Where Are The Rights Of Ghanaian Consumers?

Not many Ghanaian consumers can tell of a time when they successfully sought redress from the courts of law on a product (both local and foreign), which they bought from the market that later proved to be substandard or fake.
There is currently no Consumer Rights Law to protect consumers, hence the exploitation of a lot of consumers in Ghana by some manufacturers. SAMUEL BOADI looks into this matter.

Asana Awudu lives at Abuja, a shanty settlement behind the Cocoa Marketing Board (CMB) offices at Accra Central.
The 30-year-old mother of two migrated from her hometown at Nyankpala in the Northern Region to look for greener pastures in Accra two years ago.
She cannot see anymore because an oil ointment she bought from a drug hawker to treat an eye infection has left her totally blind.
All efforts to help her regain her sight have proved futile and she cannot trace the one she bought the eye ointment from.
She used to sell fritters every morning in a glass container, which she carried on her head, and she was able to remit her two children in the village every month since her children’s dads had totally abandoned them.
Now she is a roving beggar on the streets of Accra perpetually impoverished because she cannot see.
As part of efforts to forestall such situations and educate consumers on what to look out for in products that the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), with support from a few corporate organizations, marked the International Day of the Consumer yesterday, March 15, 2011 in Accra.
Speaking to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE in a telephone interview, Amponsah-Bediako, Public Relations Manager of GSB, said a lot of consumers in Ghana stand the risk of purchasing substandard products if they shop recklessly.
According to him, this was necessary because a lot of products in Ghana were manufactured in obscure places.
Noting that a good number of products also meet GSB’s required standards, he appealed to consumers to look out for the name and address of the manufacturer of any product they buy on the market, as well as the country of origin so that the manufacturers could easily be traced.
“The inscription should be in English including the manufacturing and expiry dates other than that users would find it difficult to understand how to use a particular product.
Consumers should also check the net content, volume and weight of products, the list of ingredients, especially for food and drugs and additionally pay attention to the energy efficiency ratings (capacity) of electrical appliances they buy.”
Calling on the national regulatory bodies such as the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Food & Drugs Board (FDB), Energy Commision, among others to collaborate with GSB to educate consumers on their rights, Mr Amponsah Bediako said no headway would be made if consumers fail to pay particular attention to attributes of products.
Odame Darkwa, Deputy CEO, Food Division of the FDB, asked consumers to critically examine both local and foreign products they buy from the market.
“In the case of canned foods for example, consumers should always look out for the nature of packaging as to whether the cans have rusted, bloated or with defaced labels.”
He further tasked consumers to look out for substances they are allergic to so that they are not exposed to any health hazards.
“Consumers should therefore be careful, especially people who buy from vendors carrying food on their heads by the roadside. Most of these vendors do not have any means of refrigeration and thus exposes foods to a lot of infections.
Of special concern is sachet water. Most of the sellers look very unkempt and sell by gutters.”
Kofi Kapito, Executive Secretary of Consumer Protection Agency, also complained about the rate at which some embassies in Accra exploit Ghanaian visa applicants.
“The American and British Embassies have taken undue advantage of applicants in that when people apply for visas, they are denied the visas on flimsy excuses and their monies are not refunded to them. How can the mere processing of documents cost about $100? There is no place in the United States that the processing of visa costs this much.”
He said government needs to put measures in place to prevent telecommunications companies from exploiting consumers.
“These telecoms operators deceive consumers with a lot of messages and ask phone users to text messages to certain codes for prizes. It is the NCA that should do these things but appear to be in bed with these companies, hence the massive exploitation.”
Mr Kapito therefore called on government to speed up work on the preparation of the Consumer Rights Law to help fight manufacturers of products and services, who unduly take advantage of the Ghanaian consumer and walk away scot-free.
“Most Ghanaian consumers have had nowhere to take their concerns to particularly when their rights are being abused. When the Consumer Rights Law comes into force, there would be some sanity in the system,” Mr Kapito stressed.