What do evolving digital financial services mean for consumers? CI co-chairs ITU working group

Jami Solli, Senior Policy Adviser at Consumers International (CI) reports back on CI's involvement in the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Focus Group on Digital Financial Services.

Consumers International is participating in the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Focus Group on Digital Financial Services, which convened telecommunications and financial sector regulators; financial services providers, consumer advocates and other stakeholders beginning in January of 2015.  The Focus Group meets regularly and has the overarching objectives of 1) sharing knowledge; 2) researching good industry practices and; 3) making recommendations which lead to increased uptake of digital money services and thus greater financial inclusion. Consumer trust and consumer protection are inherent and essential to increase consumer use of digital money services globally.  Thus, there is a working group dedicated solely to the topic of the Consumer Experience and Protection.

Participation in the ITU process is normally limited to member state organizations. CI however was invited to join and to co-chair the working group on consumer protection due to its unique status as the only body for consumer interests globally. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is also co-chair of this group and has actively supported the initiative by utilizing its internal resources to aid research in a variety of countries on related digital money topics. (see www.CGAP.org for related research on digital money)

The next meeting of the four working groups which comprise the ITU’s Focus Group on digital financial services will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from September 19 – 22nd, hosted by the Bank of Tanzania (the central bank of the country).

Thanks to support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CI has been able to provide a travel grant to support the participation of several of CI’s African members in the upcoming meetings. Members will attend from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Namibia, as well as from the host nation Tanzania. For 2016, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has also been supporting CI’s participation in the Focus Group.

The discussions have been complex and in depth over the past year and a half. While the advent of new mobile money products and, more importantly, increased competition from new financial services providers like telecoms, has definitely shaken up the status quo for under served and previously unbanked consumers, it has also served to highlight that many consumer protection challenges remain; albeit in new forms.  Old problems like a lack of transparency, limited access to redress and over reaching by providers (e.g. when defaults occur on credit products) still linger.  With the advent of new technology, new problems have emerged such as increased risk of fraud and thus loss of funds by the consumer and poor data protection and privacy. Just to provide two examples, consumers and their PINS are easily separated leading to fraud. Second, where ponzi schemes used to be based on individual face to face transactions with charismatic sellers, now with mobile money one transaction can defraud a much greater volume of victims. A further problem reported to us by African colleagues is the death of an account holder leading to the freezing of the account due to loss of the PIN number. 

In countries which have seen a surge in mobile money products and usage, frequently the market leaders are telecoms. These early market leaders, such as M-Pesa in Kenya, M-Pawa in Tanzania, G-Cash in the Philippines and B-kash in Bangladesh have had initial success providing primarily over the counter, cash in and cash out services through a dense network of agents, who may or may not work exclusively for the financial services provider. Consumers in these countries find mobile money to be extremely useful and economic for person to person (P2P) transfers and bill payment, such as in Kenya where two-thirds of the adult population uses mobile money on a regular basis. In Tanzania, where M-Pawa got off to a later start, the figure is 50% of all those with mobile phones using mobile money. Lately Governments such as Peru and India have also started to use mobile money for government benefits payments, thereby cutting down on consumer queuing and graft.

Clearly, mobile money products are popular and useful to consumers. However, the legacy of financial consumer protection abuses mentioned above, paired with the new problems associated with delivery of services by agents and increased potential for fraud and data privacy breaches, require an even closer eye by regulators and consumer advocates. Further, cross sector regulatory collaboration needs to improve (often financial, telecommunications and competition authority mandates are simultaneously implicated, but action is taken by none).

Regulators therefore must work individually and in collaboration with one another to establish equal coverage of different digital money provider types, and ensure consumer protection provisions apply to all financial products that use e-money. Regulations should require that the intended consumer protection outcomes for digital money are at least as good, or dare we say better, for consumers than for traditional banking.

Additionally, Regulators should put in place appropriate supervision and market monitoring measures as the basis for holding providers accountable. These should include standardized reporting requirements. Regulators should also consider using consumer research, such as mystery shopping and SMS surveys, for diagnostics, market monitoring and supervision. Regulators should consider partnering with consumer bodies to keep many eyes on this new market.

