In Cameroon’s port of Douala, corruption, bureaucratic red tape, overpriced services and a growing backlog have combined to put a major drag on cargo trade through central Africa’s largest harbour.

More than 95% of Cameroon’s maritime traffic transits through Douala, a sprawling hub that serves as the main gateway for landlocked Chad and Central African Republic.

But the procedures for clearing goods are a permanent headache, and very little gets done without greasing palms with extra cash, traders say.

“There is high-level corruption at Douala port,” says one businessman as he slips a 1.50 euros note to the ticket seller at the entrance – a quarter of the official entry price.

“To take a car out of customs, for example, you have to get between 20 and 22 different stamps,” says a port employee who asked to remain anonymous – for each stamp, a bribe has to change hands. On top of that, there are rapidly rising formal costs.

“A car that we cleared a year ago for 850 000 CFA in charges would now cost 1.3 million,” explains the businessman who bribed the man at the gate.

“In the offices, staff (handling the paperwork) are incredibly slow, so if you want your dossier to be dealt with, you have to pay up.”

The World Bank has noted the remarkably long time taken to move goods through the Douala – an average of 16 days according to an expert mission in March last year.

The team said this period was “an eternity compared, for instance, with the port of Lome in Togo, where the delay is two days”.

 Catastrophic delays 

For Chad and Central African Republic, Douala is the nearest gateway for a stream of hauliers supplying the capitals of N’Djamena and Bangui.

Due to the red tape endured by the freight transporters, some are now considering the idea of “going through other ports in the West African subregion”, Chad’s ministry of infrastructure warned in a recent statement.

In Douala, “our lorries are often blocked for many weeks at the port before being able to get on the road”, Ali Abdallah Youssouf, head of Chad’s national council of importers, exporters and freight forwarders, told AFP by phone from Libreville.

A survey conducted for the World Bank in 2011 noted that customs “sometimes rightly” took much of the blame for delays in clearing containers and other cargo, but pointed out that many other agents were involved, from shippers to sanitary services.

Such delays are “catastrophic” for most businesses, stated a businessman from Central African Republic who has to work through the Cameroonian port.

“By holding the goods” the terminal managers “earn more money than they do in handling them,” particularly when it comes to wood, a valuable commodity in central Africa, he said.

 ‘A marked degradation’ 

Since 2004, the container terminal has been managed by Douala International Terminal (DIT), a subsidiary of France’s Bollore Group. Another of its subsidiaries, SEPDC, manages the wood terminal.

And it is through these two terminals that around half of the port’s merchandise has to pass.

But it has not gone unnoticed by the authorities themselves, with the port’s Director General Cyrus Ngo’o warning last month that a singular lack of investment had caused a “marked degradation” in its infrastructure.

His remarks were made in a pointed letter addressed to the transport ministry, a copy of which was seen by AFP.

The port, he wrote, was initially built to cope with an average “seven million tonnes of merchandise” per year, while today it handles 12 million tonnes – which was putting major stress on its limited infrastructure.

“Since 1980, there has not been any major investment to expand its ability to accommodate vessels and process their merchandise,” he wrote.

 ‘Congestion is real’ 

In February, France’s Rougier Group, which trades in tropical timber, said its business was suffering from the “chronic backlog” at Douala port, which was affecting its Cameroonian, Congolese and Central African subsidiaries.

But Ngo’o hit back, saying Douala could not be held responsible for Rougier’s failings since the port’s “logistical operations for international trade were proceeding as normal”.

Despite his fighting talk, Ngo’o’s letter admitted the port was facing “an unforeseen situation in which its operations were experiencing a decline in fluidity”.

“This situation is having a negative impact, notably on the speed of handling the exports of Cameroon’s main cash crops such as coffee, cocoa and wood,” he wrote.

“More than 2 000 containers” of these three goods had been stuck at the terminal for many weeks, he warned, saying the risk “of congestion at Douala port is very real.”

Source: AFP

Forty-four African countries have signed an agreement establishing a free trade area seen as vital to the continent’s economic development, the head of the African Union said Wednesday.

The creation of a free trade area — billed as the world’s largest in terms of participating countries — comes after two years of negotiations, and is one of the AU’s flagship projects for greater African integration.

“The agreement establishing the CFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area) was signed by 44 countries,” said Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the AU commission.

However, the agreement will still have to be ratified at a national level, and is only due to come into force in 180 days.

Nigeria is notably absent from the signatories after President Muhammadu Buhari pulled out of this week’s launch in Rwanda saying he needed more time for consultations at home.

One of Africa’s largest markets, Nigeria hesitated after objections from business leaders and unions — a sign that getting the deal through scores of national parliaments may face several hurdles.

