A new nationwide consumer protection campaign is mobilising partners to make product verification a standard practice before purchase in Ghana, arriving at a moment when the government has already declared counterfeit and substandard goods a threat to the country’s economic future.
The Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) launched the Verify Before You Buy campaign to shift consumer behaviour from passive acceptance to active verification at the point of sale. CDA Consult Executive Director Francis Ameyibor unveiled the initiative during a strategic partner engagement in Accra, describing it as a response to a market gap that cuts across physical shops, open markets, and online platforms.
Ameyibor said “just a simple verification could save your life,” warning consumers against rushing through purchases without checking basic product information.
The campaign targets four persistent problems in Ghana’s goods market: counterfeit products, expired goods, mislabelled items, and outright fraud. Ameyibor argues that these problems persist because accountability for verification remains unclear, and that his campaign distributes that responsibility across four actors simultaneously — consumers, retailers, regulators, and law enforcement.
The Verify Before You Buy framework is built on four pillars: education, awareness, action, and protection. It positions regulators and law enforcement as the verification backbone and enforcement backstop, while equipping consumers with practical tools to check products before payment. Those tools include examining batch numbers, manufacturing and expiry dates, packaging seals, product labelling, and supplier legitimacy, as well as using mobile devices to run basic authenticity checks.
The initiative arrives as Ghana’s goods market faces intensifying scrutiny from both civil society and government. President John Mahama earlier this year described the influx of smuggled and fake goods as economic sabotage, pledging strict enforcement of product standards and warning that trade infractions would no longer be treated as minor regulatory breaches. CDA Consult’s campaign effectively extends that government position into the everyday consumer’s hands.
Ameyibor argued that traditional consumer protection has historically focused on post-harm remedies, placing responsibility on manufacturers and sellers who often self-regulate inadequately. The Verify Before You Buy model moves that intervention to an earlier stage by making pre-purchase checking a social norm rather than an exception.
Consumer rights advocates have long pointed out that Ghana’s existing legal framework is scattered across multiple agencies, leaving enforcement weak and consumers uncertain about their rights, a gap that Ameyibor’s campaign aims to address through behavioural change rather than waiting for legislative reform alone.
CDA Consult is currently seeking partnerships with trade associations, consumer groups, and development organisations willing to adopt and promote the verification standard across their networks.
