NAIROBI, KENYA,NOV 21- The global tobacco index 2023 has ranked Kenya as number 21 out of 90, with a score of 48, spotlighting that interactions between the government and the tobacco industry has greatly catalyzed the deteriorating scores of Kenya in the index.
Over the past 4 years, Kenya has signaled a drastic downfall in it’s scores and rankings under the global index tobacco report and the Africa Tobacco Industry interference index.
According to the global Tobacco index report released on November 14, Kenya has been going down the slope. In 2019, Kenya was ranked number at number 4, in 2020 it was ranked at number 10, in 2021 it was ranked at number 9 and now in 2023, it has been ranked at number 23.
The Africa Tobacco interference index, which was released last month spotlighted that, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania showcased massive deterioration in 2023 scores as compared to their 2021, Kenya being the lowest.
According to the two reports, government officials interaction with the tobacco industry, has been one of the key factor that has amplifyed the country to lag behind in responding to the tobacco industry interference.
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The reports noted that some of the government top officials including heads of state, have been supporting the tobacco industry as well as promoting tobacco trade. Stressing on the issue, they have alerted that this has made de-normalizing the industry and its harmful products even more challenging.
“In February 2022, the then-President of Kenya promoted tobacco at a trade expo in Dubai as one of the commodities the UAE could import from Kenya at competitive prices. In November 2022, the new President, during his visit to Korea promoted tobacco and tobacco products among products that Korea could import from Kenya,” noted in the Global tobacco index 2022.
During the 18th Kenya association of manufactures energy management awards in 2022, BAT Kenya, was awarded one of the top prize, a ceremony which saw some of the government’s top officials attend including officials from the ministry of energy.
The global index has however cautioned that these awards will just elevate the tobacco companies’ image and cement their dominance.
According to the African index, Kenya has been lacking transparency, especially in disclosing meeting and minutes between government officials and the tobacco industry. Despite there being existing procedure, Information from these interactions are mostly known through media with no details on compliance to the requirements of TCR 2014.
Tobacco stakeholders have also confessed to partner with the government on various occasions.
“As a key stakeholder in the tobacco industry, we fully support local governments, regulators and government agencies including Kenya’s Inter-Agency Anti-Illicit Working Group and the Anti-Counterfeit Agency, regional bodies including the EAC and COMESA as well as international organizations such as the World Trade. Organizations and world health organization, in seeking to eliminate all forms of illicit tobacco trade,” British American, tobacco Kenya
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