Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Ambassador Mendouga, the Albatross Affair and Life in Kondengui

The Washington Diplomat - VOLUME 17, NUMBER 07. July 2010

“It’s not my official residence on Normanstone Drive, I can tell you that...I’m in a room built for 12 people, with three bunk beds, one on top of the other. For the time being, there are six or seven of us here. We have three boxes for showering and three toilets — one normal Western-style and two Turkish squat toilets.” Jerome Mendouga

After serving for 15 years as Cameroon’s ambassador to the United States, Jerome Mendouga has traded in the comfort of Embassy Row for the confines of Cameroon’s most notorious jail, as he fights to prove his innocence in a domestic scandal that has become the proverbial albatross around the disgraced diplomat’s neck.

Foreign ambassadors, once they finish their tours of duty in Wash ington, often go back home and write books or become private consultants. Others join the faculty of prestigious universities. If they’ve had an especially distinguished track record, they might be named foreign ministers by their country’s president, and — in a few cases — they end up as presidents themselves. Jerome Mendouga’s career took a very different path — taking him all the way
from the comfort of Washington’s Embassy Row to the squalor of Cameroon’s most notorious slammer.

Click here to download article in PDF format (3.62mb)

"Fey Me No More?" Donatien Koagne, the King of "Feymania", Allegedly Dies in a Yemeni Prison

According to newsreports, "King" Donatien Koagne, Cameroon's most notorious conman and the "father of Feymania" died in Yemen a couple of weeks ago. In the 1990s he conned many African Heads of State such as Mobutu and Eyadema out of millions of dollars before finally falling into the dragnet of Yemeni authorities who threw him in jail. In a fantastic twist to this already incredible story of crime, greed and duplicity, the French secret service tried unsuccessfully to rescue him from his Yemeni hell hole ostensibly in a bid to lay hands on his famous "black book".

One of the most definitive works on Feymania in Cameroon and on Donatien Koagne was written by Domique Malaquais titled "Anatomie d'une arnaque" Feymen et Feymania au Cameroun". An abridged english version titled "Death, Douala Style" is available online. (See excerpt below)

"Sovereignty Expenditures" and the Accountability of the Executive Branch

By Dibussi Tande

"As budget constraints have hardened, leaders have preferred to spend their money to keep their elite coalition together rather than invest in mundane activities like building schools or undertaking vaccine campaigns..." Van de Walle

While surfing through the Cameroonian blogosphere recently, I came across a blog post which gave a detailed breakdown of Cameroon’s 2010 budget. The first entry on the list was the budgetary allocation for the Presidency of the Republic which stands at 57,342 Billion Francs CFA – in fact over 63 Billion Francs CFA if you include the 6.677 Billion Francs CFA allocated to "Services attached to the Presidency of the Republic" – an annual budget greater than those of the Ministries of Higher Education (44 billion FCFA), Scientific Research and Innovation (13 billion FCFA), Energy and Power (44 Billion FCFA), just to name a few.

As I pondered over the Presidency’s budget, my mind went back to the controversy that erupted last year after the French media revealed that during a three-week trip to La Baule in France, President Biya and his entourage had allegedly spent $40,000 (£24,500) every single day at the five-star L'Hermitage Barriere hotel, bringing the total presidential bill to roughly half a million pounds.

Corruption & Human Rights in Cameroon: Experts Speak Out

The Alliance Franco-Camerounaise Center in Buea recently hosted a symposium on Corruption and its implications for human rights organized by the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA). 
 
The keynote speaker was Southern Methodist University's Distinguished University Professor, Ndiva Kofele-Kale, who presented a paper on Elevating Corruption to the Status of a Crime in Positive International Law. Other speakers included CHRDA Executive Director, Barrister Felix Nkongho; former SDF Secretary General, Professor Asonganyi who focused on political corruption;

Cameroon Ranks Very Poorly on 2008 Global Integrity Report

Cameroon faces serious problems with its governance and anti-corruption framework according to the Global Integrity Report released today.

Cameroon received a “very weak” (55 pts) overall ranking on the 2008 Integrity Indicator Scorecard.  It scored “very weak” in four categories; Elections (58 pts), Government Accountability (44), Administration and Civil Service (48) and Oversight and Regulation (49). It scored “weak” in two categories; Civil Society, Public Information and Media (61 pts) and Anti-corruption and Rule of law (69).

