TOBACCO INDUSTRY INTERFERENCE PROJECT
VALD-Ghana Strategic
Stakeholder Engagement Meeting with Civil Society Actors
Background
VALD-Ghana, with
support from Vital Strategies, is about to implement project called
"Debunking and Exposing the Tobacco Industry Interference in the Passage
of the Excise Reform Tax in Ghana." The project's goal is to raise
awareness among civil society organizations about the tactics used by the
tobacco industry during the passage and implementation of the excise duty tax.
To achieve this, VALD-Ghana organized a strategic stakeholder engagement
meeting with CSOs to garner their support and establish a network dedicated into
exposing the tobacco industry. The meeting also aimed to enhance the knowledge
and capacity of CSOs, to develop strategic approaches like naming and shaming
of the industries to counter their interferences on tobacco tax policy, and to
promote collaboration and coordination among CSOs. Through media engagement,
social media campaigns, and active involvement with civil society, the project generated,
is to yield public support and shed light on the activities of the tobacco
industry on tax policies. This will ultimately protect public health in Ghana.
The event held on 11th August, 2023 took place at Miklin Hotel,
Accra. The project is expected to last for a period of five months.
Following are the objectives and expected outcome of
the meeting
Objectives of the
Meeting:
- To facilitate collaboration and
coordination among CSOs to effectively implement the project and achieve
its objectives.
- To build the advocacy capacity and
enhance the knowledge base of selected civil society organizations (CSOs).
- To increase CSOs' understanding of
industry interferences in line with the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 and encourage
their commitment to take action.
- To strengthen CSOs' capacity to
monitor industry activities and gather evidence.
- To develop key strategies and
approaches to counter the industry's tactics and interference.
Expected Outcomes and
Outputs:
- Increased knowledge among CSOs about
industry interferences, particularly in relation to the WHO FCTC Article
5.3.
- CSOs develop strategies and action
plans to counter the tobacco industry's tactics and interference.
- CSOs demonstrate a commitment to
exposing the tobacco industry's activities and promoting the
implementation of excise tax policy.
Given the welcome
address, the Executive Director of Programs for VALD-Ghana Labram Musah expressed his delight by the support given VALD-Ghana by Vital Strategies to pursue this
important project. He was quick to add that civil society organizations play a
critical role in this project and more so the project will among other things
build the capacity of CSOs to intensify their watchdog role. Our collective
roles and commitment have the potential to stop tobacco industry interference
in public health in Ghana.
Presenting on the
overview of the STOP TII Project objectives-Godfred Tweneboah Kodua-the Policy and Research officer for
VALD-Ghana, provided a concise overview of the objectives and work plan for the
project called "Debunking and Exposing Tobacco Industry Interference in
the Passage of the Excise Reform Tax in Ghana." The objectives include:
·
Mobilizing Civil Society
Organizations to expose tobacco industry activities around tobacco taxation:
VALD-Ghana successfully mobilized Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to expose
the activities of harmful industries during the passage of the excise amendment
tax in Ghana. By raising awareness and garnering support, VALD-Ghana aimed to
shed light on the tactics employed by these industries. All our efforts aimed
to protect public health and ensure transparency in the policy-making process.
·
To increase awareness of
stakeholders on tobacco industry’s interference in policy development,
specifically implementation of tax policy:
The project is aimed on creating awareness of the public to understand and
identify these interferences and report them.
.
The project's activity and work plan for the
upcoming months are:
Designing and printing a report together with
policy briefs:
After the report is finalized with all relevant points noted and highlighted,
it will be printed and policy briefs produced from it with clear and simple
explanation for easy understanding.
Mass social media campaign: Selected media houses will be engaged to
help in this direction and consistent updates will be shared via all our social
media handles as well. A minimum of three-month duration will be considered for
this. This activity together with the above will take place in September.
.
Once the report is ready, it will be subjected
for stakeholder validation after which a press conference will be held to
disseminate the key findings to the public.
Two media houses will be engaged to follow-up
with key government institutions on how to implement some of the
recommendations of the report and possible consider urgent action for policy.
Lastly,
in November, a meeting will be held among tobacco control stakeholders to
discuss the report and outline plans to prevent industry influence on tobacco
control policies: The meeting will bring together global and
national stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service,
Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana Revenue Authority, WHO-Ghana, CSOs, the media,
etc.
