COFEK Moves to Court Seeking Joinder in Suit Challenging BAT Kenya's VELO Nicotine Pouches

NAIROBI, The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has filed an urgent application before the High Court seeking to be enjoined as an Interested Party in a constitutional petition challenging the continued sale, promotion and distribution of VELO nicotine pouches by British American Tobacco Kenya Plc (BAT Kenya), arguing that the case touches directly on consumer protections it has pursued for over two years.

The application was filed on 27th August 2026 in Constitutional Petition No. E489 of 2026, pending before the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court at Nairobi.

The underlying petition was brought by Vivian Anemba against BAT Kenya, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, the Tobacco Control Board, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General, over the regulatory approval, labelling and continued sale of VELO in the Kenyan market.

Stake That Predates the Petition: In its supporting papers, COFEK argues that its interest in the matter is neither peripheral nor newly acquired. The organisation deposes that as early as 23rd January 2024 — more than two years before the petition was filed — COFEK jointly with the Campaign Against Illicit Trade and Fake Products (CAITFAP) formally wrote to the then Cabinet Secretary for Health, Susan Nakhumicha, demanding disclosure of dealings between the Ministry and BAT Kenya over the approval of VELO's labelling.

That letter, annexed to the application, cited reporting in the UK's Guardian newspaper alleging that the Ministry of Health had been pressured through blackmail and other improper means into approving VELO's labels irregularly. COFEK and CAITFAP demanded minutes of the relevant regulatory Taskforce meetings, correspondence exchanged between the Ministry and BAT Kenya, and confirmation of whether the Attorney General had been asked for an advisory opinion on the matter — demands the organisations say were received and stamped by the Ministry but never substantively answered.

Consumer Protection Questions at Issue: COFEK's application frames the petition as raising questions that fall squarely within its constitutional mandate under Article 46, which guarantees consumers the right to information and to protection of their health, safety and economic interests.

Central to its concern is the allegation that individual VELO pouches are sold without the health-warning information ordinarily required on tobacco and nicotine product packaging, leaving consumers unable to make an informed choice about the risks of the product.

The organisation also points to VELO's regulatory history, noting that it is alleged to have replaced LYFT nicotine pouches after the sale of that earlier product had been halted — a lineage COFEK says raises further questions about how VELO itself came to be approved for the Kenyan market.

Urgency and the August Vacation: Because the High Court is currently on its August Vacation, COFEK's lawyers filed the joinder application under a Certificate of Urgency together with a Chamber Summons seeking leave to have it heard during the vacation period.

The petition itself is listed for directions on September 1, 2026, immediately once the vacation ends, and COFEK warns that unless it is joined before then, the case risks progressing without its consumer-protection perspective ever being placed before the court.

COFEK has undertaken not to introduce any new cause of action or to expand the scope of the petition, stating that its intended role is limited to articulating the collective interests of Kenyan consumers on the regulatory and health-warning questions already before the court, and that no party stands to be prejudiced by its joinder.

The Chamber Summons for leave to have the joinder application heard during vacation, and the substantive Notice of Motion seeking COFEK's admission as the 3rd Interested Party, are both pending before the Duty Judge.

If admitted, COFEK says it intends to place before the court its documented two-year engagement with the Ministry of Health over VELO's approval and labelling, alongside its broader case on the health-warning and disclosure obligations owed to Kenyan consumers under the Tobacco Control Act and Article 46 of the Constitution.

The petition, and COFEK's bid to join it, will be closely watched as a test of how far regulators and manufacturers can be held to account over the approval and marketing of nicotine pouch products — a fast-growing category that has so far sat in something of a regulatory grey zone in Kenya.