Corruption In Cameroon: A State of the Art By Ntemfac Aloysius Nkong Ofege Read Full text in www.postwatchmagazine.con and www.mblog.com

This week, June 17th 2004, the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, revives Cameroon’s old pile: Corruption. A BBC report on Network Africa and African Perspective features the following: a primary school teacher who tells the world that in Cameroon parents come forward with bribe money to get their progenies the best seat in the classrooms; a medical doctor who says doctors expect patients to put an extra on the usual consultation fee of 600FCFA to get served. The MD adds that nurses expect Ntemfac patients to give bribes before they get drugs administered and those who fail to comply Ofege might as well die. This doctor says that patients without money and needing surgery have had to elope from hospitals and die in the neighbourhoods because they cannot afford the bribe that would catch the doctor’s attention. The BBC report also features an executive who tells the world that he has to bribe to get any document from the administration, bribe to get a contract, bribe to clear his goods from customs, bribe to get his taxes lowered and bribe to pay the said taxes. A taximan, Shey Amos, in Douala, says that the police at roadblocks collect vast tolls from the cabbies even when their particulars are OK. Finally, a civil servant tells the BBC that the courts in Cameroon jail people who steal 2000FCFA) while those “who swallow an elephant“ go free. Postwatch Fact File wades into the vile muck of corruption in Cameroon: It is a case of abject wickedness in very high places….

On May 28th 1998, one year after the glitzy win by country Cameroon of the now-annual World Most Corrupt Nation competition as organized by the German non-governmental, Transparency International, a Mr. Peter Mafany Musonge, Prime Minister of the winning team came forward to commence an anti corruption drive. The attempt, itself, “as instructed” by Team Captain, Paul Biya, turned out to be just another illustration of how endemic corruption is in Cameroon. Mr. Musonge caused several local newspapers to publish a public service announcement, which was itself, a vista of corruption. “ Free Public Service is not for Bargaining” the English translation of the text from the Prime Minister’s Office read. This was not the quintessence of the gross incompetence so rife in Cameroon’s administration. This was corruption in reality. Yet, another corrupt Francophone official had taken his cut…from the budget and then caused this vista of the approximate; this aggravation to be published. And true to type, the local newspapers (The Herald of May 20th 1998) took their pieces of silver from the Prime Minister’s office and printed this so-called advertorial without comment. Cameroonian newspapers tend to be part of the corruption bandwagon. Corruption in Cameroon is a living thing, a monstrous slimy hydra: vicious in outreach, cancerous in spread and disgusting in reach. Corruption runs in the system; it is the life wire of Cameroon and Cameroonians. Here is a country where governance can easily be defined as: “by the corrupt, of the corrupt, and for the corrupt.” Take the examples: 1. In Cameroon parents take the children by the hand and the go forward to bribe headmasters, principals, and other school administrators to get the children admitted; 2. Cameroonian parents are not beyond buying leaked examination (GCE, BAC, FSLC, etc.) questions for their children when they are not offering bribes to teachers, principals, lecturers and professors to make their progenies pass class and public examinations; 3. Teachers, from primary schools to the universities, exchange marks for sex. Female students in secondary, high schools and the universities know it for a fact that their progress might never depend on hard work and merit but in their capacity to engage in darkroom carnal affairs with teachers; 4. Cameroon’s ruling party, the CPDM, is not beyond giving voting cards to primary school children and ferrying them from one polling station to the next to vote several times and thus rig elections; 5. Cameroonian doctors, nurses, and midwives are not beyond demanding and receiving bribes from patients before consultation and treatment. Patients who cannot offer bribes might as well die. In fact, the practice in government hospitals is horrendous. Patients have been known to abscond from hospital beds simply because they do not have the wherewithal to pay nurses to listen to them or because they do not have the wherewithal to bribe the doctors to schedule a major or minor surgery. Such patients have died in the neighbouhoods; 6. Public service examinations are never for the meritorious. The official rate for bribes into professional schools in Cameroon is known: - CUSS (Medical School) 1.000.000FCFA; - ESSTIC (ASMAC School of Journalism) 500.000FCFA; - Ecole Normale Sup (Higher Teachers Training School) - 500.000; - Ecoles Normales Annexe (Teachers Training Lower Cycle) – 300.000FCFA; - Polytech (School of Engineering) – 1.000.000FCFA; - EMIA ( Military Academy) - 1.000.000 or some months of scholarship); - Others – 200.000 – 500.000FCFA depending on the cycle. These amounts are paid by those who are not from the Chosen Tribe while those from the right tribe sail in like water under the river; 7. Examination leakages are rampant in Cameroon. “L’eau a coulé” is a popular phrase to describe the intensity of examination leakages in the country; 8. A scandal is brewing at the University of Yaounde I, Faculty of Letters, Department of English and Linguistics over marks. Cameroon Tribune No 8120/4405 of 18th June 2004 reports that some Graduate Assistants have been selling pass marks for as little as 2000FCFA. Students of the department complain that 8 of them do group assignments

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aeons amnsrto s oe-nocd ae bu hr ote o Fanta of bottle a where about Cases over-invoiced. is administration Cameroon’s

The supply of most basic goods (when contractors bother to supply them at all) to all) at them supply to bother contractors (when goods basic most of supply The 20.

infinitum ad nauseam; ad infinitum

operators again to say that they have never been paid and the vicious cycle continues ad continues cycle vicious the and paid been never have they that say to again operators

computers at the Ministry of Finance to get paid. Then they turn round and bribe the bribe and round turn they Then paid. get to Finance of Ministry the at computers

execute is paid several times over. The smart contractors bribe the operators of the of operators the bribe contractors smart The over. times several paid is execute

