Ivory Coast/Commerce: Ban on energy drinks, a scheme denounced
In Côte d’Ivoire, reports have emerged of an organized scheme surrounding certain alcoholic energy drinks that were removed from the commercial market nearly ten months ago. According to sources close to the matter, this is allegedly a maneuver orchestrated by executives of certain breweries, in collusion with high-ranking officials.
The information that portrayed these consumer products as highly dangerous to the health of young people and consumers in general was nothing more than a strategy by the instigators to eliminate these highly popular drinks from the beverage market. The real motive behind this scheme appears to be the growing popularity of these products and the increasing consumer preference for them.
According to the same sources, several million CFA francs were at stake, amounting to nearly twenty million CFA francs, to bring down these drinks that had become a significant threat to the revenue of their detractors. The aggressive actions taken against these beverages, including spreading misinformation and conducting market raids by police and gendarmerie agents to seize the products, surprised the Ivorian public.
Many Ivorians were left puzzled by the relentless crackdown on products that had entered the Ivorian market with formal government authorization. There is now a call for authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the truth, particularly for the benefit of citizens who were directly affected by this scheme, such as the merchants.
