Kenya today joined the rest of the world in marking World Consumer Rights Day. The event has been marked every March 15 since 1962 as a means of raising global awareness about consumer rights and needs.

Here in Kenya, the event was marked in Mombasa with the Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) joining the Communication Authority(CA), and the Kenya Revenue Authority in making the day.

This year the event focused on digital finance. And while Kenya pioneered the revolutionary mobile money transfer system, M-pesa, the household service by Safaricom PLC has not been without it’s fair of challenges for consumers.

Fraudsters posing as Safaricom employees have equally used all manner of tricks to empty the electronic wallets. Safety of some M-pesa agents has always been compromised whenever they fall prey to armed attackers.

Consumers most affected by fraudsters are those from the low income segment many of them who fall for the trap of having their money either doubled or tripled and or giving away their security information.

Cofek has used the occasion of the day to call upon the service providers to invest in awareness creation and furthering safety in their entire value chain.

Celebrating the day is a chance to demand that the rights of all consumers are respected and protected, and to protest against market abuses and social injustices which undermine those rights.