Kenyan health experts and civil society advocates have implored members of the National Assembly to retain or even increase the proposed tax on liquid nicotine.

On Thursday last week, Ukur Yatani, Cabinet Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, proposed to change the tax system of liquid nicotine from the current shillings per unit to an excise tax of 70 shillings per milliliter to reduce use by users including school children and teenagers.

"The introduction of new products other than e-cigarettes continues to have a negative impact on the health of citizens, and their tax systems make e-cigarettes highly accessible to users, including school children and teenagers, leading to nicotine addiction," Yatani said.

Joel Gitali, national president of the Coalition for Tobacco Control and Health Promotion, said tobacco industry players may try to lobby MPs for tax cuts.

"We see obstacles ahead. We are asking Parliament not to do what it did last time (2021) by lowering the proposed tax. Parliament should even increase the amount and propose stricter measures. It should not try to please the tobacco industry. If it does To make any changes, it has to consult the Ministry of Health," Guitali said.

Treasury CS’s proposal will be incorporated into the Finance Bill 2022, which will be debated by members of the National Assembly and must be signed into law by the President by July 1, 2022.

Gitali praised the CS at the National Treasury, saying the government appeared to have listened to health advocates to stop the growing threat of nicotine addiction among children and teenagers.

"Yatani speaks the language we speak and gives the impression that he is listening to us. The availability of these dangerous nicotine products to minors means that young people are recruited to abuse the drug at a high rate." He said.

Gitali pointed out that the budget will reduce harmful consumption of the product and the tax will help young people as this is the only way to reduce the demand for nicotine.

Thomas Lindi, national coordinator of the Alliance for Tobacco Control and Health Promotion, said the increase in liquid nicotine taxes was the result of heavy lobbying by civil society.

"We still urge more taxes on these products. All consumers should be helped to quit smoking. To that end, we want direct health assistance to help people who are addicted to these products," he said, noting the need to pass Implementing the Tobacco Control Fund provides additional resources for public health education. "

However, the International Institute for Legislative Affairs (IILA) said they also wanted to increase taxes on conventional cigarettes.

“About 2.5 million Kenyans smoke and around 9,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases such as cancer and stroke,” said IILA CEO Celine Awuor.

Awuor said that as a non-profit organisation working closely with policymakers and the government, they called on MPS to also raise taxes on traditional cigarettes to combat inflation.

“This tax is a good sign that the government sees the need to reduce consumption of nicotine products as adolescents and children become increasingly addicted. We empathize with the fact that these innovative products in the tobacco market are targeting young people and children. We Everything needs to be done to reduce consumption and prevent triggering. The process should be gradual," she said.

However, Awuor went on to blame the 15% tax on alcohol and gambling advertising, saying it would be good for the government to increase revenue, but if the rationale for the tax was to reduce consumption and beyond gambling and alcohol, a better move would be either Ban advertising outright, or increase taxes on products, making the cost directly prohibitive for users.

“The bookies will only increase their ad spend, the company will absorb the extra cost and still run ads and the public will see them,” added IILA’s chief executive.

Samuel Ochieng, chief executive of the Consumer Information Network, said Kenya now joins more than 68 countries in fighting nicotine addiction through taxation.

“CS’s proposed tax on liquid nicotine is a very welcome move and we are very excited about it. Other countries are also using these taxes to control consumption,” he added.

“While this is a proposal that will be brought to Parliament, we would like to urge the MPS not to veto it for its goodwill,” Ochieng added, adding that they are working on a strategy to ensure more taxation on cigarettes.

Besides traditional cigarettes, other highly addictive nicotine delivery products sold in Kenya include pouches (such as Velo and Lyft), e-cigarettes, vaping devices, vaporizers, hookah pens, e-cigarettes and e-pipes.

According to the World Health Organization's Global Nicotine Reduction Strategy, nicotine addiction causes permanent changes in the brain during adolescence. It also puts teens at an increased risk of becoming addicted to substances like marijuana, heroin and cocaine.

Nicotine addiction is one of the fastest growing forms of addiction in Kenya, and one way to control it is through improved tax administration and stricter enforcement.

Kenya is a signatory to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's only health treaty that requires regular tax increases to combat tobacco and related products.

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