The Ministry of Health has suspended all nicotine related product licences, giving all importers, manufacturers, distributors and marketers 21 days to re-apply for the licenses, a move Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale says would go a long way in reducing tobacco and nicotine usage in the country.

Speaking in Eldoret when he oversaw the burning of over 5 tonnes of tobacco and nicotine products seized through the Eldoret International Airport since 2021, CS Duale said the products were now becoming a serious menace in the society with data now indicating younger children were now engaging in the products.

According to Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni, the country’s tobacco and nicotine prevalence stands at 8.5% with children aged between 10 – 17 being now affected.

PS Muthoni also noting that about 650,000 youth, aged 15 – 24, who are of high school and university going age, are now turning to flavoured products under the guise of their being less harmful, not knowing there is no difference.

The Tobacco Control Board, through its chair former MP Naomi Shaban, is raising the red flag over an increasing trend where children as young as six years are now using nicotine and tobacco products as she points an accusing finger at tobacco industries for flavouring their products with sweeteners to attract the young.

CS Duale has also signed a gazette notice introducing 17 new graphic images that will be on tobacco and nicotine products to act as deterrents for users.

This year’s WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY was celebrated under the theme; UNMASKING THE APPEAL: EXPOSING INDUSTRY TACTICS ON TOBACCO AND NICOTINE PRODUCTS in Eldoret, where critical industry players, including the World Health Organization and anti-tobacco champions calling for a total ban of the products, or an increase in taxes to make the products less affordable.