Overview of Consumer Protection and Competition Regimes in Uganda Consumer Perspective by Kimera Henry Richard, Chief Executive, CONSENT The Fifth Annual African Dialogue Consumer Protection Conference Livingstone, Zambia September 2013

Overview  Consumer Protection and Competition related policies, legal and regulatory frameworks do exist in Uganda.  Uganda lacks a comprehensive and specific framework on consumer protection and competition.  Draft Bills exist and provide for consumer rights protection, anti-trust and deceptive practices, promotion of ethical standards, fair trade, redress mechanisms.

Overview contd All intended to promote consumer welfare and empowerment and competitiveness.All intended to promote consumer welfare and empowerment and competitiveness.  Currently the consumer protection and competition aspects are sectoral in respective MDAs with mandates in areas of trade, food and beverages, communications, financial, health, energy, water, transport, hospitality among others.  Comprehensive Consumer Protection and Competition Policy, Legal & Regulatory framework is works in progress

Consumer Dilemma  Consumers in Uganda experience and are faced with a fluid situation whereby the obligated defenders of consumer rights are at times the abusers knowingly and unknowingly.  The Executive, Judiciary, Legislature, Regulator & Business is in business - thus no one is left to advocate, defend and protect consumers apart from incapacitated – donor dependent consumer organizations.  Enforcement & consumer empowerment is weak, minimal and a number of initiative are dependant on donor and/or development partners’ support.  The obligated agencies lack institutional infrastructure, human & financial resources to effectively enforce and protect consumers across the board.

Consumer Dilemma contd  Consumer protection is left to consumer organization with limited & in most cases without support to roll out awareness, empowerment, seek consumer redress, promote consumer responsibility nationally.  The limited checks are done from a sectoral approach. Where some sectors are worried about a comprehensive competition regime with enforcement mandate.  Consumers, scrupulous businesses & the country at large remains at a loss given the uncompetitive practices in the goods and services provision.  Competition aspects remain a challenge given the limited awareness and knowledge in public – policymaking on benefits under the pretext of liberalization approach.

Consumer Protection a Central Tenet  Consumer protection is a customer service; and regulatory issue and must become a central tenet at all levels.  With the advent of globalization, economic liberalization and the establishment of free and competitive markets, governments, businesses and consumers are faced new challenges in the market.  Changes have affected sector regulators given the weak mandates and limited capacities to comprehend the ever evolving innovations and practices in respective areas like financial, communications  These have affected consumers across the market irrespective of being literate or illiterate.

Empowered Consumers deliver  Best policing mechanism in the market is consumer empowerment to enable them make informed decision and alert on anomalies experienced  Government has rolling out a number of initiatives to address the unscrupulous practices – schemes involving both individuals & companies informal and formal. ICT related laws and regulations are in place following crime and fraud of unsuspecting consumers plus manipulation of documents and online information.ICT related laws and regulations are in place following crime and fraud of unsuspecting consumers plus manipulation of documents and online information. Financial market consumer complaints lead to the and mobile money transfers the Central Bank and other related agencies are developing mechanisms to address the unscrupulous practices.Financial market consumer complaints lead to the and mobile money transfers the Central Bank and other related agencies are developing mechanisms to address the unscrupulous practices.

Crowning it all …  Consumer Protection and Competition Policy, legal and regulatory framework are a perquisite in any liberalized environment.  Irrespective of sector regimes there is urgent need for the enactment of consumer protection & competition framework to address the multi-sector regulatory challenges.  Benefits of consumer protection & competition are many to promote a healthy and productive consumer market, entrepreneurship and innovative environment.  Consumer welfare means different things to different groups of people therefore policy coherence is key to promote fair trade, quality assurance & consumer welfare.  Policy & legal framework reform, consumer empowerment, information & outreach will remain key to address the evolving global market trends, life styles & crime.

A Case in Point … Our MPs are out to enrich themselves instead of helping Uganda’s poor The Daily Monitor Newspaper, Posted on Saturday, February , by David F. K.Mpanga This week I attended a regional seminar on competition law in South Africa. Organised by Bowman Gilfillan, a leading South African law firm, the seminar attracted competition law regulators and legal practitioners from across Africa all eager to exchange ideas about how their countries are making progress and dealing with the challenges of this fast growing area of law. Competition law, also known as anti-trust law in the United States, seeks to protect consumers from the risk of paying higher prices for lower quality goods or services by prohibiting anti-competitive behavior (such as monopolies) or unfair and exploitative business practices by market dominant players. In this seminar I discovered that many African countries have well laid and fully functioning comprehensive competition law regimes, complete with regulators who are empowered to punish any anti-competitive behaviour. The legal practitioners and regulators from the other countries also learnt from me that Uganda does not have a comprehensive competition law regulatory regime.

A Case in Point … The quizzical looks and questions that I got when I disclosed this fact made me understand what Somalis must go through when they attend regional or international conferences or seminars on effective government (“What? You mean you actually have no government? How do you survive? I mean, is that even possible?”). It also got me thinking about the problem that we have with our Parliament in particular and our political elite in particular. The Competition Bill 2004 that was intended to furnish Uganda with a comprehensive competition law regulatory regime, for the benefit of the Ugandan consumer is not yet on our statute books and we continue to operate in a dog-eat-dog environment. Market dominant players in various key sectors of the economy continue to hold Uganda’s consumers at ransom; fixing prices and ripping them off with high prices for shoddy goods and/or services. Yet our Government and Members of Parliament do not seem to be bothered about this. Our MPs do not seem to be bothered about the fact that we are still operating under the Companies Act 1948 or that we do not have a comprehensive legal regime to deal with many of the kinds of situations or transactions that are common place in the 21st Century. Just by way of further example, the Anti-Money Laundering Bill has been and remains a Bill since 2001 and let’s not even talk about the Domestic Relations Bill.

A Case in Point … Instead of focusing on framing and passing legislation that will help in the true transformation of our country from a low income to middle income country, our Government and MPs focus only on things that make them richer and the majority of Ugandans poorer! So now we hear that each of the 375 MPs is to get Shs103, 000,000 (approx. $45,000.00) to buy a luxury car! Forget about bringing Uganda in line with its neighbours and up to date on socially transformative economic laws! Forget about protecting the Ugandan consumer (who, by the way, is also the tax payer out of whose pocket this money for cars is being looted) with proper competition legislation! Ugandan MPs want their expensive cars and they want them now! Sadly, it’s not as if we are lacking in educated folk who can advise on what we need to do. Up until the last election Uganda’s Attorney General was a Harvard-educated professor of law. In ordinary circumstances you would expect a Harvard Law graduate to be advising Government on the need for the up-grading of our social- economic legislation.

A Case in Point … Sadly we have since found out that instead of giving constructive advice, this particular professor was busy signing away large sums of taxpayers’ money to fraudulent compensation claimants and is now trying to stave off a criminal investigation and prosecution by literally blackmailing the President with threats of revealing the dirty truth about dodgy transactions that Government has been involved in over the years! So if the legislators are busy looking for opportunities to line their pockets at our expense and the most highly qualified lawyer in Government (and possibly in Uganda) was busy facilitating dodgy deals for the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many, is it a surprise that we do not have a comprehensive legal regime governing competition law in this country? Mr Mpanga is an advocate,