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.

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Thesis (MA) - University of Ghana, 2012

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