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Cameroon: Welcome Relief
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Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Nkendem Forbinake
A few days ago, the board of directors of CIMENCAM, the cement production outfit, came up with some very innovative ideas to appease the Yaounde clientele which was getting quite itchy with the scarcity of cement growing with each passing day.
Without undermining the construction projects in other parts of the country, the situation in Yaounde could be said to be peculiar. Under the nose of numerous visitors and members of the diplomatic community, it was hard to come to terms with the fact that numerous construction sites were shut up because of the paucity of cement.
Now, as a palliative to stem the disorder in the distribution network, and other under-the-table transactions that have led to the scarcity of cement, CIMENCAM has identified five major dealers in Yaounde into whose hands it has devolved the retail sale of cement so that as many needy people as possible can buy it. The companies involved are COGENI, FOKOU, SOCSUBA, SOQUINA and SOREPCO which have ware houses in Yaounde. But only 10 sales points - two for each of the companies - will be furnished daily with 28 to 32 tones of 50 kg bags of cement at the sale price of FCFA 4960.
The role of CIMENCAM is to produce cement and not necessarily to market it. But in the face of the marketing imbroglio, cement has become very scarce plunging owners of construction sites and home builders into the doldrums. Accusing fingers have consequently been pointed at the cement producer, CIMENCAM. But the target has been a wrong one.
Even if it is not its duty to distribute its own product, CIMENCAM had to improve on its corporate image by surreptitiously getting into the distribution chain.
CIMENCAM has taken this sad decision to sell directly to the big dealers in reaction to the smaller dealers to be fair in their commercial deals. In this cat-and-mouse deal with buyers, sellers of cement always made it difficult for cement to be easily handy. These middlemen stockpiled cement, creating an artificial scarcity on the market. In their distress, abused customers readily acquired the product at cut-throat prices. Now, hundreds, if not thousands, of these middlemen are being put aside by the new arrangement. This is the price they are going to pay for their lack of consideration for buyers.
The new measure by CIMENCAM brings along some welcome relief. But the relief may be too shortlived to correct a situation which was already very bad. What happens after the three-month period? One can only imagine that the Ministry of Trade must have put in place a more efficacious strategy to ensure the regular supply of cement. Within this period, one also expects businessmen to have availed themselves of the new opportunities provided by the government to ease the importation of cement.
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This relief is welcome for inhabitants of Yaounde, even though many obstacles lie in the way of applying the new measure, the least not being the fact that many buyers will play tricks over the decision not to buy more than 20 bags per person per day. Many will go round this hurdle by getting spouses, brothers, sisters, cousins etc stand in for them and the vicious circle begins. And what of prospective buyers in other localities of the country? Well, it was good to start from some where, if only a lasting solution is in the works.
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