Thus, the upcoming meeting in Dar es Salaam will serve to discuss and finalize the consumer experience and protection recommendations to the Focus Group at large.  

Specifically we will be finalizing recommendations on the following topics which exist in draft form at present:

1. Contracts and Disclosure/Transparency
2. Quality of services (QoS)
3. Fraud Prevention & Risk of Loss of Funds
4. Agent Conduct
5. Recourse Mechanisms 
6. Data Privacy
7. Recommendations specific to Credit Products


Please let us know if you have any questions or insights from your organization’s research or work on the issue of consumer protection and digital money.  You can direct your input and inquiries to Jsolli@consint.org. Ms. Solli is a senior policy advisor at CI and is the present co-chair of the ITU consumer protection working group.

Does the Internet of Things mean we’ll never be left to our own devices?

Liz Coll, Digital Policy Expert, introduces and outlines consumer concerns around the Internet of Things in light of Consumers International's latest report.

Nest’s announcement last month that it would no longer support Revolv’s smart home controller may not have topped many consumer’s concerns, but it clearly demonstrates the kinds of detriment that look set to arise from the Internet of Things. 

Revolv (acquired by Google’s Nest in 2014) let people connect and control all of the smart switches, security devices, sensors, and heating in their home. This week it will be switched off, so the hardware will no longer function. The Revolv customer (and ‘lifetime’ subscription holder) who first drew attention to this in a blog, sums up the impact of its closure on him: 

 “My house will stop working. My landscape lighting will stop turning on and off, my security lights will stop reacting to motion, and my home made vacation burglar deterrent will stop working. This is a conscious intentional decision by Google/Nest.”

Consumers who bought the product with a lifetime subscription were left wondering whether they would have any rights to refunds, or replacements or what would happen with its data? Since the user outcry, there been a change of heart, and now refunds will be issued for the hub purchase price. 

But is pulling the plug on owned devices a one off, an inconvenient by-product of fast moving technology, or could this be a worrying indication of a potential future for the Internet of Things? We may see a future where device functionality is more and more dependent on remote decisions with little input from owners, and where large companies definition of a product ‘lifetime’ prevails. 

The future’s here

With estimates that, already, 25 billion devices are connected to the Internet of Things – a figure that’s set to double by 2020 -  connected devices now outnumber people by nearly  4 to 1. 

No longer a futuristic concept, the Internet of Things is becoming embedded in everyday life - along with some patterns that may cause alarm for consumers. It’s not just about devices and appliances at the luxury end of the market (such as talking fridges), Consumer International’s (CI) latest research with Members in Kenya, the Philippines and Nigeria discovered that smart systems and products are connecting and collecting data on users and services across all walks of life, including healthcare and public transportation.  

Of course, consumers could stand to benefit in many ways, as more devices across more sectors share usage information and learning. Think of the convenience of a smart car whose tyre sensors detect the precise time at which you need a replacement; the peace of mind of a smart home security system, or items tagged with location sensors; the ease of using a connected transit system across a busy city; or an energy home system that learns and adjusts to your preferences and habits.

The erosion of ownership

So far the capacity of these devices to collect detailed, time sensitive and often personal data and share it with other devices or remote hubs has been the subject of much attention and discussion about privacy. Security is also a huge concern, with much larger surface area meaning increased vulnerability.  

But the implications go much further than this and could, as in the case of Revolv’s smart home kit, suggest a world where the normal expectations of what we can do, and for how long, with things we have purchased are turned on their head.  

Our new report calls this the ‘erosion of ownership’ which could come about as tangible objects take on digital properties by way of the software embedded into them. We expect to see more hybrid products emerging where the part of the product containing software is licenced via contract while the device itself is owned. In such cases, will operation of the device be subject to contract terms which can put unexpected limitations on how the product is used - or in Revolv’s case, if it can actually be used at all? There are even fears that we may start to see the type of remote automated contract enforcement recognisable from digital rights management, where technical blocks are put on to limit particular uses and prevent unauthorised use, repair or plug-ins.

