Ghana: Thick-Skin Consumer Protection

By Jean Lukaz MIH, MTS

Where there is no consumer protection law, it does not really make a difference when you are living in the jungle. In such an evolutionary environment in nature’s farm, everyone develops a thick skin: from the elephant to the cockerel to the umbrella tree and even to the eagle.

In a dog-eat-dog world, consumers in the Third World and in some advanced countries are only protected by their own immune systems other than external Machiavellian forces that only militate against them in the end.

What is Consumer Protection in the absence of a backing law and self-motivated civil society organizations?

In Platonic and Machiavellian terms, having the appearance of Consumer Protection than the reality of its existence in the manifestation of laws and institutions and the apprehension thereof has become the present predicament of Ghana and Ghanaian consumers. Weak government institutions and the semblance of regulatory enforcement and their reality as lame ducks have become the enemies of both Consumer Protection and the rule of law.

Anyone used to mosquito bites is likely to be living in a developing country. In the same manner consumers that are exposed to most consumer problems are dwellers of developing countries, most likely to be citizens of a utopian Consumers’ Commonwealth for the Anglophones and anglophiles or a politically assimilated DOM-TOMs, for the Francophones, including francophiles.

Let us do some scuba diving by making a naïve observation of the naked perambulating ‘traditional madman’ in Ghana, who is discarded by psychiatry, that prowl the cities reclaiming the streets, excepting the environs of the heavily guarded ghost haunted Fortress Ghana that is ironically fully exposed on Google Earth considering that even Diplomatic Missions have been heavily smudged beyond detection and their coordinates undeclared.

Our traditional madman, like the moon, goes round and comes around in many forms: sometimes as a consumer, sometimes as a manufacturer, wholesaler, seller or service provider and at times as the government.

In retrospect, Consumer Protection has evolved in all forms in Ghana: sometimes in the form of political persecution or public scourging in the name of ‘Kalabule’ [consumer rip-off], or price control laws in a quasi-communist milit-o-cracy determined by Machiavellian ‘armed prophecy’.

Given this status quo, Ghanaian consumers have been anaesthetised by rhetoric, breakdown in the rule of law, deceptive appearances and empty pre-election promises ever unfulfilled.

The aforementioned traditional madman sleeps in the streets in rain or shine, fully exposed to the capricious elements and most importantly, to zillions mosquito bites yet he hardly contracts malaria. Is it because he has become immune to the bites of this minuscule vampire bearing leviathan parasites of political lies and unscrupulous business exploitation or is it because malaria is only a condition of the mind far from a disease?

Whether in limbo or out on a limb the Ghanaian consumer, it appears, has developed a thick skin. After all, regulatory enforcement institutions can be simulated as distinguished consorts of unscrupulous businesses. To put your faith in them ‘It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:…’ [Isa 29:8 KJV].

To cry ‘Consumer Protection’ is all a vexation of the spirit and a chase after the wind, a Hobbesian attitude to life as a consumer in ‘the state of nature,’ in the absence of authority and the law:

“…think about how you behave: when going on a journey, you arm yourself, and try not to go alone; when going to sleep, you lock your doors; even inside your own house you lock your chests; and you do all this when you know that there are laws, and armed public officers of the law, to revenge any harms that are done to you. Ask yourself: what opinion do you have of your fellow subjects when you ride armed? Of your fellow citizens when you lock your doors? Of your children and servants when you lock your chests? In all this, don’t you accuse mankind as much by your actions as I do by my words? Actually, neither of us is criticizing man’s nature. The desires and other passions of men aren’t sinful in themselves. Nor are actions that come from those passions, until those who act know a law that forbids them; they can’t know this until laws are made; and they can’t be made until men agree on the person who is to make them. But why try to demonstrate to learned men something that is known even to dogs who bark at visitors—sometimes indeed only at strangers but in the night at everyone?” [Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, XIII, ‘The natural condition of mankind as concerning their happiness and misery’]

ECG Dances in the Jaws of PURC to Spite Ghanaian Consumers

By Jean Lukaz MIH

Resolved: On Tuesday, 12th July, 2011, the ‘Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Customer Disservice Series’ released a new episode. The story not being an original script, a wrong meter reading resulted in a bill of GH¢ 57,000 instead of GH¢ 2,700, resulting in a power disconnection at the premises of CIT SYS Co Ltd.

According to ECG, it was an enforcement policy to disconnect high debtors immediately, even if it is their fault for not delivering electricity bills for over four months, for making the wrong reading [which is no reading at all but an estimation by a lazy meter reader], and for short-changing a Ghanaian consumer.

Even with instruction from the PURC, it took altercations, bigotry, chauvinism, arrogance and a snapshot of the old image of poor customer relations to get PURC’s instruction taken heed to. The ECG power suppliers are Conservatives that really know how to wield their power!

The protagonist, the District Manager of the ECG Makola Division was playing Don Quixote, feeling larger than life, and boasting of his power to disobey instructions from the PURC and the ECG Director of Customer Service.

The melodrama was a scene that depicted the ECG disconnection team robots blaming the ECG Billing and Claims Department for the inefficiency of the latter and claiming that the only way to get ECG to act responsively is for wrongfully disconnected consumers to rather put pressure on ECG as they (the disconnection robots) have to do their disconnection work anyway.

After all the corrections are made and the PURC instruction was finally heeded to, who now pays for lost business income resulting from the ECG billing mistake and the wrongful disconnection and when? PURC?

