14th November 2012

Mr Thuita Mwangi, CBS

Permanent Secretary,

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dear Sir,

RE: CONDUCT OF THE KENYAN DELEGATION ATTENDING COP 5 – SEOUL SOUTH KOREA

The 5th Conference of Parties to the WHO FCTC is currently being held in Seoul - South Korea from 12th to 17th November and member states are discussing the adoption of various guidelines to the FCTC treaty.

In preparation for this meeting, Kenya called an inter-ministerial committee to discuss and agree on Kenya’s position on the 23 October and a follow up meeting was specifically called on 30th October to discuss Article 6 on Price and Tax measures. Both meetings were attended by the Ministries of Trade, Finance , Public Health and Sanitation, Agriculture and the Kenya Bureau of Standards

During these meetings, Kenya’s position on some of the FCTC proposals was agreed as follows:

Article 6

“Kenya supports the prioritization of tobacco control within the National budget or in similar jurisdictions. MOH is working closely with the MOF to ensure that the objectives of Article 6 are achieved. Under the Tobacco Control Act 2007, Section 7 provides for the Tobacco Control Fund. “

Article 17 & 18

“We will appreciate the work done and recommend that a WG time be extended. Kenya will want to continue being a member of the group and officially upgraded to the position of Key Facilitator representing the African Region.”

On 14 November 2012, it has come to the attention of our industry representatives in Seoul that the Kenya delegation has deviated from the agreed Kenya position and are now pushing for the adoption of a minimum limit of 70% excise on RSP, which undermines the sovereignty of Kenya to determine its own fiscal policy and could also have serious unintended consequences. Moreover, there was no discussion or agreement at a national level on this recommendation. Hence the Kenyan delegation has no mandate to propose adoption of this recommendation as a country position.

In addition, the Kenyan delegation during a seminar on farming that was conducted on the sidelines of the COP deliberations, callously mislead the delegates from other countries by alleging that the tobacco industry is beating farmers for turning to alternative crops. This was graphically depicted through pictures which was neither presented nor vetted at the national level. Further, the Kenyan delegation made unsubstantiated allegations with respect to the conduct of the tobacco industry, which are injurious to its reputation and which were not discussed at the national level.

Taking into account the contribution of the tobacco industry in the economy, the industry takes great exception at the derogatory remarks made by the Kenya delegation at the Conference in addition to the deviation from the agreed country position.

In this regard, Sir, we humbly seek the intervention of your esteemed office to urgently contact the Kenyan delegation in Seoul and instruct them desist and refrain from taking personal positions on matters that have clearly agreed positions and urge them to articulate the agreed country positions as expected.

We look forward to your favourable response.

Yours faithfully,

For: The Tobacco Industry in Kenya

Gary Fagan

Managing Director, BAT Kenya

Wilfred Murungi

Managing Director, Mastermind Tobacco Kenya

Francis Chege

Deputy Managing Director, Alliance One

Augustine Mwita

Chairman, KETOFA

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