“Some countries have reservations and have not finalized their national consultations. But we shall have another summit in Mauritania in July where we expect countries with reservations to also sign,” said Albert Muchanga, the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry.

However other economic powerhouses South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Algeria — known for strict protectionist policies restricting imports and exports — did sign the deal.

If all 55 African Union members eventually sign up, it will create a bloc with a cumulative GDP of $2.5 trillion (2 trillion euros) and cover a market of 1.2 billion people.

Currently, African countries only do about 16 percent of their business with each other, the smallest amount of intra-regional trade compared to Latin America, Asia, North America and Europe.

And with average tariffs of 6.1 per cent, businesses currently pay higher tariffs when they export within Africa than when they export outside it, according to the AU.

“If we remove customs and duties by 2022, the level of intra-African trade will increase by 60 percent, which is very, very significant,” Muchanga told AFP in an interview before the summit.

The CFTA is a key part of the AU’s long-term development plan Agenda 2063, which calls for easing trade and travel across the continent.

At its most recent summit in Ethiopia in January, AU member states agreed to a common air transport market that could drive down airfares, as well as plans for visa-free travel for Africans across the continent.

Also on Wednesday, 27 countries signed the protocol agreeing to the free movement of persons across the continent.

(Source: AFP)

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has partnered with Viettel’s subsidiary in Cameroon, Nexttel, to launch mobile money services, Journaldeucameroun reported. The decision signed by the Governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), Abbas Mahamat Tolli, reveals that UBA had requested authorisation from the bank as far back as March 2017, to carry out mobile money services in Cameroon.

BEAC approved the UBA request based on the potential benefits to Cameroon’s unbanked population. The central bank said it reserves the right to withdraw the authorisation if the request is not used effectively within twelve months. Mobile money services in the country are currently controlled by Orange and MTN, in partnership with BICEC and Afriland First Bank respectively.

Official statistics indicate that there are 34,114 electronic money service points across the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), with Cameroon accounting for 70 percent.

Source: Telecompaper.com

Mozambican authorities say a fungal infection which eats at banana plants is to blame for at least 2,400 people losing their jobs.

They say Panama disease has hit planations in the northern provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado, across an estimated area of 1,300 hectares.

The country says it is looking for alternative banana varieties which are resistant to the disease.

A spokesman for plant health at Mozambique’s ministry of agriculture and food security says:

“So far, the varieties tested aren’t resistant enough. They’ve been imported from Taiwan and show some resistance but aren’t completely resistant. They can endure the disease, depending on the stress. But the more fungus the soil has, the more stressed they become. Under these conditions the plants can not bear the brunt. They also end up becoming infested.”

Source: BBC

David Nkoto Emane, the General Manager of Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) – a state-owned telephone operator has been barred from leaving the country.

The decision also concerns Richard Maga, the deputy general manager of the company including some of their staff.

The decision to prevent Camtel’s officials from leaving Cameroonian territory was taken on the instructions of President Biya after a correspondence from the State Audit Office, which audited the company’s accounts recently in Yaoundé.

By Rita Akana

Nigeria’s state oil firm NNPC is in the final stages of talks with two consortiums that include top traders, energy and oil companies to revamp its rundown refineries.

The move is aimed at helping Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer, save billions of dollars on fuel imports.

the two consortiums would be paid via the offtake of refined products rather than cash, obliging them to revive the refineries and keep them running smoothly to ensure they earn profit from their investments.

Nigeria’s refineries operate far below their combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day due to years of neglect, as well as theft from pipelines and sabotage.

This forces the country to import nearly all the fuel it consumes, a hefty burden because of price caps on gasoline.

The government said it spent $5.8 billion on imports since late 2017.

The first consortium comprising Vitol, Saipem, General Electric, Sahara Group and MRS Oil Nigeria will refurbish the Warri and Kaduna state refineries.

The second consortium is made up of Trafigura, Eni, Cepsa and Oando who will repair the refineries in Port Harcourt.

Source: Reuters

The Governments of Cameroon and Chad have signed an aide-memoire with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to extend the railway network linking Ngaoundere in Cameroon and Djamena in Chad.

The signing ceremony was chaired by Cameroon’s Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o and conducted in the presence of the Director General of Cooperation and Regional Integration, Charles Assamba Ongondo.

During the ceremony, Ongondo explained that the document was in relation to feasibility studies carried out ahead of the construction of the railway linking both towns. He said the three signatories had earlier on, in consultation with the Cameroon – Chad Railway Commission, agreed to carry out feasibility studies for the railway.

He noted that, after the signing, the board of AfDB’s board will go through the documentation and decided if they will continue financing the project.

Minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o also indicated the position paper will be presented in the next board meeting of the Cameroon – Chad Railway Commission.

The railway extension is expected to cover a distance of 900km and add to the transport networks linking both countries. The project will be financed to the tune of approximately 5,000 billion CFAF.

Source: Railways Africa

The second-hand goods business has known heydays in Cameroon, but current trends are a little disturbing for both users and importers of these goods. In Cameroon more than 80 percent of the population survives thanks to second-hand goods imported mostly from Europe and North America.

Users of these products are usually considered as low-income earners whose resources cannot let them walk into some of the chic shops in the country. In the past, while the rich considered these goods as being underneath their social class, users of imported second-hand good held that  these goods were not only more durable  than brand new goods, they were within reach financially.

Today, as the prices of goods escalate worldwide, these goods have become rare and obtaining them is becoming a nightmare to the population. All over the country, consumers are complaining that these goods have become very difficult to access due to high prices.

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Talking to some second-hand household equipment retailers at the Obili and Essos neighborhoods in Yaounde, we figured out that the high prices are due to high importation cost importers have to pay to get the goods into Cameroon.

While retailers blame this unfortunate situation on importers of these goods, the importers, for their part, blame the unfortunate situation on high taxes, corrupt customs officers and high custom duties. Many Cameroonians hold that D.I.T, the company in charge of imported containers at the Douala seaport, is also to blame due to arbitrary decisions and corrupt practices that are hurting Cameroonians financially and the company’s reputation.

Focusing on second-hand cars which are highly solicited by Cameroonians, we were told by dealers that, the prices of these cars had increased because the government had tactically increased some taxes at the Douala Port.  Some of the taxes on second-hand cars, they say, can be witnessed at SOCOMAR, a company in charge of imported cars at the Douala seaport. Many used car importers claim that  some taxes have increased from about CFAF 21,000  to about CFAF 35,000 for vehicles  whose first registration was in 2000 and from about CFAF 18,000 to about CFAF 25,000 for vehicles whose  first registration was in  1992 and up.

Meanwhile, duty has increased from about 67% to about 87%. Some of the taxes that are posing challenges to car importers and clearing agents include the “stationing tax” and “the entry or pass tax”. The stationing tax has increased from CFAF 350 to CFAF 1,650 per day, while the entry or pass tax has increased from CFAF 500 to CFAF 1,850 per day.

The stationing tax is the tax paid per day for space occupied by an imported car at the SOCOMAR car park. Despite threats of a strike action by car importers and clearing agents, SOCOMAR authorities are turning a deaf ear. Clearing a car at the SOCOMAR car park takes more than 14 days instead of 5 days as it was in the past.

According to the car importers and clearing agents, the increase in these two taxes in particular and the dereliction duty on the part of SOCOMAR authorities are deliberate attempts by these authorities to extort money from them.

Many used car importers hold that SOCOMAR is one of the most corrupt company at the Douala seaport. It is common knowledge that custom officers and other taxation officers usually use coded language like “five greens, two greens, one green and half green” to refer to CFAF 50,000, CFAF 20,000, CFAF 10,000 and CFAF 5,000 respectively when asking for a bribe.

Talking to some clearing agents on the coded language used by custom officials, they all angrily referred to a certain Muslim lady who is an Inspector of customs at SOCOMAR whose name Cameroon Concord News has decided to withhold.

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It should be recalled that on December 22, 2017, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC) published a list of 21 custom officers who own many luxurious buildings in Cameroon and bank accounts of over CFAF 134 million. Cameroonians are still waiting to see if legal actions will be taken against them.

Many are also looking forward to this ill-gotten wealth to be recovered by the state. On August 4, 2016, Cameroon and the European Union signed an economic partnership agreement exempting some goods from taxes and custom duty with the objective of improving the country’s economic situation.

Despite these exemptions, the country’s economy is not improving as thought. Many importers are still facing the same situation and corruption that has made life challenging to the ordinary man is still persisting and blighting many lives.

Meanwhile, President Paul Biya in his February 10, 2018, speech to the country’s youths, blamed the economic hardship in the country on the insecurity in the Northern Region as well as the Anglophone crisis that has been playout for over fifteen months.

He tactically avoided touching on  the corrupt activities of government officials who due to continuous unnecessary increase in state budget have  created  loopholes that are helping some individuals to line their pockets to the detriment of ordinary citizens who are made to pay some of those punitive taxes.

For two years running, custom duty and other taxes have been increased and this is discouraging many young businessmen who want to join the goods importation business. This is not pleasing to many young Cameroonians who hold that business will be an opportunity for them to escape poverty and unemployment that have transformed the country into a living hell.

By Meshack Mbeng Enowmbi in Yaounde