The prophesy of the Consumer Partnership was true as it has come to pass that the PURC lacks the drive to enforce its publicity stunts intended to make the organisation look consumer-friendly. Making laws and regulations is one thing and enforcing them is another ball game all together. The process of enforcement must go beyond letters and phone calls to bringing to book men behaving badly at ECG.

Unsafe in Any Currency

By Jean Lukaz MIH

Access to financial services is now considered a basic consumer right but the evils of banking and insurance and the vulnerability of poor consumers have grown beyond borders and continents. In Ghana, where over 80 percent of Ghanaians are financially illiterate, and this amazingly includes highly-educated folks, the financial services sector has been swarmed by predatory lending practices from those businesses pretending to be commercial, to the micro-finance and -insurance service specialists, to the non-commercial quasi-NGO (QUANGOs) social missionaries, to the grey area of new innovative mobile phone banking twists. Consumer naivety in financial services has even become a common financial joke in Ghana where consumers are said to always confuse ‘shares’ with ‘shirts’. The Financial Services sector in Ghana and in Africa seem to be loosely regulated by governments and businesses are just paying lip service to voluntary codes outlined by forums such as the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) and the UN Blue Book on Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development that have inherent measures to curtail proliferating cross-border shylocks.

On March 15, World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) 2010, The Consumer Partnership in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) jointly organized a seminar on the Consumers International global theme ‘Our Money, Our Rights’, where a number of financial consumer protection initiatives by SPEED Ghana and the Ghana Microfinance Institute Network (GHAMFIN) targeted at the illiterate and poor consumers were also discussed. This had been an important step in targeting the non-English speaking population as financial literacy educational road shows and drama were conducted in local languages.

The best consumer protection is self-protection and consumers require consumer education to protect themselves in the market place. There is the need for consumer education on financial services to focus on financial capability, responsible finance, consumer protection, and the conduct of business regulation in Ghana. However, most consumer education efforts by government agencies are ineffective because they are in English only and targeted at the literate population who read one or two major newspapers. This leaves about half the population uninformed and uneducated. Consumer Protection Advocacy must thus border on the need for access to stable, secure and fair financial services, which is important for consumers everywhere, not least in the context of the global financial crisis. Government policy makers have a duty to increase consumer information ( ‘truth in lending’ for example), invest in financial literacy initiatives (i.e., consumer education), insist that the retail financial industry take steps to protect consumers (self-regulatory codes of conduct, for example) and encourage the development of an independent regulatory oversight body responsible for monitoring, reviewing and taking complaints. In order to protect consumers, the Government must ensure that consumers have regular reliable information on what services financial institutions offer at which price and what the risk involved is, so that consumers can make well-informed choices.

In a move to protecting Ghanaian consumers in Financial Services, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has established a new Investigation and Consumer Reporting Office (ICRO) within the Banking Supervision Department (BSD) as the financial industry watchdog office of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), with responsibility for protecting consumers of financial products and services and educating them on their rights and responsibilities. While this effort is laudable, the government must be moving more towards state sponsorship of regulation instead of state provision since this prevents duplication of mandates as is the case of this new ICRO within the Bank of Ghana that is working with the same mission, laws and regulatory authority in all matters relating to banking and non-banking financial business, that is

• Bank of Ghana Act 2002, Act 612
• Banking Act, 2004 (Act 673)
• Financial Institutions (Non-Bank) Law 1993, PNDC Law 328
• Companies Code Act 179, 1963
• Bank of Ghana Notices /Directives / Circulars / Regulations

Ghana must emulate the example of the US in moving for a new regulatory authority specifically dedicated to the protection of consumers of financial services in the form of the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that was eventually based on the recognition of the vulnerability of consumers to financial services that are ‘Unsafe at any Rate’ as concluded by Elizabeth Warren in her treatise in a 2007 article in Democracy Journal:
‘It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to refinance an existing home with a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting the family out on the street... Similarly, it’s impossible to change the price on a toaster once it has been purchased. But long after the papers have been signed, it is possible to triple the price of the credit used to finance the purchase of that appliance ... The difference between the two markets is regulation’.

The ineffectiveness of the regulatory role of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in the financial services sector has been exposed since 2004 when it directed all commercial banks in the country, to abolish and in some instances reduce, what it described as unfair bank charges and fees being charged by the various commercial banks operating in the country. The directive, which employed moral suasion as a regulatory tool, only provided a carte blanche for the commercial banks to further exploit poor Ghanaian consumers through extremely high and unfair interest rates.

The banking population of Ghana is about 20% and many Ghanaian households do not save with the banks because of the low interest on savings resulting in a gap that has gained Ghana the status of the country with the highest lending rate in sub-Saharan Africa.

With Ghana's interest rate currently ranging between 23.5% and 41.6% compared with an average estimated rate of 14% for sub-Saharan African countries and 3.34% for Asia's emerging economies, the present business environment promotes a let the borrower beware [‘caveat emptor’] approach to banking and financial services, which the UN Bluebook on Building Inclusive Financial Sectors for Development (2006) considers as a minimalist option that is purely ‘anti-consumer’. This attitude exploits uninformed and uneducated financial consumers and leaves very little responsibility to the lenders. There is the need for an enforced shift from letting borrowers beware to letting the lenders beware, a ‘caveat venditor’ approach as a first step.

