PUBLIC SMOKING

Before this millennial era popped in with it’s Gideon boots, smoking was a strange thing, a very rare activity. Highly condemns and criticizes. People who used to smoke were few in numbers and were respected: one, because they were never easy to meet or seen smoking; two, they were rare to be seen, especially by kids. When the kids are sends to go and light their pipes, they were strictly advised not to puff.  There is a short story told of one Deng who was a fresh graduate and landed a job as an accountant of certain organization and; who, had never seen anyone in his entire life smoking.

His job mainly navigates around balancing the accounting books of the company and finding solutions to reconcile those accounting figures if they don’t agree at all.  If not cash receiving after he has applied his skills in bookkeeping, he would go out and chat with the cleaners and cooks. This was pre smartphones so don’t even think of asking me why he didn’t have a phone. I’m sure he would have enrolled for advance certificate in WhatsApp Groups Management because accountant’s life is boring when there is no loss and profit being calculated.

Anyway, serious organizations or companies do basic orientations to their new staffs. That’s a grantee. Deng was taken through the entire process. Right from knowing which office to report to, who is the quickest driver of the company, geographical location of the convenient room. Other things that you will never find during your orientations, for the sake of those who have never worked in serious companies or are self-employed (including myself); are, who is dating the boss, who was employed through the back door, what time does the boss leave for lunch, and much more. You will never get them until you meet someone who is kind enough to leaks you through.

Just because not everything is said in the beginning ends with a smile or a pat on the shoulder, Deng one morning nearly wet on his hard-earned academic papers with a bucket of water out of naivety. His boss, who we will baptizes here, as Mr. S, was a complete package of a good manager. He was ever jovial and a very understanding fella. Even though, at times, his bureaucratic mood swings changes in a way, he was a good manager. At his personal level, he was empathetically a good friend and someone that the society can look up to. However, his smoking habits never luster well on the other side of the same surface.

Deng was standing all-alone in the compound, hands akimbo, wondering what to do when he saw a smoke sneaking to the air. Having been under the tutelage of a house where both parents had medical backgrounds, he was taught the importance of first aid. But, because he was new and knows nothing about where he could easily find fire extinguishers and first aid kits, he ran to the tap nearby, grab a full bucket that had been filled with water by a cleaner and took to his heels. Folks, you might want to ask me where he was going. Well, his boss, Mr. S was busy puffing in his favorite corner of the compound and the smoke had consumed him to the brim.  Deng emptied the full bucket on his poor manager. The puff on his lips, the wet suits, the shoes sock in water, and that wondering look he gave Deng. No sane mind can even have the guts to wait. He dropped the bucket and then ran. Anyway, what happened next is a story of another day.

The truth is, smoking in public, in this country is a sign of boldness, where you show your untouchable side of you and sends a sign that your shrinking muscles can do wonders, especially the men that smoke in public vehicles or when riding bodabodas. If you’re a boss, you don’t give a hoot. If you’re a common citizen, you smoke to show your sign of despair to the entire universe. If you’re a student, perhaps, a high school student, and you smoke, it’s a sign that you have advanced in life more than the rest of the students.  This is normal. Many have seen, we all have seen it.

There are too many lives that are being killed slowly, at least, everyday in Juba and beyond. A CEO of company A don’t shy off from smoking in any open space. Be it in a restaurant, Church or in a parking lot. And at the end of the year, he cries that the company is not making any profit. Where do you expect profit when you kill five potential customers in every year?

Hotels and bar owners are reciprocating this, too. It’s is rare case to see any section scribes in these promises with words like “SMOKING ZONE” for as long as I have lived in Juba. Environmentalists, I don’t know what other professions you have chosen but there is an open field to explore your career that’s being abused leisurely.

I’m not about defaming the hoteliers or bar owners, but on a serious note, though, you can prove me wrong by visiting these social places. I wont mentioned their names, for the love of God, but take an evening walk one of these weekends and tell me what you find. I’m not talking about poor consumption of shisha alone in this case. I’m talking of smoking in general. Be it weed or cigarette or both.

Although I might not be with the idea of giving a proposal of shisha banning, but there should be some grand rules taken for one to deal in this business or consumption of these products. For example, if one decides to smoke in a wrong place, which is not a smoking zone, there should be a heavy fine impose on them. This is to discourage the few turning the entire nation from back door smokers to active smokers out of their consents.

A friend told me last weekend that there is a shisha for as low as SSP 150 in this same Juba. Can you imagine? Whilst there are areas selling it at four times higher than that price. It tells you a lot about so many toxic contents that people are consuming in this city.

If I were the office in charge, I would impose this as soon as possible. How? By establishing smoking zones first around Juba and other major cities in the country. And anyone who doesn’t cooperates with these regulations, should he or she be found smoking, has to pay a fine, let’s say, of not less than SSP 150,000 or go to jail for a period not less than three months. Bar owners and hoteliers, should too, establish these sections in their facilities. And it should be one of the requirements for anyone setting up a new place.

Abas, a Lebanese friend of mine in Aweil, would not just control the BeIn Sport TV remote when we watch soccer, but smoke and tell you to open the windows when you’re not comfortable. I think he should be one of the people to get this message first, loud and clear. Not one cigarette he would smoke, or two, he can go up to ten cigarettes for the whole ninety minutes of the game. Those who don’t want would go away and finds where to watch, those who are used to problems like Arsenal fans would remains and endure the smoke.

Smoking in open spaces doesn’t just come with the risk of recruiting others to share cigarettes, nor injecting heart and long term lung infections to their health conditions, it has more than that. Not just soot lips and black hands, too, but, imagine your puff that you didn’t crashed on well mingles with the Somalis petrol tank that has not been dusted thoroughly after filling in a nearby petrol station. Just imagine how many people will pay the price because of your puff.