Why is it that BAT bosses do not smoke?

BAT factory in Nairobi. Photo/FILE 

In Summary

• My prescription is that all of us must strive to be addicted to oxygen (not nicotine) and to a clean environment devoid of deadly fumes”

For many Kenyans, the death cloud of smoke that hangs over their heads comes with a
lot of (forced) sunshine. It is a situation where nobody approves but everybody tolerates!

Nobody denies that tobacco is dangerous to human health, human life and the environment at once.

Literally, many people watch in silence, the blackmail practised by the tobacco industry. Some even come to the defence of the product and the trade.

The glamour that comes with all that is as captivating as the dead “sport man” while alive, without any post-mortem examination to determine that the cause of death was nicotine, which is accompanied by 3999 chemicals found in cigarettes.

For all those decades, BAT (K) Ltd has picked non-smokers as its chairmen, like the out-going Mr Evanson Mwaniki. A notable number of its other prominent executives are also non-smokers.

 Kenyans must note the subtleties that are loaded with deception and hypocrisy in the entire tobacco industry.

All past chairmen of BAT (K) Ltd have been lauded for having performed brilliantly in promoting the company’s profile and profits in Kenya and the region.

Yes, it was their good career preparedness that made them noticed and picked by the industry; they must have performed exceptionally well to be noticed in the first place.

But the other even more significant parts of their capacities and prominence before, during and after their tenures in that industry is that they did not have nicotine and the other ingredients of tobacco in their bodies!

The sad part of it all is that, with all their brilliance, they were made to use their managerial skills to promote a killer plant and its products!

Because tobacco is a well-known entry point into rampant abuse of all other abusable substances, with addiction to boot, and because abuse of substances, including alcohol, accounts for the largest percentage of insecurity, violence, road carnage and other accidents in this country, every one of us must heed President Kenyatta’s condemnation of, and edict against, substance abuse.

It follows that the voice of the President should be understood to include tobacco with its 4,000 dangerous ingredients in line with the Tobacco Control Law.

It is crucial for Kenyans to understand that, because of its very complex composition and the manner in which it affects the human body, tobacco cannot be classified as a drug, unless one opts to talk about toxic, corrupt and homicidal poly-pharmaceutical production.

That goes for its most dangerous content, nicotine.

To all Kenyans, I must repeat: Prevention is better than cure; Fore-warned is fore-armed, and knowledge is power!

My prescription is that all of us must strive to be addicted to oxygen (not nicotine) and a clean environment.

That is even besides the other tobacco-related environmental pollutants including tons of cigarette butts and discarded filters, and third-hand smoking!