The Ministry of Health and the Tobacco Control Authority have been given 14 days to respond to a petition requesting the suspension of all websites, blogs and social media accounts of manufacturers and distributors of tobacco and related products, including shisha products, that do not display health warning labels and graphics.
Justice Bahati Mwamwiye also ordered the petitioner – Frederick Bekere – to furnish the court with four hard-bound and paged copies of his petition and application.
“The petitioner shall serve the application and petition on the respondents within the following seven days, and shall file a declaration thereof within 14 days. The respondents shall file their responses within 14 days,” the judge said.
The petitioner was also allowed to file a response to the documents to be filed by the respondents, in response to his case. Mr. Bikiri was given 14 days to do so. In the petition, Mr. Bikiri alleges that without health warnings on social media, websites, online stores and other public sites, the right of Kenyans to information, especially the dangerous effects of tobacco-derived products on their health, is being violated.
“The applicant seeks an order suspending all smoking of tobacco and related tobacco products in public vehicles and taxis,” he said through the law firm of Elkana Mogaka & Associates.
The petitioner also wants the Communications Authority of Kenya to suspend licenses and permits for all tobacco-promoting websites, social media pages and online stores in Kenya.
In the petition filed with the Constitution and Human Rights Division in Nairobi, the petitioner wants the sale of Velo nicotine pouches, formerly known as LYFT, suspended in the Kenyan market and all other nicotine pouches that do not comply with the packaging regulations set out in Section 21 of the Tobacco Control Act 2007.
The petition also calls for a halt to the sale of hookah tobacco and hookah pipes that do not comply with packaging requirements.
He based his case on the fact that on May 31, World No Tobacco Day, the Ministry of Health noted that although tobacco use had declined from 12% in 2014 to 9% in 2022, Kenya now faces new challenges with the rapid spread of new nicotine and emerging tobacco products, such as nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes.
Mr. Bequeri also claimed that tobacco use constitutes an epidemic, which the World Health Organization declared in the preamble to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
“There is an urgent need to maintain and enhance the health protection and media awareness of Kenyans in the country,” he added through his lawyer.
He points out that Section 21 of the Tobacco Control Act 2007 ensures that health warning labels are prominently displayed on all tobacco-derived products sold or distributed within Kenya.