In conclusion, he rehashed that various stakeholders
including the media and CSOs will have to support in terms of identifying and
reporting tobacco industry interference to aid VALD-Ghana’s investigations and
onward action on ensuring the success of this project.
Presenting on Industry
Interferences in Public Health Policies with emphasis on Article 5.3 and
Article 6 of the WHO FCTC-Labram Musah-Executive Director of Programs for
VALD-Ghana said industry interferences requires
a certain level of understanding and technicality to be able to know them; “I am very confident to
say that I am an authority when it comes to industry interferences,” he remarked. He shared
some practical experiences both at global and national levels where the tobacco
industry portrays itself as a major stakeholder in public health but they are
vehemently denied participation in key decision-making meetings. However, the
inclusion of the e-cigarettes, e-liquids and electronic smoking devices seem
like a subtle win for the tobacco industry. This is because, despite their
harmful health implications, e-cigarettes are currently being strategically
promoted globally by the tobacco industry as “safer alternative” to traditional
cigarettes.
He
stressed that “when implementing public health policies, with
respect to tobacco control, there is the need to act to protect these policies
from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in
accordance with national law”. He said the industry often based its argument on Article 6 that talks
about the right to a public hearing. They stand on this to
dispute the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Following are some of the subtle strategies they are known for:
·
The tobacco industry engages in funding and promoting false scientific
studies to support their production of tobacco. They provide financial support
to prominent scientists who produce and spread "false scientific
findings" that favour their products, contradicting the evidence of
tobacco's health effects from other researchers.
·
Additionally, the industry performs Corporate Social Responsibilities
(CSRs) by engaging in charitable activities to assist the needy and vulnerable,
aiming to gain public acceptance and maintain consumer purchases. This helps
them portray themselves as good corporate citizens.
·
The industry also uses issue framing to present tobacco consumption as a
matter of individual choice, despite labelling their packs with warnings about
the health risks. Despite this, they continue to produce tobacco for public
consumption.
He highlighted the 4D's tactics employed by the
industries. These tactics include:
·
Delay: which
refers to the industry's strategy of postponing the implementation of public
health policies to hinder their effectiveness.
·
Divide:
involves the industry creating divisions and disagreements regarding public
health policies.
·
Deflect: is
when the industry tries to downplay the harmful effects of tobacco by
presenting it as a "safer alternative.
·
Deny: is
the industry's refusal to acknowledge the truth that tobacco consumption is
detrimental to human health.
To monitor industry interference, raising
awareness among the public about the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco
products is crucial. Additionally, obtaining and strategically utilizing
evidence can help expose the industry's interference with policies.
Lastly, engaging champions from various
organizations to spread the truth about tobacco use through their platforms is
an effective way to keep the public informed about the industry's motives.
Finally, he highlighted these two key elements influencing tobacco use:
acceptability and availability. Consumers perceive tobacco use, such as smoking
cigarettes, as enjoyable and easily accessible through shops and marts.
Question
& answer session
·
How ready are
we in the event of a legal tussle from the tobacco industry? In response Labram
said VALD-Ghana has been strategic in its approach and dealings with the
tobacco industry so as not to infringe on their right. They are legitimate by
law to do business and so all our strategies must be backed by evidence and for
us we are very fortunate for the WHO FCTC which serves as our source of
information and authority. Beyond this, there are lawyers through our partners
to assist us in the event where such a situation occurs.
·
Do we really
know those who front for the industry and why? We are very aware of some of the
faces in this direction who are doing this for their parochial interest against
public health good. Such people can be found in the media, celebrities, and
even duty-bearers.
·
Have we
(VALD-Ghana) really considered an engagement meeting with the group championing
the harm reduction campaign? We have not engaged them because of their
interest. Public health on any day will be esteemed above anything that
destroys the human body. This group are heavily supported by the tobacco
industry to do their bidding. Which makes them very addictive to the substance.
So, stopping them immediately from the usage won’t be possible but rather,
developing a gradual approach to sensitize them of its severe implications,
said Mr. Isaac Ampomah from the Concern health.
Remarks and
suggestions from participants
·
Consider direct
and indirect investment in the media. “The direct and indirect intensive
investment in the media houses by the industries, to pay for advertisements
through subtle means, makes it a privilege for them to be able to influence the
media to their advantage due to the longer duration of these investments as
well”, said Mr. Adams Ebenezer, the vice chairman for
GhNCD alliance (SASNET Ghana).
