“The act (Smoking Act of 1992) was enacted in 1992 and a decade later difficulties have been found in its enforcement and the act, as it is, places a burden on non-smokers to request non-smoking areas,” Motsumi said.
The bill is a sequel to consultations that the ministry undertook on the possibility of banning smoking in public areas.
It is an attempt by the ministry to revamp the current law in a bid to make work places and entertainment areas risk free to non-smokers and introduce new and strict penalties for violating the smoking ban and related infringements.
The Bill seeks to prohibit selling tobacco products to people or by people who are be1ow 18unlike the current law which puts it at 16.
If a person contravenes this clause, they are liable to a fine of P500 or imprisonment not exceeding three months or both.
The Bill seeks to authorise permanent signage that states that smoking is not permitted in private or public places and public service vehicles.
If a smoker is found in non-smoking areas, they are liable to a fine of P1000 up from the present P500.
“I love this bill as it is very progressive and this is what the nation needs. Bad smokers should kill themselves alone. It is a balanced piece of legislation”, Phandu Skelemani, Francistown East legislator said.
He added that after the bill is passed, the Ministry should mount a public education campaign because the public cannot be policed. He added that the bill is beneficial to the nation since it is based on proven information.
He said that some of the punishments envisaged in the Bill should be revisited as the local courts have been found to be meting softer sentences on lawbreakers.
Cabinet Minister Pelonomi Venson said that the new law should put some checks in place so that the rights of non-smokers are protected. This is because there has been an outcry from hotel owners over the new law.
“The new law has been practised in other countries and it is going well for them. Hotel owners say that their businesses would go down if they stopped smokers smoking in their hotels and they complain that beer sales would go down. But we cannot promote business at the expense of health,” Venson said.
If the bill is passed into law, it is expected that owners of lodges and other places of relaxation must cater for non-smokers.
Under the new law, the owner of a lodge, for example, must make sure that there are separate places for smokers and non-smokers.
It will also ban bosses from smoking in their offices, especially the private sector, where some workers have in the past complained that some of their colleagues smoke in their presence.
“Twelve years without an amendment is too long, but we have progressed because if someone wants to smoke at work, they will go outside. New buildings and offices have smoking places, but I agree that we should protect those who do not smoke and we should be liberated from them,” Cabinet Minister Margaret Nasha said. “Our trains and buses should be smoke free and the expectant mothers should take responsibility for their unborn babies since it has been proved that smoking affects unborn babies”.
Venson caused laughter when she said that she could not drink beer in bars because of smokers.