Since the beginning of 2010, it seems that most of the global agencies such as Consumers International (CI), World Bank and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Consumer Policy Committee (COPOLCO) have gained a new consciousness on the exposure of African and third world consumers in general to the vicissitudes of the financial sector. CI used financial services as the theme of WCRD 2010 to raise awareness of the issue that cuts across borders not only in Africa but also in Europe and the US as the crises has shown. The World Bank Group is developing a Global Program on Consumer Protection and Financial Literacy to address these questions and help consumers help themselves, using a successful program piloted in Europe and Central Asia, the Global Program will be available to developing countries worldwide. And ISO-COPOLCO has initiated a process to gather information on consumer protection issues related to the provision of financial services, and the growth of new technologies and business models that have evolved in response to consumers' needs in financial services such as ethical practices in the provision of financial information and disclosure, best practices regarding the provision of financial services, appropriate design of information for targeted consumer financial products, questionable business practices (e.g. aggressive marketing practices, unfair contract terms) and liability issues, as well as mechanisms of enforcement and redress.

The global consumer, it appears, is not fully protected and is unsafe in any currency given the present practices in the financial services sector.
Contact:

Jean Lukaz
Executive Director
The Consumer Partnership-Ghana [The COP]
Jytlukaz-AT-gmail.com

http://www.ghanaconsumerwatch.wordpress.com
http://www.ghanaconsumerwatch.blogspot.com
http://www.theconsumerpartnership.wordpress.com

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?

PURCing the Ghanaian Consumer- A Comedy of Public Utilities

Jean Lukaz MIH, The Consumer Partnership-Ghana

Pronouncing verdicts may be an easy task for the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), but PURCing the Ghanaian Consumer with oversize tariffs and with very little expectations other than promises from the monopolies of an electricity cartel and an Aqua-something-Vitens is not amusing.

Concocted Households?
By way of what is believed to be a ‘social tariff’ or government subsidy we are being made to believe that poorer consumers are protected. As if by design the average Ghanaian household since creation consumes within the 0-50 bracket, popularly referred to as the "lifeline" as well as rural consumers who hardly have electricity and worst of all have their meters physically removed by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for their inability to pay for their ‘lifelines’, the PURC may be the first to relieve itself of erratic and unsatisfactory utility supplies. Let’s see if the PURC on its new premises can afford and survive on pre-paid meters with their queuing subventions from a Government that constantly has over-outstanding and overdue utility bills that encourage utility service providers to underperform.

Monopolies versus Rights to Basic Needs and to Choice
The consumer right to satisfaction of basic needs includes the right to water and electricity. The first priority of all governments should be to make safe, affordable drinking and wastewater services as well as electricity available to all consumers and subsidies should be concentrated on poor consumers. The Consumer Partnership (The COP) believes that being monopolies for the sake of social good have created comfort zones for utility providers, thereby enabling them to muffle Ghanaian consumers from their right to choice. Unconscionable in their nature and existence by not warranting Ghanaian consumers an alternative other than the devil and the deep blue sea, we can only have to look over the fence to see one of the biggest oil suppliers with one of the highest per capita generator use in the world, a signature of unguaranteed promises and false expectations. Who owns what may not be the pre-eminent issue, but consumer protection is. This should be the guiding principle behind the regulation of utilities.

Price
Price controls should continue as long as public utility providers remain monopolistic. Price controls should take into account profit levels and rate of return on capital. The rate of return should be little more than is necessary for an industry to attract the necessary capital for investment. Increases in prices should be mitigated by reductions in non-payment and waste. Raising the proportion of consumers, both industrial and domestic, who pay their bills, would result in significant increases in revenue and reduce the pressure to raise tariffs. It would also be fairer than raising tariffs while significant numbers of consumers continue to avoid payment.

Coverage
The dilemma of who bears the investment cost of infrastructure extension is rendered less acute by efficiency gains. It is important to understand what costs are included in determining tariffs, and whether cost alone is the sole determinant of price. It is also important to understand the relationship between the price consumers pay and the true cost of running the utility as loading the cost onto present or new consumers can create unfair burdens. An important issue arises here as Ghanaian consumers believe they are bearing the cost of the inefficiency of utility service providers. The utility may also find it difficult to keep prices down if some large consumers, for instance government offices, do not pay their bills as is the case in Ghana.

False Expectations
Hoping to milk Ghanaian consumers in the short run to acquire some equipment of a kind may sound persuasive to gullible consumers whilst offering clear timelines for delivery of a purported improved service may be verboten and belated. For those that are asking Ghanaian consumers to consult President Obama for a dose of ‘Audacity of Hope’ from some West African Gas pipelines that have been overflowing with hot air, and a justification from a Jubilee anniversary platform that is yet to see the light of day, should rather consult their horoscope to see better times next year.

Big Ears, Small Voice
Safarying the country and PURCing the Ghanaian consumer in the guise of public hearings for what seemed to work in the interest of utility service providers, the mockumentary of ‘A Comedy of Public Utilities’ has finally been rolled out and PURC is definitely having a laugh as they can only hear themselves. Consumer Education (CE) roundtables have been elevated to high tables in star-rated hotel conference rooms where all classes of consumers, including rural utility consumers, play Ghostbusters. In fact, Ghanaian consumers hate rating the credibility of PURC, so please do not ask.

www.ghanaconsumerwatch.blogspot.com
www.ghanaconsumerwatch.wordpress.com
www.theconsumerpartnership.wordpress.com

Consumers represent Ghana at Global Social Responsibility Confab

Copenhagen, May 18, 2010. The Consumer Partnership-Ghana- Proceedings of the 8th Plenary of the evolving International Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility (SR), ISO 26000, opened on Monday 15th May in Copenhagen with Ghana represented by Jean Lukaz, a consumer representative from The Consumer Partnership-Ghana. Ghana’s participation was facilitated by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), which is the official representative of Ghana at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ISO.

