Law against smoking in public places needs to be enforced
Dec 05, 2010
I am responding to a letter that was recently published in New Vision titled “Revenue from smoking is incompatible to public healthâ€. In the letter, the writer implored our legislators to enact laws against smoking in public places.
By Isaac Eyalama
I am responding to a letter that was recently published in New Vision titled “Revenue from smoking is incompatible to public healthâ€. In the letter, the writer implored our legislators to enact laws against smoking in public places.
However, I would like to remind the public that Uganda already has such a law. It is called the National Environment (Control of Smoking in Public Places) Regulations 2004.
In Uganda, smoking in public places was banned in February 2004. This followed the December 2002 declaration by the High Court that smoking in public places was a violation of non-smokers’ constitutional rights to life and to a clean and healthy environment.
The declaration was in line with Uganda’s 2002 ratification of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first public health treaty on tobacco control. The treaty obliges countries to develop action plans for public policies, such as bans on tobacco advertising, tobacco tax and price increases, promoting smoke-free public places and workplaces and placing health messages on tobacco packaging.
In the 2002 High Court declaration, the judge ordered Uganda’s environmental watchdog, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to make regulations to prohibit smoking in public places within one year. These regulations were finalised and termed The National Environment (Control of Public Smoking in Public Places) Regulations 2004.
According to these regulations, “No person shall smoke a tobacco product or hold a lighted tobacco product in an enclosed, indoor area of a public place.â€
The law also prohibits smoking in public service vehicles, aircrafts, trains or other public transport means.
It also requires owners of bars, theatres and public transport where smoking is prohibited to post “No Smoking†signs on their premises prominently. However, the outcome of these ratifications and enactments are yet to be felt as many Ugandans still smoke in public places, hence exposing many to the dangers of second-hand smoke.
The law has not been enforced and there have been no reported arrests or prosecutions in relation to the control of public smoking.
Only in a few cases have people taken the law into their own hands and acted against offenders as non-smokers struggle to guard themselves from the effects of passive smoking. Examples of such cases include Julius Opondo of Tororo who was arrested for allegedly killing Desderio Oketcho by twisting his neck after Oketcho lit a cigarette in Wawulere market.
I recently carried out research on factors hindering the enforcement of regulations against smoking in public places in Uganda. I found out that the intended enforcers of the law are not sensitised and that they are also ignorant about the law, which hinders its enforcement.
More so, some provisions of the law against public smoking were poorly designed, the charges (fines) are unclear and there is a poor institutional framework to enforce them. The public is also ignorant about the law.
Therefore, there is need for the sensitisation of both the public and the enforcers about the law. The fines for the violators should also be increased so that offenders are deterred.
The writer is a social and development activist based in Kampala
I am responding to a letter that was recently published in New Vision titled “Revenue from smoking is incompatible to public healthâ€. In the letter, the writer implored our legislators to enact laws against smoking in public places.
However, I would like to remind the public that Uganda already has such a law. It is called the National Environment (Control of Smoking in Public Places) Regulations 2004.
In Uganda, smoking in public places was banned in February 2004. This followed the December 2002 declaration by the High Court that smoking in public places was a violation of non-smokers’ constitutional rights to life and to a clean and healthy environment.
The declaration was in line with Uganda’s 2002 ratification of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first public health treaty on tobacco control. The treaty obliges countries to develop action plans for public policies, such as bans on tobacco advertising, tobacco tax and price increases, promoting smoke-free public places and workplaces and placing health messages on tobacco packaging.
In the 2002 High Court declaration, the judge ordered Uganda’s environmental watchdog, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to make regulations to prohibit smoking in public places within one year. These regulations were finalised and termed The National Environment (Control of Public Smoking in Public Places) Regulations 2004.
According to these regulations, “No person shall smoke a tobacco product or hold a lighted tobacco product in an enclosed, indoor area of a public place.â€
The law also prohibits smoking in public service vehicles, aircrafts, trains or other public transport means.
It also requires owners of bars, theatres and public transport where smoking is prohibited to post “No Smoking†signs on their premises prominently. However, the outcome of these ratifications and enactments are yet to be felt as many Ugandans still smoke in public places, hence exposing many to the dangers of second-hand smoke.
The law has not been enforced and there have been no reported arrests or prosecutions in relation to the control of public smoking.
Only in a few cases have people taken the law into their own hands and acted against offenders as non-smokers struggle to guard themselves from the effects of passive smoking. Examples of such cases include Julius Opondo of Tororo who was arrested for allegedly killing Desderio Oketcho by twisting his neck after Oketcho lit a cigarette in Wawulere market.
I recently carried out research on factors hindering the enforcement of regulations against smoking in public places in Uganda. I found out that the intended enforcers of the law are not sensitised and that they are also ignorant about the law, which hinders its enforcement.
More so, some provisions of the law against public smoking were poorly designed, the charges (fines) are unclear and there is a poor institutional framework to enforce them. The public is also ignorant about the law.
Therefore, there is need for the sensitisation of both the public and the enforcers about the law. The fines for the violators should also be increased so that offenders are deterred.
The writer is a social and development activist based in Kampala