Consumer activists want traders to call off strike

Traders kept their shops closed yesterday for the fourth day in protest of the pre-inspection programme that requires them to have their goods checked in the fight against counterfeit products. Photo by Faiswal Kasirye 

By Ismail Musa Ladu

In Summary

The activists claim the traders have not presented any proof on the cost benefits.

Consumer activists want the city traders to call off their strike immediately on the grounds that it is taking toll on the end users who pay the bills and not the traders.

The activists under their unmbrella organisation the Uganda Consumer Protection Association (UCPA) yesterday issued a statement, asking the city traders to embrace the government scheme called the Pre-import Verification of Conformity to Standards programme (PVoC).

They argued that they too were concerned about the high inspection rates and likely increased cost of doing business. However, the traders had not presented any proof on the cost benefits.

“…this anxiety over cost and price is not backed by any empirical evidence or cost-benefit analysis of PVoC for consumer protection and benefits to the economy,” reads the statement in part.

The PVoC initiave, currently being enforced by the Uganda National Bureau of Standard (UNBS), requires the traders to have their goods inspected for quality in countries where they have been manufactured or bought before being shipped here.

“We wish to express our concern at the persistent campaign by importers under the Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) to undermine programmes intended to clean up the Ugandan market of sub-standard goods.

“The current closure of shops to protest implementation of the PVoC programme is a pursuance of Kacita’s mischievous objective to blackmail government and its various agencies from implementing this otherwise belated intervention to regulate the market for compliance with quality standards.

“Kacita’s objective is to defeat any action against substandard goods so that some of their members continue to rip off consumers through importation and trade in sub standards good for short-term profits motives,” reads part of the statement signed by Mr Sam Watasa, the executive director of the Consumer Association.

The consumers’ group also wants the traders to negotiate with government and all relevant stakeholders involved in addressing the impact of the cost of PVoC on consumer prices.

Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde reinstated the PVoC programme after Uganda became a dumping ground for counterfeits and substandard products.