CONSUMER PROTECTION AS A PUBLIC SAFETY MEASURE: THE CASE OF GHANA STANDARDS AUTHORITY AND THE PHARMACY COUNCIL

ABSTRACT

This is an institutional and a comparative case study involving the Ghana Standards

Authority (GSA) and the Pharmacy Council (PC) on consumer protection as a public

safety measure in Ghana.

Purposive sampling method was used in data gathering from 2 management

representatives of GSA and PC, thirty (30) of the general workers of PC, fifty (50) of the

general workers GSA and one hundred and twenty (120) consumers selected from the

Accra City Campus of the University of Ghana, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and

its environs, and the Accra Shopping Mall. The respondents were made to complete

questionnaires which were based on the objectives of the study. SPSS was used in

generating the quantitative data from the relevant questionnaires. The quantitative data

were then analyzed using descriptive statistics.

The study has found out that GSA somehow had the capacity to ensure consumer and

public safety; but considering the size of Ghana’s population and the volume of goods

and services traded in much more ought to be done to guarantee the safety of the public.

It was also found out that the PC lacked the capacity to perform thereby putting the safety

of the public in jeopardy. With regard to the ability of the public to complement the

efforts of the 2 institutions, the study shows that the public was not quite capable to

complement those efforts. In sum therefore, the enforcement of existing consumer

protection legislations for public safety purposes in Ghana calls for the immediate

attention of all stakeholders concerned. Some policy recommendations have been made

to curtail the situation. One of these is that existing policies on the works of CEPS, GIS

and GAPOHA could be amended to make them more relevant for consumer protection.