In January 2005, a Working Group was established within ISO, to develop an International Standard providing guidelines for Social Responsibility (SR). The objective was to produce a guidance document, written in plain language that is understandable and usable by non-specialists, and not a specification document intended for third party certification.

Relating the ISO 26000 guidance standard to the Ghana Business code Mr Lukaz commented that ISO 26000 covers more ground including consumer issues than the Ghana Business code, which is based in its entirety on the UN Global Compact.
Social responsibility has been dealt with extensively in the document to cover the seven core subjects of organizational governance, human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development.

Speaking on the relevance of the development of the guidance standard on SR, Jean Lukaz said, ‘the final document is intended to add value to, and not replace, existing inter-governmental agreements with relevance to social responsibility, such as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and those adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and that the standard should be usable for organizations of all sizes, in countries at every stage of development.’

He added that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown beyond traditional corporate philanthropy and sponsorships, and that it is about time industry in Ghana developed a strategic and integrated approach to CSR. Mr Lukaz emphasized that it would be more relevant for Ghana Club 100 to be using reporting on [C]SR in company annual reports as a criteria for selection.

At GSB a National Mirror Committee was formed comprising 6 key stakeholders from industry, government, labour, consumers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and service, support, research and others (SSRO) as required by ISO.

According to Jean Lukaz, Ghana’s participation in the final stage of the development of the guidance standard on Social Responsibility demonstrates the country’s commitment to creating an enabling business environment where not only the businesses are required to act responsibly but also consumers, communities, labour, civil society and government.

ISO 26000 will provide harmonized, globally relevant guidance based on international consensus among expert representatives of the main stakeholder groups and so encourage the implementation of social responsibility worldwide. The guidance in ISO 26000 draws on best practice developed by existing public and private sector SR initiatives and is intended to be useful to organizations large and small in both these sectors.

www.ghanaconsumerwatch.blogspot.com
www.ghanaconsumerwatch.wordpress.com
www.theconsumerpartnership.wordpress.com

Stop Confusing Ghanaian Consumers!

Consumer alerts issued recently by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in respect of some identified fake medicines in the marketplace has been deemed inappropriate and confusing by the Consumer Partnership (The COP), a consumer protection organization in Ghana.

With the majority of Ghanaian consumers being illiterate and the literate folks not savvy enough to read the labels on products and moreso expiry dates and batch codes, the FDB alert on March 12, 2010, cited the names of the products as Cipro-Dor (Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride) and Clavu-Dor (Amoxicilin 500mg and Cluvulanic Acid 125mg) the name of the manufacturers. There were no images of the products empahsizing the details Ghanaian consumers should be looking out for when purchasing such products. Worst of all, mobile phone numbers were cited as hotlines.

Four days later, on March 16, 2010, the FDB comes out to clarify the previous alert that it was only related to a particular batch and not the entire range of the mentioned brands believing in the assumption that Ghanaian consumers understand batch coding. The Pharmacy Council has an obligation of rather alerting their members on pulling off the fake drugs off their shelves so they do not reach the hands of poor Ghanaian consumers who trust that pharmacists will only sell them wholesome medicines.

The work of regulatory agencies such as that of the FDB require huge budgets for Consumer Education (CE) and Product Alerts and government must take cognisance of this when approving their budgets.
The Consumer Partnership believes that consumer alerts of such nature should be accompanied by full colour photographs of the products in question on the front pages of national newspapers. It is an apology to have regulatory agencies such as the FDB to put out such alerts and cite expensive mobile phone numbers as hotlines instead of toll-free numbers and set up control points in the marketplace. The pharmacy council must have a self-regulatory mechanism for following up on such alerts.

In a related development, when the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) issued an alert on Tuesday, October 27 2009, on the presence of some brands of tomato paste on the Ghanaian market which contain starch and sugar but are branded as ‘Pure Tomato Paste’ in contravention to the GSB Standard for Tomato Paste, there ensued a week-long rebuttal by FDB and an institutional debate between the FDB and GSB on their mandates instead of embarking on consumer education regarding the brands on the market that were unsafe or did not meet the GSB Standard.

According to Jean Lukaz, a Consumer Advocate, consumers in Ghana are being taken for granted by the very institutions that have the mandate to protect them from unscrupulous business people in the marketplace. This, he said, is the result of very little, ineffective, misguided or no consumer education being carried out by these institutions. When consumer forums are organised by some of these institutions, they are elitist in nature and do not give the ordinary poor consumer a voice given the duration, atmosphere, language and location restrictions, he added.

Portable Generator Hazards

Consumer Product Safety Commission Safety Alert

Portable generators are useful when temporary or remote electric power is needed, but they also can be hazardous. The primary hazards to avoid when using a generator are carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning from the toxic engine exhaust, electric shock or electrocution, fire and burns.

Every year, people die in incidents related to portable generator use. Most of the incidents associated with portable generators reported to CPSC involve CO poisoning from generators used indoors or in partially-enclosed spaces.

Carbon Monoxide Hazards

When used in a confined space, generators can produce high levels of CO within minutes. When you use a portable generator, remember that you cannot see or smell CO. Even if you do not smell exhaust fumes, you may still be exposed to CO.

Danger labels are required on all portable generators manufactured or imported on or after May 14, 2007.

If you start to feel sick, dizzy, or weak while using a generator, get to fresh air RIGHT AWAY. DO NOT DELAY. The CO from generators can rapidly kill you.

Follow these safety tips to protect against CO poisoning.