Money owed contractors by Cameroon’s Ministry of Finance for jobs that they did not did they that jobs for Finance of Ministry Cameroon’s by contractors owed Money 19.

and the ruling party (See Governor George Achu Morfaw’s 1992 Resignation Letter); Resignation 1992 Morfaw’s Achu George Governor (See party ruling the and

promotion coming to the administrator who producers the highest score for the president the for score highest the producers who administrator the to coming promotion

fies ad te Dvsoa fies ae udr te olgto o rg eetos with elections rig to obligation the under are Officers Divisional the and Officers

Administrators sell public land to the highest bidder for a small fee; the Senior Divisional Senior the fee; small a for bidder highest the to land public sell Administrators

o blee h ii evc s fad rbr, ad cruto impersonated. corruption and bribery, fraud, is Service Civil The believe. to

Cameroon’s administration is not simply archaic as president Biya would want the world the want would Biya president as archaic simply not is administration Cameroon’s 18.

terrifying and horrendous vista of man’s inhumanity to man; to inhumanity man’s of vista horrendous and terrifying

and all the police and gendarmerie detention centres, are not only chilly but they reflect a reflect they but chilly only not are centres, detention gendarmerie and police the all and

New Bell Prison, the Nkondengui Prison, the Mfou prison, the Bamenda Central prison Central Bamenda the prison, Mfou the Prison, Nkondengui the Prison, Bell New

weak by the strong are the hallmarks of Cameroon’s prisons. Stories emanating from the from emanating Stories prisons. Cameroon’s of hallmarks the are strong the by weak

Bribery and corruption, homosexuality, torture and the persistent harassment of the of harassment persistent the and torture homosexuality, corruption, and Bribery 17.

Civil servants are not beyond gaining promotion by producing forged certificates; forged producing by promotion gaining beyond not are servants Civil 16.

goats, chicken, etc. to the bossman; the to etc. chicken, goats,

Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, Party or by their capacity to ferry to capacity their by or Party CPDM, Movement, Democratic People’s Cameroon

odtoe b hi tie hi aaiy o e he-lcig evn o te ruling the of servant heel-clicking a be to capacity their tribe, their by conditioned

their capacity to lie on their backs while the upward mobility of the malefolk is either is malefolk the of mobility upward the while backs their on lie to capacity their

like that. The upward mobility of the female servants of the state is often conditioned by conditioned often is state the of servants female the of mobility upward The that. like

Promotion and appointments in the Civil Service and in the private sector are never just never are sector private the in and Service Civil the in appointments and Promotion 15.

bribes for every service. Users know that they have to give bribes to get any service; any get to bribes give to have they that know Users service. every for bribes

Service in government offices is never free. Civil servants take bribes and they expect they and bribes take servants Civil free. never is offices government in Service 14.

more atrocities; more

are full to busting with poor pitiful demons while rich criminals stroll about to commit to about stroll criminals rich while demons pitiful poor with busting to full are

convicted and jailed. The daily routine in Cameroon’s courts is most pathetic. The courts The pathetic. most is courts Cameroon’s in routine daily The jailed. and convicted

pay their way can get away with murder while every day poor devils and paupers and paupers and devils poor day every while murder with away get can way their pay

Cameroon’s Supreme Court cautions electoral fraud. In the lower courts those who can who those courts lower the In fraud. electoral cautions Court Supreme Cameroon’s

n te cut, jsie i ogt ad sl, we t i o eae n hs denied. thus and delayed not is it when sold, and bought is justice courts, the In 13.

they are not heavily involved in carnal affairs; carnal in involved heavily not are they

Top clergy members of the Catholic Church have children in the neighbourhoods; when neighbourhoods; the in children have Church Catholic the of members clergy Top 12.

preach fake sermons and collect tithes; collect and sermons fake preach

Fake pastors, without a calling and without an anointing, open churches (businesses) to (businesses) churches open anointing, an without and calling a without pastors, Fake 11.

nepotism are subsidiary motivations in journalism; in motivations subsidiary are nepotism

hl r-poiin junlss tk rbs t eone te rgm. Tiaim and Tribalism regime. the denounce to bribes take journalists pro-opposition while

denounce their enemies. Pro-government journalists take bribes to praise the regime the praise to bribes take journalists Pro-government enemies. their denounce

orait ae bie gmo o pas tt fiil, cvr u hi rms and crimes, their up cover officials, state praise to “gombo” bribes take Journalists 10.

Constabulary) and in Kumba are so expert that they can produce any document on earth; on document any produce can they that expert so are Kumba in and Constabulary)

ae ogr n Bmnas Od Tw rcnt (ut opst h ulc Security Public the opposite (just precinct Town Old Bamenda’s in Forgers ease.

neighbourhoods by expert forgers who can even sign Mr. Biya’s signature with great with signature Biya’s Mr. sign even can who forgers expert by neighbourhoods

s a pplr sek t ecie fadln etfct occe n the in concocted certificate fraudulent describe to speak popular a is Dockey” “

at cuk o etfcts ad ohr dcmns hl y Cmroin r fake. are Cameroonians by held documents other and certificates of chunk vast A 9.

for sex; sex; for but while the boys get only 10/20, the girls get 14/20. Marks must have been exchanged been have must Marks 14/20. get girls the 10/20, only get boys the while but