·
·
Consider
replicating counter front groups as well
·
Make capacity building
for other CSOs an integral part of this project
·
Assign
individuals to monitor industry players in this direction
·
Follow-up with
the musician Black Sheriff on a recent video dubbed, ‘take care of yourself’;
where he incites young people to smoke to feel okay when distressed and a
trending hashtag #wakeandbake; where people share on their handles videos of
themselves or others smoking cannabis.
·
Intensify your
awareness campaigns in hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities
·
Foster
collaboration with key government institutions in this campaign including NCCE,
FDA, GRA, etc.
·
Create a
platform where violation observed by individuals could be shared or posted for
follow-up; said, Mr. Nii Addo from the Trade Union
Congress.
Break Out Session
Participants were divided into two groups with the ensuing questions as a
guide to build and provide relevant ideas and strategies to guide the project
implementation strategies. A rapporteur from each group is expected to share in
the plenary session.
Group 1: Identify some of the tactics used by the industry to
interfere with the passage and assent of the Excise Duty Amendment Act and
suggest ways to expose their actions
Group 2: Suggest some viable means by which CSOs could support
and monitor the implementation of the excise duty amendment act to avoid
industry interferences
Plenary &
Discussion
Group 1 findings:
This group was facilitated by Geoffrey Ocansey and
Isaac Ampomah was the rapporteur.
Tactics employed by industry players:
l Tobacco Industry lobbies MPs to speak against
policies; citing too many existing taxes as being burdensome to the people
l The tobacco industry, get other businesses to front
for them and presents memos to parliamentary select committee on business
l Using media to water-down publications against the
tobacco industry and reducing the impact of those publication
l Using influencers and events sponsoring thereby
creating he avenue to advertise their products unconventionally.
Suggested ways to expose them
l Present memos to Parliamentary Select Committee on
health to advance our course.
l Identify those companies that are linked to the
industry and bring them to order
l Sensitize the citizenry about the decline in revenue
l Engage influencers to propagate the health harms
caused by tobacco consumption
Group 2
findings
Labram Musah facilitated this group with Eunice as the
rapporteur. Following are some of the issues raised:
·
Market
Surveying: CSOs should
closely examine various customer capabilities on investment attributes and the
buying potential of tobacco yearly. For instance, after every survey, CSOs
should compare results to previous years and see if it is appreciating or
depreciating.
·
Attention
to the rural communities: Tobacco
use is common among the poor or people at the grassroot. Therefore, there is
need for CSOs to visit most of the rural areas to educate them more on
abstaining from tobacco use.
·
Focus
on GRA: CSOs should monitor
the industries through the Ghana Revenue Authority if actually payment of the
tax is duly paid by them. Also, industries are not affected by the taxes, so CSOs
should help by having constant meetings with GRA to increase the taxes on their
products.
·
Issuance
of penalty: This is where
CSOs will be doing a great job of preventing industry interference by ensuring
that, shop and mart owners into the sale of tobacco are not underpricing the
products and if they do, punishment should be leveled out to them like closure
of their shops or payment of fines.
Way forward
·
Creation of a
group or network to support the implementation or activities outlined in the project
workplan
·
Inputs at this
meeting will be imputed into the research work currently ongoing
·
Strategic
engagement with selected and key government institutions to get their buy-in
·
Frequent
updates will be shared via our website to keep members informed about the
latest and trending issues
Link to pictures of the event
https://valdgh.org/gallery/?type_0=gallery&album_gallery_id_0=15
Online publication
Caption: Media to support exposing tobacco industry
interference in public health-CSOs
Caption : Ghanaians
cautioned against tobacco industry interferences in public health policies
Link : https://www.ghanadistricts.com/Home/Reader/016457c-cbd5-4e5d-89
Link : https://ghstandard.com/2023/08/18/ghanaians-advised-to-resist-tobacco-industry-influence-on-public-health-policies/102312/
Twitter links
Link : https://twitter.com/valdghana/status/1690070009953796096?s=20
Link : https://twitter.com/valdghana/status/1690019556465459200?s=20
Link : https://twitter.com/valdghana/status/1689978404701913088?s=20
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