• NEVER use a generator inside homes, garages, crawlspaces, sheds, or similar areas, even when using fans or opening doors and windows for ventilation. Deadly levels of carbon monoxide can quickly build up in these areas and can linger for hours, even after the generator has shut off.

• Follow the instructions that come with your generator. Locate the unit outdoors and far from doors, windows, and vents that could allow CO to come indoors.

• Install battery-operated CO alarms or plug-in CO alarms with battery back-up in your home, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. CO alarms should be certified to the requirements of the latest safety standards (UL 2034, IAS 6-96, or CSA 6.19.01). Test batteries monthly.

To avoid CO poisoning when using generators:

• Never run generators indoors, including garages, basements, crawlspaces and sheds.
• Get to fresh air right away if you start to feel dizzy or weak.

Electrical Hazards

• Generators pose a risk of shock and electrocution, especially if they are operated in wet conditions. If you must use a generator when it is wet outside, protect the generator from moisture to help avoid the shock/electrocution hazard, but do so without operating the generator indoors or near openings to any building that can be occupied in order to help avoid the CO hazard. Operate the generator under an open, canopy-like structure on a dry surface where water cannot reach it or puddle or drain under it. Dry your hands, if wet, before touching the generator.

• Connect appliances to the generator using heavy-duty extension cords that are specifically designed for outdoor use. Make sure the wattage rating for each cord exceeds the total wattage of all appliances connected to it. Use extension cords that are long enough to allow the generator to be placed outdoors and far away from windows, doors and vents to the home or to other structures that could be occupied. Check that the entire length of each cord is free of cuts or tears and that the plug has all three prongs. Protect the cord from getting pinched or crushed if it passes through a window or doorway.

• NEVER try to power the house wiring by plugging the generator into a wall outlet, a practice known as “backfeeding.” This is extremely dangerous and presents an electrocution risk to utility workers and neighbors served by the same utility transformer. It also bypasses some of the built-in household circuit protection devices.

Fire Hazards

• Never store fuel for your generator in the home. Gasoline, propane, kerosene, and other flammable liquids should be stored outside of living areas in properly-labeled, non-glass safety containers. Do not store them near a fuel-burning appliance, such as a natural gas water heater in a garage.

• Before refueling the generator, turn it off and let it cool down. Gasoline spilled on hot engine parts could ignite.

5123/0407

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/portgen.html

Ghana to host conference on consumer protection in Africa

Ghana is to host an international conference on consumer protection in Africa, coming September 8-9, 2009 in Accra.

More than 250 policy makers, regulators, journalists and representatives from financial institutions and their apex organizations, the education sector, consumer protection agencies, and development partners from over 30 countries will participate in the conference.

The conference would be hosted in collaboration with the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) on the theme “Promoting Financial Capability and Consumer Protection – A step forward towards financial inclusion in Africa.”

A statement from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning issued in Accra on Thursday, quoted Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning saying "Promoting financial capability is about raising awareness, promoting knowledge, building trust, and changing behaviour.”

“And it is not limited to educating consumers and enabling them to take informed decisions on savings, loan and investment products”, he added.

According to him, management and staff of financial institutions need to be trained to become more responsive to the needs of their clients, and supervisors need the capacity to protect consumers against fraud and other bad business practices.

The conference is being organized against the background that low-income households in Africa often have limited access to demand-oriented and affordable financial services.

They include savings, loans, and insurance, which means they have to revert to more expensive and less secure traditional alternatives of saving and borrowing and remain vulnerable to adverse shocks.

Research has shown that in order to strengthen financial institutions in Africa, there is the need to promote financial capability, to empower people to be capable of managing their financial assets and liabilities and to better understand their rights and responsibilities vis-à-vis financial institutions.

However, strengthening the financial capability of the population is not sufficient since governments also have a role to play in protecting consumers by ensuring that financial institutions apply recognized standards and suitable codes of conducts.

In order to create sustainable ‘win-win situations’ in this long-run, it is believed that financial capability measures need to go hand in hand with responsible, transparent and reliable services provided by financial institutions.

In moderated regional and national working groups, participants will have the chance to develop ideas and proposals as to what they think should be done in their country or region to improve financial capability.

A panel on social marketing will show films and discuss which marketing channels can be used best to address the different target groups of financial capability campaigns.

The Government of Ghana, together with the Ghana Microfinance Institutions Network (GHAMFIN), will hold as a prelude to the conference, a day’s Pre-Conference on “Promoting Financial Capability and Consumer Protection in Ghana” on September 7, 2009.

According to Mr Seth Terkper, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, “Financial capability is very high on the political agenda of the Government.”

He said “Ghana is one of the first countries in Africa that have developed and started to implement a National Strategy for Financial Literacy and Consumer Protection in the Microfinance Sector”.

Over the past two years, “financial literacy road shows” have been carried out in all 10 regions of Ghana, easy-to-understand educational materials have been developed and distributed, high school quizzes have been organized, and radio programs on saving and responsible borrowing as well as television sitcoms on insurance have been telecast.

All activities will culminate at the Ghana Financial Literacy Week, which will take place from 28 September 28 to October 3, 2009.

Against this background, over 150 Ghanaian and international financial sector champions from the public sector and the financial sector as well as representatives from academia, consumer protection agencies, non-governmental organizations and development partners will discuss and evaluate whether “Ghana is on track and set the right priorities in financial capability and consumer protection”.

Additionally, innovative topics such as “Integrating Financial Capability into High Schools” and “Promoting Financial Capability through Mass Media” will be addressed.


