Sh50 billion lost annually to counterfeiters

By Peter Orengo

Counterfeit products are costing the Government about Sh50 billion per year, the Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) has said.

Speaking during the annual excellence dinner by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the chief executive of ACA, Stephen Mallowah said the influx of counterfeits from the Far East and locally is alarming.

Counterfeit products range from phones, cosmetics, electronics, alcoholic drinks and pharmaceuticalss.

Others are medicine, agricultural products, brake pads and other car parts, cosmetics, and food products which pose significant health and safety risks.

"The counterfeits erode the market share and deny Government revenue. The only way of stopping this is for Kenyans to stop buying them," said Mallowah.

Mallowah said Kenyan manufacturers continue to experience great losses due to imitation of their products.

Cause accidents

However, Mallowah said ACA has been actively involved in trying to curb the illegal trade and have stopped products at the port of Mombasa from entering the market.

He said 11,000 phones had been taken out of the market.

While genuine goods may seem more expensive, in reality the risks associated with counterfeit products make them very costly.

Faulty counterfeit brake pads can cause road accidents; cosmetics can include chemicals that damage skin; food products can be toxic, and counterfeit medicines often lack active ingredients and may include dangerous filler compounds, which can cause death.

Kenya has a substantial problem with counterfeit medicines, primarily imported from Asia. A random survey by the National Quality Control Laboratories and the Pharmacy and Poisons Control Board concluded that approximately 30 per cent of all drugs are counterfeit.

"Fake drugs often lack important active ingredients, meaning that the people who take them aren’t getting the treatment or protection they need and could be developing drug resistance,"

"What’s worse, these drugs can also contain filler compounds that can cause serious health problems and have resulted in death."

Fake medicine

Experts estimate that every year between 500,000 and one million people die worldwide from counterfeit medicines. And the prevalence of these drugs is only increasing.

Around the world counterfeit drug sales are increasing at nearly twice the rate of legitimate pharmaceutical sales.

Rapidly growing internet pharmacies have been contributing to this problem, including in Kenya.

The Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York estimates that only 11 per cent of internet pharmacies are legitimate.

The spread of counterfeit goods has become global in recent years and is not unique to Kenya.