Is Consumer Protection Obama’s New Public Diplomacy Tool?

by Jean Lukaz MIH

Soft as silence, Obama’s Consumer Protection Advocacy has ridden on the waves of the global economic recession and landed on the African Continent, for the past two years, through the Office of International Affairs of the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The African Consumer Protection Dialogue is gaining ground and bringing in its trail big players such as Consumers International (CI) and the World Bank.

This has been part of the FTC’s second year of consumer education outreach to the African continent in its commitment to working towards consumer protection in a global competitive marketplace that knows few boundaries. In a bid to sensitizing consumer protection enforcement agencies in African countries on the need for closer co-operation and a common framework to tackle cross-border fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices, the FTC seems to be laying the groundwork for enhanced international co-operation on a larger number of consumer protection issues in Africa.

As most of existing national laws and enforcement systems designed to address fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices against consumers were developed at a time when such practices were predominantly domestic, and such laws and systems are therefore not always adequate to address the emerging problem of cross-border fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices, the Office of International Affairs of the FTC is working with competition and consumer protection agencies in Africa to promote cooperation and convergence toward best practices and is also actively assisting developing countries in their transition to market-based economies and their development of competition and consumer protection agencies. The FTC also aims at helping current regulatory environment for consumer protection to be consolidated from the fractured array of national agencies and regulatory authorities from the example of the recent move of the US in the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CPFA).

After haggling with African governments with the attendance of Consumers International (CI), the global consumer lobby, the FTC is now globe-trotting from one African country to another gathering consumer protection groups and government regulatory agencies alike in a consultative technical assistance that seeks to persuade African governments adapt the successes of the FTC institutional and legal framework to the African setting.
It appears that the promotion of consumer protection has finally become one of the tools of Obama’s public diplomacy efforts. With the increasing penetration and influence of the Chinese in Africa, it seems that the only way the root out the Asian menace is to cripple the shoddy products that used to be the hallmark of the rogue trade of the awakening giant through co-operation.

In the light of present developments some Africans are quite strongly behind China with her easily accessible credit and technology transfer with softer ties. Quoting Makwaia wa Kuhenga, [The Citizen, Tanzania]: ‘The propaganda against China most often than not is as if China is poised to grab vast swathes of land in Africa to meet this Asian country’s “hunger” for raw materials and energy! But the real worry of those projecting China in this manner with the intent to scare African countries is that the owners of these multinational media agencies are wary that Africa may diversify its trade relations in favour of China, thus ditching Africa’s former colonial powers.’

Third World consumers as well as poor consumers in advanced countries have always been at the vulnerable end of rogue trade as a pitiful result of trade liberalization. Poverty has turned out to be the very nemesis of poor consumers faced with a libidinal bargain hunt for the cheapest offers and multiple choices between various degrees of both locally produced and imported shoddy and hazardous products. In the absence of affordable options and the right to affordable choice, poor consumers only exercise their will and purchasing power in an act of faith with the ‘audacity of hope’ that by chance they shall get value for their money. ‘But compared to the former colonial powers in Africa who seem to sustain an exploitative relationship in Africa via subtle means, it would appear the Chinese want to hand Africa - not free fish already cooked on the table - but hand us fishing nets to go and fish ourselves in the sea; true to their ancient adage and tradition. What are we ready to accept: fishing nets or mosquito nets?’, says Makwaia wa Kuhenga.
On a balance, the stance of the US in relation to China is highlighted be Nye as he says ‘If America treats China as an enemy today, it will ensure future enmity. While we cannot be sure how China will evolve, it makes no sense to foreclose the prospect of a better future. America’s current policy combines economic integration with a hedge against future uncertainty… But, while such hedging is natural in world politics, modesty is important for both sides. If the overall climate is one of distrust, what looks like a hedge to one side can look like a threat to the other’. International relations in the 21st century is no longer exclusive, and there is neither a cold war expectation that countries align to a dominant power as it used to be. Or maybe Africa is presently riding the Non-Alignment Trade Bandwagon and cannot be bothered by hidden agendas as long as the continent gets the support she needs, irrespective of the source?