Nairobi man seeks tobacco ban

A Nairobi resident is suing the government in an attempt to have smoking banned. The Daily Nation reports that Ibrahim Mohamud Ibrahim blames the government for permitting the production, manufacturing, distribution, management, dissemination and consumption of tobacco ‘regardless of its effects on health’. He is suing the Ministry of Health, its Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki and the Attorney-General in a lawsuit which lists British American Tobacco as an interested party. He has challenged provisions of the Tobacco Act which allows the production, licensing sale and use of tobacco in various forms. ‘The petitioner challenges the holding of tobacco as a legal commodity available for exploitation and consumption by the public in blatant disregard of the effects of growing, consuming, selling and use,’ said his lawyer George Kithi.