This archive report was first published on 5 August 2019.
On August 5, 2019, a Nairobi resident, Ibrahim Mohamud Ibrahim, filed a lawsuit against the Kenyan Health Ministry, its Cabinet Secretary, and the Attorney-General, seeking a total ban on tobacco products in the country.
The lawsuit, which lists British American Tobacco as an interested party, challenges the provisions of the Tobacco Act that allow the production, licensing, sale, and use of tobacco products in various forms.
Mr. Ibrahim argues that the government has created an enabling environment that leaves everyone exposed to smoking dangers, putting farmers, manufacturers, traders, and consumers at risk.
He points out that in the US, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths every year, and that similar health risks are associated with smoking in Kenya, including stroke, heart diseases, tuberculosis, and cardiovascular disease, besides cancer.
Mr. Ibrahim also argues that the government's ban on shisha in December 2017 did not prohibit all tobacco products, and that the economic interest of tobacco products on revenue for the government should not override the health of the public.
