Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Then On Feb. 10, 2026, Finance Minister, Louis Paul MOTAZE, Gave Firm Instruction For The Customs To Stop All Collaboration With Transatlantic D At The Douala Port. The Customs Swiftly And Happily Cut Off All Links With Transatlantic At The Port. That Action Paralyzed Transatlantic At The Port, As The Company Cannot Carry Out Cargo Inspection Without The Collaboration Of Customs.
Despite the firm instructions or directives that were given by the Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, to the General Manager of the Douala Port Authority, Cyrus Ngo’o, at the inter – ministerial meeting on the crisis at the Douala Port on January 29, 2026 in Yaounde, and which the Secretary General at the Prime Minister’s Office, Fouda Seraphin Magloire, stressed upon in the correspondence he addressed to the General Manager of PAD on Friday, January 30, nothing has really changed.
By Monday, February 9, 2026, it was still Transatlantic D that PAD brought into the Douala Port irregularly, that was still handling the Container Inspector (Scanning) Operation at the port, in the place of SGS Scanning Cameroun SA, a subsidiary of the multinational company, SGS. Transatlantic D had been doing that since January 2, 2026, though the contract that the SGS signed with the Cameroon Government still has a duration period of six years left. This has thus been in flagrant violation of the terms of the contract that the Government signed with the Swiss company, ‘Societe Generale de Surveillance’, SGS, in 2015,
At the January 29 inter- ministerial meeting at which the a delegation of the management of the Douala Port Authority, commonly known by the French acronym, PAD, was in attendance, the Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, insisted that the contract which the Cameroon Government signed with SGS in 2015 was still valid, and that the Government has an obligation to respect the terms of the contract she signed. The Prime Minister gave firm directives to the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, to take necessary dispositions to ensure that SGS Scanning Cameroun, whose activities at the Douala Port were interrupted by him, fully and effectively resumed its activities at the port on January 30, 2026, in line with the convention or contract that SGS signed with the Cameroon Government.
General Manager Of PAD Disrespect Prime Minister’s Directives
The General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, did not take the necessary dispositions for SGS Cameroun to effectively resume operation at the Douala Port on Friday, January 30, as the Prime Minister directed. That did not even happen on Monday, February 2. However on Wednesday February 4, some little hope appeared in the horizon, that, the end to the crisis at the Douala Port, caused by a conflict over the management of the container inspection (scanning) operation domain, was probably around the corner. The General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, finally had a meeting with the General Manager of SGS Scanning Cameroun, Patricia Nzondjou.
But as The Mentor News reported during the weekend that followed, the General Manager of PAD was seemingly playing games, as he continued to maintain Transatlantic D in charge of container inspection by scanning at the port, in the place of SGS Scanning Cameroun. This was in flagrant violation of the directives that the Prime Minister gave him at the Inter- ministerial meeting on the crisis at the Douala Port that held on January 29, 2026.
Minister Of Finance Instructs Customs To Stop Collaboration With Transatlantic D.
Suffice to say on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, the no – nonsense Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, who in the crisis at the Douala Port has also accepted the reference to him by some people as Minister of Customs, gave firm instruction that the Customs Service at the Douala Port should immediately stop the collaboration with Transatlantic D, that was imposed by the ‘Presidency ‘ , last January.
It should be noted that the Cameroon Customs have all along strongly been in support of the respect of the convention that the Government signed with SGS, which the Customs have found as very credible and useful partner since 2010 that they started collaboration. It should be noted that besides the Douala Port, the SGS S has been working in collaboration with the Cameroon Customs as partners, at the Douala and Yaounde International Airports, among others.
Customs Return All Transatlantic Equipment
Meanwhile, following the order of the Minister of Finance, the Customs Service at the Douala Port, immediately and happily stopped all collaboration with Transatlantic D at the port. The Customs Service formally returned to Transatlantic D, all the equipment of the enterprise like computers that were given to the Customs by the Cyrus Ngo’o / Ngoh Ngoh / Transatlantic Camp, purportedly in the name of the Presidency, at the meeting that the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, convened at the Presidency on January 22, 2026.
It would be recalled that at the meeting which held at the Presidency, the representatives of the Customs Administration insisted that the Cameroon Customs had doubts over the claim by the Cyrus /Ngo’o / Ngoh Ngoh / Transatlantic Camp, that President Biya had given his accord that SGS should quit the Douala Port in favour of Transatlantic D. As The Mentor News reported earlier, the two ‘resolutions’ that came out of the meeting , certainly under the strong influence of the Secretary General at the Presidency , Ferdinand Ngog Ngoh, who was running the show behind the scene, was that Transatlantic D be allowed to be operating at the Douala Port, while all the parties wait to get a clearer position of the President of the Republic or the Government on the issue. This meant that the Customs Service at the Douala Port, had for the time being, or while waiting for that clarity, be collaborating with Transatlantic D. So by the end of the meeting, the Customs were in the purported name of the Presidency, given a number of laptops and other required equipment of Transatlantic, for the collaboration. It should be noted that the Minister of Finance, was not in the country on that day.
End Of Collaboration / Douala Port Blocked
Meanwhile, the return of the computers and other equipment of Transatlantic D by the Customs Service at the Douala Port, which meant the end of collaboration between the Customs and Transatlantic D at the port, also meant that Transatlantic D could not go ahead with the container inspection by scanning operation at the port. Also, the payment of customs duties on merchandises in containers could no longer be done, as the containers of merchandises had to be first scanned, for the Customs to know the real contents, before calculating the amounts of money to be paid as customs duties. Operations were thus blocked at the Douala Port, with importers unable to leave the port with their containers, and exporters unable to export their products in containers. It should be noted that the large majority of the merchandises that pass through the Douala Port, are in containers.
The Cyrus Ngo’o / Ngoh Ngoh / Transatlantic Camp was embarrassed and nervous with the development. Members of the Camp had seemingly not imagined that the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, who pays so much attention or interest to customs revenue, that contributes much to the annual State budget, could go to the extent of taking such a decision that blocked operations, including the payment of customs duty, at the Douala Port. But then things had gotten to a point where the Government had to enforce State authority at all cost, over the selfish interest of a mafia group. A mafia group that thought they could continue to take advantage, of the current situation of 93 year old President Biya, who has so much been weakened by age, to continue to defy State authority and shelve the country’s interest, for their selfish interests.
GM Of PAD Resort To New Strategy With His Resistance
Meanwhile, the decision taken by the Minister of Finance for the Customs Service at the Douala Port to stop all collaboration with Transatlantic D, put the company out of action, and thus out of business at the Douala Port.
In the evening of Wednesday, February 11, 2026, an allegation floated, that the management of the Douala Port Authority, had resolved to finally respect the directives that the Prime Minister gave on January 29, that SGS Scanning Cameroun, should effectively resume its activities, at the Douala Port. However no official statement followed to confirm that, and the situation on the ground did not look so.
It came out that the management of the Douala Port Authority, or better still the General Manager of PAD, Cyrus Ngo’o, and his Camp, had instead resorted to playing games. While information definitely coming from the Douala Port Authority was being floated around that the General Manager was very ready to implement the directives of the Prime Minister, the General Manager of SGS Scanning Cameroun, Patricia Nzondjou, was on the other hand being presented by propaganda officers of the Cyrus Ngo’o / Ngoh Ngoh Camp, as the one who was obstructing the General Manager of PAD not to implement the Prime Minister’s directives, by not collaborating with him.
