Every time you hear of this entity or see it in the news the only person you see is it’s Secretary General, a fella called Stephen Mutoro.
[ATTACH=full]21022[/ATTACH]
The name “Consumer Federation of Kenya” gives it a sort of national status with participation of various individuals and groups. I happened to be at Meky Place the other day and noticed their name plate next to tailors’ shops and some random boutiques. It piqued my interest and I looked at their website to find out who it’s other officials are. No dice. The most you get when you go to the “Who we are” section www.cofek.co.ke/index.php/who-we-are is-
"The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) is Kenya’s independent, self-funded, multi-sectorial, non-political and apex non-profit Federation committed to consumer protection, education, research, consultancy, litigation, anti-counterfeits campaign and business rating on consumerism and customer-care issues.
The Federation was registered on March 26, 2010. Cofek works towards a fair, just and safe marketplace for all Kenyan and regional consumers in all sectors of the economy."
No names. No people. The guy has been around as its SG since 2010. I laud it’s self-funded and altruistic vision and goals but the lack of info is intriguing. Critically speaking, some of the battles that this outfit has picked since 2010 could be viewed as an avenue for rent-seeking. There was that tiff over the “consumer-friendly” proce of set-top boxes that it negotiated and now we have the Avic Building whose construction they are opposing. Hii ni kitu naona inaeza tumiwa kukamua bizmen under the guise of consumer concerns. It seems to me to be a one-man show briefcase outfit purporting to carry out a constitutional mandate. Pale contacts wamepeana ni tena uaddress barua kwa huyo Mutoro. Ka kuna talker ni member wa hii Federation pengine atuambie other leaders ni nani.