Dr Peter Magati of the Cooperative University said some of the gaps in tobacco control could be addressed through administrative changes without waiting for new legislation.
He said the report proposed two approaches: administrative action within government and legislative amendments.
“The whole point is we have activation, actualization of the fund, the management of the fund and administration within the what we call the National Coordinating Mechanism does not have to wait for a legislative agenda. Rather goodwill within government to actualise that,” he said.
Magati proposed involving the Ministry of Health’s Health Financing Unit in managing the fund and strengthening collaboration between the national government, counties and civil society organisations.
He also identified the National Cybercrimes Coordination Committee as one of the institutions that could help address online marketing of emerging nicotine products.
Meanwhile, NACADA Tobacco Control Focal Point Person Adrian Njenga said the agency, together with the Ministry of Health, Development Gateway and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, was conducting a national survey on alcohol and tobacco use.
He said the 2026 survey would provide data for all 47 counties, unlike the 2022 study, which provided regional findings.
Njenga said the previous survey found approximately 2.3 million Kenyans aged between 15 and 65 were actively using tobacco and nicotine products.
He also expressed concern over the early age of tobacco initiation, saying the 2022 survey established that some children started using tobacco products at the age of six.
“In 2022, the survey also revealed that the tobacco initiation age was six years. And that was very worrying, meaning that a child of six years was already being introduced to tobacco products,” he said.
Njenga urged parents to monitor their children’s activities during school holidays, including their use of mobile phones and online platforms, to prevent exposure to tobacco, alcohol and other substances.
The IILA assessment identifies inadequate county funding, tobacco industry interference, gaps in regulating synthetic nicotine, weak digital enforcement and economic challenges facing tobacco-growing communities as major obstacles to effective tobacco control.
The report estimates that Kenya collects approximately KSh15 billion annually in tobacco taxes, compared with an estimated KSh51 billion in direct healthcare costs associated with tobacco-related diseases.
It further places the total annual economic losses, including lost productivity, at between KSh70 billion and KSh98 billion.
