CIMG calls for legislation to protect consumer rights

Accra-Ghana, March 15, GNA – Dr Daniel Kasser Tee, the National President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) has called for the enactment of a comprehensive consumer protection legislation to guarantee fundamental rights of consumers.
He said it was important for the central government and businesses to respect and acknowledge the right of consumers to safety, information, choice and be heard and have a pollution-free environment.
Speaking at an event to mark World Consumer Rights Day, Mr Tee noted that by respecting and protecting consumer rights, businesses and institutions could build trust and credibility with the public.
“The success of businesses depends on prioritising the needs and interests of their customers and engaging in ethical and responsible practices.
“As a society, if we can get to this point, where we always put the total interest of the consumer first, Ghana will be a better place to live.,” he said.
Professor Stephen Adei, a patron of CIMG pointed out that guaranteeing the rights of consumers against unscrupulous producers of goods and services would “go a long way to boost local consumption of quality goods and services that will create the needed wealth to grow the country.”
He said most consumers don’t have the wherewithal to protect themselves, and thus urged the CIMG to advocate the protection of their rights.
“The nation must take the marking of World Consumers Day very seriously because the wealth of nations is ultimately determined by its consumption pattern as you can see the developed nations consume what they produce and export to us,” he said.
Mr Kwame Wiafe, General Manager of Wilmar Africa Limited said the legitimate expectation of acceptable products and services must be put in the framework to provide consumers with the mechanism to seek redress on bad services or poor goods.
He said a weak strategic orientation on providing goods and services to the citizenry and a poor protection mechanism by already established safety institutions had allowed for the importation of substandard goods into the country.
“The reason why shops would tell you goods sold are not returnable is that most of the goods shop owners sell are not produced in Ghana and so if they should take them back, they do not have any recourse to the supplier,” he said.
March 15 of every year was set aside as World Consumer Rights Day by Consumers International, a membership organisation for consumer groups around the world to create awareness of the rights of consumers.
The theme for this year’s event was “Empowering consumers through clean energy transitions.”