Since the Malawi economy was liberalised at the advent of the multiparty democratic government in 1994, small scale traders have flooded the market with everything they have been able to lay their hands on.
Most of these cheap and low quality products are imported from the Far East and some neighbouring SADC countries.
The market is overrun with fake leather shoes, toiletries, electrical appliances, soft drinks and other unlabelled stuffs like salt and candles.
CAMA Executive Director Andrew Usi has said his organisation has since started lobbying for a speedy passing by parliament of the Counterfeit Bill which has been gathering dust ever since it was drafted.
The Consumer watchdog has said it has received complaints that people are being sold imitations soft drinks that are packaged in bottles that have original brand names.
Usi said that this is unfair because, besides conning buyers into purchasing fake branded goods, dealers use unhygienic methods to prepare the liquid
“Some traders are taking advantage of the ignorance of consumers,” he said “The police should act and start arresting those selling counterfeit products.”
Usi said the problem has reached unprecedented scale because Malawi doesn't yet have the capacity to detect counterfeit products: “…[W]e cannot detect fake electrical appliances and equipment or fake designer labels at our border posts.”
People are falling for cheap imitation shoes as labels indicate they're genuine leather.
“Genuine leather shoes do not last for two months and this when consumers should question cheap brand new shoe dealers and demand value for money,” said Usi.
The body is asking Malawian consumers to ensure that all merchandise on sale is genuinely labelled with the manufacturer's address to enable them to file complaints as well as an expiry date as stipulated by the Malawi Bureau of Standard code 19.
