Beer consumers in Bamenda forced to change choices as Foreign Drinks flood drinking spots

By Bakah Derick 
First publish by the Guardian Post Daily Newspaper in February 2019

For a few weeks now in Bamenda, drinking spots have been seen stocking and serving foreign drinks to their clients. This has forced many to change their beer choices as some locally brewed beer brands disappear from the city. 

“I am consumer of Castel but since I came here I have been drink Star beer which is a beer I drank when I was in Nigeria. It is a good drink and I love it so much.” Tim Kileyin tells this reporter as he gulp’s another glass in a popular drinking spot in Bamenda. 

 

Nigeria Drinks in Bamenda

The next table has a series of mixed bottles with strange names. Then a young man calls the service and demands for another drink. This time the name is strange. “Armored Car” he calls out. Then the serving girl appears with the bottle of a drink name Eagle. Again it is not a drink common in Cameroon. The serving girl will then confirm to me that it is a drink from Nigeria and narrats why it is called armored car. (a story not for today.) 

“I am now drinking “armored car” because I cannot see Export which is a drink I love so much. But armored car is strong but I manage and I am beginning to like it.” Another consumer says while his other drinking partners confirm brandishing different beer brands. 

On the same table you can see assorted non Cameroonian drinks like Gulder, Hero including Guinness bottles that do not look usual. As I grab the strange Guinness bottle I noticed that instead of the 21years limit that is common in Cameroon, the bottle rather has 18years limit.

“I have been forced to start buying and selling these drinks by boys who came here and said we should not sell Brasseries drinks again. They even came back scattered by crates and destroyed my bottles saying that if they come and see that here again they will kill those drinking the drinks and burn down my shop.” The shop owner (name withheld) tells me. 

As to how easy it is to have these drinks in Bamenda, the drinking spot owner said “I buy here from those who go and bring from Nigeria and I can tell you that despite this long distance, the prices are very low. You will not imagine how much I buy a crate of drink; very cheap.” 

He was however willing to link me to his supplier but unfortunately the phone lines were not available at the time. He tries to share with me what his supplier told him about how the drinks enter Cameroon. “Joe told me that they buy the drinks from a depot in Ekok and put in bags and while on the way they settle both the Amba control and the government control including customs. He told me that there was no drink amongst the drinks he supplies us that is sold above 300F a bottle reason why he supplies us at almost 400F a bottle and then we retail for 500 or 600 FRS.”  

Unlike the Cameroon case where crates and bottles and returned to the brand brewer for cleaning and refilling, my interviewee notes “we buy that cheap and we buy all plus the bottles and crates if they come. So we do not give back any bottle or crate.” 

Back in the bar, the consumers are emptying bottles with the argument that the foreign drinks have less alcohol as compared to locally brewed drinks. “I have taken five bottles and I feel like I have taken noting compared to when I normally use to take our local beer. I think these drinks from Nigeria are good. They are also cheaper than the ones produced here.” An excited Star consumer tells me with a bottle in hand. 

An observer who will not want to be named analysis the phenomenon saying “I have seen lots of people drinking these foreign drinks in Cameroon. It has a serious setback on our economy. Taxes are not paid for them to the state treasury and also many of those employed to work for local brewery companies may be dismissed from their jobs and eventually they will become economic burdens to both their family and the society. I am also sure that very few people find time to check the expiring date of those drinks especially those in the cans. The disadvantages maybe too much but mindful of the economic hardship you will understand that the bar owners have to survive because it is their source of livelihood.” 

It should be recalled that several beer transporting trucks have been burnt in the North West and South West Regions in the last two years of the ongoing crisis. According to the above analyst, there have been calls by well-known individuals said to be challenging government in the crisis for the boycott of Brasseries du Cameroun brewed drinks. The Company has however not made a statement on this but their drinks seem to be getting more out of the regular. “The distribution of Guinness products has been described as insufficient with the retailers now expected to go their mile three Nkwen headquarters to buy. These are some of the difficulties and reasons why we have more foreign drinks in town.”