We must expose conmen, women to protect the public - Part two

Last week,

known as conmen and conwomen.
The scourge is not only in Uganda but found worldwide. Nor is it new. It is as old as mankind. However, it has become endemic and professional and is as old as the oldest profession, where false love has always been used to achieve the objective.

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It comes in many forms, traders and proprietors of business issue false pro-formas. Professionals lie to customers, clients and patients and charge them exorbitant prices and fees.

Unsuspecting victims pay heavily, ignorant of what are correct charges. When later the victims visit other business premises or seek second opinion, they get astonished by the huge difference between what they paid and what they should have paid. To add insult to injury, some of the services and treatment turn out to be bogus or incompatible with their needs, they are forced to seek services and treatment elsewhere.

That is why it is recommended that people who seek services of the same nature should check and seek second or more opinions from other suppliers, sellers or experts who offer similar facilities and services regardless of qualifications and reputation.
The old adage that all lawyers are liars is of course general and does not apply to innocent lawyers. But this is not to deny that some lawyers are in same category depicted above. Nevertheless, it certainly applies to other professions perhaps in greater numbers.

It affects citizens and non-citizens who trade or give services. The situation can be catastrophic when they sell or exchange goods with us, including medicines and drugs which are fake, expired or dangerous. That is why in medicine, patients must read the leaflets contained in the packages prescribed or bought even from qualified experts. This is because sometimes the side effects of such drugs can be more dangerous to their health than the disease they are intended to cure. Ugandans may recall that in 1987 the country received a consignment of containers supposedly containing agricultural implements but when they were opened in the Transocean bonded houses, they were found to be full of stones. Ironically the containers had been cleared and stamped by an appropriate international body that clears foreign imports into Uganda.

People remember the manager and board chairman of Transocean holding a press conference and denouncing. We had a standing contract with a friendly country which is still our trading partner today. I shall not name it now, but those who worked in the Ministry of Commerce at that time know it. At one time, another friendly country we supplied with coffee and other products under the barter trade cheated us.

It turned out that country was an exporter of coffee and not interested in our more valued coffee for home consumption but to re-export it with its own little coffee it produced internally. Unfortunately we are novices at international trade. So whenever we delivered coffee and other agricultural products like beans, tea and timber, the officials of that country would immediately send us alarming messages that our agricultural products had either been damaged at sea or were not fit for human consumption.
They would copy their faxes directly to our highest government officials and demand that we substitute coffee with our other products otherwise they would publically denounce us to the world community.

In haste and panic, our trade officials would substitute the so called rejects with coffee in the same tonnage not realising that we were being tricked and cheated.
The legal procedures for challenging accusations about such claims and receiving compensation are complex, elaborate, time consuming and expensive. Worse still, even if you win what you get is less valuable than what it cost to import those goods and to get remedies. That is why it is advisable to seek second opinions before rushing to buy or get any services.