Accra — A team led by Dr. Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was in Ghana last week to assess the country's level of implementation of provisions of the convention.
The team met with the media and the Civil Society Coalition on Tobacco Control among others. What came up during these meetings clearly indicates that Ghana, one of the 40 countries that took the lead in ratifying the Convention, has done very little in ensuring the implementation of the Convention.
In the first place, as it may have become common knowledge now, the country is yet to pass the Tobacco Control Bill into law in spite of the glut of advocacy by civil society on same. Different stories keep coming up as to where the bill actually is at the moment. Rumours have it that the delay is because government does not intend passing the bill in isolation but as part of the law on public health.
The fact that the law has not been passed, means that the country is lagging far behind in operationalizing key articles of the treaty.
Article 11 for instance says that after three years of the coming into force of the convention, member countries shall adopt and implement laws to ensure that tobacco product packaging and labeling do not promote the product by any means. Same article also calls for bolder and clearer health warnings on the packages.
As reported on page three of this paper, the country has failed to honour its obligations under the treaty on several fronts in spite of the fact that it ratified the Convention in 2004 and adopted it in 2005.
The situation is a source of worry for the leader of the team from the WHO, Dr. Ogwell Ouma. He told Civil Society Organizations working on Tobacco Control that his team was in Ghana because of the 'good name' the country has earned for itself internationally. He however expressed misgivings that if Civil Society and indeed government do not step up their efforts, the goodwill could wane.
Tobacco, as it has been shown by health experts, is depriving the world of significant numbers of its people. Nations, including Ghana, are losing a lot of their human resource to tobacco-induced deadly cancers and other complications associated with the use of the substance. It is argued that the cost of treating tobacco related sicknesses far outweighs the income governments make from the tobacco trade.
It is for these and other reasons that Public Agenda adds it voice to the many calls for the government of Ghana to pass the Tobacco Control Bill into law, without further delay, and to ensure that Ghanaians are saved the health hazards associated with tobacco use. The country needs every single one of its human resource; none of that should be lost through tobacco related diseases.
