A report by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) highlights the ongoing challenges faced by informal cross-border traders operating in the tri-border area between Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, particularly in Kye-Ossi. These challenges include significant administrative and financial constraints.
The ECA study reveals that these difficulties largely stem from interactions between traders and the various services present at border posts. Customs, police, gendarmerie, as well as sectoral administrations responsible for controlling goods (agriculture, livestock, trade, and forestry) are particularly singled out. Although these constraints affect all operators, the report emphasizes that they weigh more heavily on women, who are highly present in this sector of sub-regional trade.
Among the major problems identified are customs procedures, deemed too expensive by almost all respondents, thus deterring many operators from declaring their transactions. Faced with these high costs, some traders prefer to use informal channels to move their goods. The report also denounces the existence of arbitrary taxation, often collected without the issuance of receipts, a practice denounced by 83% of respondents. This situation highlights the problem of embezzlement or loss of customs revenue, as any payment to customs services should normally result in the issuance of a receipt. The slowness of customs formalities is also a major obstacle, cited by 78% of traders, particularly penalizing transporters of perishable goods. In addition, 56% of operators report corruption practices, with agents demanding informal payments to facilitate the passage of goods, and 48% report administrative harassment.
These difficulties raise questions about the effectiveness of revenue collection by Cameroonian customs, whose missions include the collection of tax revenue, the economic mission, as well as the surveillance and protection of the territory. In Kye-Ossi, customs services are present at the three main crossing points, and the main office is connected to the CAMCIS customs computer system, which is supposed to record declared transactions. The discrepancy between this formal organization and the denounced practices reveals persistent gaps in the supervision of cross-border trade.
The situation in Kye-Ossi underscores the need to improve transparency and combat corruption to facilitate cross-border trade and ensure adequate tax revenues for Cameroon.
