Dr Kusi-Appiah’s legal compass on ‘Consumer Rights and Justice in Ghana’ launched
The ceremony, chaired by Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, who wrote the foreword, was held on the eve of World Competition Day, marked annually on 5 December
A new book offering a comprehensive roadmap on consumer protection in Ghana has been launched under the title Consumer Rights and Justice in Ghana: A Legal Compass, authored by Francisca Kusi Appiah, Vice Dean of the UPSA Law Faculty.
The ceremony, chaired by Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, who wrote the foreword, was held on the eve of World Competition Day, marked annually on 5 December to commemorate the adoption of the United Nations rules on restrictive business practices in 1980.
Positioned as a practical guide for policymakers, regulators, businesses and civil society, the book maps 50 years of legal developments and argues that Ghana’s consumer protection regime is fragmented and outdated. It notes that key provisions are spread across numerous statutes and regulations, making enforcement complex and often ineffective for the ordinary citizen.
Reviewing the book at the launch, Appiah Kusi Adomako, Director of the West Africa Regional Centre of CUTS International, said the text “fills a major gap” in Ghana’s legal literature on consumer protection and competition policy. He described it as a blueprint for reform that comes at a time when the country still lacks a unified Consumer Protection Law and a comprehensive Competition Law.
The analysis highlights how agencies such as the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Bank of Ghana (BoG), Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and National Communications Authority (NCA) perform consumer protection functions only within their sectoral mandates. According to the book, this siloed architecture weakens oversight and leaves consumers unsure where to seek effective redress.
Drawing on landmark cases including Donoghue v Stevenson and Morkor v Kuma, the author traces the evolution of the duty of care and clarifies who qualifies as a consumer in Ghanaian law, what rights exist in practice, and how they are currently enforced. The work emphasises core entitlements such as the rights to safety, information, choice, to be heard, to redress, to education and to fair value.
The book also undertakes detailed sectoral assessments covering goods, food, pharmaceuticals, utilities, waste management, housing, telecoms, finance, insurance, health, transport, tourism and e-commerce. It documents practical problems such as defective and expired products, misleading labelling, billing disputes, data privacy breaches, ATM reversal failures and difficulties in recovering funds after service failures.
Reflecting on these findings, Mr Adomako linked the book’s arguments to wider policy concerns, warning that the absence of a dedicated Consumer Protection Law and an economy-wide Competition Law has created a “legal vacuum” in which markets can operate without sufficient discipline. He noted that Ghana has no general anti-cartel framework beyond the downstream petroleum sector under Section 44(3) of the National Petroleum Authority Act, 2005 (Act 691), and cautioned that this gap exposes consumers and smaller firms to anti-competitive conduct.
He further pointed to Article 12(3) of the AfCFTA Protocol on Competition, which requires State Parties without competition laws and enforcement institutions to establish them upon the Protocol’s entry into force or their accession to the AfCFTA Agreement. In his view, the book provides the legal and policy foundation Ghana needs to align with these obligations and participate effectively in the single African market.
Mr Adomako urged lawmakers, regulators, business leaders, consumer groups and academic institutions to engage with the text and use its recommendations to inform the urgent revision and passage of a comprehensive Consumer Protection Bill and a national Competition Law.
