The Minister responsible for Health and Wellness, Dr Edwin Dikoloti has turned down a tête-à-tête request by the British American Tobacco (BAT) Botswana, The Telegraph has learnt.
The tobacco company had wanted to express its discontent with the Tobacco Control Bill which is currently on the floor of parliament.
“The request to physically meet with the minister is hereby declined. In lieu thereof, a written response to the various issues raised in your communique is herein provided,” a haughty Dikoloti boldly wrote to the industry’s largest investor in a letter dated 23 July seen by The Telegraph.
The Telegraph can also reveal that Dikoloti has been sitting on the BAT response for more than two months and only succumbed to recent media reports with a negative answer to the special request.
Despite being turned down, in its lengthy letter to the Botswana government, BAT argues against the Tobacco Bill saying some clauses are violating constitutional rights.
Given that Botswana is highly informal trade economy BAT contends against the prescribed sale of cigarette at a minimum of 20 sticks in a pack.
BAT controls close to 93 percent of the local market share selling over three hundred million sticks a year. Against that background, BAT warned there are livelihoods that will be impacted by the new law.
“A ban on packs of less than 20 cigarettes could drive adult smokers who cannot afford these packs, to buy products on the illicit market”, said Mdu Lokotfwako Head of Legal & External Affairs at BAT.
In his letter, Lokotfwako referred the ministry of health to a clause in which manufacturers are barred from including corporate logos, colours and trademarks when packaging. The bill dictates, a health minister may prescribe for ‘plain packaging’ of tobacco products. Plain packaging means packaging that requires the removal of all branding such as colours, imagery, corporate logos and trademarks, permitting manufactures to print only the brand name in a mandated size, font and place on the pack.
BAT’s position is that this would unduly deprive tobacco companies off their intellectual property as it unjustifiably requires the removal of trademarks on packs, damages consumer choice and the economy, and potentially infringes Section 8 of the Botswana Constitution. According to BAT, the section offers protection against arbitrary expropriation of property (including trademarks) including any form of regulatory taking without payment of adequate compensation.
Contrary to submission made by BAT, Dikoloti argued that section 8(5) of the constitution provided for the reasonable limitation of the property rights of individuals, where such rights are injurious to the health of human beings.
It also recently emerged that Dikoloti is hell bent on appeasing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Last week through the help of the ruling BDP Members of Parliament he shot down motions to make amendments to the bill. At the same time, fresh information suggests that the Government is on the verge of rolling out serious campaigns for the bill alongside its ally, the Anti-Tobacco Network. The lobby group – Anti-Tobacco Network has President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s ear given his position as its patron.
While BAT on one end complains that the new law is nothing far from overregulation, Masisi has also drawn critics over unfulfilled promises.
“It is our serious intent to reduce excessive and unnecessary regulation of the economy to allow you to prosper. This is part of our improving the ease of doing business for Batswana,” an excited Masisi said during the build up to the national elections in 2019. Fast forward to 2021 the government has mandated that some traders should have licenses, including tobacco sellers.
Last week, Business Botswana’s Policy director Dichaba Molobe told The Telegraph that there has not been any consultation by the government with stakeholders when the new law was drafted.
Molobe maintained that the Ministry of Health and Wellness has failed to appreciate the fact that the issue of smoking is multi-dimensional.
“Tobacco is not just health. There are other dimensions. There is trade to it. There is the tax collection side. And there is the national security side. Yet all the ministry sees is pandemic. And they are not seeing other dimensions,” said the unhappy Molobe.
