Consumer Protection Bill: Gov’t Must Heed Call for Passage – Kapito

The Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), Kofi Kapito, is hopeful that renewed efforts by his outfit to ensure the passing of the Consumer Protection Bill will catch the attention of government.

The CPA, along with the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS Ghana), is looking to raise 20,000 signatures for a petition to compel the government to take some urgent and concrete action on the Consumer Protection Bill.

“When the people demand something, it behooves the government in power to heed the cry of the people,” he said on the Citi Breakfast Show.

Mr. Kapito reiterated that the passage of the Bill will ensure that consumers are guaranteed the right to information, the right to safety, the right to protection and the right to being compensated in line with best practices worldwide.

But without any consumer protection law, he lamented that there was little or no structure to protect consumers.

“In Ghana, we don’t have one document that deals with consumer protection or an agency in charge of consumer protection. Even though we have some laws and the laws are scattered in various institutions like the PURC [Public Utilities Regulatory Commission], the NCA [National Communications Authority], the Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, all these agencies have some unique skills to protect consumers but because they are in the individual institutions, they don’t protect the consumer as a whole.”

“…So what the CPA has been advocating is to have a consumer Bill that will be given to a consumer commission or commissioners so that it will be like an ombudsman like CHRAJ [the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice] or any other independent institution that seeks to make sure the laws of Ghana are enforced,” Mr. Kapito said.

As an example of one of the failings on the Ghanaian market, Mr. Kapito cited the fact Ghanaian companies never recall products when alerts have been issued globally.

“This is a country that when there is an international recall, a worldwide recall, the company or agents in Ghana will have the audacity to come and tell you and me that Ghana is not part of it.”

Source: Citifmonline