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delivered to an official party is billed at 1000FCFA whereas the ni bottle

only costs 200FCFA at the nearest street corner; oo

21. Police, gendarmes and various mixed brigades pretend that they

are checking car documents and controlling traffic at most street er

corners and on the expressway whereas they are busy taking

bribes; m

22. Recruitment tests into the police, gendarmerie and army are highly tribalised and infested with bribery and corruption; a 23. In the army, the “baleinesi” (the whales),ii generals and colonels

with several stomachs in one and several chins winkling in grease, live in insolent opulence by hijacking army supplies and at the C

expense of the lean and hungry foot soldiers; 24. Investigations by the police and gendarmes of every complaint by A

the citizenry are avenues to graft and steal; innocent victims could end up in jail if they do not have money to bribe the investigators;

M 25. Lawyers complain that giving exorbitant bribes to magistrates,

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court administrators and clerks eat handsomely into their fees; the n

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lawyers are even threatening court and strike actions; u

26. In sports, the referees are all corrupt; team presidents, managers, e

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and players are not beyond trading off matches to opponents. É

Olympic Mvolye, a team created by Biya guru, Omgba Damase, c

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hold the national record for corruption. This team blitzed its way n

into Division One through fraud. Every end of the First Division o

m season match-fixing is de rigueur;

i 27. Cameroon’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications hold the q

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record for the sheer number of fake contracts granted in record N

time. Between February 1, 1999 and March 9, 1999 the then e

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P Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Mounchipou Seidou, w

awarded 10.982.148.485 FCFA to some 468 companies – ten billion o

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iii B FCFA of fake contracts in five weeks. Mr Mounchipou awarded i

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i the contracts rapidly to take his cut and get out before the next q

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cabinet shake-up n

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28. Cameroon’s Ministry of Territorial Administration holds the g

record for election fraud. MINATD rigs elections on behalf of the u

incumbent. MINAT, which decides whose name gets on the voters a register, who gets a voting card, who gets to actually vote and l where; who counts and tallies the vote and who gets what score. Usually election results are prepared by MINAT two years before elections. Only in Cameroon and only under Mr. Biya would a sitting president get up on the morning of general elections to tell the world that the process cannot go forward. Then, while denouncing those who denounce such gross incompetence as “enemies of the nation,” the president and his acolytes would then proceed to rig the same elections with great releash. 29. Under Mr Biya authority, therefore, expert graft, skilled election fraud, artful pilfering of state resources, abject looting, generalised embezzlement, savage over billing, vast exploitation of the poor by the rich and powerful, endemic tax evasion, clean white collar theft, vicious customs,

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1983 crisis was with the blessing of Paul Biya. That is why the “sneaky” Bello Bouba, would Bouba, Bello “sneaky” the why is That Biya. Paul of blessing the with was crisis 1983

Minister thereby shattering Ahidjo’s plans. In fact, Bello Bouba’s 1984 exile to Nigeria after the after Nigeria to exile 1984 Bouba’s Bello fact, In plans. Ahidjo’s shattering thereby Minister

Biya changed the cabinet behind Ahidjo’s back and made Bello Prime Bello made and back Ahidjo’s behind cabinet the changed Biya 7 November and 1982

th

Abdoulayi was Ahidjo’s choice for Prime Minister. Sometime between the night of November 6 November of night the between Sometime Minister. Prime for choice Ahidjo’s was Abdoulayi th

Minister and Number Two man when he resigned. Bello was kept aside as the joker. Maikano joker. the as aside kept was Bello resigned. he when man Two Number and Minister

otay t ovninl wso, Aij i o pon el ob agr h Prime the Maigari Bouba Bello appoint not did Ahidjo wisdom, conventional to Contrary

Ahidjo, however, kept his hold as Chairman of the Cameroon National Union, CNU, Party. Party. CNU, Union, National Cameroon the of Chairman as hold his kept however, Ahidjo,

rest of the Cameroonian Socialists somehow conned Ahidjo to resign because of “health reasons”. “health of because resign to Ahidjo conned somehow Socialists Cameroonian the of rest

Ahmadou Ahidjo over the death by firing squad of Ernest Ouandie, Wambo Le Courant and the and Courant Le Wambo Ouandie, Ernest of squad firing by death the over Ahidjo Ahmadou

who had a score to settle with settle to score a had who Mitterrand Francois President French then The lie. a on founded

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in Cameroon was never destined to survive let alone go on for 22 years. Simply because it was it because Simply years. 22 for on go alone let survive to destined never was Cameroon in

1982 and Mr. Biya moved in on November 6th. The Biya regime Biya The 6th. November on in moved Biya Mr. and 1982 5 November on resigned Ahidjo th

Graves in Mbalmayo in Graves

Founded on the BIG LIE, Corruption and Mass and Corruption LIE, BIG the on Founded

will be little or nothing left to steal. to left nothing or little be will

mandate regime couriers might just take a well-deserved rest simply because then there then because simply rest well-deserved a take just might couriers regime mandate

could be argued with sound evidentials that should Mr. Biya glean another seven years seven another glean Biya Mr. should that evidentials sound with argued be could

in billings. AES-SONEL and SNEC meter readers are on the take. And so on and so on. It on. so and on so And take. the on are readers meter SNEC and AES-SONEL billings. in

allows the water and electricity corporation to steal from the populace through fake hikes fake through populace the from steal to corporation electricity and water the allows

Police and gendarmes steal from road users in public and in broad daylight, government daylight, broad in and public in users road from steal gendarmes and Police 34.

the misfortune of using electricity from AES-SONEL; from electricity using of misfortune the