Source: GNA

Global consumer movement sets out conditions for a new financial order

· Consumer education not enough, protection is vital

· Measures to restrict emerging monopolies needed

· Ringfence retail banking to protect consumer deposits

· No bailouts without essential services investment obligations

Consumers International (CI), the global federation of consumer organisations, today set out its solutions to the financial fix calling for effective, affirmative, preventative consumer protection as an essential foundation for moving beyond the economic crisis.

Following worldwide consultation with its membership, CI is submitting its position to the UN Conference on the World Financial Crisis, 24-26 June. This follows ongoing contributions to the UN’s Stiglitz Committee and the OECD.

Joost Martens, Director General of Consumers International, stated that “While CI research has shown most consumers manage their finances responsibly, they have been unfairly blamed by governments, media and industry for creating this crisis through irresponsible borrowing, and then prolonging it through insufficient spending. It is high time the so-called experts start listening to consumers, rather than blaming them for the mess the bankers and governments have created.”

In mapping out the consumer movement’s call for a new financial order, CI argues that the financial crisis began with a failure to protect consumers from bad loans in the US and other mortgage markets. A viable fix for the global economy must include greater regulatory oversight of a far more transparent banking industry.

However, whilst transparency is important, more information for consumers is not enough. The system is simply too complex at present and needs regulatory intervention to remove incomprehensible financial products and services.

Robin Simpson, Senior Policy Advisor at Consumers International, has hinted that “Consumer education is a right, but avoiding financial ruin in the current climate takes more than access to information. No doubt the clients of Bernie Madoff thought their money was in good hands, but the billions he embezzled shows we are all susceptible to the faults in the financial system. Better law, as well as better understanding, is needed”.

The meltdown of the financial industry has also led to bank mergers being hurried through by competition authorities. CI is gravely concerned that the banking monopolies emerging from this crisis pose a danger to consumer choice and protection. We therefore call for strict monitoring and reporting requirements to be established to ensure the new financial services landscape works for the consumer.

There must also be a clear distinction between retail and investment banking activities. Only then can consumer deposits be protected from the irresponsible behaviour and risky speculation of the investment bankers.

CI is also concerned that the current seizure of bank activity is denying millions of poor consumers access to basic bank account services and starving critical public utility developments of investment. This is of particular concern in the developing world where the flow of funds is a vital means of achieving improved consumer access to electricity, water, sanitation and financial services.

CI is therefore demanding that taxpayer bailouts come with mandatory obligations to provide basic consumer banking services and investment in major social infrastructure projects.

According to Robin Simpson “The banking sector has elbowed its way to the front of the public expenditure queue as a result of the threat of collapse, effectively holding a gun to the head of government. They cannot simply swallow taxpayer money and carry on as before; firm commitments to provide for basic consumer needs and services must accompany these bailouts. ”

For more on CI’s work in this area, visit www.consumersinternational.org/financialcrisis

Fake, Fake And Fake Again!

By Prof. Lade Wosornu
Saturday, 01 December 2007
http://www.newtimesonline.com/content/view/12726/222/

Fake, fake and fake again. Bogus… Imitation… Counterfeit…You see them everywhere… Currencies spare parts perfume DVDs CDs cosmetics fabric dresses shoes booze bags accessories watches brief cases suit cases cigarettes cigars diamond gold bishops priests….

What makes you think that medicines should be free of fakes? Because human lives are directly at stake?

To whom can you turn?

The barons of fake drugs (fakes for short) do not give a jot about your life or mine. Money is their craze. And, it is war out there. They, in one camp, regulators in the other. They do not care what collateral damage is done as they pursue their ill-gotten gains. If Madam Aku Shika, fish monger at Chorkor, gets shot in the cross-fire, just too bad.

Of all the chilling manifestos of these new slave traders, few can be frostier than this: "If God didn’t want them sheered, He won’t have created them sheep."

So, to whom can you turn? Concerning drug regulation systems, it has been shown that only 20 per cent of WHO member states have well-developed ones; 30 per cent have none. In any event, governments and agencies can look out for you so far, but no further. You must learn to look after yourself.

Few fakes get caught, and even fewer deaths from fakes are detected. Best of all, if they get caught, the penalties are less severe.

Fake dealers know all that. They count on all that, as they tot up their dollars but ignore the corpses off whose flesh they feed.


The individual?

What can the individual do to protect himself or herself? Not much! Madam Veronica Gargo, chair, Tsokor Vigilantes, was explaining: "Don’t blame Aku Skika. The ‘pharmacist’ took her new Cedis and gave her capsules for fever. He even said: ‘Actually, Aku, you are lucky. These are the last six capsules left."

So, Madam Gargo shrugged her shoulders and sighed: "How for do!"

She is in good company as witness this report. "In developing countries, public education is also poor. A study in Laos showed that over 60 per cent of peddlers and 80-96 per cent of consumers knew nothing about fakes."

The report adds: "Better education might not make that great a difference. Over 50 per cent of the world lack access to hospitals. A sick man is a desperate man. He will take whatever he can get." Even if it’s fake?

"Ohiafo heor nii ke djirawale." This is Gã: "The poor buy expensively!" And, some times, it would seem, they pay with their lives. But, in this corner, who is counting the dead?

This is G "The poor buy expensively!" And, some times, it would seem, they pay with their lives. But, in this corner, who is counting the dead?

Even the enlightened

What makes you think that only un-lettered stereotypes are hood-winked, conned and down-right robbed in day light? Mr. Oto Weley, faceless ‘aplanke’ and stand-by driver who, first thing in the morning, shows up at the lorry park reeking of ‘fumes’? Or, Madam Mercy Badu, dealer in second-hand beads?

