From: Free Market Foundation
Nairobi – The US State Department recently cited tobacco smuggling as one of the leading funding mechanisms for terrorist groups like ISIS. This problem is centered on terrorist networks based in North Africa, but its worsening in East Africa too, through groups like Al Shabab. Dozens of Kenyans have died at the hands of Al Shabab in the past few years, 67 in one attack alone in 2013. This makes Kenya’s move next week to undermine combatting illicit tobacco through World Health Organization anti-smoking efforts even more worrying. And it looks like kickbacks and widespread corruption are at play too.
George Shikwati sells all kinds of consumer goods from his mobile cart near the Westgate Shopping Mall, site of the worst recent terror atrocity in Kenya. Amongst his wares are cigarettes, some of which are known as illicit whites. They are legally made cigarettes, most likely produced in Dubai, Belarus or Paraguay, but then illegally smuggled into Kenya. These cigarettes do not carry the correct health warnings, may well have higher tar and hence are more dangerous than normal cigarettes, and worst of all, they are funding groups like Al Shabab. I mention this to George and he just shrugs and says, “they are cheaper and everyone sells them”. In Nairobi, top brands like Marlboro sell for well over a dollar a pack, while the illicit whites sell for under 50 cents (partly because no excise tax is paid on them). He would simply lose business to competitors if he didn’t sell them and challenges me to prove that Westgate types of atrocities have anything to do with tobacco. Furthermore, he says: “If it’s such a big deal why don’t the police stop me selling them”?