Foncier tax is another fraud. And now a new 13.200FCFA racket on institutions that have that institutions on racket 13.200FCFA new a now And fraud. another is tax Foncier

a pi b txcb ad te vhce wih ant wth eeiin; te Credit the television); watch cannot which vehicles other and taxicabs by (paid tax

Government overtly steals from the populace through fake taxes like the Audio-visual the like taxes fake through populace the from steals overtly Government 33.

incredible;

horrendous situation under Mr. Biya and are in “voluntary exile” in the Diaspora is Diaspora the in exile” “voluntary in are and Biya Mr. under situation horrendous

of this regime. The sheer number of Cameroonian children who have fled from this from fled have who children Cameroonian of number sheer The regime. this of

skewed practices than twenty full editions of this magazine can capture are the hallmark the are capture can magazine this of editions full twenty than practices skewed

rbls, npts, saesosrd troim (iu do) nicpie ad more and indiscipline Edzoa), (Titus terrorism state-sponsored nepotism, Tribalism, 32.

well as homosexuals abound in high places; high in abound homosexuals as well

lord it over the commonwealth and kleptocrats, budget raiders and vote siphoners as siphoners vote and raiders budget kleptocrats, and commonwealth the over it lord

cults used as weapons of power and influence. Free masons and other demoniac sects demoniac other and masons Free influence. and power of weapons as used cults

Justice is bought and sold, positions bought and sold, influence bought and sold, sex and sex sold, and bought influence sold, and bought positions sold, and bought is Justice 31.

Cameroon gets voted the most corrupt in the world; the in corrupt most the voted gets Cameroon

told year in and year out the Biya regime does everything by the book to guarantee that guarantee to book the by everything does regime Biya the out year and in year told

dance tunes on the cash registers. If truth be truth If registers. cash the on tunes dance mbaglum play they and muscle in bring they

embezzled, they ransack, they grab, they exploit, they pilfer, they shake down banks, down shake they pilfer, they exploit, they grab, they ransack, they embezzled,

hy trae, te su eld tras hy vst te sohaes hy lo, they loot, they soothsayers, the visit they threats, veiled issue they threaten, they

Members of Mr. Biya’s party demand and receive bribes, they blackmail, they petition, they blackmail, they bribes, receive and demand party Biya’s Mr. of Members 30.

with an ask-for-proof conductor- in-chief in full action: looking the other way that is; that way other the looking action: full in in-chief conductor- ask-for-proof an with

terrifying alacrity. For 22 years, corruption has glided along like a sublime symphony sublime a like along glided has corruption years, 22 For alacrity. terrifying police and gendarmerie fraud, massive examination leakages, etc., have obtained with obtained have etc., leakages, examination massive fraud, gendarmerie and police

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never push any conflict with Mr. Biya to its logical conclusion. In fact, ni Bello, aka the

Beautiful Bride of Cameroonian Politics, would gladly bend over for Mr. oo Biya: when

Biya says: “jump!” Bello asks “how high?”

Ahidjo’s gameplan was simple. Bello Bouba Maigari and the control of er the CNU were key players in that scheme. Knowing Biya’s tendency to be a “wimp and a gossip” (faible et foubre) Ahidjo reasoned that, should m things go wrong, he could ease Biya out in the congress of the CNU scheduled for Bamenda in 1985 and get Bello Bouba in. a Unfortunately, for Ahidjo, the man to whom he confided his schemes,

François Sengat Kuo (now late), leaked it out to Biya. The Biya clan; made up of the likes of Semengue, Rene Meka, Benäe Mpeke, and C

Ebogo Titus, had another problem. The Republican Guard that protected Mr. Biya was made up of northerners in the main; army A

recruits with a strong loyalty to Ahidjo. Biya’s people and Mr. Biya himself never felt secure with Ahidjo’s goons hanging around. It was

M thus an imperative in those early days to tactfully dismantle the

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Republican Guard and wrest the CNU from Ahidjo. The how was the n

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problem. u th The BIG LIE about April 6 1984 coup was that it was a plot by Ahidjo e

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th through Ibrahima and Salatou to eliminate Biya. In fact, April 6 1894, É like the recent rumours about Mr. Biya's death, was nothing but a c

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Machiavellian plot by the Biya regime to dismantle the Republican n

Guard and wrest the control of the CNU from Ahidjo. The “moutons” o

m in the Republican Guard fell into the trap by being “encouraged” to

i execute the so-called 1984 Coup without knowing that a “taupe”, q

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Captain Alakai was informing the Biya regime about their progress at N

every turn. When the elements of the Republican Guard fell into the e

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P trap, they were massively rounded up, decently and summarily w executed, and unceremoniously buried in mass graves along the o

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B Mbalmayo road. Changing the Republican Guard to the Presidential i

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i Guard after that and recruiting Beti boys to replace the stupid q

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northerners was easy. The northern merchants, whose brothers and n