Upholding rights for the future

How easy will it be for consumers to understand or uphold their rights, or attempt to uphold them given such complex lines of responsibility? Or where there is confusion over exactly what a consumer can or can’t do with a product they have purchased? 

We know laws find it hard to keep up with technological developments, and that as products and companies cut across not only sectors but national jurisdictions, that regulation and enforcement of consumer rights is challenging. Additionally, we cannot rely on competition to provide for checks and balances as a small number of companies dominate, and provider lock- in is already evident in the infancy of the Internet of Things.  

To make sure that we really can be left to our own devices if we prefer, consumer protection and concepts of proportionality, fair use and fair processes, must be put at the centre of discussions on the Internet of Things development and delivery. 

What’s more, to move beyond protection and into a scenario where consumers can gain insight and convenience from connected devices on their own terms, services and products should be designed with consumer trust and controls built in, with easy ways to hold companies who overstep the mark to account.

Consumers International’s latest report is available here ‘Connection and Protection in the Digital Age: The Internet of Things and challenges for consumer protection’

CI Members participate in #FASTAfrica campaign to promote fast, affordable, safe and transparent Internet

Steven Hawkes, Consumers International’s (CI) Fundraising and Partnership Officer reports back on the recent campaign activities by four CI Members involved in #FASTAfrica, a World Wide Web Foundation initiative.

Africa hosts four of the ten fastest growing world economies, and is the fastest growing market for mobile phones. However, Africa has the slowest and most expensive Internet in the world, and the fewest people online (just one in five).

Fast, affordable, safe, and transparent Internet should be a priority for African governments. The benefits of access are wide-ranging and significant, with positive ramifications ranging from healthcare, education and economic growth, to good governance and opportunities for citizen participation.

Photo from the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe's #FASTAfrica campaign.

#FASTAfrica is a campaign action week coordinated by CI partner, the World Wide Web Foundation, with 30 organisations across 19 countries receiving small grants to participate. We are pleased to announce that this included four CI Members who ran the following campaigns:

•  The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) engaged with college, high school and university students in all five regions of Zimbabwe through a petition which will be submitted to the government Ministry responsible for ICT and the Internet, demanding fast, affordable and accessible services. They are also conducting radio broadcasts to discuss youth views on Internet issues and hosting ‘focus desks’ in shopping malls to increase awareness and digital literacy, and amplify the reach of their campaign petition.

• Namibia Consumer Trust (NCT) held a series of workshops with consumers (mostly women) on ICT issues and challenges, and ran a media campaign including open letters to the ICT minister and members of parliament involved in the ICT committee. Key challenges NCT are working to address include expensive rates of Internet access and poor network coverage and Internet speeds.

Photo from NCT's #FASTAfrica campaign in Namibia

• Rwanda Consumers’ Rights Protection Organisation (ADECOR) hosted events in two districts and reached out to journalists with a press conference to discuss the campaign and key issues in Rwanda. They focused on issues of rural access, affordability, poor quality network connections, and how to address cybercrime and online fraud. ADECOR also carried out radio broadcasts in Kigali on affordability and connectivity in Rwanda. As well as reaching many consumers, ADECOR’s events were attended by industry and representatives of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).

• Fédération des Associations de Consommateurs de Côte d 'Ivoire (FAC) are campaigning for fast, affordable, safe and transparent Internet in the Ivory Coast.

Find out more about the campaign on the #FASTAfrica website. You can also find out more about CI’s Consumers in the Digital Age programme here.

Africa update: The food security 'death sentence' blighting millions of lives

CI's Cathy Rutivi lifts the lid on the horrendous food shortages which many Africans face - and outlines how the consumer movement is trying to help. 

The right to basic needs is still a far cry for most consumers in Africa. Access to basic essential services like water and food is still a constant problem.

