To ensure that every cedi spent by Ghanaians is worth it and consumers are not shortchanged, the West African Regional Director of CUTS International, Adomako Kusi Appiah, Esq, is urging the government to institutionalise continuous market surveillance as a tool to detect and curb unjustified price hikes before they take root.
The Ghanaian markets, in recent years, have developed a troubling trend where prices go up quickly, often in unison and coordinated, but rarely come down with the same urgency when conditions demand that.
From transport fares to cement and sachet water, consumers are frequently left questioning whether every increase is truly justified.
It is against this backdrop that the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International is calling for a decisive shift in how government responds to pricing trends across all sectors of the economy to protect consumers.
In an interaction with The High Street Journal following the government’s directive to sachet water to halt the announced nationwide increase in prices, Appiah Kusi Adomako maintains that the intervention by the state through the Ministry of Trade should not end there.
He believes that the government must institutionalize a periodic market surveillance where prices are checked and monitored for any unjustified and predatory pricing.
The consumer protection advocate maintains that in the event that price hikes are unjustified, the government should immediately engage trade associations and unions to address the distortions.
“We want the MoTI to continually scan the market and whenever there is any unjustified price increase by trade association members, they should engage and avoid price fixing and market distortions,” he told The High Street Journal.
For the average Ghanaian with low income, these price shifts easily affect the standard and conditions of living. A sudden increase in transport fares affects commuting workers immediately. Rising cement prices inflate housing costs.
Moreover, incremental hikes in sachet water, which is an essential commodity, compound the burden on households already navigating tight budgets.
CUTS argues that while some price increases may be linked to genuine cost pressures such as fuel, exchange rates, or raw materials, others remain difficult to justify, particularly when multiple players in the same industry adjust prices simultaneously and by similar margins.
He is therefore advocating for a more proactive regulatory posture, where authorities not only monitor pricing behaviour in real time but also engage industry players at the earliest signs of irregularity.
The goal, he says, is to prevent price-fixing tendencies and ensure that competition, not coordination, drives market outcomes.
