As Ghana joins the rest of the world to mark World Consumer Rights Day 2022, which falls on Tuesday 15th March, CUTS International-Accra – a research and public policy think-tank – had interactions with some selected consumers to understand the current state of Ghanaian consumers. The encounters took place in Accra and Kumasi to assess their general standard of living and concerns about various sectors of the economy.
Fuel Price Hikes
The continuous rise of fuel prices is among the top concerns of many Ghanaians – because, according to them, it affects everything. A litre of petrol is now selling for GH¢8.29 at Total, with experts predicting it to hit the GH¢9 by end of March. While government has attributed the hike to increases in crude oil price on the global market and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the majority of Ghanaians say the rise is a result of cedi depreciation and the about seven (7) taxes government has imposed on petroleum products.
These include Energy Fund levy, Sanitation and Pollution levy, Price Stabilisation and Recovery levy, Energy Sector levy, Special Petroleum Tax, Road fund levy and Energy Debt Recovery levy. 80% of Ghanaians want government to consider removing some of the taxes and levies on petroleum products to reduce the financial burden on them. Ghanaians are of the view that the special petroleum tax has outlived its relevance and needs to be scrapped.
Utility (Electricity & Water)
The majority of Ghanaians who use pre-paid ECG metres complain that the units they buy for their prepaid meters have been running faster than they used to, although there has not been any upward review of tariffs. While lots of reasons could account for this, CUTS is requesting the PURC to mandate ECG to provide enhanced disclosure of consumption for those who use pre-paid meters. For now, it is making it seem that one is better off with a post-paid meter. PURC should be up and doing to investigate the complaints and address them.
The majority of urban dwellers in Ghana are unhappy about the frequent cuts in the water supply to their homes – for weeks – without prior notice from the Ghana Water Company Limited. They end up paying monthly for water they have never used. They want the Ghana Water Company Limited to be up and doing and address the cuts in water supply to their homes and workplaces. In the event of any maintenance work, prior notice should be served to customers to help them store enough water for the period.
Road and Public Safety
One of the rights of every consumer is the right to safety. Road accidents continue to be a national security issue in the country, as more people continue to die from the canker than from terminal diseases. For example, between March 2020 when the first COVID-19 case was reported in Ghana and March 2021, road accident deaths have exceeded total COVID-19 casualties. Current statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service paints a rather dismal picture, with 2,560 road accidents cases reported between January and February of 2021. These involved 1,581 commercial vehicles, 974 motorcycles and 2,766 pedestrians who have been knocked down.
The statistics also revealed that the majority of accidents recorded in the first quarter of 2021 was the result of absent street lights, drunk-driving, driving while tired, and over-speeding. Ghanaians want urban roads and city authorities to as a matter of urgency improve public safety by replacing whatever is broken on the roads.
Telecom services
Ghanaian consumers have expressed several concerns they face in the economy’s telecommunication sector. Key among them is the high cost of Internet/data and its expiration, poor connectivity and poor quality of calls. They expressed concern about the SIM card re-registration exercise. People have had to abandon their work and spend the entire day at a registration centre.
The National Communication Authority ought to avoid over-regulation in the sector, which increases the cost of operation for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). There is also a need for the MNOs to take a second look at the expiry date they place on data-bundles. Ghanaians also want the SIM card re-registration decentralised to make the exercise easier and seamless. They also want the March deadline date for the same pushed to next year, to give ample time to allow for all those who are yet to re-register to do so.
Financial and Banking Services
Most users of financial services mentioned unauthorised charges on their accounts as a major concern to them. Key among them are deductions made when a customer uses a third-party bank ATM to withdraw money when the customer’s bank ATM is down. Most banks in the country charge a flat monthly fee for ATM cards. ATMs can be unavailable or down due to several reasons: power outage, lack of funds, system issues or machine breakdown. All these reasons are not the fault of customers. However, when a customer uses a third-party machine to withdraw money at the time when his bank ATM is down, the customer incurs a cost.
The Central Bank must improve its regulatory and supervisory efforts to ensure that the providers of financial services in the country do not abuse consumers’ rights nor take consumers for granted.
Status of the Consumer Protection Law
It has been more than three decades since the country attempted to have a Consumer Protection law despite calls for the passage of the same over the period. It appears there is a diminished interest in the bill by the government and businesses; hence, the bill has taken a long time to get passed. In 2018, CUTS together with Consumer Protection Agency launched an e-petition that got up to 20,000 signatories to garner support for the passage of the law. The draft bill has now been listed among the list of bills to be considered by Parliament.
Conclusion
In the absence of the functional Consumer Protection Law to protect the rights of consumers, sectoral regulators must step up with their regulatory mandate to ensure that consumers in the country are not given a bad deal. The task of protecting Ghanaian consumers should be not reserved for a non-existent Consumer Protection Law. There are numerous provisions in existing laws and regulations which when implemented can lead to the protection of consumers from bad corporate practices.
Regulatory bodies ought to be proactive and implement the already existing regulations to protect the interests of consumers against bad services and inferior goods. Government should also heed the plea of Ghanaians and take steps to address the various concerns raised by them.
The writer is with CUTS International, Accra. For more information visit (www.cuts-accra.org) or email; [email protected]