Food security is a major issue here and even food sufficiency alone does not guarantee an end to hunger. There are many factors internal or external that can affect or alter the availability, affordability, quality and safety of food in different degrees.

A number of factors like war, natural disasters like floods or even drought and famine have often displaced people and left them without food.

There are many people who rely on humanitarian relief aid just to survive especially in the Sahel and Horn of Africa regions. Access to land for farming is also a critical issue in most countries in Africa as this also addresses food security.

Most countries in Sub Saharan Africa have seen a decline in national income due to the economic and financial crises, poor governance, corruption and wars.

This has resulted in people living in very hard and harsh economic environments with high unemployment and lack of service delivery for most services.

When you picture people in these situations what they are mostly concerned about is having just a meal a day, if they can find it. Even in countries like South Africa (SA) that are considered more developed than most developing countries in Africa, 12 million people go to bed hungry each night.

According to a recent published report by the University of Cape town’s African Food Security Unit Network: “There are children whose daily food is half a white bread sandwich” (in most cases it is just half a slice with no spread on it; just dry taken with water).

The implication of this is a death sentence, says Food Bank SA. The figures on the surveyed cities in South Africa showed 77% of households were either moderately or severely food insecure. Most analysts however believe the figures to be far higher than this.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, of the 870 million people worldwide who are chronically undernourished, 234 million of them live in Sub Saharan Africa .

The main problem is also access to adequate nutrition, not necessarily availability of food. People are too poor to afford to buy food and accessibility is also a major issue for people in rural areas where either markets or supermarkets are located far around urban areas.

Queuing for food at a school in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Picture by Shelley Christians; Image by: The times/Shelley Christians/Gallo Images

Most school feeding programmes like the one seen above in the picture are used as an intervention to ensure children receive at least a balanced meal of corn maize and bean soup.

Towards the end of last year in October 2013, I attended a food safety workshop on Early Warning Rapid Alert (EWRA) systems hosted by FAO in Rome, Italy.

It was a platform to share knowledge and experiences on early warning, rapid alert and horizon scanning systems.

It also served to generate concrete ideas on how FAO - in collaboration with other key partners  - could assist countries and regions to build early warning and rapid alert capacities in food safety and to benefit from global/regional horizon scanning as well as creating opportunities for collaboration.

The workshop discussions sought to answer critical questions that, given the many competing national priorities, to what extend are the EWRA systems in food safety a realistic priority for low to medium income countries, and, if not, how do we make them a priority?

A lot of food in these countries is lost in post-harvest activities from the farm before it reaches the markets. This results in food losses which also has a big impact on food security.

Over the years, consumer organisations in Africa have participated in national, regional and international food security programmes aimed at reducing poverty and hunger as well as collaborating with research NGOs/institutions and other global CI Members to establish the fundamental issues of the whole food chain (accessibility, affordability, availability and safety).

CI Africa will soon be working on a paper on Food Security, Nutrition and Safety in Africa to define a CI Africa agenda on the issue, including recommendations for consumer policy positions.

We would like to hear from our Members in Africa about their current country experiences regarding food security, nutrition and safety. Please share with us on our African Consumers International Facebook group or via Twitter.

Renewing the consumer movement in Africa

Onica Makwakwa, Head of CI's Africa Office reflects on the recent growth of the consumer movement in Africa and what this means for CI and its Members. 

This year has been dominated by news of The Rise of the African Consumer led by reports from the McKinsley Institute.

While both promising and exciting from an economic and marketing perspective, these reports have sometimes been worrisome especially when thinking about the still lacking state of consumer protection throughout Africa.

It is therefore exciting to be part of the current renewal and growth of consumer organisations in Africa as experienced through the many new and upgraded Full Members who have joined CI during this time.

The commercial focus on the African consumer means that now more than ever we must seek to protect consumers’ rights through effective sector and comprehensive consumer protection law.

Many of these organisations are on the forefront of efforts to introduce legislation for consumer protection, such as Consumer Advocacy Centre, an upgraded Full Member in Ghana who is conducting stakeholder consultations on the newly drafted consumer protection policy that will be used to draft legislation for the country.

