Imagine a system where you are emboldened by law to return any inferior product purchased for refund or replacement, a system where your right as a consumer is protected. These and many others are the objectives of the Consumer Protection Bill which has been stalled for about 18 years.
The Consumer Unity and Trust Society, CUT International is not taking this delay lightly and has registered its displeasure over the government’s ageing failure to pass the Consumer Protection Bill into law.
Despite the manifesto promise of the governing NPP in 2016 to ensure that Ghanaians are protected from inferior goods, products, and services through the facilitation of the passage of a Consumer Protection Law, the draft bill is yet to see the floor of parliament after 7 years in power.
According to the West Africa Regional Director of CUT International, Appiah Kusi Adomako, the absence of a Consumer Protection Law is largely the cause of the rampant abuse of consumer rights in the country. He adds that individuals and companies are bold enough to sell inferior products to consumers and still insist that “goods sold out are not returnable” because there is no law to protect the consumer.
The draft Consumer Protection Bill which seeks to address these issues was first formulated in 2006. After successive governments, the bill remains at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and without any effort to forward it to parliament.
“It is discouragingly disheartening and pathetic the snail pace at which the MOTI is handling the process. The seeming lack of interest in the law by the MOTI can be seen to have stalled the progress. The concern of many Ghanaians is that if urgency is not attached, the bill will not be passed within the life of this current Parliament,” Mr. Appiah Adomako Kusi noted.
He continued that, “the majority of businesses continue to display goods sold are not returnable is a clear indication that goods being sold are not fit for the purpose they claim. For a manufacturer or merchant to say goods sold are not returnable, it means that the goods are inferior and not fit for purpose.”
Even though the current tenure of the government is gradually ending, the West Africa Regional Director of CUTS International believes there is a window of opportunity for the government to redeem itself.
Mr. Kusi Adomako is calling on the Trades and Industry Minister to as a matter of urgency send the bill to parliament for passage before the term of this parliament expires.
“The 18 years that it has taken Ghana to get the Consumer Protection Bill passed into law is not acceptable,” he indicated.
He suggested that “the recess for the 2024 general election will begin on Tuesday, November 5 to Friday, January 3, 2025. If the MOTI wants to facilitate the passage of the bill into law, it still has the window of opportunity to do so. Ghanaian consumers cannot wait for another Parliament to pass the Consumer Protection Bill into law.”
