« After Somdia’s decision to withdraw from Sosucam—despite Pierre Castel’s commitments to the President—certain beneficiaries of import licenses enriched themselves rather than serving the public. They’ve now manipulated sections of the press to spin a narrative suggesting the group’s departure stems from family disputes, deliberately shielding the President from the real issues,» explains Albin Njilo.

According to Njilo, the group, which has since exited Cameroon, has just signed a deal with Côte d’Ivoire to invest 100 billion FCFA in the country’s sugar sector. « The truth is far more troubling. Somdia left Cameroon because Yaoundé’s political elite engineered a system where import licenses for sugar were handed to their associates. This flooded the market with cheaper imports, crippling Sosucam’s sales,» he adds.

« Despite this unfair competition, Somdia invested 4.5 billion FCFA last year, hoping the government would reduce import quotas. Nothing changed: 125 billion FCFA worth of sugar was imported. Worse still, these importers—allegedly fronts for regime insiders—enjoyed preferential customs treatment. They imported sugar officially meant for Cameroon but resold it across the subregion. Massive quantities are now stockpiled in Ngaoundéré’s rail terminal, trapped by President Mahamat Idriss Déby’s decision to reinstate sugar tariffs on Cameroonian imports. This sugar is later diverted back into Cameroon’s market,» Njilo continues.

Why Côte d’Ivoire, and not Cameroon?

« In Côte d’Ivoire, despite local production failing to meet demand, the government doesn’t hand out import licenses to proxies. Instead, it calculates production shortfalls and allocates quotas strictly to producers when shortages occur,» Njilo concludes.