Government Bribes in Cameroon Divert Funds From Food

By Alison Fitzgerald and Christopher Swann (Bloomberg.com)

Cameroon has budgeted $309 million for the military in 2009 and $105 million for the president’s office and services to the presidency, compared with $106 million for agriculture, which employs 70 percent of its people.

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Mbanda Leo Ganglii, like any farmer in Cameroon, must contend with roads that turn to mud in the rainy season and fertilizer prices he can’t afford. And then there is government corruption.

A local agriculture official demanded a $572 kickback from a $1,850 government contract to provide plantain seedlings for other farmers, Ganglii said. After refusing, he said he was warned that the deal might not be renewed.

BBC Interview: Veronique Edwards Takes on Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni

Cameroon's Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni was in London to seek investors who may help him develop the country. But Cameroon has long been criticised for being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Veronique Edwards wanted to know from prime minister Enoni whether the country was ready for investors. 10th July 2008 (Source BBC World Service)

Click here to listen to interview (4 mins 45 secs)

"Operation Sparrowhawk": Abah Abah and Olanguena Arrested!

Two years after it was launched with the arrest of Ondo Ndong, Joseph Edou and Gilles Roger Belinga, Siyam Seiwe, Etonde Ekotto and others, “Operation Sparrowhawk”, the Biya regime's anti- corruption campaign, picked up again yesterday with the arrest of two former ministers and some of their collaborators.

Top on the list was Polycarpe Abah Abah, the former Minister of the Economy and Finance, who prior to his appointment on December 8, 2004 had served as the Director General of Taxes for over a decade. In the months following his dismissal from Government, and particularly in the past couple of weeks, the private media had been full speculation and titillating headlines announcing his impending arrest.

SIC Embezzlement Case: Roger Belinga Gets 35-year Jail Sentence

By Tansa Musa

"We hope this case serves as a deterrent to other people in whose hands state property has been entrusted to manage in the general interest, but who very often mistake them for their personal property." Presiding Judge Nnomo Zanga.

YAOUNDE, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A court in Cameroon jailed nine former state employees for between 15 and 35 years on Thursday for embezzlement in a second high-profile case against corrupt members of veteran President Paul Biya's ruling party.

A large group of senior state officials were arrested in February 2006 in a crackdown on graft that Biya ordered under pressure from international donors concerned by widespread corruption in the central African country.

FEICOM Corruption Case: Ondo Ndong Sentenced to 50 Years in Jail

After a seven-month trial which laid bare some the corrupt practices rampant in Cameroon public corporations, the infamous "affaire FEICOM" came to a dramatic end yesterday June 28, with the condemnation of former FECOM boss Ondo Ndong to 50 years in jail and.

Also found guilty were 14 others whose sentences ranged from 20 to 48 years. The accused have 10 days to file their appeal. If his appeals fail, 61 year-old Ondo Ndong will spend the rest of his life in jail.

16 others were found not guilty.

It should be recalled that 31 FECOM employees, including Ondo Ndong were originally charged with swindling 52 billion FCFA from FECOM coffers.

How Cameroon Auctioned Its Internet Namespace…

"It's an odd scene to picture: a domainer's reps in a sit-down with Ephraim Inoni, the prime minister of Cameroon, to discuss the power of type-in typo traffic and pay-per-click ads." CNN

Early in August 2006, the Internet was awash with reports of a “typo-squatting” scheme involving Cameroon. According to these reports, “Internet authorities in in the West African nation that owns the .cm top level domain (TLD) have been accused of authorizing a DNS wildcard that has the effect of redirecting all accidental .cm traffic instead of returning an error.”

100 Ways to Pilfer a Public Corporation: Notes from the Trial of Gerard Ondo Ndong

Dibussi Tande

As the trial of disgraced former Director General of FEICOM, Ondo Ndong, continues this week, the facts that have so far emerged illustrate how Cameroon’s public corporations, or parastatals as they are commonly known, have become milking cows for the ruling elite and their cronies. Prebendary practices which were hitherto the subject of rumor and conjecture have now been confirmed in open court. The FEICOM case has also exposed the complete absence of credible oversight mechanisms to either oversee the management of these corporations or to monitor compliance to their statutory missions. As a result, these corporations are run like private estates. And their budgets simply serve as piggy banks for officials who spend every living moment planning the next big swindle.

