21, July 2026
Cameroon Gold Scandal: UAE trade data exposes hidden exports amounting $524 million 0
Cameroon is set to launch a nationwide operation on August 1 to recover an estimated 305 billion CFA francs ($524 million) in unpaid taxes from undeclared gold exports after trade data from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) exposed major discrepancies in the country’s official export records.
The operation will target 51 mining companies and 33 previously unidentified mining sites suspected of evading taxes and customs duties between 2023 and 2025, according to the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development.
The crackdown follows findings in the 2023 Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report, which revealed that Cameroon officially declared exporting just 22.3 kilograms of gold in 2023.
In contrast, customs data from the UAE—one of the world’s largest gold trading hubs—recorded imports of more than 15 tonnes of gold originating from Cameroon during the same period.
According to the Gold Demand Trends report published by the World Gold Council, gold sales in the United Arab Emirates reached approximately 37.8 tonnes during the first nine months of 2023, making the UAE one of the world’s largest and most active gold trading and retail markets.
The discrepancy has fueled concerns over widespread underreporting, smuggling, and weak oversight in Cameroon’s mining sector, resulting in significant losses in tax and royalty revenues.
Cameroon moves to tighten oversight
The recovery campaign will be led jointly by the National Mining Corporation (SONAMINES), the Directorate General of Taxes, and the Directorate General of Customs.
Authorities will audit mining firms suspected of under-declaring production while investigating mining sites that allegedly operated outside official records. The government aims to recover unpaid royalties, mining taxes, and export duties tied to undeclared gold production over the past three years.
The initiative comes as African governments increasingly seek to boost domestic revenues amid rising debt pressures and tighter global financing conditions.
For Cameroon, the effort represents one of the country’s most ambitious attempts to formalize its gold industry and curb illicit mineral exports.
The case also highlights how international trade data is becoming an important tool in exposing illicit financial flows.
By comparing export declarations with customs records from importing countries such as the UAE, authorities can identify inconsistencies that point to underreported production or informal exports.
Cameroon is not alone in facing the challenge. Gold-producing countries including Ghana, Sudan, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have stepped up efforts in recent years to combat smuggling, strengthen mineral traceability, and improve revenue collection from the mining sector.
If successful, Cameroon’s tax recovery drive could serve as a model for how African governments use cross-border trade data to recover lost revenues and tighten oversight of one of the continent’s most valuable export industries.
Source: Business Insider Africa
28, July 2026
Paul Biya’s 50 Days in Switzerland: The long goodbye to an era 0
For more than four decades, President Paul Biya has defied predictions of his political demise. He has outlasted rivals, survived crises and maintained an iron grip on Cameroon through a system built on centralized authority and carefully managed succession. Yet politics is often defined not by dramatic events, but by prolonged absences that expose uncomfortable realities. Biya’s record 50-day stay in Switzerland is one such moment.
Whether the official explanations are accepted or not by the people of Cameroon, the extraordinary length of Biya’s absence has inevitably fueled questions about his health, his ability to govern and the future of the Cameroonian state. In any functioning democracy, such questions would be answered with transparency. Instead, Cameroonians have been left with rumors, speculation and official denials from Biya acolytes that have done little to dispel uncertainty.
The issue is no longer simply where President Biya is. The issue is what his prolonged absence says about the state of power in Cameroon.
For decades, Biya’s authority rested on the perception that he alone embodied the state. That image becomes increasingly difficult to sustain when the country’s leader spends weeks away from the seat of government while critical national decisions continue to accumulate. Even if the machinery of government continues to function, prolonged physical absence inevitably raises doubts about who is truly making decisions and how power is being exercised behind closed doors.
History shows that the twilight of long-serving leaders is often marked not by a formal resignation, but by a gradual erosion of their political presence. Authority shifts quietly before power changes hands officially. Ministers become more cautious. Political allies begin calculating the future. Ambitious successors position themselves discreetly. The conversation moves from loyalty to succession. Cameroon increasingly appears to be entering that phase.
The government’s insistence that everything is normal has not prevented widespread speculation. If anything, the absence of clear communication has amplified it. In the age of instant information, silence rarely reassures. Instead, it creates space for competing narratives that undermine public confidence.
No one outside the president’s closest circle can state with certainty the full circumstances surrounding his stay in Switzerland. It is therefore important to distinguish between verified facts and speculation. But one fact is undeniable: a president who has remained away from his country for an unprecedented period inevitably invites questions about continuity, governance and succession.
For a leader who has ruled Cameroon for more than four decades, this may well be remembered as the moment when the country collectively began contemplating the post-Biya era—not because an official announcement was made but because events spoke louder than words.
Political endings rarely arrive with fanfare. They emerge gradually, as confidence fades, uncertainty grows and the symbolism of power begins to outweigh its exercise. Biya’s prolonged stay abroad has become more than a personal matter; it has become a national political event.
Whether President Paul Biya ultimately returns to Yaoundé or not, his record stay in Switzerland may come to symbolize the beginning of the end of one of Africa’s longest presidential tenures. The transition may not happen today or even this year, but the aura of permanence that once surrounded his rule appears increasingly fragile.
For Cameroon, the more pressing question is no longer whether the Biya era will end. It is whether the country is prepared for what comes after.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai