Seized shisha apparatus worth Sh4.4m to be destroyed
The government is planning to destroy over 700 shisha Apparatus seized at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Through Gazette Notice number 8388 dated June 23, 2023, Chief Manager Passenger Clearance and Enforcement Agatha Manyaka said the shisha apparatus is prohibited.
“In pursuit to the provision of section 42 and 248b of the East African Community Customs Management Act,2004, notice is given that the under-mentioned condemned goods shall be disposed of by way of destruction on July 25, 2023 after expiry of 30 days from the publication of this notice,” Munyaka said.
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The shisha apparatus, which is estimated to be worth Sh4.4 million, was seized between 2018 and April, this year. According to JKIA management, the apparatus was seized because their use is prohibited in the country.
In 2017, Kenya implemented a comprehensive ban on shisha, including the use, import, manufacture, sale, offer of sale, advertising, promotion, distribution and encouraging or facilitating its use.
“Any person who contravenes any provision of these rules may, where a penalty has not been expressly provided for under any provision of the Act, be liable to the penalty contemplated under section 163 of the Act,” the then Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu said on December 27, 2017 when he announced the ban.
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Dr Mailu also noted that in Kenya, shisha was a gateway to the consumption of other hard drugs such as heroin and bhang.
In 2014, before the ban was enacted, the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, banned 19 shisha flavours found to contain bhang, heroin and cocaine.
According to the report, 79.2 per cent of the shisha samples collected tested positive for heroin.
About 2.5 million Kenyan adults use tobacco (smoking and/or smokeless tobacco), according to the 2014 Global Adult Tobacco Survey-Kenya.
Most current tobacco users started smoking between the ages of 20 and 24, while others were initiated between the ages of 17 and 19. But these figures could be higher as more teenagers take up shisha and cigar smoking.
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