Professor Dr. Dr. Kofi Bosu, PhD, MB, ChB, is current president, Skin Researchers’ Guild. (Pardon me, but the gentleman really prefers the triple appellation: professor, doctor and again doctor.) An experienced traveler, the professor-double-doctor was buying another rolex at Laguna International.

"Is it genuine?" "Fake? Sir? How? Of course…Give you good discount." "How much?"

Gerald Abu, 25, unemployed, of no fixed abode, could scent blood. "You special customer… First today. 50 per cent.... 60…75 per cent..." And so, the professor-double-doctor paid $ 500 ($1,750 in duty-free) ….Smiles…Handshakes…. Two weeks later, in James Town, the ‘gold’ started to fade and the rolex stopped.

For ‘rolex’ substitute Viagra, Multivitamins and the unending life-style products.

Source

Technology makes fakes easier to produce and the Internet speeds the pace of commerce. Sales of fakes will reach $75 billion globally in 2010, an increase of over 90 per cent from 2005.

Fakes have found a natural home in some countries. There has grown a deadly industry. The poorest nations are paying the price, where 50-70 per cent of medicines are fake (WHO). It has been called "One of the greatest atrocities of our time… Mass murder… A form of terrorism against public health…Economic sabotage."


Serious imitation, serious business

Today’s fakes are often impossible to distinguish without chemical testing. The packaging is identical to the real McCoy.

"It used to be amateurs. Now scientists have entered the fray. They can replicate products quickly, complete with perfectly copied packages in amazing detail. Mind you, the content can be boric acid, floor wax and yellow paint."

The business may be criminal. But it is serious and highly organised. The countries which house the perpetrators, also have their share of victims. "Bi ni ker enye akawor ler, ler hu ewong." This is Ga. The child who says his mom should not sleep, also shall not sleep."

See how organised crime runs their fake businesses: networks with suppliers, buyers, distributors, financiers, markets. They have CEOs and CFOs with managers for production, shipping and follow-up.

The manufacturing is a multi-step process in the same town. One factory makes the pills, another ingredients, a third labels and even holographs…Then wholesale markets across the country, followed by global distributors – overland, by air and by ship and so to Africa. Shipments tend to go through mega-ports. Why? Because, where is the safest place to conceal pebbles? Pebble beach…

They also know the markets well. Different drugs for different populations: life-style versus life-saving. There’s also a price-point differential: Expensive (fake) brand names go up to rich Texas. Fake generics and over-the-counter stuff come down to Hwidiem.

Not all economies are created equal

The big boys take care of themselves. In developed countries, the big Pharmas are Alsatians. They jealously guard their brand, their market share and customers. Not so in developing countries. Our markets are less profitable, brand loyalty is fickle and societies less litigious. So, why should they look out for the likes of us?

Tackle the roots

Efforts are being made to cut the problem off at source. Central governments are becoming more effective in the war on fakes. But, problems remain at local authorities. Rules passed in capital cities are not always enforced in Kejebi.

Take this market as an example. A city, 650,000…Six hours south of a capital. Over 30,000 wholesale distributors…Over 40,000 different types of products. Between 80 to 90 per cent are perfect fakes. A host of other businesses support the market and employees. These include hotels, night clubs, transportation and storage.

A new slave trade

If an official were to shut down the fake market, that would ruin the local economy, bankrupt businesses, raise unemployment and create social unrest. This, social unrest, is one thing governments fear most- even more than the black plague.

Therefore, cracking down on known fake cities may be too little, too late. For one thing, factories shall move to shadier, less regulated places. For another, buyers from your town and mine will pursue the loot and not allow them to be closed.

Such are the moguls of this new slave trade. And, here is their favourite value statement: "If God didn’t want them sheered, He won’t have created them sheep".

You’d better watch out for yourself.

**Lade Worsonu is a Professor in Surgery, King Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Consumer Protection: A Panacea For Shoddy Goods & Services?

by Jean Lukaz

Pundits in Ghana have always pointed fingers at the ineffectiveness of consumer protection associations in the country in the face of the proliferation of shoddy goods and services. Why consumers are thinking along these lines are a wonder. It is as if consumer protection will get into factories and offices and literally rid the country of this menace.  On the other hand, consumer activism stimulates the market to provide products, processes and services that are better and safer.

Hard or Soft Power?

Consumer protection is not about hard power, the use of physical force. It is rather on the contrary. It is about soft power: dialogue, persuasion, understanding, and joint action by consumers, producers and the government. Hard consumer power rather alienates consumers and consumer activists from the government and producers of goods and services. It is in this light that some people feel that lawyers are probably the best activists when it comes to consumer protection but let’s get this right: is consumer protection about litigation and legal threats? Consumers are generally assumed to be laymen, otherwise irrational in their thinking when they are uninformed. The aim of consumer protection is to present safe products and services in plain lay universal language that is understandable by all so that consumers will put products and services to the right use for which they were purposed.

