2024-04-28 15:46:38
Despite repeated warnings from the government, the city of Yaoundé has become the scene of a merciless clash over the management of advertising. At the heart of the storm: Mayor Luc Messi Atangana, accused of illegally collecting a “ advertising fee » with the complicity of crooked management companies.
Since November 2022, ministers and authorities have followed one another to condemn this practice: first the Minister of Finance, then that of Decentralization in May 2023, and finally the Minister of Communication in November. But nothing happens, the mayor turns a deaf ear and continues his forced collection, going so far as to order the destruction of the signs of recalcitrant traders on April 11.
A flagrant violation of laws and the rights of traders
However, the law is clear: putting up a commercial sign is a right, not a favor granted by the mayor. Section 28 of the Commerce Act 2015 guarantees this. As for advertising signs, the 2006 law simply recommends that the merchant choose an agency approved by the Ministry of Communication. No prior authorization from the town hall is required.
By attacking brands in this way, Mayor Atangana is violating the rights of traders and threatening the survival of many SMEs. An untenable situation denounced by Aristide Bounah, member of the Association of Advertising Managers of Cameroon (Arpc), for whom these monopolistic practices also violate the 1998 law on free competition.
Abuse of power and electoral war chest: the underside of a scandal
But then, why so much persistence on the part of the mayor of Yaoundé? According to our information, this campaign to destroy the signs would in reality be a screen to amass a war chest for the next elections. A marked abuse of power, especially since article 35 of the 2019 law on decentralization gives the State the exclusive right to manage the public domain, with the possibility of delegating it to the Regions. Not to mayors.
Faced with this explosive situation, the government seems powerless. Despite repeated interventions by ministers and regulatory updates initiated at the end of 2023 by the Minister of Communication René Emmanuel Sadi, the mayor of Yaoundé continues to taunt state authority. How far will this standoff go? Will the government finally crack down or leave the way open to the mayor’s excesses? To be continued…