Mudavadi Faults Implementation of Tobacco Act

Source from:  kbc.co.ke By:Rose Kamau/Rebeccah Muiruri, Mon, Oct 27, 2008 10/28/2008

Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi on Monday admitted that local authorities misinterpreted the Tobacco Act and ended up harassing members of the public. He said the local authorities heavily relied on by-laws in enforcing regulations against smoking in public places which led to a public outcry prompting his ministry to seek for clarification from the Attorney General, Amos Wako. "Under the by-laws, a public place is different from what is specified in the Tobacco Act. We have received so many complaints from members of the public citing cases of harassment by council askaris," said the minister. Mr. Mudavadi said the Attorney General has since clarified that the action being undertaken by the council askaris of arresting anybody including those smoking in their personal cars was in breach of the law. "We have promised to correct the mistake because indeed our municipal councils and city councils were overstepping their mandate," he added. Mudavadi supported the Nairobi City Council's move to increase parking fees from Ksh. 70 to Ksh 100 and asked motorists to take the move positively taking into consideration the hard task facing the council in providing parking space for motorists. Mudavadi was fielding questions from journalists during a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of modern serviced apartments for Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPROFUND) in Nairobi. Mudavadi cautioned managers of Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPROFUND) against misappropriation of the finances. He said the management of LAPROFUND whose value stands Ksh 3.5 billion needs to embrace the tenets of transparency and accountability and ensure the enormous resources at their disposal are invested to benefit the members. He expressed the government's commitment to strengthening retirement benefits for social security and resource mobilization. "This can only be done by making the right choices in the retirement benefits industry through instituting necessary reforms. However, the Government's vision for the industry can only be realized if those entrusted with members retirement benefits manage them prudently by observing due diligence and being accountable to members," he said. The minister said currently there was a heated debate regarding investments made from workers' retirement benefits and thus it was important for LAPROFUND to keep its members abreast of developments and investments undertaken on their behalf. "Your members constantly need the assurance that their money is intact and that they will receive their dues immediately they retire without being put through undue suffering," he added. He directed the managers of the funds to ensure that the contributions by members are invested and managed in line with the Retirements Benefit Authority (RBA) guidelines with regular full disclosures of their accounts through copies of annual financial statements and publication of audited annual accounts. He also noted that for LAPROFUND to succeed in its endeavors there was need for local authorities to remit members' contributions on time noting that currently local authorities owed LAPROFUND about Ksh 1 billion in outstanding contributions. "I want to underline the need for all local authorities to promptly remit their employees' contributions to alleviate the suffering that they have to endure upon retirement when they cannot access their funds," he said. LAPROFUND Board Chairman Mr. Josiah Magut, described the construction of the proposed serviced apartments for the fund as a milestone. "The financial growth of the Fund has been monumental having achieved the projected growth which has seen it grow from an asset base of Ksh 660 million in the 2003/04 financial year to Ksh 3.7 billion as at June 30 2008," said Magut. Enditem