Parliament warned on Tobacco Control Bill

Kampala. Parliament is expected this week to debate and pass the Tobacco Control Bill 2014 , but Uganda Law Society has warned that the proposed law, in its current form, infringes on the rights of people.
In its submission to the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Uganda Law Society wondered why legally licenced businesses were being subjected to harassment. “What do you do to adults who want to smoke, who are estimated to be 800,000? Why do you subject a legal business to harassment?”
The Bill moved by a private member, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, who first introduced it in Parliament in December 2011, seeks to heavily control the manufacture, sale, promotion and use of tobacco products.
According to Uganda Law Society the Bill generally contradicts the Constitution, since it infringes on the right of smokers and legally licenced businesses.
Uganda Law Society also said some of the provisions in the Bill, such as banning advertisement as well as corporate social responsibility, among others are an infringement of the law.
However, Parliament’s Health Committee in its report, said the Bill is meant to mitigate the negative public health consequences of tobacco use and exposure.
Mr Dadson Mwaura, the British American Tobacco Uganda managing director, said they were not against being regulated but this should be done fairly.
“We are not against being regulated. Internally, we are already doing that. What we are asking for is fairness and a regulation that is fact-based,” he said.
In an earlier interview, Mr David Kamukama, the corporate relations director at Leaf Tobacco and Commodities, said the problem of illicit tobacco trade could be worsened because of unprogressive legislations.

Tobacco and risks
The risk. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world accounting for over 5.2m deaths per year which is more than the death toll due to malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis combined.

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