Smokers still puffing in Nairobi

Temesi Mukani

April 9, 2008 - Nairobi - Smokers in Nairobi are back to their old habits. The much talked about ban on smoking in public places seems to be a thing of the past.

Smokers are comfortably puffing away on Nairobi streets without much care. The ban which was imposed late last year by the Nairobi City Council seems to have been washed away by the post-election political impasse.

A spot check at the designated smoking arena at Nairobi’s Jevanjee gardens showed that smokers no-longer frequented the area as was the case during the early days of the ban.

“The city council askaris no-longer give a damn. I now smoke as freely as I used to do before the ban was imposed,” said Callistus Odongo, a smoker I met along Kenyatta Avenue in down-town Nairobi.

The ban which had received a lot of goodwill from Nairobi residents may be on its way down the drain. Non-smoking Nairobi residents and visitors are once again exposed to the dangers of tobacco smoke. In the early days of the ban, smokers were obliged to obey the law and scores of them could be seen at the designated smoking zones where they puffed away.

Nairobi residents are speculating that the city council and government authorities are too busy politicking to enforce the law. Some also say that the tobacco lobbyists greased the palms of some people at City Hall.

“The ban was a ploy to enrich the city fathers. They must have got their monetary share. That’s why they are now so silent on this ban,” said Wanjiku Maina, a college student in Nairobi.

“There is nothing that succeeds in this country because our leaders are too corrupt to think of the people’s welfare,” added Wanjiku.

As the new mayor of Nairobi and his army of councilors settle down into their offices after a protracted struggle over the mayoral elections, it remains to be seen if they will re-inforce the ban. In the meantime, Nairobi residents continue inhaling the deadly tobacco fumes.