Such renewal of the consumer movement in Africa makes this an exciting time for CI and its Members.

We hope to continue to harness the collective power of consumer organisations in the region as a formidable voice of consumers that will usher in the necessary protections for 21st century consumers in Africa.

Africa rising: CI takes on new members

The first half of 2013 has been busy for African consumer organisations., says CI's Head of Africa Onica Makwakwa.

Following their participation in the research on organisational sustainability and CI’s renewed focus on organisational empowerment, African consumer organisations in all corners of the region are getting their structures in shape for effective leadership as the voice for consumers in Africa.

The CI Office for Africa is pleased to welcome the following organisations as Full Members of CI after years of participation as Affiliates:

•    Consumers Association of Burundian/Association Burundaise des Consomateurs (ABUCO)

•    Consumer Advocacy Organisation (CAO) in Nigeria

•    Kenya Consumers Organisation (KCO) 

•    National Consumer Forum (NCF) in South Africa

•    Namibia Consumer Trust (NCT)

As more organisations prepare to upgrade to Full Membership, the team in the Africa office continues to forge relationships with new consumer organisations including in countries where CI currently has no Members such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Swaziland.

Member Services Officers, Cathy Rutivi and Xaverine Ndikumagenge, stand ready to assist with new applications, membership upgrades and cultivation of prospective members in the region.

Furthermore, we have completed organisational assessments of Members in Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria through a project funded by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa.

During this next phase, we look forward to implementing training and technical support for enhancing the capacity of CAC in Ghana, ADEC in Senegal and CAO in Nigeria and subsequently opening up the resources to even more organisations within the West Africa hub and throughout the region. 

In the meantime, we invite all African consumer advocates to connect with each other on the African Consumers International Facebook. 

Food safety is just as important as food security in Africa

CI’s Head of Africa Onica Makwakwa looks at the work CI Members are doing around food safety on the continent

On a continent where food security is still a challenge due to limited availability and high cost, food safety may not be prioritised but it is integral to achieving food security.

The recent meat-label scandal, especially in the Southern Africa region, has highlighted just how misunderstood food safety is in a region where food insecurity, political instability, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other major concerns compete for government attention and priority. 

As such, many African countries are yet to prioritise the regulatory infrastructure required to ensure ‘access to nutritionally adequate and safe food as a right to each individual’ as articulated in the World Declaration on Nutrition.

Consumer organisations, therefore, play a pivotal role in advocating on behalf of consumers and holding those in the food value chain accountable for food safety as well as food security.

CI Members on the continent are doing their part to raise awareness about food safety. For example, in Namibia, Michael Gaweseb, executive director of CI Member Namibia ConsumerTrust, facilitated the testing of meat from supermarkets, raising awareness among officials and consumers alike when they found undisclosed meats including kangaroo in some processed meat products.

While in South Africa, Thami Bolani, CEO of CI Member Consumer Fair, continues to lead the media and public outcry on the growing meat-labelling scandal which is now being investigated by the National Consumer Commission.

Contamination of food -- as demonstrated in the case of aflatoxin contamination -- is another big safety issue which also has repercussions on scarcity.

Aflatoxins are poisonous mycotoxins that are produced by toxic fungi affecting crops in the field and during storage thus making them unsafe for human and livestock consumption. In Africa, aflatoxin contamination is a major cause of post-harvest losses and constitutes a significant threat to food security and livelihoods. Indeed, aflatoxins are a major public health challenge throughout the continent.

Richard Henry Kimera, chief executive of CI Member Consumer Education Trust (CONSENT) in Uganda, joined me at a Strategy Development-Stakeholder Consultation Workshop for the African Union on Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa. Kimera is a voice for consumers with his advocacy and consumer education on aflatoxins in Uganda.

With aflatoxin contamination affecting food safety and subsequently food security in most of sub-Saharan Africa, it is imperative that we draw upon existing research and the work conducted by CONSENT and other consumer organisations in the region to further identify and develop the necessary regional expertise on aflatoxin control.

