Kampala- Uganda: Members of Parliament from the Committee of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and that of 
Tourism, Trade and Industry have expressed their commitment to supporting the Tobacco Control Bill, 2014. This was during a sensitization forum for the committee members organized by the Parliamentary Forum on NCDs (PFNCDs), on April 7, 2014, at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala. The members were taken through the health and economic burden of tobacco, the justification for taxing tobacco products, the cost of growing tobacco vis a vis other alternatives, as well the Bill itself.
The Tobacco Control Bill 2014 is sponsored by a private member, Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, and is currently being being scrutinized by the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Health, which is also mandated to carry out consultations with all the concerned parties.
In her submission on the Bill, the General Secretary of the PNFCDs, Hon. Naome Evelyn Kaabule stressed that a comprehensive tobacco control legislation is the only sure way of protecting Ugandans from the devastating health, social, economic and environmental effects of tobacco. She said the bill is premised on the fact that the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda guarantees the right to health, a clean environment and life, and that Uganda, is bound to domesticate the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ( FCTC), which the country signed and ratified in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Hon. Kaabule informed her fellow legislators that according to the treaty, Uganda is supposed to have had a law in place by 2012, five years after ratification, and therefore urged them to support the Bill, which is already overdue.
The Chairperson of the PNFCDs, Hon. Benny Namugwanya decried the fact that there are so many new forms of tobacco use disguised in different forms like shisha and Kuber, a trend which she said needs urgent regulatory measures which only a comprehensive law can provide.
The Member of Parliament for Bushenyi, Ishaka Municipality Hon. Odo Tayebwa, also a member of the Finance Committee called on his fellow Committee members to ensure that in the forthcoming budgetary process, the taxes on tobacco products are reviewed upwards as a way of minimizing the costs attributed to treating the diseases due to tobacco.
The Vice Chair of the Finance Committee Hon. Okello Anthony said that there is a need to impose a tax levy on the tobacco leaves exported by the Industry since 95% of it is produced for consumption in other countries.
CTCA’s Manager, Dr. Possy Mugyenyi noted that there is an increasing trend of tobacco use among the youth, which is currently as high as 17% as compared to adults whose tobacco use has reduced from 23% in 2006 to 15% in 2011. He noted that the more worrying trend is that of the female youth whose rate of use currently stands at 15.8% as compared to that of the adult women which is at 3.6%. Dr. Mugyenyi cautioned that such an escalating trend among the youth cannot be left unchecked, adding that it requires a comprehensive legislation to control it and curb its effects.
Dr. Hafsa Lukwata, of the Ministry of Health, said the WHO FCTC, against which the TC Bill is premised, is an evidence- based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. She said it is a legally binding global treaty that provides the foundation for countries to implement and manage tobacco control programs to address the growing tobacco epidemic. Dr. Lukwata therefore called upon the legislators to support the bill as a way of ensuring that the country does not experience a tobacco epidemic.
Some of the Participating MPs during the session