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sons were buried in Mbalmayo, swear by Allah and their machetes g that there will be a return match. Some day. u th Wresting the CNU from Ahidjo after April 6 1984 was also easy. a Using their control of state radio and their savvy in manipulation, Mr. l Biya and his cronies shouted: “bicephalism” and plots that never existed. Public opinion was thus manipulated to believe the BIG LIEvi - that Ahidjo wanted to come back to power. With Ahidjo now exorcised, changing the name of the CNU to the CPDM was easy. However, a third wave crept into the power play between Mr. Biya and Mr. Ahidjo. Enter Captain Guerandi Mbara, who alongside some other captains, understood that the problem in Cameroon was the corrupt neo-colonial state and tried to hijack the groundswell of frustration in the Republican Guard. Guerandi arranged with his men to get rid of Biya and Ahidjo as the incarnators of the corrupt neo- colonial state. Ahidjo had no clue about these happenings. That is why he declared on April 7th that “Si ce sont mes partisans ils auront le dessus.” (If they are my militants, they will win). On April 8th 1984, Biya faulted Ahidjo for “taking sides with the coup plotters.” Guerandi’s “boys” i.e. the ten other captains who were to be the 10 provincial governors after the coup had to come to state radio before the April 6, 1984 speech was delivered. They never made it because they found out that Alakai had betrayed them and that the Koutaba and Ebolowa army units had not taken sides with them. Those captains are still in Cameroon’s army today – waiting for another day. Between 1982-1983 corruption and stealing from the state in Cameroon shifted into overdrive simply because top- functionaries of the system thought that Biya would not last. Grandees of the system simply thought it was in order to steal very fast before the deluge. In fact, Biya collaborators like Bwele Guillaume, one-time Minister of Information and Culture, could never bring themselves to call Mr. Biya “president”. Bwele simply referred to Biya as “le nouveau-là”. Under Mr. Biya, therefore the state of Cameroon has been the ultimate resource, the unbounded Prometheus, the final Milking Cow, and the great elephant lying upon its side after being hunted down by Mr. Biya. Tribesmen have surrounded the great beast with gusto to reap where they never sowed. It had truly been as if Biya grandees have been all out to accumulate what the grandees of the Ahidjo regime accumulated in 25 yearsvii. Corruption also shifted into overdrive because Biya came to power in 1982. with a form of voodoo economics. Mr. Biya and his clan reasoned that it was imperative to wrest the control of the economy from the hands of the Bamilekes by creating a Beti viii class of businessmen. Consequently, tribesmen with very hazy notions of business were given little bits of paper by the late Jeanne Irene Biya to collect huge sums from the SCB Bank under Messi-Messi. The money disappeared into red wine, big cars and swanky parties. The foresighted Bamilekes saw their savings in the banks disappearing rapidly into the deep pockets of the Betis and further compounded the situation by rapidly withdrawing their moneys from the banks. The money was now saved in the parallel “tontines” or njangi networks. Between 1982-1990, and until the creation of the CCEI-Afriland Bank and now the CBC Bank both owned by Bamilekes, it was estimated that more money circulated in the tontines than in the banks. At about the same time a vicious cleanup campaign was being orchestrated in SCB and the other banks by the Biya regime. Revenues from petroleum that Ahidjo had saved in the commercial banks disappeared to lucrative off shore points like the Cayman Islands to make profits for regime hands. Other regime hands used fake land certificates to collect huge sums from the same SCB. In less than no time, SCB went under with 150 Billion FCFA bad debts. See Postwatch Fact File for the list of those owing SCB A prime “client” of the defunct SCB was a certain Paul Biya who, through wife Jeanne Irene Biya, received 3.2 Billion FCFA to build an exotic country house in Mvomeka with a 500-metre landing strip and an attendant 9-hole golf course. Whether or not Mr. Biya has paid his loan, obtained under very unorthodox methodsix is a matter of conjecture but since Mr. Biya gave himself a loan of 3.2 Billion FCFA from SCB so too other regime hands got served by SCB and the other banks. Regime hands are responsible for the following bad debts in the following now defunct banks: 1. SCB 150 Billion FCFA 2. Credit Agricole 51 Billion FCFA 3. Cameroon Bank 31 Billion FCFA 4. Meridien-BIAO 17 Billion FCFA 5. Banque Camerounaise de dèveloppement 22 Billion FCFA 6. Paribas Cameroun 8 Billion FCFA Credit Agricole, the farmers’ bank, died because of the sheer number of dubious loans granted. In the Centre province alone, some 39 clients of this bank, whose accounts were already in the red, still managed to obtain loans of up to 5 Billion FCFA without documents. Andze Tsoungui, the Board Chairman of Credit Agricole, practically transformed the bank into his private family bank. Huge sums from the bank went to finance the son’s pharmacy business and other family holdings. Another minister, Tsanga Abanda, obtained a 300.000.000FCFA loan from Credit Agricole under dubious circumstances. The Bamileke Economist, Celestin Monga, in a pre-1992 presidential election document suggests that Mr. Biyas legacy does not only involve the above failed banks. According to Monga, Mr. Biya is personally responsible for some 4000 Billion FCFA petroleum money squandered between 1982 and 1992 under the infamous “Compte Hors Budget”, a curious extra-budgetary account created by the late Ahmadou Ahidjo to stash in petroleum revenues. Small wonder, before he croaked, one time General Manager of SNH, Jean Asoumou Avebe, told the state-controlled media in Cameroon that the wherewithal of petroleum revenues between him and the president. Asoumou also declared that petroleum matters were too complicated for Cameroonians to understand. Mr. Biya has never bothered about the constitutional provision for top civil servants to declare their assets before taking office. Small wonder the man has never reacted to a 1997 article published in the French journal “L’ Événement du Jeudi”x that he, Paul Biya is worth 45.Billion FCA, money gleaned from the sales of petroleum. If the L’Événement du Jeudi Article is correct, Mr. Biya must be gleaning some 2 Billion FCFA a year. Biya crony, Titus Edzoa, declares that Mr. Biya is very rich “He is richer than most Cameroonians imagine.” Article 164 of Cameroon’s current constitution makes out that Mr. Biya will never be held accountable for his alleged fortune. That Article states that former presidents may not be held accountable for acts committed during their reign. Between 1982-1983 some circa 242 Billion FCFA, farmers’ money, painstakingly saved at the national Produce Marketing Board (ONCPB) under Roger Melingui were swipe in one of the most pervasive extravaganza this side of the great divide. It is now known that Mr. Biya personally gave instructions for the ONCPB Billions to be handed out to dubious institutions like CENEEMA, CAMAIR, FONADER, the Presidency, etc. In less than 15 months, the money was all gone and the economic crisis set in. Cameroon under Mr. Biya has not only been twice classified Most Corrupt countryxi in the World but Cameroon is also 51st out of 61sts in the Dialogue North South Index of Trustworthiness. South Africa is 10th, Ghana 34th. What this means concretely is that it is near impossible for foreign investors to get their money from Cameroon and Cameroonians.

