The Head of Complaints at the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), Benjamin Akoto is worried that Ghanaians are not angry enough about the current prices of goods and services.
Mr. Akoto, spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show. Petroleum products have seen significant drop in prices at pump coupled with a relatively stable exchange rate in the country yet prices of goods and services continue to remain unchanged. It is against this backdrop that consumers are asking duty bearers to compel traders to reduce prices of goods and services.
Mr. Akoto advised consumer to choose value for Money in purchasing goods since there is no law barring business owners from charging certain amount for their products.
He said “they just increase the price without thinking about the consumer. So when the prices are coming down then it becomes difficult for them to reduce. These are the concerns that I think at the ministry level, they have a department called internal trade, they should step in together with GUTA and GPRTU so that the right thing will be done. As it stands now, there is no law that can compel anybody to reduce prices of commodities in the market but the associations’ heads and departments, responsibility lies on them even in good business practice and in good faith, they should just allow prices to come down so that we all feel lesser burden in the economy.”
Meanwhile, an economist with CK Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Bismark Osei has proposed the constitution of what he calls a National Price Negotiation Board to influence pricing and control what many consider as outrageous prices being charged by business owners despite relatively stability in the exchange rate and the reduction in the prices of petroleum products.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Samuel Adagom|Ghana
