Another Tobacco Plant Opens as Youth NCDs Surge.

By Muloboka Albert Phiri

Just days after Zambia’s Global Tobacco Index 2025 ranking slipped to 94/100, another tobacco plant was commissioned in Kabwe yesterday. This celebration of tobacco investment collides with alarming youth health data:

• NCD onset is shifting into teenage years, with throat cancers rising among adolescents.
• Nearly 1 in 5 students (13–15) have experimented with tobacco (GYTS 2021).
• 93% of retailers near schools sell directly to children (Tiny Targets survey).

Instead of urgently advancing the stalled Tobacco and Nicotine Products Control Bill, Zambia is applauding investments that entrench industry influence.

⚖ A Sobering Symbolism

Although the President himself was not present, his presence was felt through the Minister of Agriculture, who read his speech on his behalf. That proxy endorsement carried the full weight of the presidency — a symbolic seal of approval for tobacco expansion, even as hospitals record teenagers succumbing to preventable NCDs. This is policy incoherence at its most tragic: celebrating factories while children fall ill. Silence becomes complicity, and incoherence becomes a driver of premature death.

The Irony of Presidential Endorsement

In his speech, delivered by the Minister of Agriculture, the President declared: “Every investment must uplift our people and safeguard our resources for future generations. I congratulate the management of Great Leaf Tobacco and urge you to uphold the highest standards of safety, health, and environmental stewardship.”

But how can a known vector of addiction, disease, and environmental degradation possibly uphold the “highest standards of health”? Tobacco is not a neutral crop — it is a public health hazard. Its cultivation depletes soil, its processing pollutes the air, and its consumption kills. To frame tobacco investment as uplifting or future-proof is not just incoherent — it is dangerous. It sends a signal that economic optics trump epidemiological reality, even when the victims are children.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Youth health is collapsing.
• Industry interference is systemic.
• Policy silence is dangerous.
• Leadership signals matter — even indirect presidential presence deepens the contradiction.

Closing Thought

In my last article, I challenged President Hichilema to make his stand known on the Tobacco Control Bill. Today, that challenge is even more urgent.

At the Kabwe commissioning, the President may not have been physically present — yet his presence was felt through the Minister of Agriculture, who read his speech on his behalf. That proxy endorsement carried the full weight of the presidency, symbolising how policy incoherence is sanctioned even at the highest level. The state applauds tobacco factories while hospitals record teenagers succumbing to preventable NCDs.

Zambia cannot afford to celebrate tobacco expansion while its youth are being recruited into lifelong addiction and early-onset disease. The choice is stark: protect our children or protect tobacco profits. History will remember which path we take.

👉 Share if you believe Zambia’s leaders must choose health over profit.