4600 bags of wheat flour seized by customs at the port of Douala

The Cameroon Customs of Port Autonome de Douala (PAD) have seized a large cargo of 4,600 bags weighing 230 tons of wheat flour imported under the brand name ‘Papa Africa’.

An official stated that the items were ceased after local producers condemned the product bearing the effigy of the defunct South African President Nelson Mandela.

A group of Cameroonian millers when approached made it clear that there were some irregularities going on and found it necessary to alert Cameroon’s customs.

“This was to make sure that the administration ensured that wheat flour imported from other countries respects Cameroon standards and that all administrative and customs papers are scheduled prior to landing".

The producer organization having alerted the Cameroon customs acknowledged that "flour made in the European Union may in no case have the same textures as the flour produced in Cameroon”.

They emphasized that “local flours are enriched in iron, folic acid, zinc and vitamin B that include dietary additions and provide the human body with nutritional supplement that saves consumers the occurrence of certain serious diseases such as Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, which stunts growth. Imported flour like Papa Africa exposes people to the occurrence of these diseases and dietary deficiencies”.

The Port Customs have thus demanded that Emmanuel Kongnyuy, the representative of La-grain S.A Cameroon, a vending business of the disputed flour, to produce all documents required namely.

It includes a certificate of origin, an analysis report, prior authorization of the competent authority Cameroon, a quality certificate issued by an accredited body of country of origin attesting the conformity of the imported flour to the Cameroonian standard certificate compliance and quality issued by the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development (MINMIDT) and finally a sale authorization issued by the Ministry of Commerce (MINCOMMERCE).

After which the importer must also justify the image of Nelson Mandela Rholilala on the branded Papa Africa wheat flour bags.

Beyond all these administrative documents to be produced the importer revealed “our meal was not blocked, we even got out of Anor to obtain authorization. The only unfair aspect was the commercial use of Nelson Mandela’s effigy and that can justify the prohibition of the 230 tons cargo of wheat flour on the Cameroonian territory”. These facts were reported by the Jour newspaper in its Wednesday, May 6, 2015 edition.

As a reminder, it was noted that after the death of Nelson Mandela, many graphic artistes, graphic designers and screen printers in Cameroon had flooded the streets with images of Nelson Mandela printed on gadgets.

The South Africa Embassy in Cameroon formally proscribed the act at a press conference where a call to order about the illegality of such an approach without prior authorization from the South African government had been brought to the attention of Cameroonian public opinion.

He was asked one and all to stop all forms of commercial exploitation of the image of Nelson Mandela without permission, unless you want to fall foul of the law and suffer all the consequences.