SOSUCAM CEO denounces illegal sugar importation

The CEO of the Cameroon Sugar Company known by its French acronym as SOSUCAM, Louis Yinda, has once more condemned the illegal importation of sugar with the complicity of some officials at the Douala Port.

The SOSUCAM CEO was speaking in Yaounde recently, during a press conference that marked the ceremony to present New Year wishes to the national and international press corps in Cameroon.

The Executive Committee, social partners and some workers of the company accompanied the CEO at the event, which took place midway into the 2016 sugar season, against a backdrop of intense preparations to commemorate SOSUCAM’s 50 years of existence.

Yinda reiterated that the importation of sugar into Cameroon is prohibited until further notice by a decision of the President of the Republic.

He regretted that despite that decision, some officials at the Douala port are acting in complicity with some importers to allow contraband sugar into the country.

The SOSUCAM CEO told the press that he has restrained workers from protesting in Yaounde on several occasions each time sugar is stockpiled in their warehouses because of unfair competition in the market due to the illegal sugar importation.

While calling on the government to make sure that the presidential decision is effectively enforced, the SOSUCAM CEO also appealed for the creation of a national committee to regulate the sugar market in the country.

He noted that such a committee would ensure permanent availability of the product in the market.

Yinda told media managers present that they must also work hard to keep their enterprises afloat as he is doing at SOSUCAM.

On the paradox where the warehouses of SOSUCAM are said to be stocked with sugar while shortages are announced in the market, the CEO debunked such allegations.

He said currently, 35,000 tons of sugar are stocked in the company’s warehouses in Mbandjock, Douala and Ngaoundere.

Yinda said last year, SOSUCAM supplied the market with adequate sugar and no shortages were reported.

He also revealed that the company pays approximately FCFA 12 billion in taxes annually and some FCFA 13 billion in salaries. He said any person can import sugar but it is not everybody that can successfully manage a company.

The CEO argued that SOSUCAM creates a lot of wealth along the sugar chain reason why the leading agro-food industry must be protected at all cost.

“Extreme dry conditions affecting production, warehouses stockpiled with sugar and illegal sugar importation are serious problems that no serious business person who is out to make profits will accept,” Yinda said.

Concerning the social climate prevailing in the company, the CEO recalled the positive comments from the personnel representative of the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Gregoire Owona, during the medal award of last January 27 in Mbandjock.

He talked of the adoption of internal rules that are helping them to handle issues of the company with workers. He said salaries coupled with allowances have greatly improved.

Other areas addressed by Yinda included efforts to stem the persistent dry conditions where he said irrigation schemes are being introduced, efforts to improve on security, respect of environmental norms, what SOSUCAM is doing to better the living conditions of the local population, amongst others.