Corrupt Practices In High Places The turnover of every Biya government is about 6 months. What this means concretely is that persons appointed ministers are given a very short time and the license to steal before they are kicked out again. Now there have been over 600 ministers, junior ministers, and persons with rank of minister since Mr. Biya came into power in 1982. This has been very bad news for Cameroon’s public treasury. Name one Biya minister who has not been involved in one racked or another? Small wonder a little upstart Henri Eyebe Ayissi became Minister of Housing and Town planning when he had a rickety and wobbly “504”. He left several months later with 19 cars and a host of land titles. Recently sacked Transport Minister, John B. Ndeh, is yet to clarify his role in a racket that demanded that all vehicles in Cameroon change number plates for over 10.000FCFA apiece and this with a company legalized by the Ministry of Transport. This racked as well as another racket to get all taximen in Cameroon to obtain badges authorized by the Ministry of Transport brought in a tidy pile in thousands of millions. JB and Nsahlai before him must have taken their cuts. A local newspaper “L’Expression” published a 16-page special edition on how a Biya-hand, Tchouta Moussa, ravaged the Cameroon Ports Authority through fake contracts, fictitious deals, etc. A cartoon in “L’Expression” teased that instead of sanctioning Tchouta Moussa Mbatkam for swiping vast sums from the Ports Authority Mr. Biya, who was abroad at the time of the publication called up Tchouta Moussa and said: “Tchouta, où est ma part?” xii Pa Simon Achidi Achu, as Mr. Biya’s campaign Manager, was in charge of the cashbox during the 1997 election campaign. It is alleged that Pa Simon helped himself outrageously. Also, how water destined for the 150-milllion FCFA SANTA water project found itself instead at Achidi Achu’s farm remains one of those mysteries. Small wonder, rival Fru Ndi told a rally in Santa that the folks of the town did not have decent drinking water while Achidi Achu’s cows took showers and slept under electric lights. Ahead of the 1997 presidential elections, Kontchou Kouomegni tried to table a fake bill of 1.1 Billion FCFA as the cost of printing Mr. Biya’s election portrait with SOPECAM. xiii L’Expression newspaper” claims that when Kontchou failed to get the 1.1 Billion FCFA he pilfered campaign money destined for SOPECAM. The same Kontchou Kouomegni has never fully accounted for the vast sums collected during the 1994 “Coup de Coeur” operation to raise funds for the Indomitable Lions. In fact, the money never got to the Indomitable Lions in the USA. Kontchou who claims that he even came back with some of the money only found time to suspend two CRTV Journalists, Daniel Anicet Noah and Therese Belobo, who opened the microphones of CRTV for gadfly Joseph Antoine Bell to insult Kontchou. In fact, the level of corruption in Cameroon is most visible whenever Team Cameroon has to represent the country at international competitions like the World Cup and the African Nations Cup. Money destined to the team is always swindled and the players have to go on strike before their dues are paid. Ahead of the Korea-Japan World Cup, the players held a flight down at the Paris Airport and refused to train until their dues were paid. Small wonder Team Cameroon arrived late for the World Cup and failed going beyond the first round. Le Messager No 685 reports that the then Minister of Youth and Sports, Joseph Owona diverted some 600 Million FCFA;xiv money destined for the Indomitable lions to buy bicycles and pay mission money for the 19 unauthorized members of his delegation. The then president of FECAFOOT, Mr. Vincent Onana even wrote to the Prime Minister to denounce Owona. According to a 1987 edition of Jeune Afrique Economie, Tsanga Abanda, onetime Biya Minister of Commerce, and Industrial Development, stole whole shiploads of cocoaxv, which he traded off to the French concern SUCRES ET DENREES, and the America PHILIP AND BROTHERS. With the proceeds, Tsanga Abanda erected for himself a vast emporium in the valley below Cameroon’s presidency. Mr. Biya can see Tsanga Abanda’s ill-gotten house every time he looks from his bedroom window. Regime eminence grise, Ombga Damase alone knows how much he garnered to replenish Cameroon’s armory, reportedly depleted after the April 6th 1984 Coup attempt. Corruption may have developed into the monster that it is simply because nobody had been sanctioned. In 1987, following the jailing of Beti grandee, Nkolo Fanga, of Posts and Telecommunications for swiping public Funds, Mr. Biya declared: “Où sont les prèuves?” when he was asked by state-television if he was aware that there were many more Nkolo Fangas in the system. Whereas IGERA, the State Inspectorate in charge of Administrative Reforms, in charge of state auditing and control, has always tabled tons and tons of documents to the presidency and specifically for the “Haute attention du Chef de l’État” about high corruption and misdemeanor in high places within the Civil Service. Mr. Biya has never been known to act on the IGERA reports. Between 1991-1992, the then Biya Minister of Public Service, Garga Haman-Adji, who went all- out on a hunt for the “baleines” – the whales or those responsible for eight-digit graft in the civil service, resigned when he was not making any headway in cleaning up the system. “He wanted me to do what I did not want,” a beleaguered Mr. Biya shamelessly told the nation ahead of the 1992 presidential elections and following Mr. Garga Haman-Adji’s resignation. However, in 1997 Mr. Biya spontaneously directed that his one-time friend, collaborator, and personal physician, Titus Edzoa be thrown in jail for allegedly swiping the derisive 350.000.000FCFAxvi. A closer examination of the Titus Edzoa case shows that Mr. Edzoa was not hemmed by the steam-roller triggered by the then Secretary General in the presidency, Amadou Ali because of the 350.000.000FCFA but rather because he had the cheek to resign from Mr. Biya’s government and the even greater cheek to present himself as a presidential candidate for the 1997 elections. Several attempts by Edzoa’s tribesmen to seek Mr. Biya’s pardon notably through Biya son, Frank Biya, have failed woefully.

