The rules that keep Consumers Voice Ghana honest — published, enforceable, and stricter on us than on anyone we rate.
No company may pay, offer to pay, or arrange for another party to pay any amount to Consumers Voice Ghana, any trustee, any researcher, any panellist, or any staff member in exchange for:
Any such offer triggers:
Consumers Voice Ghana does not sell advertising to rated companies. The website carries no advertisements from companies, industry associations, or related parties. If a rated company becomes an advertiser on any Consumers Voice Ghana property during a cycle, that company is automatically disqualified from winning Gold, Silver, or Bronze in the same cycle.
We publish an annual Revenue Disclosure Note detailing every source of income — grants, foundation support, research commissions from independent bodies — in the Annual Transparency Report.
During a rating cycle:
If our Stream 3 (Public Digital Reputation) research flags that a rated company has engaged in review manipulation — commissioning fake reviews, buying review volume, harassing legitimate reviewers into deletion — the company is disqualified from the current cycle. A pattern across two cycles results in permanent ban.
Where our own Voice Out submissions are found to have been coordinated (multiple submissions from the same IP, same email domain, identical wording), the submissions are nullified and the company is flagged. A confirmed pattern of coordination is disqualifying.
If you know of — or suspect — any breach of this policy, write confidentially to:
Ethics Officer · Consumers Voice Ghana
[email protected]
Submissions are reviewed by the Ethics Officer personally (the role is held by a retired judge). Whistleblowers are protected: your identity is not shared with the accused company, the Board, or any external party without your written consent. Investigations are concluded within 90 days with written outcomes provided to the whistleblower.
Retaliation against a whistleblower — whether by a rated company, a staff member, a trustee, or any third party — is itself a breach of this policy and triggers the sanctions above.
Consumer voices submitted to this platform are protected under Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843). Personal identifying information is segregated from research data, encrypted at rest, and available only to named researchers. It is never shared with the rated company, other voices, or any commercial third party. Full details in our Privacy Policy.
Consumers Voice Ghana does not endorse political parties, candidates, or policy positions. No Board member, officer, or researcher may hold an active political office during their term. Past political service is disclosed in the Register of Interests.
We respond to legitimate press inquiries through the Secretary of the Board. We do not release embargoed outcomes, pre-deliberation results, or unpublished pillar scores. We do not pay for coverage and we do not accept payment for coverage.
Our methodology, data governance, and financial records are audited annually by independent Ghanaian auditors. The audit partner is rotated every three cycles and may not be a firm we rate. Audit findings are summarised in the Annual Transparency Report and provided in full to any person who requests them in writing.
Breaches by rated companies are enforced through the sanctions in §§1–4 above. Breaches by our own officers are enforced by the Ethics Officer with right of appeal to the full Board. Sanctions against officers include written warning, suspension, and — for material breaches — permanent removal from office, and where relevant, referral to police or professional disciplinary bodies.
If you are a rated company: serve your customers well, cooperate with reasonable research requests, raise any dispute in writing, and do not attempt to circumvent this policy. That is all.
If you are a consumer: voice out truthfully, name the company accurately, and treat your voice as a serious contribution to research — because that is what it is.