At least 29 people die daily from smoking cigarettes according to research. It is on this basis that the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has launched a campaign aiming at sensitizing people about the dangers of smoking, especially in public.
Three years ago, parliament passed a law banning public smoking, (the 2015 Tobacco Control Act) however, no measure have been taken by police or any authorities to arrest people who even walk while smoking, without taking into consideration other members of the public.
According to the 2015 Act, smoking is only allowed 15 metres from a public place.
Dr Daniel Okello, the Public Health Director at KCCA says the smoke free city campaign is supported by World Health Organisation and Bloomberg Philanthropies Partnership for health cities, a global network of cities committed to reduce non-communicable diseases. He adds that they will engage with owners of malls in Kampala and arrest anyone found smoking in public.
This campaign is aimed at reducing the number of premature deaths, infertility rates, lung cancer and other conditions caused by smoking. The authority has also introduced toll free numbers for people to report cases regarding tobacco use in public.
"The authority shall be vigilant on people who don't abide by the law and once caught smoking in public, the masses need to know that such an act results into punishment by law," Okello warned.
According to Dr Okello, KCCA will also arrest shisha smokers.
“One of the things we are going to go on urgently is the ban of shisha. Shisha was banned by the law; we don’t expect to see any shisha in the city, so with immediate effect we are going to carryout operations and confiscate all shisha that is in Kampala. If you are caught smoking it, its 200,000 shillings minimum of 6 months imprisonment for the bar owner it varies from a fine to invocation of your license or losing the earnings from the sale of shisha” Dr. Okello narrated.