The Lake Nyos Extravaganza The 1986 Lake Nyos gas disaster and its management is just one vista of the endemic corruption in the Cameroon system peopled as it is with “croque-morts” and grave robbers. When Lake Nyos happened the world reacted spontaneously. It is estimated that beyond the circa 100 Billion FCFA that the government of Cameroon received from all over the world in cash, about that same amount worth of tents, blankets, landrovers, food, etc. came in from all over the world for the victims. The money and gifts were speedily stolen. Army generals are today parading some of the land rovers, tents, and blankets that they stole from the Lake Nyos. Money pledged to the survivors for their tents, houses and fees has since been stolen. Mr. Biya never thought it worthwhile to use part of the circa 100 Billion that he received to build a monument for the Lake Nyos victims. Neither did the president consider it worthwhile to tar the less than 75 kms road to Wum in the Nyos precinct. Today the survivors of the lake Nyos explosion are living in abject poverty and misery. Fai Yengo Francis, the current governor of the Centre province, who was the Senior Divisional Officer for Wum at the time must have broken into a cold sweat when an edition of a radio Bamenda programme “Crossfire” to come tell the world what he did with the aid given to the Mbororo survivors of Lake Nyos. Onetime Jean-Marcel Mengueme, the then Minister of Territorial Administration, who was fired because of the gross mismanagement of the Lake Nyos funds, came out of his abode and shot a live bullet into the air when some “hooligans” stood outside his house at night and bawled “Mengueme, Lake Nyos! Mengueme, Lake Nyos!” Never mind that those “hooligans” were a certain Charly Ndi-Chia and his crony Ntemfac Ofege, both of them journalists. Mr. Biya has also not reacted to a Denis Sassou Nguessou interview published in a San Francisco newspaper suggesting that the Lake Nyos gas explosion was an Israeli thermonuclear device. Mr. Sassou Nguessou said in that interview that he was approached by the Israeli to test the device in his country and he said no. Mr. Biya apparently accepted the indecent proposition. The arrival in Cameroon of the then Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, with a fully-equipped hospital plane, on a so-called State visit less than 48Hours after the Lake Nyos explosion, is very suspicious. Actually, the Israelis remain Mr. Biya’s guardian angels. They not only train and equip his close guards (the presidential guard) but they also monitor events in Cameroon from their Mont Febe hideout and other locations in Yaounde.

