On the 27^th of June 2018, conditions for the entry into force of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products were met following the accession of United Kingdom to the same.

This legal requirement allowed Parties to hold the First session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOP1) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 8^th-10^th October 2018 following the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) of the World Health Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). The protocol’s scope is broad and includes a combination of binding obligations and policy recommendations that cover supply chain controls, international cooperation and offence definition. Uganda has discretion for interpretation and implementation of the protocol’s provisos akin to this is the protocols borne from the Treaty that establishes the East African Community- EAC.

Uganda has neither signed nor ratified the protocol to eliminate illicit Trade in Tobacco Products although it is a party to the WHOFCTC that it domesticated through the Tobacco Control Act of 2015 which is now fully enforceable.

Whereas smoking the banned Shisha contrary to section 16 (2) (b) and (C) of the tobacco control Act No. 22 of 2015 of Uganda (water Pipe Tobacco Delivery system) has turned into a craze along Acacia Avenue, in Kabalagala, Makindye, Bugolobi, Arua Park, Entebbe Bars among other places, Shisha pots are banned and the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that smoke inhaled in a one-hour shisha session equals 100 cigarettes or more and that even after passing through water, tobacco smoke contains high levels of cancer-causing chemicals.

• The protocol embodies the following tools: The prevention of illicit trade; controlling the supply chain of tobacco products. An example of such a provision is the development of a tracking and tracing system
• Law enforcement: Parties should establish unlawful conduct with dissuasive sanctions
• International cooperation: cooperation on technical, administrative, law enforcement and legal matters

Notably, the total direct health care and non-health care cost of tobacco-related illnesses in Uganda was USD 41.56 million, total indirect morbidity and mortality costs from loss of productivity caused by tobacco-related illnesses were USD 11.91 million and USD 73.01 million, respectively. The total health care cost of tobacco-related illnesses constitutes 2.3% of the national health care account which is already over-burdened with the cost of infectious diseases, limited medical personnel and infrastructure (Centre for Tobacco Control Africa (CTCA) , 2017).

Accordingly the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says cigarettes are the world's most smuggled legal product. There are 600 billion cigarettes smuggled worldwide each year making a $30 billion illicit industry. Locally, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) would have netted more than Ush200 billion (about Sh5.46 billion) from the cigarette trade alone but only got Ush74 billion (Sh2 billion) due to a surge in cigarette smuggling last year (Dorothy Nakaweesi Daily Monitor April 12, 2018).

The Global illicit trade Summit 2018 held on March 22nd 2018 in Kuala Lumpur conceptualized that: “Governments, private sector firms and law enforcement agencies around the world struggle to stem the spread of illicit trade. From counterfeit goods to illicit financial flows, illegal cross-border trade of authentic products to human trafficking and drugs... The dangers of illicit trade extend beyond economics, posing in its various forms a real threat to economies and businesses, public health, innovation and tax revenues. Illicit trade is a vital source of revenue for transnational crime networks and terrorist organisations, an important aspect that attracts far less attention than it should. Determining a course of action is of paramount importance for industries and economies to prevent further harm ...”

To tackle illicit trade is to tackle accessibility and affordability of tobacco products, to be more effective on the control of the packaging and to reduce funding of transnational criminal activities whilst protecting the governmental revenues from tobacco taxation. I am very proud of this historical achievement and also to function as Secretariat to two legal instruments; said Dr Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, Head of the WHO FCTC Secretariat.

With the measures contained in the protocol for combating illicit trade that include: preventing illicit trade, promoting law enforcement and providing the legal basis for international cooperation Uganda shall save lives and improve house hold income to the benefit of its citizens especially the no suspecting members of the Public ignorant of the dangers deceptively packaged in illicit tobacco products.