Dr. Yasser: Consumer protection is everyone’s responsibility

Interviewed by Nahid Oshi

Recently, Sudan won a seat on the Council of the Consumers International after a strong competition as consumer issues are hot issues that require a quick resolution, Sudan Events sat with the newly elected member of the Council of the Consumers International Organization affiliated to COMESA and the Chairman of the Consumer Protection Society, Dr. Yasser Merghani. Following are excerpts from the interview.

Sudan has assumed a position on the Council of the Consumers International Organization affiliated to COMESA. What benefits can it gain from the position?

– First of all, I am thankful and I do appreciate your tackling the consumer issues. (Sudan Events) has been urging us to pay attention to consumer issues for a long time, and the captain of the ship (the editor-in-chief) endured appearing before court because of his fight against the drug mafia and publishing consumer protection. Fighting corruption is not an outing and consumer protection is everyone’s responsibility.

Praise be to Allah, Sudan won a position on the Council of the Consumers International Organization at the general conference held by the Consumers International Organization every 4 years. It was a large, massive and successful conference.

Sudan will certainly benefit greatly from this position, and it is enough that there are 28 countries that voted for it despite its circumstances known to everyone.

Through this position, we will convey the experiences of other countries and their success stories in consumer protection and the most successful ways to lead campaigns to achieve the well-being of the Sudanese consumer.

What is the impact of the war on the Sudanese consumer?

– The war has greatly affected the Sudanese consumer, particularly the weak sectors of the consumers who work day by day and do not have any savings and are not even able to leave their homes.

Unfortunately, some merciless persons have exacerbated the consumer crisis and raised their cost of living more than the impact of the war on them.

Some fraudsters and cheaters took advantage of people’s need to flee the burning war zones to impose exaggerated prices for various means of transportation, particularly moving outside the capital, and they raised ticket prices for local and states trips. Commercial fraud to which consumers were exposed increased. The evidence is that chaos has affected all components of the transportation sector, even before the war.

The sector contributed to increasing the suffering of consumers during the war.

The Sudanese consumer is exposed to many fraud and corruption operations amid a complete absence of deterrent laws. How can the consumer obtain his rights?

– Thank you very much for this important question.

We say that the Sudanese consumer is a victim of the absence of laws despite the clarity of the issues. This is because the Sudanese litigation system is a sterile and unfair system. This is not an underestimation of the value of the Sudanese judiciary, as the Sudanese judiciary is independent and rules according to the subject matter of the trial.

But there is a group of Sudanese lawyers and a group of brutal parasitic capitalism that knows how to play on the time of the weak Sudanese consumer and drag him before the various courts until the simple consumer gets bored and forgets his case. Meanwhile, in all developed countries, direct consumer cases are not allowed for the intervention of any third party. Rather, there is a direct resolution in the presence of the complainant (consumer), the defendant (the service or commodity provider) and the judge, and the ruling is immediate.

There are secretarial and administrative procedures for preparing files and cases.

The Consumer Protection Association and its expected role after the end of the war?

– Consumer protection is everyone’s responsibility. When we say everyone, we mean every person in his workplace. He must put the consumer before his eyes, and that the decision he takes may harm the Sudanese consumer. Combating and reducing corruption will be our expected role in the coming period. Consumer protection is everyone’s responsibility.

We hope that in the near future we will be able to make consumer protection courts living reality among people. We also expect the rule of law to prevail and staying away from interfering in the technical decisions of all parties concerned with introducing goods, products and services into the Sudanese market, making the decisions of the technical committees sacred, and respecting the rule of law.