Cameroon Corruption Hinders AIDS Fight

By Jenny Cuffe (BBC World Service)

In Cameroon alone, the Global Fund and World Bank have allocated more than $133m (£68m) to stem the tide of HIV/Aids. But with corruption endemic, are the millions being spent on combating the disease being used effectively?

Latest figures show that 5% of Cameroon's population are infected with HIV/Aids, and there are plans to ensure they all have access to anti-retroviral drugs and cheaper treatment.

The Great Cleanup: Ondo Ndong Charged with Embezzling 29 Billion FCFA

Dibussi Tande

Some eight months after his spectacular arrest, Gérard Emmanuel Ondo Ndong, the former Director General of FEICOM (in charge of financial assistance to local councils) appeared before the Yaounde High Court last Tuesday to finally listen to the laundry list of charges against him. Ondo Ndong, along with 30 of his collaborators, is charged with embezzlement, corruption, forgery and use of forgeries. Ondo Ndong is specifically accused of embezzling 29 Billion Francs CFA (FCFA) – i.e., about 56 million US Dollars - from FECICOM coffers between 2001 and 2005.

Book Review: The International Law of Responsibility for Economic Crimes

Ndiva Kofele-Kale. The International Law of Responsibility for Economic Crimes. Holding State Officials Individually Liable for Acts of Fraudulent Enrichment. (Second Edition). Ashgate Publishing. Sept. 2006. 424 pages. $154.95

Ashgate publishers have just released the second edition of Professor Ndiva Kofele-Kale’s groundbreaking 1995 publication, The International Law of Responsibility for Economic Crimes.  Like the first edition, the second focuses on “the problem of indigenous spoliation in developing countries,” and “explores the controversial issue of spoliation by national officials of the wealth of the states of which they are custodians."

Ghost Workers Spirit Away $10m a Month in Debt-ridden Cameroon

From the BBC World Service

The authorities in Cameroon have discovered that they are paying civil service salaries to 45,000 employees who do not actually exist.
The "ghost workers" were uncovered by a census of public servants as part of a drive to stamp out corruption.

The Untouchables: Politically Mediated Loans and Political Impunity in Cameroon

Dibussi Tande

In his 1993 study on accumulation and the cultural politics of identity in the Grassfields (in Pathways to Accumulation in Cameroon), Michael Rowlands observed that in Cameroon, there was a “natural affinity between the stream of power and the stream of money or credit”.  He argued that the country was plagued by "an ethos of ostentatious consumption" and by "unproductive patterns of investment and reliance on the state patronage for accumulation".  The surest path to the accumulation of wealth in Cameroon was through politics.

Third World cash exodus 'points to laundering'

By Philip Thornton

Money flowing into UK bank accounts from developing countries has surged in the past few years...with inflows from Cameroon up 516 per cent...The scale of the exodus of capital from countries with major social problems will raise fears of massive corruption and money laundering that will hurt the welfare of the world's most vulnerable people.

Money flowing into UK bank accounts from developing countries has surged in the past few years, dwarfing Britain's official aid budget, figures show. The amount flowing in from poor countries in areas such as Africa and South America surged more than $115bn (£61.2bn) last year to $385bn.

Walk Down Memory Lane: “Chronicle of an Advertised Plunder”

"Crooks, profiteers and blood suckers of all kinds have contributed to the misfortunes of Cameroon and other countries. Those who have emptied the coffers of the state are countless. We have tracked down those men and women who for years, have shamelessly plundered the economy of a country which needed everything except this. In this first article, we name some of these corrupt individuals. There are many more. This is just the beginning. We take full responsibility for our actions. We have the evidence to support our claims, and we will publish them if that becomes necessary..."

It is with these ominous lines that the January 1992 issue of Jeune Afrique Economie (JAE) opened its investigative report on corruption in Cameroon (pp. 175-183), which it titled "Chronique d'un Pillage Annoncé" (Chronicle of an advertised plunder).

Secrecy Undermines Justice and Democracy: An Overview of the Draft Bill on the Declaration of Assets

By Dibussi Tande

"Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind" – George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

After creating the National Anti-Corruption Commission (better known by its French acronym, CONAC, which the irreverent Francophone press has labeled COGNAC), the Government has submitted an anti-corruption bill to Parliament. Parliament begins its review of the income and assets disclosure bill today, March 21, 2006. The bill is based on Article 66 of the Cameroon constitution.