High Court Declares Kenya’s 2017 Shisha Ban Regulations Invalid

The High Court has ruled that the government can no longer enforce Kenya’s ban on shisha smoking after declaring the Public Health (Control of Shisha Smoking) Rules, 2017, legally invalid.

In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, Justice Bahati Mwamuye found that the regulations lost their legal effect after the government failed to amend them within the deadline set by an earlier court ruling. He also ruled that the Ministry of Health and other state agencies could not rely on the 2017 rules or government notices issued in 2025 that sought to enforce the ban. 

The court held that those notices were unlawful and unconstitutional. The case was filed by the Novel Tobacco Products Association, which argued that the government continued to enforce the ban despite a High Court decision in 2018. 

In that earlier ruling, Justice Roselyne Aburili allowed the regulations to remain in force for nine months to give the Ministry of Health time to correct procedural defects in how they had been introduced. The government did not make the required changes before the deadline, leaving the regulations without legal effect. 

Justice Mwamuye confirmed that the ban could no longer be enforced on the basis of those rules. The court also addressed wider constitutional issues raised by the case. Justice Mwamuye said the defective regulations treated shisha differently from other tobacco products, contrary to the principle of equality before the law. 

He added that any future restrictions on tobacco products must comply with the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013, which sets out the legal requirements for introducing subsidiary legislation. The ruling provides relief for shisha traders and businesses that have faced arrests, raids and closures under the 2017 regulations.