By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, Oct. 07, GNA – Ghana needs stronger regulation of the private sector to protect consumers from excessive pricing and the abuse of dominant market positions, Mr Richard Adjorlolo, an entrepreneur and accountant, has said.
Mr Adjorlolo, Chief Executive Officer of BIG RKNA, said while the free market allowed businesses to make profits, that should not become a justification for what he described as “daylight robbery” through excessive charges, particularly for essential services.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Takoradi on the state of the economy and the relationship between private businesses and consumers, he said the pursuit of profit must be balanced with consumer protection and fair competition.
He cited the reported GH¢5.1 billion profit after tax recorded by MTN Ghana in the first half of 2026, representing a 43.3 per cent year-on-year increase, and said the figure raised questions about what constituted reasonable and morally justifiable profit.
Mr Adjorlolo said the reported profit was higher than the combined profits of 17 leading Ghanaian companies, which he put at GH¢4.58 billion.
He also referred to a proposal by MTN Ghana in May 2026 to introduce charges on transfers from Mobile Money accounts to bank accounts, which he said was subsequently rejected by the Bank of Ghana.
According to him, the justification that such charges would help to “serve customers better” and support improvements in service delivery required closer public scrutiny, particularly when companies were already making substantial profits.
Mr Adjorlolo questioned whether exceptionally high profits necessarily reflected superior performance or, in some instances, could be linked to high prices, limited alternatives and market dominance.
He cited MTN’s position in Ghana’s telecommunications market, saying its reported market share of more than 72 per cent and subscriber base of about 31 million raised concerns about competition and the possible abuse of market dominance.
He said the issue was not whether private companies should make profits, but whether those profits were achieved through fair competition, efficiency and quality service or through charges that placed an excessive burden on consumers.
Mr Adjorlolo criticised what he described as the growing tendency of businesses to justify high prices on the basis of “customer choice”.
He said consumers did not always have meaningful choices because services such as internet data, education, healthcare and financial services had become essential to work, education and everyday life.
The argument that “nobody is forcing you” to buy a particular service, he said, failed to recognise the realities confronting many Ghanaians, particularly where alternatives were unavailable or of poorer quality.
Mr Adjorlolo also raised concerns about the pricing of cement, private school fees, internet data, bank lending rates and pay-TV services, alleging that businesses sometimes increased prices simultaneously but were slow to reduce them when operating costs declined.
He said such developments could point to “collusion and exploitation” and called for stronger regulatory scrutiny of possible price-fixing and anti-competitive practices.
Mr Adjorlolo said the concept of a “free market” should not be interpreted to mean an absence of rules, arguing that a properly functioning market should promote fair competition, efficiency, reasonable profit and consumer protection.
He said Ghana’s challenge was that some sectors had effectively become “captive markets”, where consumers had limited practical alternatives and were compelled to pay prevailing prices.
He also questioned the tendency of businesses to increase prices when the Ghana cedi depreciated against the United States dollar without corresponding reductions when the local currency appreciated.
Mr Adjorlolo said the cumulative effect of high prices, taxes and private-sector charges was putting considerable pressure on households and gradually eroding the purchasing power of the middle class.
He, therefore, called for stronger regulation rather than blanket price controls, saying regulators should have the capacity to scrutinise the cost build-up of essential services and ensure that consumers were not subjected to unjustifiable charges.
He proposed closer regulatory oversight of sectors such as education, health and telecommunications, where excessive charges could have serious consequences for consumers.
Mr Adjorlolo said free-market principles should serve both businesses and consumers and should not be used as a shield against accountability.
He said regulation was not inherently anti-business, stressing that effective regulation could create a healthier business environment by promoting fair competition and protecting consumers.
Mr Adjorlolo urged the Government and regulatory institutions to strike a balance between encouraging private-sector investment and ensuring that businesses operated in a manner that protected the broader public interest.
He said the responsibility of the Government extended beyond creating opportunities for private businesses to make profits to protecting citizens from practices that could undermine their economic well-being.
Mr Adjorlolo, therefore, called for a review of Ghana’s regulatory framework to ensure that the benefits of private-sector participation and the free market were broadly shared and did not come at the expense of consumers.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Mildred Siabi-Mensah