As Rwanda updates its competition and consumer protection law to reflect the realities of a digital and globalized economy, one glaring omission stands out: the absence of explicit provisions for price regulation. While the proposed bill aims to bolster fairness and safeguard consumers, its reliance on free-market dynamics alone may not suffice in protecting vulnerable buyers from exploitative pricing practices. Members of Parliament rightly questioned whether fairness can be assumed in a market where information is uneven, monopolies thrive, and profit margins go unchecked. It is disingenuous to speak of consumer choice in contexts where life-saving medicines are available only from a single supplier or where the same laptop costs one buyer $1,000 and another $1,500. Such disparities are not signs of healthy competition but of market failures that demand regulatory attention. Minister of Trade and Industry Prudence Sebahizi’s defense – that high prices are acceptable as long as other sellers can legally enter the market – ignores economic realities in which entry barriers, consumer misinformation, and geographic constraints distort theoretical competition. In many cases, especially with essential goods, the consumer's freedom to choose is purely notional. Globally, even in liberal economies, selective price controls exist—especially on pharmaceuticals, energy, and public transport—precisely because unregulated pricing can jeopardize equity and access. Rwanda, while rightly wary of overregulation, could adopt similar targeted interventions. Regulating excessive profit margins for essential goods, mandating cost-based pricing transparency, or instituting watchdogs for sectors prone to monopoly are all pragmatic approaches. Moreover, the bill’s strong protections for e-commerce consumers such as refund and return guarantees show that thoughtful regulation is both possible and necessary in safeguarding rights. Extending that same consumer-first philosophy to domestic pricing practices would close a critical gap. A law that truly empowers consumers must go beyond prosecuting unfair trade and actively prevent it. In ignoring price regulation, the bill underestimates the power imbalance between sellers and buyers in Rwanda’s current market landscape. The Parliament must seize this moment to insist on clearer, enforceable limits on pricing abuses, not to undermine the market, but to make it genuinely fair.
