Ghana Risks Anti-Competitive Market Practices Without Consumer Protection and Competition Laws – CUTS International Warns
Leading research and public policy organisation, CUTS International Accra, has renewed calls for the swift passage of Ghana’s long-awaited Consumer Protection Law and Competition Law, warning that the continued delay is undermining market discipline, consumer welfare and investor confidence.
The appeal was made at the launch of the book Consumer Rights and Justice in Ghana: A Legal Compass, authored by Francisca Kusi Appiah, Vice Dean of the UPSA Law Faculty. The event, chaired by Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah—who also wrote the book’s foreword—was held on the eve of World Competition Day, commemorated annually on December 5 to mark the adoption of the UN Set of Rules on Restrictive Business Practices.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, Director for the West Africa Regional Centre of CUTS International, Appiah Kusi Adomako, described the country’s failure to enact the two key laws as a growing concern for consumers, businesses and the investment community.
According to him, the absence of a unified consumer protection regime and a robust competition law has created a “legal vacuum” that weakens public trust and exposes citizens to daily market abuses.
“The country has waited long enough. The prolonged delay no longer serves the public interest. Consumers are unprotected. Markets operate without discipline,” he said, adding that the situation erodes confidence in commerce and leaves people vulnerable across essential sectors.
He underscored the need for a comprehensive consumer rights framework, noting that several fundamental rights—such as the rights to safety, information, choice, redress, education, and fair value—are routinely violated. He referenced findings from a recent CUTS study documenting widespread price exploitation, misleading information, substandard goods, and weak redress systems.
“A mother buying food products should trust labels. A patient visiting a clinic should feel safe. A mobile money user should not beg for a reversal when systems fail. Rights must work in practice and not remain theoretical,” he stressed.
Turning to competition regulation, Mr Adomako warned that Ghana’s market has become increasingly vulnerable to anti-competitive practices, including price fixing, output control, collusive arrangements, and abuse of dominance. He noted that some trade associations have strayed from advocacy into coordinated price-setting, a development he described as damaging to both competition and consumers.
“When associations set prices, competition dies. When dominant firms dictate terms, small businesses shrink. When competitors fix quantities, the market suffers. We need rules and we need enforcement,” he said.
He highlighted the absence of a general law criminalising cartels—except in the downstream petroleum sector under Section 44(3) of the National Petroleum Authority Act, 2005 (Act 691)—as a major regulatory gap, arguing that this allows anti-competitive conduct to flourish unchecked.
Beyond cartels, he pointed to rising concerns in Ghana’s retail and pay-TV markets, where recent mergers and acquisitions risk creating dominant groups without effective oversight. A merger control framework, he said, would help prevent excessive market power and protect smaller firms.
“Ghana must not wait for a crisis to act,” he cautioned.
He further referenced Article 12(3) of the AfCFTA Protocol on Competition, which mandates State Parties without competition laws to enact and enforce them upon joining the agreement. Ghana’s inability to comply, he argued, threatens its effectiveness in the emerging single African market.
The concerns raised by CUTS International echo the central themes of the book launched. In a detailed review, Mr Adomako lamented Ghana’s fragmented consumer protection landscape, describing it as a patchwork of sector-specific laws spread across more than five decades of legislation.
The book points out that agencies such as the GSA, FDA, NPA, Bank of Ghana, PURC and NCA protect consumers only within their respective sectors—a structure that weakens enforcement, creates overlaps, and leaves many citizens unsure of where to seek redress. It draws on legal history, referencing landmark cases such as Donoghue v Stevenson and Morkor v Kuma to illustrate the evolution of consumer rights and the duty of care.
The text further provides sector-specific analysis across goods, food, pharmaceuticals, utilities, waste management, housing, telecoms, finance, insurance, health, transport, tourism and e-commerce. It highlights persistent issues including defective goods, false labels, expired products, electricity billing disputes, data privacy breaches, ATM reversal failures, and difficulties recovering funds after service failures.
Mr Adomako described the publication as a “milestone” and a “blueprint for reform”, urging policymakers, businesses, regulators, civil society, and academia to study its findings and push for urgent legislative action.
He reiterated CUTS International’s call for the immediate revision and passage of the Consumer Protection Bill and the Competition Law, emphasising that their enactment is essential to safeguarding consumer rights, ensuring fair markets and strengthening Ghana’s economic governance architecture.
