A tax on mobile phones and tablets is to be introduced on Thursday in Cameroon. Consumer rights campaigners have called on citizens to boycott the new tax.

The BBC reports that if the importer did not pay the corresponding customs dues, consumers will be required to pay 33% of the cost of each phone they buy.

The provocative decision has been slammed by consumer associations who say the government must force importers to pay the tax.

The National League of Cameroonian Consumers has called on consumers to boycott the tax. The League’s president Delor Magellan Kamgain, said, “The Cameroon government did not respect the procedures for implementing this decision. The government also did not carry out campaigns to inform consumers.”

Meanwhile, Cameroon’s Minister of Telecommunications Minette Libom Li Keng claims the tax is not new, but that it’s the manner in which it is to be paid that has simply changed.

Umm Muhammed Umar