| dc.description.abstract | This study was conducted to achieve one objective; to find out the perception of cigarette traders in Embu market on the effect of the proposed tobacco bill on their businesses. The study sought to establish the extent to which the traders understand the content of the bill and how it will affect their trade.
To achieve this, a semi-structured questionnaire was administered within a sample of 80 traders from Embu. Data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and arithmetic mean scores to determine the varying degree of perceptions, while visual representations such as frequency tables were used to summarize statistics.
Based on the study findings, the following conclusions were drawn;
• The traders had not fully understood the contents of the tobacco bill, however, they perceived it negatively and noted that it would reduce the cigarettes’ sales volume and thus lead to a decline in business.
• Some changes proposed in the Tobacco Bill were found to be favourable especially for minors which imply that manufacturing companies should embrace them. For instance, selling cigarettes to minors below the age of 18 years should be prohibited. This will help in curbing the rise of drug abuse among children and especially the youth.
• The bill emphasizes on protecting the non-smokers from effects of secondary smoking. Most of the respondents interviewed welcomed the proposed introduction of smoking zones as it will protect those customers who are non-smokers and who suffer in silence from cigarette smokers and its hazards. Manufacturing companies should therefore be at the fore-front in building smoking shades in major towns across the country. This will help in facilitating proper spots for smoking zones and at the same time, enhance their sensitivity to the health of their consumers. | en |