The Weapon

Consumers are not specialists but in consumption. And the only adverse way consumers react is by way of complaints and boycott. An influx of complaints on a particular product or service is an alarm bell and a call to action. Action is not necessarily litigation, which rather ends up antagonising producers of goods and services. Action is about alerting the producer who may not even be aware of the impact of their products on consumers. Complaints, by way of feedback, arm consumers with the reason to proceed to the next level in case of inaction on the part of producers. When consumer complaints are met with arrogance and denials, industry associations are the next places to visit with the complaints. Consumers may collectively channel their complaints through a consumer protection association or other and request for feedback on the action that will be taken by the industry association within a specified timeframe. Where the industry association compromises or is ineffective, the regulator of the industry is the next point of call and consumers may well put their complaints and grievances in writing even after verbally doing so. One would ask about what to do if the regulator fails to act…in that case there is something definitely wrong with the whole process of consumer complaints management process in the industry or country. This requires a microscopic examination of the structures that have been established to give consumers their value for money. The lawsuit is the last resort if you have the money to bring commercial giants into the courtroom. It may not be worth your complaint to sue unless it is intended to generate negative publicity for the producer in order to sensitise the public about their insensitivity.

The Practicals

To put the above into practice, if you are aggrieved for buying a faulty new automobile and the seller or distributor refuses to repair or replace it, you just make sure you put your complaint or grievance into writing and copy it to a consumer protection association such as The Consumer Partnership (THE-COP). The next step is to send another letter on how you have been treated unfairly by the distributor and what action you request to the Automobile Distributors Association (if there is any), attaching a copy of your previous letter to the distributor. Make sure a copy of this letter is also sent to the consumer protection association that received your first letter (this will help them to monitor and fight on your behalf where the occasion arises). If the industry association in question compromises or does not act on your complaint after the timeframe you requested expires (unless they reply to explain) you then proceed to the regulator of the automobile industry in Ghana: I’m not sure who does…Where there is no regulator or a national consumer ombudsman, the Ministry of Trade in this case may be the next point of contact with your new complaint letter detailing the various actions you have taken that have not received any attention and what action you are requesting. Remember to copy this final letter to your correspondent consumer protection association and attach copies of all correspondence to the Ministry of Trade including relevant receipts and contracts (do not send original copies). If the Ministry fails to respond without explanation within a timeframe it is time to talk to some litigant lawyers. In Ghana the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) may be of help. They may however take a commission from your claim for their effort even if you do not pay any fees initially. Remember the media at this stage but consult the consumer protection association first as they may give your story the right twist. Other consumers will definitely need to share your experience with such an arrogant distributor so they may not fall victim to their wiles.

To Be or Not to Be?

The question under review here is: Does consumer protection bring sanity into a system? The answer may be a yes and no depending on where you are coming from. If you are coming from the USA, where industry regulation is quite effective, then Ralph Nader has already done most of the work so the answer may be a yes. If you are fortunate to come from Ghana, where regulation of industry is rather ineffective, the answer is a big NO! Consumer protection is just one of the answers and its effectiveness is dependent on a number of factors.

Competition, regulation and standards all go hand in hand in giving consumer protection a boost.

Competition forces otherwise producers of shoddy goods and services to put their best before consumers in order to win a market share. Competition, in the face of the market forces of demand and supply, keeps the best actors in business whilst phasing out the bad and ugly. Lack of competition gives consumers no alternatives to substitute shoddy goods and services for as a monopolistic environment may not be a fertile ground for consumer protection fundamentalism.

Regulation outlines legal norms for those in industry and is bound by law that is mandatorily enforced. The contents of regulations are usually a prerequisite for entry into the industry and pre-establish conformity. However, poor regulation is an epitome of a porous enforcement mechanism and corrupted enforcement agents. In a system where there is virtually no enforcement, there is usually a lack of consumer confidence and consumers may resign to their fate. Consumers in such a system will not formally complain as it ridicules them and makes a mockery of the process and will, thus, become apathetic to the activities of consumer protection associations. Complaints are then replaced with word of mouth moaning to friends and relatives. 

Standards when mandatory are part of regulation and provide an automatic platform for consumer satisfaction. Standards are ‘…rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context’ (ISO/IEC Guide 2). Standards may also be voluntary whereby members of a body establish a code of conduct to guide their operations. Recognition may be in the form of the use of a well-recognised quality mark or trustmark. Companies and individuals use and adhere to standards voluntarily, or because they are required to by law. When compliance with a standard is not mandated by law, companies and individuals follow the terms of the standards simply because it is in their interest to do so — standards improve the quality of products, processes or services, reassure customers and open up markets. The terms of standards may also be incorporated into government statutes and regulations, in which case companies and individuals must follow them as a matter of law. In some cases, governments initiate and participate in standards development so the standard can be included in legislation. In other cases, governments find that an existing standard can be used to deal with a public policy problem and include it in new legislation.

Complaints, in the face of standards, are also endemic in an environment characterised by corruption, non-conformity and non-enforcement of standards. Consumers, acting rationally, would want the best products and services at the least cost that is readily available. Thus, consumers would look out for certain elements that have been traditionally infused into standards such as health and safety, fitness for purpose (performance), product information and labelling, environmental protection, fair pricing, interoperability (ability of a product to be used in different countries and within a product range) and systems of redress. However, oblivious to the prevalence of shoddy goods and services, consumers may also presume that all products and services on offer are safe for their use- a danger to their health and safety.

So if you find yourself in a country where competition is virtually non-existent, regulation lacks enforcement and where standards are not really working, the only way forward is consumer participation in standardization. When consumers are represented in the standards-making process, their views are taken into account and it subsequently forms an automatic basis for consumer satisfactions albeit this will still require a stringent enforcement mechanism to be manifest.

Consumer participation is also beneficial for manufacturers, because goods and services that adopt standards developed with consumer participation may be more easily accepted in the marketplace.

 

Published in Public Agenda on 11th December, 2006: www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda

http://www.theconsumerpartnership.org