The proliferation of illegal measuring instruments in Cameroon continues to occupy headline news. Business people in their various categories have for several years been at loggerheads with their customers as a result of the non respect of scales and other measuring instruments prescribed and recognised by the law. In effect, the resurgence and rapid growth in the number of unauthorised measuring instruments tell of the gravity of the problem. Market people find it an interesting business strategy to maximise profit. Many are seen using measurements with false identifications. Some acquire the correct scales but modify their original characteristics. Many are those who are into measurements that are completely absent from the list recognised by the law.

Voted and adopted in parliament in April, 2004, the law on weights and measures appears to be a barking dog so far. All regulations put up to scale down the massive use of fraudulent measuring instruments have ended on the rocks. Sporadically, authorities of the department of Weight and Measures in the Ministry of Trade will get a few scapegoats during periodic campaigns but the fight quickly dies down with little or no effect. The 2004 law which largely hinges on the International Unit System identified seven measuring units including meter, kilogramme, seconds, ampere and molecule. To go by the statistics from the department of consumer protection of the Ministry of Trade, slightly over 100 companies have adhered to the country’s authorised measuring instruments. The majority of them are importers and manufacturers. Also conspicuous on the list are repairers, builders and service providers.

The socio-economic consequences of fraudulent measuring instruments are entirely on the shoulders of the consumers who find themselves disbursing extra resources in order to acquire the amount of good required for their livelihood. In the same vein, the customer finds himself bagging home less than what he had programmed. Indirectly, this state of affairs contributes in weakening the consumer’s purchasing power. In fact, the whole issue here has to do with protecting his interest.

The Ministry of Trade in the face of this cankerworm has a big challenge; that of fastening its control buttons. The department of Weight and Measures is compelled to readjust its control strategy by making it a permanent exercise. This entails deploying more people on the field and at the right moments of the day. This equally requires the acquisition of up-to-date equipment and training of members of the control brigade to ensure good quality service. It is true this exercise should be done in due respect of the regulations in force; but considering the magnitude of the problem, it might require going the extra mile to stamp out the practise. While this is going on, it might be necessary to look into some peculiar cases especially where goods, notably food items are simply measured in heaps, the quantity of which is independently determined by the seller to the detriment of the buyer.

From every indication, control teams from the Ministry of Trade focus their action on measuring instruments such as empty tins, buckets, bottles, scales etc, forgetting that things measured in heaps equally ought to be regulated even though it becomes more complicated and complex with food items harvested from the farms. That notwithstanding, something needs to be done to significantly reduce the number of illegal measuring instruments in our markets.