By Jeorge Wilson Kingson
Members of Civil Society have called on President John Dramani Mahama to endeavor to assent to Public Health Bill (PHB) in due time to make way for its implementation. Parliament passed the bill into law on the 11th of July this year. The bill is a consolidation of about nine public health legislations including a provision to actively control tobacco use in the country.
As per the procedure of legislation the Office of the President is suppose to have possession of the bill and assent to it after it has been passed by parliament. But checks available to this paper however indicate that the bill is yet get to the President’s desk as it has been referred to the Attorney General’s Department for some legalize input.
This according to our source is due to the bulky nature of the document that parliament worked on and the need to ensure that what goes to the president for assent is exactly what parliament passed. It was further learnt that after the AG’s department has finished its work on the document it would still go back to parliament for verification before the Office of the President.
This process is taking too long and civil society which actively advocated for the passage of the law is not happy. At a stakeholder’s meeting in Accra last week, the Coalition of NGOs in Tobacco Control, including leadings organizations like the Media Alliance in Tobacco Control (MATCO), Vision for Alternative Development (VALD), Community Health and Sanitation Team (CHEST) among others expressed dissatisfaction with the delay in the processing of the bill into a full blown law.
“We hope all these are not deliberate attempts by any particular individual or organization to cause the delay in the implementation of the law after we’ve fought so hard to get it passed.” Stated, Clement Akoloh, organizing secretary for MACTO.
The coalition’s dissatisfaction is also more on the fact that in about two weeks Ghana would have to brief the fifth edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP5) on how far the country has gone in its attempts at controlling tobacco use. This is because Ghana has signed onto the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) since 2007 and must work harder to ensure its full compliance.
There are strong indications that the tobacco industry is currently influencing policy regulations of powerful nations in Africa and beyond. “Ghana must ensure that it does not create the impression as one of the countries whose policies are being influenced by the tobacco industry and that are why this law must move speedily through the process” stated Alhaji Sumani Sulley, a member of the coalition.
This year’s celebration of the World No Tobacco Day was under the theme “Tobacco Industry’s Interference.” It was to emphasize the depth of the industry’s interference in national policies and the need for citizens of all nations to rise against it.
At this year’s COP5 gathering in Soul, public health advocates, NGOs and government officials would be advancing an agenda to support the implementation of the FCTC, a treaty that enshrines the world’s most effective tobacco control and corporate accountability measures.