Consumer Groups in Ghana Pledge a Unified Front

At the just-ended ISO-COPOLCO workshop in Accra on ‘Consumer Participation in Standardization’, the Consumer Movement set an objective that they believe will give Ghanaian consumers the boost of a unified front. The consumer organizations present included The Consumer Partnership, Consumer Advocacy Center, International Center for Consumer Issues and Advocacy, Consumer Protection Agency, Consumers Association of Ghana and a Public Interest Law Organization. The objective was to form a Federation of Ghanaian Consumers, Consumer Advocates and Consumer Organizations as an umbrella body with the core function of crystallizing consumer opinion through advocacy, research, lobbying and consumer education. Commenting on the proposal, Jean Lukaz, the National Expert in Consumer Issues in Standardization, indicated that this move was long overdue as it was last proposed in 2007 but leaders of Consumer Organizations present at the time did not express any interest in it for fear of losing control over their organizational spheres of influence. On the other hand, others had felt intimidated by the need for transparency that may be required by virtue of their membership of a federation. The present proposal was unanimously accepted and a maiden meeting was to be arranged to discuss and approve of the declarations, objectives and constitution of the newly proposed Federation and elect executives to lead it. It also came to light that consumer organizations could not seek business sponsorship nor receive financial assistance from political parties. Even government sponsorship of consumer organizations need to be scrutinized if it is foreseeable that the latter may later seek to influence their activities.