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Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa has declared the ban on shisha in the country as unlawful, setting free 48 persons who had been arrested and charged for selling and smoking shisha in January 2024.
Senior Principal Magistrate Joe Mkutu ruled on Thursday that there is "no valid or lawful ban" on the use, manufacture, sale or offer for sale of shisha in the country.
Magistrate Mkutu highlighted in his finding that the Cabinet Secretary for Health failed to comply with a 2018 High Court order directing the CS for Health to regularize the Public Health smoking rules of 2017 by submitting them to Parliament for approval.
In the 2018 ruling, Justice Roselyn Aburili determined that the shisha ban imposed by then-Health CS Cleopa Mailu via a gazette notice dated December 28, 2018, was irregular but allowed it to remain in force, giving the Health Minister nine months to regularize the ban by following the procedural requirements, which included Parliament's consideration of the ban.
This requirement has never been met, hence according to Magistrate Mutuku the ban ceased to be operational following the lapse of the nine-month period issued by Justice Aburili.