Samuel Ochieng, President Emeritus Consumer International
By Ronald Njoroge
Samuel Ochieng the Chief Executive at Consumer Information Network has urged the government to strengthen customer rights as a means to enforce constitutional rights.
Ochieng told journalists in Nairobi that even though consumer rights are enshrined in the constitution, they are still left at the mercy of corporates.
“Consumers are supposed to be protected instead of concentrating on lost government revenue,” Ochieng said during the Consumers International Global Congress.
The three day event that runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 8 brought together the consumer movement with leading influencers from across business, civil society and academia to tackle pressing global issues.
Ochieng also called for the strengthening of the consumer protection act so that Consumer protection Authority is established with full prosecutorial powers instead of the present situation with the Kenya consumer protection advisory committee.
He also opposed the weak data protection laws that has seen corporates abuse customers private information for purposes of advertsing.
Rigathi Gachagua, the deputy president of the republic of Kenya said that Kenya is honoured to host the 2023 Consumers International Global Congress in Nairobi.
Gachagua said that it is commendable that Kenya is among the few countries in Africa, which have made substantive progress in establishment and implementation of e-Transaction Laws, Cybercrime Laws, Data Protection Privacy Laws, Consumer Protection Laws, among other key frameworks of protecting consumers in the physical and digital spaces.
He revealed that countries like Kenya may boast of strong legal frameworks on protection of consumers.
“But blossoming of illicit trade points to possible limited awareness among the public. Raising awareness on such threats is critical to consumer protection,” he added.