The 28th edition of the World Consumers Rights Day was observed on Monday under the theme, "Our Money, Our Rights".

Consumers in Cameroon have called on government to continue the relentless fight against counterfeiting which they described as a destroyer of the economy and an infringement on their rights. They made the call on Monday March 15, 2010 as they joined their peers worldwide in commemorative activities marking the 28th World Consumers Rights Day, placed under the theme, "Our Money, Our Rights".

Speaking at the Party House in Nkomkana in Yaounde during one of the commemorative activities, consumers, through their associations, said they have rights to satisfaction with basic needs, to choice, to education and to information, among others. But unfortunately, they regretted, these rights are often violated by unscrupulous money-hungry business people who buy counterfeited goods from impostors to resell. According to the President General of the Federation of Cameroon Consumers Associations, Adolphe Haman, consumers usually battle with expensive cost of living, further compounded by the global financial crisis which hit the world last year and giving them goods that do not meet their needs and that are not durable are synonymous with making life worse for them. Like the Federation's Legal Adviser, Christophe Tamko, Mr Adolphe Haman expressed gratitude to the Head of State for the recent creation of the National Agency for Standards and Quality to set norms and ensure quality products in the market as well as the unwavering efforts by the Ministry of Trade to save consumers from the stranglehold of get-rich-quick businessmen.

Presiding at the activities, the Secretary General in the Ministry of Trade, Jacqueline Koa, reiterated the Ministry's resolve to stop at nothing in ensuring that consumers rights are respected to the letter. World Consumer Rights Day, first observed on March 15, 1983, is a time for promoting the basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights be respected and protected, and for protesting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them.