The Senegalese League Against Tobacco (LISTAB) expresses its skepticism regarding the 5% increase in the price of tobacco in Senegal. According to its president, Amadou Moustapha Gaye, the “authorities in charge of tobacco control have discreetly modified the rate of the specific tax on tobacco, increasing it from 65% to 70% in the Initial Finance Law (LFI) 2025, without any transparency or consultation of the stakeholders concerned.
In a press release, he recalls that “increasing excise duties on tobacco is the best way to reduce smoking and improve health prospects, and increase tax revenue”.
“It is true that tax solutions must be imposed to achieve an optimal reduction in smoking in West Africa,” he adds.
Because, he says, “it has been widely proven that substantial and regular increases in taxes and prices are the most effective way to reduce tobacco consumption, particularly among the most vulnerable segments of society.”
“No consultation with the real stakeholders concerned”
According to Moustapha Gaye, the measure to increase the rate of the specific tax on tobacco from 65% to 70% is “out of step with the situation of non-application in which Senegal’s anti-tobacco law finds itself”.
“This 5% increase which could have been beneficial and made sense if Senegal’s anti-tobacco law passed since March 14, 2014 was fully respected and fully applied, but the reality today is that the Ministry of Health is taking measures on bases which in no way correspond with the real situation of the fight against tobacco in Senegal, and this without any consultation with the real actors concerned,” specifies the president of LISTAB.
“We all know that Senegal’s anti-tobacco law is in abeyance, because it is not applied or respected anywhere,” he insists.
Thus, the Senegalese League Against Tobacco calls on President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and the Minister of Health, Ibrahima Sy about the chaotic situation in which the fight against tobacco finds itself in Senegal.
Moreover, LISTAB notes with regret that the fight against smoking in Senegal is at a real impasse, and is failing miserably due to: “Non-compliance with the Framework Convention Against Tobacco CCLAT of the WHO, and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control FCCT by the signatory African States. Interference and complicity of our governments with the tobacco industry. The passivity, and the failure of our governments to respect the application of the anti-tobacco laws already passed. The massive presence of illicit tobacco products. all kinds of tobacco brands on the Senegalese market. A threat to men, women, children, young people and our economy.
The League recommends that the government of Senegal adopt “adequate measures to protect their population from the danger of these electronic nicotine inhalers and prevent children, adolescents and other vulnerable groups from using them, and therefore children who use these devices are more likely to smoke later.
Senegal