Biya: Governing by Election Fraud Political Science has a name for a governing system wherein elections are held under conditions that guarantee the victory of the governing clique. It is called a dictablanda. Mr. Biya’s “democratie avancée” is a pure dictablanda. Political science also has a name for a governing system wherein specific political groups are excluded from participating in the governing process and wherein even those elected are deprived of the capacity to effectively govern. It is called a democradura. The governing system in Cameroon is a combination of both a dictablanda and a democradura. The maddening effect of having both a democradura and a dictablanda is that both monsters are often mutually interactive living in perfect harmony and drawing life essence from each other. The US State Department, the National Democratic Institute, and other world institutions know it as a fact: Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Paul Biya in Cameroon survive through election fraud and coups. In fact, politicians and states who have no idea on election rigging should consult Mr. Biya’s election rigging manual. Herewith a non-exhaustive list of how Mr. Biya, through his Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, MINATD, rigs elections in Cameroon: i. MINATD prevents Cameroonians from registering and voting; ii. MINATD changes the entire Electoral Register at any moment; iii. MINATD refuses to register voters even those with National Identity Cards; iv. MINATD refuses to distribute voting cards immediately after registration; v. MINATD refuses to sensitize the nation by radio, television and the newspapers on the voting process as demanded by law; vi. MINATD refuses to publish voters register per polling stations ahead of every election; vii. MINATD refuses to make voters register available to all candidates and parties ahead of every elections; viii. MINATD refuses to state the number and exact location of every polling station as demanded by law and instead locates polling stations in the home, palaces and bedrooms of regime hands; ix. MINATD creates ghost polling stations; x. MINATD stuff ballot boxes destined for the villages; xi. MINATD refuses to publish signed score sheets of all elections to all candidates as demanded by law; xii. MINATD refuses to publish the official results of all elections as demanded by law and by a sense of good governance; xiii. MINATD refuses to train monitors and guarantee the safety of election monitors in “hostile” territory; xiv. MINATD refuses to ban private tribal militia and tribal private armies before, during and after all elections; xv. MINATD through its Senior Divisional Officials and Divisional Officers produce fake results; results manufactured months and years before every elections; xvi. MINATD simply declares fake results and results that have no bearing with the actual elections in question. Cameroon’s newspapers have since published this not-so-funny joke about Mr. Biya and the 1992 presidential elections.xvii The papers report that sometime after the “seriously-flawed” 1992 elections the then Minister of Territorial Administration, Mr. Gilbert Andze Tsoungui called Mr. Biya to say: “ .M. Le Président, c’est grave.” (It is bad, Mr. President..) Mr. Biya’s retort was: “Je ne veux rien savoir, je veux gagner les élections” (I don’t want to know, I want to win the elections). The tabloids report that the US Embassy in Yaounde had copies of this conversation. The tabloids also claim that some embassies in Yaounde knew that Mr. Biya lost the 1992 elections by monitoring the MINATD and its “Radio de commandément” as the administrators called in the results to the Vote Counting Commission in Yaounde. From the figures, it turned out that Mr. Biya lost the 1992 elections. Some weeks after the 1997 elections, another tabloid, Mutations, reported that Mr. Biya flew into a blue fink at the then Minister of Territorial Administration, Andze Tsoungui, for making score sheets available to the Opposition National Union for Democracy and Progress party which challenged him at the time. Yet, another tabloid, Générations, had the late Vianney Ombe Ndzana reporting a conversation between Mr. Biya and his family wherein Mr. Biya said after the 1997 elections that “J’ai autorisé la fraude mais pas jusqu’ à ce niveau” (I authorized fraud but not to that extent). Mr. Biya cannot claim that he knows nothing about election fraud in Cameroon. Everything is done by his permissive will. Corrupt practices at election time in Cameroon are, naturally, not limited to vote heisting. Election time is when regime hands crisscross the country with bags of rice, oil, stockfish, and hard cash to but the conscience of the electorate. Workers and other natives are ferried to their home constituencies in busloads to vote.

A Failed and Corrupt State If truth be told, many were the Cameroonians who actually ran into beer parlours, sha houses and palm wine joints last June 4-6 2004 to make merry when the rumours started that Mr. Paul Biya, hitherto president of Cameroon was dead. The fiesta was never triggered by a sudden vicious streak within a people; Cameroonians had not just gone mad. The fact about the matter is that of Cameroon’s 16.000.000 people, there must be at least 15.000.000 who today want Mr. Biya dead. The endemic corruption now instituted as a governing system in Cameroon by Mr. Paul Biya is just one of the reasons why Cameroonians in their vast majority would want Mr. Biya taken out. Even those who benefit from the system and who know the facts are disgusted with Mr. Biya’s Cameroon. And Cameroonians know it that the ballot box will never change the system because Mr. Biya will rig elections repeatedly. And an epistemological logic claims that Cameroonians cannot change the system because of their seeming dastardly cowardice. Cameroon under Mr. Paul Biya is not just a failed state. It is a corrupt state founded on fraud and corruption. Corruption is the life wire of the system. Cameroonians know it for a fact that the 1998 and 2000 Most Corrupt Country trophies awarded this country were quite in order. Nothing has changed. In fact, corruption is still in high gear. As Mr. Biya presides. i . See “Une Armée Sans Defense” by Guerandi Mbara ii Ibid iii See National Assembly Motion of Preliminary Objection Ref 054 of 27/06/1999 to Speaker Cavaye Yegui Djribril from the Opposition SDF party. Ironically the SDF Group Leader who presented this Motion was also the beneficiary of a fake contract through his Moyo or in-law…See Number 60.Poly-Services, which gleaned 28.000.000FCFA. iv When Ouandie and his group were arrested, Mr. Mitterrand sent a lawyer to defend them. Ahidjo put the lawyer back in a plane and posted his back to France. Mitterrand vowed to settle scores. v See “Une Armée sans Defense” by Guerandi Mbara. vi Joseph Goebbels BIG LIE THEORY IN PERSUASIVE AND MANIPULATIVE COMMUNICATION states that when told often enough the lie becomes the truth. vii See April 6, 1994 Speech by Coup Plotters viii Mr. Biya’s is a Bulu from Cameroon’s South province but the Beti remain an umbrella tribe involving the Ewondos, the Bulu, the Fangs, the Ntumus, the Etons, and many other smaller groups. ix Now exiled SCB General Manager, Messi-Messi told Jeune Afrique Economie in 1987 that Mrs. Jeanne Irene Biya simply summoned him to the presidency to say ‘the president wants a loan”. The next day the first installment of the 3.2 Billion FCFA was shipped from SCB to the Presidency in huge canteens. x See L’Evenement du Jeudi of 22 May 1997 “Le Hit Parade des fortunes cachées” xi Mr. Biya's reaction to the Classification is a quiet: “C’est excessif.” xii See L’Expression No 153: “Voici comment Tchouta Moussa ruine L’ONPC.” xiii See La Lettre du MINCOM NO. MINCOM/SG/DAG of 17th Septembre 1997 as published by L’Expression No 179 of IST Octobre 1997 xiv See Jean Vincent Tchinehom: “Le Cameroun 51/6”1 Le Messager No 685. xv Stephen Smith also makes the charge against Tsanga Abanda in “Ces Messieurs d’Afrique”. xvi See Postwatch No 002. The Titus Edzoa Files xvii See Postwatch No 000 of 10, November 1997.