Francis Wang’ombe Kariuki, the Director General of Competition Authority of Kenya, will step down as head of the competition agency in January 2023 when his term comes to an end. Mr Wang’ombe Kariuki has served as DG of the agency since the agency became operational under the 2010 Competition Act of Kenya.
During his tenure, the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) increased its focus on enforcement against violations of antitrust laws, particularly restrictive trade practices (RTPs), abuse of dominance and cartel behaviour. For example, the Authority conducted several investigations and dawn raids on undertakings and the consequences for breach were severe.
Kenya has the oldest competition regime as it enacted its first comprehensive competition law in 1988. The CAK is the main enforcement agency in Kenya and has a broad reach with authority to perform – in certain cases — most of the standard enforcement activities including investigation, prosecution, adjudication, research and advocacy. It is important to note that competition and consumer protection law is important for the promotion of trade liberalisation as it will curb incidents of illegal practices and provide equity in the business environment.
Director General Wang’ombe Kariuki has spearheaded competition reforms not only at the local level, but also at the regional level. During his tenure, the CAK became one of the most active competition agencies in Africa and its responses towards COVID-19 were regarded as important benchmark for emerging competition agencies in the world.
For instance, many of the competition agencies in Africa were not prepared for pandemics, or had not contemplated how they could regulate competition during crisis. However, during the global crisis, the Competition Authority of Kenya stepped up and took major decisions in order to ensure that the markets continued to function effectively and consumers were not exploited by unscrupulous businesses taking advantage of the pandemic.
Key Cases CAK Handled During Covid Period
For instance, the Competition agency cracked its whip on a local supermarkets for alleged price-gouging of hand sanitizer during the Covid-19 pandemic.
While speaking at the recent CAK Symposium, Director General Wangombe Kariuki noted that the authority through investigations, determined that the retail chain had excessively increased the prices of hand sanitisers.
The CAK then ordered the Supermarket to refund all its customers who purchased that particular sanitizer brand after investigations were concluded and they were found to be in contravention of the Competition Act No.12 of 2010.
“That’s a case that helped us manage the price volatility then.” Noted Wang’ombe Kariuki during the recent CAK Symposium held in Nairobi.
According to Mr Wang’ombe, the big challenge for regulators is to design regulations for the future that are clear in their purpose, are designed to maximise the chances of achieving what was intended, and are adaptable to risks and changing circumstances
He advises regulatory institutions to build internal research units as a way to improve the effectiveness of the enforcements.
In terms of cartel enforcement, Mr Wang’ombe noted that the CAK investigated and concluded up-to five cartel cases in Kenya within a period of five years. This essentially means that the CAK took one year to investigate and conclude a cartel case compared to the global average of two to three years per cartel case.
Mr Wang’ombe argued that instead of enforcing regulations by putting people in jail, he says regulators should push for behaviour change as a sustainable alternative.
Regulating digital
Finally, Mr Wang’ombe says that regulations need to be designed to address new forms of digital behaviour. He says that regulating digital data versus other commodities needs to be reimagined as there is an implicit assumption that physical products sold on a digital platform are covered by current regulatory regimes.
He argues that regulators should work jointly because the current lack of an explicit cross-sectoral consumer protection body in any leaves consumers exposed to the digital exploitation of rules where products and services fall between sectors.
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