Caught in a smoking Limbo

Tony Ngare

Gone are the days when the City Council of Nairobi battled to make the life of Nairobians more bearable. Emboldened by the powers that be, the City Fathers have continued to exercise draconian powers over the hapless and ignorant Kenyans. The confusion surrounding the smoking ban is a case in point.

How else would you explain the different interpretations regarding the legality of the ban? Granted, the English language is foreign and we liberally misinterpret it — often inadvertently!

debate

The smokers’ debate is threatening to rival the Kriegler and the Waki Reports. For some time now, non-smokers have enjoyed a sense of environmental freshness when smokers were quarantined in particular areas.

Now apparently, we may have jumped ship according to the ministry of Local Government. The Ministry has gone ahead and beseeched smokers to puff away anywhere, anyhow, however they like as if there is no tomorrow.

The Public Health ministry on the other hand maintain that such smokers do so at their own peril. While this is a welcome directive to those of us who are ‘second hand’ smokers, we are afraid that the implementation of such a directive primarily lies with the local authorities.

So how do the holloi polloi behave? To whom do we turn to? At such times, I envy the university students who have many options when it comes to expressing their disgusts.

compromise

Has the Government been compromised by the Tobacco companies as it has been alleged from various quarters owing to reduced taxation? If indeed if that is the case do we expect the Government to own up and say, "Folks we bottled up, we need the money from tobacco firms to build health centres so that when you contract smoke related illness you have medical care."

So what happens next when condom manufacturers start grumbling about reduced sales? Shall we have the authorities changing tune and start advocating for their use in the streets and in broad daylight?

freedom

In an era where most western governments have continued to tighten the noose on public smoking, we on the other hand are arguing about semantics on what is public and what is not. If I can’t take a shower in a specified place then that place is damn public!

We cannot flip flop over health issues. If one is a smoker, it’s by his or her choice. Walking in the streets of Nairobi or any other town I’m not too concerned about the odours of people who have to walk several kilometres to get transport to work. After all those odours are unlikely to have far reaching consequences on my health!

|   |    |   Add Comment |    Comments (0)