Kenya: BAT's loss on tobacco regulations a win for health ministry

High Court judge, Mumbi Ngugi has adopted the proposed regulations on the control of the manufacture, sale and advertisement of tobacco products.

On her ruling, Ms. Ngugi directed that the regulations become effective in six months time.

This ruling is considered a major win for the Ministry of Health that was at the forefront of developing the regulations.

The tobacco company had moved to challenge the regulations in the high court, citing that they were in bad faith and only sought to interfere with their tobacco business.

The adoption of the new regulations will govern the size of health warnings on cigarette packages as well as its advertising.

Last year, Ms. Ngugi issued a temporary suspension on the implementation of tobacco control regulations in Kenya, citing a violation of the constitution by the state department. In the court case, British American Tobacco (BAT) had issued objections to the laws by faulting the rules on the basis that they would interfere with their firms’ profits and further claimed the regulations on exact picture models were still unclear to them. On its part, the government argued that the firms were incorrect to refer to a ruling’s effects long before it becomes law.

Among the regulations that were to be implemented include warning labels and information on the packet and brightly coloured pictures and pictograms with contrasting labels for the background to make it more visible noticeable to the users.

In a bid to ensure steadfast enforcement of the regulations, the granted powers of arrest to a wide array of institutional officers including medical health officers , the regular and administration police officers, prison officers, local authorities inspectorate officers and the Kenya forest rangers.

By KOMEN PHILEMON