Joe Dinga Pefok
14 June 2005
Several cigarette distributors and traders in Douala, Bamenda and Bafoussam, are in a standoff with the multinational company, the British American Tobacco, BAT, headquartered in Yaounde.The dealers in cigarettes are accusing the company of having made false allegations against them, to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Polycarpe Abah Abah.
The Post gathered that the General Manager of BAT Cameroun, Alain Schacher, had in a three-page document dated April 4, 2005, sent to the Minister of Economy and Finance, listed the names of some big business operators in cigarettes in some Provinces of the country, which BAT alleged, deal in contraband cigarettes.
In Douala, for example, an enterprise called ABC was alleged to be illegally importing and distributing cigarettes from neighbouring Nigeria through the Southwest Province.
Two other cigarette distributors in Mboppi wholesale market, Messrs Tchikou and Doumché, were also mentioned for allegedly distributing contraband cigarettes.
A Bamenda-based dealer in cigarettes, Christopher Che, allegedly imports cigarettes through Abongche in Donga and Mantung Division. Akossa of Kumbo, Ahadji Djibril of Tumbaw and Robert Lontsi of Ndop Main Market, were also among those on BAT's list of illegally importing or distributing contraband cigarettes.
Reactions
All the enterprises and traders that were mentioned in the document as well as several other entrepreneurs in the sector, have addressed protest letters to either BAT or to the main distributors of its products.
In an open letter dated June 2, and addressed to the General Manager of BAT by a group of cigarette distributors in Cameroon, the multinational company was accused of attempting to sabotage the cigarette business by making false allegations against them.
Also citing a letter dated April 4, 2005, which BAT 's General Manager sent to the Minister of Economy and Finance, which led to the increase of taxes on imported cigarettes, the cigarette distributors also accused BAT of unscrupulously trying to eliminate other competitors (importers of cigarettes) in the market.
The manoeuvre, they said, was not only an attempt by BAT to limit the choices of smokers to its products, but also a move to frustrate them and their families who survive on cigarette business.
They noted that the level of consumption of cigarettes in the country is dropping each day, and thus compelling the Minister of Economy and Finance to raise taxes on imported cigarettes, which also means an increase in the prices of those cigarettes.
The distributors demanded that the management of BAT "should use the same method to cause the withdrawal of the Ministerial decision raising taxes on imported cigarettes, failure of which we will take measures against your products".
In a letter dated May 26, addressed to the distributor of BAT products in Douala, Guiaguia, and signed by 29 traders in cigarette business at the Mboppi wholesale and central markets in Douala, the traders complained of harassment by tax inspectors and customs officials.
They have attributed the harassment to the letter dated April 4, 2005, which the General Manager of BAT wrote to the Minister of Economy and Finance. In it, they demanded that taxes (customs duties) be raised on imported cigarettes, and that distributors or traders dealing in some imported cigarettes be strictly and regularly controlled.
The 29 traders who signed the letter threatened to boycott the sale of BAT's products including those it imports, if the present situation was not rapidly reviewed.
Meanwhile, 23 traders in Bafoussam, five in Bamenda, eight in Nkongsamba, two in Bafang, four in Dschang, five in Mbouda among others, have also signed similar protest letters.
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