Health Ministry calls for tripling of taxes on cigarettes

The Ministry of Health wants tax levied on cigarettes to be doubled or tripled.

The ministry hopes the move will raise the prices of cigarettes and they will eventually become expensive for consumers.

Last year, the Parliament passed the law of Anti-Tobacco Control Act which came into effect in May this year with the aim of discouraging people from smoking which is dangerous to lives.

The head of the epidemiology department of the Ministry of Health Dr. David Kadobera says many youth don't have money to spend on cigarettes.

If is sh100 now and when you increase the taxes and a whole packet costs sh20,000, one stick will cost sh2,000" Kadobera said.

When you increase the taxes the price increases and people will afford less of the cigarettes and that's the effect we are looking for especially among the youth" he added.

Smoking can cause lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis and also causes most cases of lung cancer.

In 2015 over 1.1 billion people according to the World Health Organisation smoked tobacco and although it is declining worldwide and in many countries, the prevalence of tobacco smoking appears to be increasing in Africa.