By Onishias Maamba
PARLIAMENT on
Wednesday, rejected a private members motion bill for government to ban the
smoking of Shisha in the country.
Shisha smoking also called hookah, narghile, waterpipe, or hubble bubble
smoking is a way of smoking tobacco, sometimes mixed with fruits or molasses
sugar, through a bowl and hose tube.
In moving the motion,
Kasenengwa Member of Parliament, Sensio Banda urged government to ban the
smoking of Shisha in the country due to the numerous dangers it poses on human
life such as cancer among others.
Mr. Banda also
expressed worry that most teenagers were abusing the substance due to peer
pressure.
In seconding the
motion, UPND Itezhi-Tezhi MP, Hebert Shabula said it had to be banned in Zambia
because its effects were grave on society.
“Shisha affects the
lungs, the heart and everything that a human being uses to breath. And when we
become sick as Zambians, the following will happen, we shall not report for
work because we are sick, production will go down because we are sick. The
income of the nation will go down, many companies will close down and many
people will be thrown in the streets, then what happens, there will be more
malnutrition, more deaths, crime will go up, reason, we have allowed shisha to
be smoked in all these places. Madam Speaker, I am urging this government to
take an action now not tomorrow, to ban Shisha smoking in the country including
‘Insuko,’ madam I submit,” he said.
And Keembe MP, Princesses Kasune who also contributed to the debate felt
the need to ban Shisha smoking which had become a common trend in the nation.
“It is worrying that
Zambia sits among the countries where tobacco increase is on the rise and this
is because such products as shisha which are a disguise of smoking are also on
the increase. Madam speaker, if shisha continues on the increase in this
country, in terms of usage, the damage to the country and in particular the
contribution to non-communicable diseases (NCD’s) is very great. We do know
already that as a country our cases of NDC’s has increased and we have seen a
lot of premature deaths and I would argue that products such as shisha are a
factor to the increase of NCD’s. Madam Speaker, I also want to add that because
of allowing of such products as shisha, we are also allowing our young people
to be introduced to smoking at a very early age,” she said.
Shisha can
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But in a sharp
counter contribution, Mitete MP, Misheck Mutelo argued that government didn’t
need to ban shisha because the mover of the motion failed to present facts that
would warrant such a move by the government.
Mr. Mutelo further
contended that it was going to be unreasonable to ban shisha based on the
believe that it was a contributing factor to NCD’s, while junk foods which had
the same properties are left to trade on the market.
“I have really heard
the motion, the mover and the seconder debating. I may likely take a few
minutes not to urge government to ban the use smoking of shisha, because
listening to the debaters, they have been saying this is a practice that has
been going on, they have not stated as to when it started. Now today they are
saying because of A,B,C,D let it be banned, here madam speaker are the junk
foods, are we also saying they should be banned? They are also a genesis, they
cause a lot of diseases, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, is the mover
also going to urge government to ban all these foods? Where are we just concerned
about disadvantages of Shisha, where are the advantages so that we balance, he
questioned?
And Kalomo UPND Central MP, Harry Kaboni held that the mover of the
motion should have instead urged government on a number of issues and not
singling out shisha.
“For example HIV
which has killed many people comes in from sex, so my question is are we going
to ban sex? So what am suggesting to the mover of the motion is that he should
have urged the government on a number of issues. People must take responsibility,
because even cars we drive, people die in large numbers because of accidents,
so are we going to ban all the cars because we have road accidents that kill
people? The bottom line here is to take responsibility, and so before we can
come to the issue of banning, the research on banning shisha has not been
properly done. If we ban shisha, then we should ban the whole smoking all
together because the disadvantages that we are talking about are very similar.
May view is that, it is not appropriate to bring such a motion when we have so
many things that are health hazards,” he said.
Additionally, Kasama
Central MP, Kelvin Sampa, felt it was not prudent to discuss the motion to ban
the smoking of shisha when the nation had serious economic challenges to address,
charging that the motion was misplaced.
“If we look at Shisha
itself, it’s like any other ordinary cigarette and it’s even lighter. Now to
bring this motion before the house to discuss shisha when we have got serious
issues and economic challenges in the country, especially with the problem of
codeine, were we are having our young children being admitted in hospitals
every day, the statistics are even increasing and it’s even more dangerous than
talking about shisha. And we have got by-laws that are being administered
through the councils to regulate people that are smoking in public places. So
with this motion I think it is misplaced madam speaker,” he added.
And to hit the final nail in the coffin, Health Minister, Chitalu
Chilufya called for the needed to a comprehensive approach when dealing with
health hazards and not cherry picking.
“Madam Speaker, it is
a fact that shisha is harmful to health, shisha yes contain tar, carbon
monoxide it does also contain and is part of the products that yet will
predispose people to ill health in the long term. Madam speaker the best way
however, to address matters to do with hazards to health, is not to cherry pick
and pick out one thing and then ban this, the best is to take a comprehensive
approach to the issues that pertain say tobacco. Madam speaker, I would urge
the honourable member to engage the executive, that his contribution is part of
a broader framework to address the issues of food or products that expose the
population to ill health. So we will not agree to the approach of making bans
of individual items through motions on the floor of the house. I urge the MP
that while he is on terra fema on the ill effect of this substance [Shisha] let
us engage and discuss broader policy approaches to ensuring that we protect the
public from ill-health through discussing the effects of nicotine addiction and
broader aspects many other hazards that will predispose people to NCD’s, we do
not support this motion in its current version,” he said.
In winding debate, mover of the motion, Sensio Banda withdraw it, but
pledged to come back to the house with a much more comprehensive approach.
“Firstly, I would
like to thank members both who supposed the motion and those who objected to
the motion. Obviously this has been an entry point as it relates to shisha and
obviously like I did allude during my debate on the effects of shisha and am
sure it’s very clear to this house. However, it is in view of the
advice the Ministry of Health has raised, as to how best this matter can be
addressed, I would indict that I withdraw the motion and come back
to this house so that we can have a comprehensive approach to this motion,” said
Mr. Banda.