To join our dialogue on aflatoxin control and other emerging issues of importance to consumer organisations in Africa, please join our new Facebook group. If you already have a Facebook account, you can find us here: www.facebook.com/groups/afroconsumers. (If not, you will need a Facebook account to join this group.) This is a closed group, therefore, to join you need to send a request to afroconsumers@groups.facebook.com or search and request to join via Facebook.

Looking forward to connecting and sharing with everyone.

Does competition help alleviate poverty?

CI’s Phil Evans, Coordinator of the International Network of Consumer Antitrust Advisers, reports from the 2013 OECD Global Forum on Competition. 

When the more than 400 delegates of the OECD Global Forum on Competition (GFC) arrived for the first day of their two-day meeting they were met by a banner for a meeting in the room opposite their own for the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Tractor Codes.

Many probably wondered what you could talk about for two days solely regarding tractors; but this is probably precisely the view of most of the rest of the world about the GFC!

The GFC is divided into a series of sessions first looking at the relationship between competition policy and poverty; and then focusing on the more ‘normal’ issues of sector-specific reviews of media and competition.

A criticism often levelled at these big fora is that they are great at producing hot air and poor at producing any useful insight or pointers. Thankfully, this criticism rang hollow with the GFC. Presentations combined strong analysis with specific case studies of how poverty can interact with competition policy and vice versa.

There were long discussions about the role of consumers and small producers in the alleviation of poverty.

Given many agencies have to contemplate competition issues from a consumer welfare perspective, it is difficult to carry out such an analysis of the market when there are a large number of non-consumers who may operate at irregular intervals at the margin of the market.

One of the definitions of poverty is the absence of an individual from a market because they simply can't afford to operate in it. How do we assess their welfare when we are looking at a competition case?

Do we simply ignore them as they are outside of the market or do we include them because they ‘might’ be in the market in the future IF competition can help drive down prices and drive up demand or a merger offers to widen access to products though an improved distribution network?

The wider discussion focused on whether competition policy could help lessen poverty, or indeed make it worse. There was also an involved debate about whether competition law was even capable of doing anything useful in poverty alleviation.

Thankfully, a number of countries, most notably South Africa and Senegal, produced some cogent examples of how new entry in market encouraged by competition policy can help widen access and bring more poor consumers into markets.

However, many more examples were produced of how the working of the market itself, rather than any specific actions of a government agency, could help drive down poverty.

Senegal outlined a very interesting series of examples about enterprising Senegalese citizens acting as micro retailers for mobile phone cards and how some were repackaging large packs of detergent into micro packs to be sold at low prices to those who could not afford to buy the full pack.

One theme that ran through the day, and was encapsulated most notably in a presentation by a representative of MPESA, a mobile phone-based money transfer system, was the role that information technology may play in alleviating poverty.

While much of this overall debate can smack of fashionable thinking, the discussion here at OECD was largely denuded of the misty-eyed optimism that many discussions of ICT can be encumbered with.

The OECD discussion, however, focused on specific cases of how ICT developments can help widen access and participation and how regulatory agencies can have an impact upon them.

While not directly competition-policy related, the examples used focused more on the role of incumbent banks and some central banks’ willingness to do their bidding by slowing the spread of mobile phone-based micro payments.

There was almost a plea to the assembled bodies to ensure that finance ministries and central banks did not act to restrict entry and competition and to help market entry.

The 2013 OECD GFC started well with a detailed focus on the competition policy/poverty with a decent balance between high-level analysis and detailed case studies.

CI made good connections with all the major bodies at the meeting and its presence was noted positively. There was also a clear desire to see greater connections with civil society bodies to promote competition and debate the benefits (or not) of competition policy in helping countries develop.

As with all such pleas, the challenge will be in finding ways to make this debate happen at the national level.

A blog report from Day 2 of this meeting will appear next week.

Africa’s consumers need urgent protection

CI’s new Head of Africa Onica Makwakwa stresses the importance of a strong consumer rights movement in Africa as its economy is predicted to grow.

