Probe dominant companies­­—Cama

The Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has asked the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) to look into the abuse of consumer rights perpetrated by big companies in the country.

This comes against an increase in anti-competitive and unfair business practices in the country as CFTC recorded 207 cases in the 2015/2016 period ,representing an 88 percent increase from  the previous year.

This saw affected consumers recovering over K3 million from the enterprises that infringed their rights.

In the report, the commission said apart from intensifying awareness and enforcement, it is preventing the creation of market conditions that could breed anti-competitive and unfair business practices by reviewing a number of markets to identify any possible practices.

But in an interview on Wednesday, Kapito argued that the dominant companies are abusing consumers more than the less dominant ones.

According to Kapito, the 207 cases might have come from small companies that do not have any bearing on the economy.

“CFTC is selective when handling cases, it is unable to probe the banks which are not competitive. The commission only probes smaller companies.

“CFTC is attacking very small insects than the big companies that are really abusing people. That is why I think there is a state capture. I think there are other companies with closer links to government or State run companies that it cannot touch,” he said.

But speaking at a training for government procurement officers, the commission’s director of mergers and acquisitions, Richard Chiputula, said the commission is independent and does not get any political interference. n