Contraband, Counterfeit Products: Persistent Phenomenon!

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Contraband, Counterfeit Products: Persistent Phenomenon!

25 juil. 2019 15:06

Illegal trade, fraud and counterfeit goods continue to thrive in local markets despite several checks by public administration.

The media was in the last few weeks awash with information on seizure of contraband and counterfeited goods in some major cities in the country. The phenomenon is as old as trade itself with perpetrators devising different methods as time goes on. The prevailing of the unfortunate situation is leaving severe wounds on the national economy. The proliferation of contraband goods and counterfeit products, such as hydrocarbons, cement, whiskeys, cigarettes, cosmetics, beer and other beverages is strangulating local production out of business. In 2017, Cameroon’s Employers Association (GICAM) put the estimate at FCFA 150 billion losses incurred by local enterprises and the economy. The question many are tempted to ask is how and why the smug
gling, illegal trade, counterfeiting of goods is thrive despite several control mechanisms. In a country where per capita income is low, many consumers are ever ready to purchase cheap goods even those of doubtful sources and qualities. The easy accessibility of such products, invading even walkways in the capital city unperturbed, makes consumers especially those with low purchasing power vulnerable. Moreover, dealers in such illicit business make brisk gains as no tax or custom duty is paid for such products smuggled into the market. It is thus difficult for them to abandon this “lucrative business” even though at the detriment of the State treasury as well as health risk for consumers. Cameroon has an extensive land and maritime border with Africa’s most populous nation, and the continent’s first economy; Nigeria. The over 1,600km long border is porous with several entry points that give easy access to contraband and counterfeits products. Sometimes the goods are smuggled into the country with the complicity of control officers. As to counterfeits products, some corrupt officials of the Fraud control brigade of the Ministry of Trade allow them in the market space unabated. Several public administrations notably the custom dep...