Thoughts of my first 100 days as CI’s new Head of Africa have been dominated by the incredible support, dedication and commitment of CI members, not just in Africa but globally.

In true African style, CI members have called, written and visited to extend a warm welcome; wasting no time to express their readiness to work with the office and alongside their peers through the creation of regional hubs.

The success of the regional hubs initiative is important to the consumer movement as is the sustainability of consumer organisations in Africa. While the world is buzzing about Africa being the next “gold mine,”  a strong consumer movement is critical now more than ever in ensuring that interest in the African market is not borne at the expense of consumers.

The urgency of our movement has been further confirmed in many small group and individual meetings with CI members. For example, there has been a convening in Pretoria of select members who participated in the consultative workgroup on the creation of regional hubs.

There has also been the training on Consumer Protection Law and Standardisation hosted in conjunction with UNIDO with members from West Africa in Abidjan.

And there has been a workshop, Credit Reporting Financial Literacy Project, with members in Tanzania hosted by the Tanzania Consumer Association Consumer Advocacy Society and funded by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. 

For the new year, we have aspirations to strengthen and grow the consumer movement in Africa by focusing on building the capacity and sustainability of our consumer organisations while simultaneously advancing an agenda that is relevant to the African consumer in an innovative, effective and timely manner.

Africa’s consumer movement stands on the shoulders of incredibly dedicated leaders who are champions for consumers within their own countries and beyond.

For African consumers the future is NOW; and with it comes the challenge to seed growth and prosperity in the movement TODAY.

Consumer organisations in Africa are ready, but we continue to welcome the support of our brothers and sisters in the international community. We invite you to walk the journey with us and to share your own best practices. Follow us on Twitter @ci_africa.

Africa’s consumer movement - ready to fly

Africa’s consumers, and the consumer groups that represent them, are poised to drive real change on the continent.  Luke Upchurch on  CI’s recent council meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. 

If there is one thing the Africa consumer rights movement doesn’t lack its enthusiasm.

After spending five days meeting, talking and debating with groups from every corner of the continent, it’s clear that, despite intermittent communications technology, huge geographic distances and all-but-non-existent financial support – Africa’s consumer rights groups are finding their voice.

The overwhelming focus of development in Africa has been, and rightly continues to be, trade. But an increasing number of governments, and a huge number of people, now recognise the issues faced by consumers on the continent too.

Consumer rights groups across the continent, many with direct help from CI, are currently working on a wide range of consumer rights issues, including financial literacy, nutrition, sustainable consumption, and intellectual property–areas that are having a real impact on the quality of people’s lives.

As for Africa’s consumers themselves – they are leading the way with new forms of mobile telephone banking, urban agriculture, and collaborative initiatives – way ahead of many consumers, businesses, and market analysts in the global north.

These examples provide some of the background for the Africa summit of consumer groups held to mark the official opening of CI’s new Africa office in Pretoria, South Africa earlier this month.

Consumers International also used this special occasion in Pretoria to conduct its annual face-to-face council meeting, allowing Africa consumer groups the opportunity to hold detailed discussions with leading consumer advocates from across the world.

It was an extraordinary meeting of minds, with consumer group directors and CEOs from the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America working with their counterparts from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Benin, Kenya and Uganda.

The overriding message from the Africa consumer groups was the desire to be sustainable organisations. This was not a meeting to discuss handouts, but to kick off ideas about how the rest of the world’s consumer groups can partner with the Africa movement to empower consumer organisations.

This partnership could take many forms, not least access to the wealth of expertise from consumer rights groups in Asia, who found themselves at a similar stage of development 20 years ago.

Commitments were also made to increase knowledge-sharing with others to build on campaign ideas, fine-tune policy demands and reach out to both the poor and growing African middleclass.

Consumers International has a key facilitation role in this process and plans are already underway to establish  regional hubs across Africa.

These hubs would act as sub-regional facilitators for collaborative initiatives and campaigns, , and as CI’s ‘ear to the ground’ for issues, ideas and opportunities  for collective action in each geographic area.

