« After Somdia decided to abandon Sosucam, despite the promises made by Pierre Castel to the President of the Republic, some have mobilized part of the press to spin a narrative suggesting the group is leaving Cameroon due to family disputes, » explains Albin Njilo.

In reality, the group has just signed an agreement with Côte d’Ivoire to invest 100 billion FCFA in the Ivorian sugar industry. « The truth is far simpler: Somdia is leaving Cameroon because Yaoundé’s political elite has created a system where import licenses for sugar are distributed to their allies. The result? Sosucam can no longer sell its product, as cheaper imports flood the market, » he adds.

« Despite this unfair competition, Somdia invested 4.5 billion FCFA last year, hoping the government would reduce import quotas. It never happened: 125 billion FCFA worth of sugar was imported. Worse, these importers—allegedly fronts for regime elites—enjoy preferential customs treatment. They import sugar under the guise of supplying the local market but resell it across the subregion. Large quantities are currently stockpiled in warehouses at Ngaoundéré’s railway terminal, blocked since President Mahamat Idriss Déby reinstated customs barriers on Cameroonian sugar. This sugar is then smuggled back into Cameroon, » Njilo continues.

« Côte d’Ivoire, by contrast, does not hand out import licenses to middlemen. The government assesses production shortfalls and grants quotas exclusively to producers when shortages arise. Only producers benefit from these measures, » he concludes.