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Cameroon: Contraband Goods Flood Cameroon Markets
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The Post (Buea)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Christopher Jator Njechu
Most Cameroonians now consume goods that are either less than their face values, of illegal importation, bearing unauthorised images, and some of which pose risks to health, experts in the Ministry of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, MINEMITD, have warned.
A range of basic goods and household materials like exercise books, toilet papers, table napkins, among others, have been found to be dangerous to health.About fraud, exercise books that should have 300 pages have commonly been found to have just about 288 pages or instead of 276 pages it is possible to find only 272 pages.
Meanwhile, covers of both text and exercise books are either not solidly bound or they bear photographs of football stars without any prior agreement with them (players) to sell their images. Some even bear obscene images in contravention of recommended educative photos like either the African or Cameroon map or Arithmetic tables on the covers.
In a similar vein, toilet papers, lotus, table napkins and other food items like milk, which are locally produced, are dubiously reproduced by countries like China in violation bilateral norms.
Addressing the issue, the President of the Technical Committee No. 12, TC-12 in MINEMITD, Kago Lele, said government's worry is about the quality of the reproduced goods.
He remarked that some of these products are clandestinely reproduced without the names of their manufacturers as a means of evading custom duties during their shipment to Cameroon. He warned that certain toilet papers and lotuses have a long term effect on health.
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It is due to these dangers that MINEMITD organised a sensitisation workshop with various stakeholders to restore sanity in the sector. It was decided that measures will be taken to produce an inventory of goods so that unscrupulous dealers could easily be identified and eliminated.
In line with this, the Chief of Service in Charge of norms and Certification at MINEMITD, Martins Mindjos Momeny, urged custom officers and forces of law and order to be alert and help the country out of the prevalent economic disorder.
The working session, which brought together local producers, importers, investors, distributors and consumers, was an opportunity to fine-tune measures to ensure that goods produced in or entering the country respect the regulations in force.
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