There was a palpable sense throughout the three days of meetings that a significant step forward was occurring; that the consumer rights movement in Africa was entering a new stage.

The feeling was certainly shared by CI’s Malaysian council member Marimuthu Nadason, who donated $10,000 from his organisation FOMCA to the new CI Africa office – a highly appreciated gesture that will help kick start some of the new ideas for collaboration put forward by the Africa member groups.

But perhaps the clearest indication of this new enthusiasm came from South Africa’s Acting Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Ibrahim Mohammed.

Addressing guests at the high-level evening reception put on by CI Africa, the Commissioner made clear his government’s desire to work closely with CI and support our work to develop the movement across the continent.

It’s a long road ahead, but, with a new office, tremendous staff and the encouragement of those with influence, Africa’s consumer rights movement may well be ready to fly.

You can follow the latest development in Africa’s consumer rights movement on twitter @CI_Africa and by visiting www.consumersinternational.org/Africa.

Freed consumer activist speaks of hope for human rights in Malawi

John Kapito, consumer rights activist and human rights defender, talks about his recent detention by the late President of Malawi.

I have been an activist for the past 20 years.

Advocacy and the promotion of rights is at the centre of the work of the Malawi Human Rights Commission for which I am chairperson and of CI member organisation the Consumers Association of Malawi for which I am executive advisor.

In both of these organisations, we are driven by our passion to work with the most vulnerable members of our society by ensuring that their rights are protected at all times. We are seen to be the voice of the voiceless, who are many in the developing world. 

The Commission, with support from the Consumers Association, made a number of public statements attacking the state on its continued disregard for good governance and various human rights abuses that included the limitation of the rights of people to demonstrate, to have freedom of speech and total elimination of space for consumers to speak and make demands for a better quality of life. 

In Malawi, like many African and developing countries elsewhere, the distribution of goods and services is under state control and, as such, the majority of the poor are unable to speak against the state for fear of being intimidated and victimised. Because of this, the landscape for participatory advocacy is very limited. 

I have had many disagreements with my state President, the late Bingu wa Mutharika. During the many meetings I held with him over the years, he continuously threatened to dismiss me from the Commission and even threatened my life and the lives of my family.

The President’s advisors recommended that the time had come for me to be eliminated. I challenged the President that what was said by his advisors was hate speech which must be condemned. The President accused me of insulting him and said that this was reason to eliminate me.

Two days later, I was told the President had died.

My detention

On 17 March, I was approached by a group of policemen outside a hotel in the capital city, Lilongwe. They searched my car and said they were looking for seditious materials that they believed I was printing and taking to Geneva for the annual meeting on human rights at the Human Rights Council.

I was taken to police headquarters and I was denied access to my lawyer at that point. I was moved between four police stations before I was charged with sedition and possession of illegal foreign currency.

They then acquired a search warrant for my house. Close to midnight, they took me home and searched my house until the morning.

I was then taken back to the police station where I was told that the authorities advised that I be granted bail on my charges of possessing alleged seditious materials and ‘illegal’ foreign exchange. I managed to get my passport back and was also allowed to travel to Geneva after two days.

Upon my return from Geneva, I was scheduled to meet the President for the human rights briefings. That meeting was very tense, with the President accusing me of undermining him and behaving as if I was an elected President.

I was also accused of taking human rights reports to the international bodies and, in so doing, I was responsible for the economic meltdown in Malawi due to my revelations of

human rights abuses to the international community.

It has been a long and painful battle with the state. It has caused many friends to avoid me for fear of being associated with the tough positions I took. 

But today I am glad to say that I have become a darling of many Malawians who continue to celebrate the death of the President for his hard autocratic policies. It is exciting once again to be a respected activist. The battle goes on for economic and social justice for our people.

The latest news from Malawi is that the new President, Joyce Banda, a former activist, is saying that Britain, the biggest bilateral donor to Malawi, is now planning to resume aid and normalise diplomatic relations.

All the charges against Jon Kapito have been dropped.