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.
An analysis of the link between money and power in the early years of the Biya regime confirms Rowlands’ observation: Between 1983 and 1987, foe example, the Biya regime used its political influence to obtain colossal bank credits for high ranking officials in the regime on very liberal bases. According to Nicolas Van De Walle by the mid-1980s, a quarter of the total portfolio of the state-controlled banking sector-- amounting to 120 billion FCFA francs (roughly $240 million US) -- consisted of unrecoverable loans, most of them being politically mediated loans to elites. ("Neopatrimonialism and Democracy in Africa, with an Illustration from Cameroon” in Economic Change and Political Liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa ).
The story of Cameroon’s unrecoverable politically mediated loans is a key theme that runs throughout the Biya regime. This theme partly explains the economic crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, and the collapse of Cameroon’s banking system during that same period.
We were recently reminded of that ethos of ostentatious consumption by the headline of last Thursday’s issue of Le Messager (July 27, 2007): «IMPUNITE: Voici les barons qui ont pillé nos banques » (Impunity: Here are the barons who plundered our banks).
The headline was reminiscent of the fiery nineties when the nation’s pulse beat to the rhythm of endless revelations about the politico-financial shenanigans of the ruling class. It was also a throwback to Jeune Afrique Economie’s famous “Ces fripouilles qui nous gouverne” (These scoundrels who govern us) of 1992 which listed the names of some of the country’s most rapacious public officials.
Many of the scoundrels of the 1990s were still very much among us and still part of the untouchable class.
Yet another list…
Unlike the lists that made headlines earlier this year (list of alleged homosexuals, list of richest government officials, etc.) which were dreamed up in the editorial offices of the local newspapers concerned, the list published by Le Messager is from the files of the Cameroon Collection Corporation which goes by the name Société de recouvrement du Cameroun (SRC). The Corporation is charged with liquidating the banks which collapsed in the eighties and nineties, and with tracking down and recovering their outstanding loans.
The SRC’s list of “mauvais payeurs” (bad debtors) reads like a Who’s Who of Cameroon’s political jet set. And the amounts borrowed by high ranking officials are simply mind boggling and obscene. For example, the whopping 4.5 billion FCFA loaned to Eyebe Lebogo Paul, a former Member of Parliament turned businessman, who was arrested on March 27 this year as part of the Operation Epervier.
While some of the loans were for credible investment ventures, most of them were used to shore up the opulent and ostentatious lifestyles of the rich and mighty, particularly to build the huge castles and mansions (coyly described as “retirement homes” by their owners), in their villages or in posh residential areas such as Santa Barbara and Odja in Yaounde. This is the case, for example, of President Biya’s one time personal doctor and former cabinet Minister, the jailed Titus Edzoa, or of Mengue Mvondo Marie, the President’s younger sister – individuals who definitely did not have the resources to repay the colossal amounts which were given to them without collateral.
Le Messager does not tell us how Edzoa and Mengue used their loans, but those with good memories will recall that these two names popped up during the infamous Messi Messi affair of 1992, which I have discussed elsewhere on this blog..
In his famous interview with Jeune Afrique Economie (No. 155 - Mai 1992), Messi Messi, the disgraced General Manager of the Societe camerounaise de banque, revealed that he was pressured to grant an unsecured loan of close to 70 Million FCFA to the President’s sister for the construction of a mansion in Yaounde:
« le financement de la construction de deux villas de standing à Yaoundé, pour le compte de Marie Mengue, la sœur cadette de Paul Biya. Cela a coûté à peu près 70 millions de F CFA ».
SRC records published by Le Messager reveal that Mengue Mvondo Marie actually owes the defunct SCB 53 619 392 Fcfa and has never made any attempt to begin repaying this money.
In the same issue of JAE, it was revealed that Titus Edzoa was also the beneficiary of an unsecured loan of 120 million FCFA from the SCB to construct a villa in Yaounde. He promised to rent out the villa upon completion, and use the proceeds to repay his loan. He never did. Once his chateau, which became the talk of the town at the time, was completed, Edzoa reneged on his promise and instead moved in with his family. He did not end there.
According to JAE, he conspired with an SCB employee to erase all traces of his loan from SCB files. According to JAE, the only reason Edzoa did not succeed in his attempt was because prior to the “disappearance” of his file, the SBC had refinanced the loan with the central bank, so there was an existing paper trail. To date Edzoa has never paid a dime. He was jailed in 1997 after he fell out with his mentor Paul Biya.
« Le docteur Titus Edzoa, médecin personnel du président Paul Biya, est ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur depuis le 9 avril. Il y a quelques années, il avait sollicité auprès de lu SCB un crédit de 120 millions de F CFA pour bâtir une villa sur un terrain situé dans un luxueux quartier de Yaoundé. Robert Messi Messi affirme avoir d'autant plus facilement marqué son accord pour le déblocage des fonds que le docteur Edzoa lui a promis de mettre la maison en location et de rembourser son crédit par virement bancaire.
La construction achevée, le conseiller spécial du Président aurait changé d'avis, pour habiter lui-même ce que d'aucuns considèrent comme un château. Il aurait non seulement tiré un trait sur sa dette mais fait disparaître toute trace de ce dossier des coffres de la banque commerciale, avec la complicité d'une employée de la SCB. Malheureusement pour lui, la SCB avait demandé et obtenu le refinancement de ce concours auprès de la Banque centrale à Yaoundé. Celle-ci ouvrant elle-même des dossiers de réescompte, il était alors facile à la SCB de retrouver et reconstituer cette opération».
Today, the SRC confirms that Edzoa owes SBC 135 865 905 Fcfa – a revealing tale of how high ranking officials use their influence to swindle and reswindle the state…
A third name which appears on the SRC list and which also appeared in JAE back in 1992 is that of General Asso’o Emane Benoit. According to JAE, the General was also the beneficiary of an unsecured loan of around 200 to 300 million FCFA which he intended to use to construct a "high class hotel" in Ebolowa. Whether that hotel was ever built is a mystery, but it is certain that the General never bothered to repay his loan.
According to the SRC, the exact amount that the garrulous General owes the defunct SBC is 303 411 464 Fcfa…
« Le général de brigade Benoît Asso'o Emane, commandant du quartier général militaire à Yaoundé, comme le docteur Titus Edzoa, est très proche du chef de l'Etat. Sans aller jusqu'à donner les chiffres, Robert Messi Messi avoue avoir prêté au général Asso'o de quoi financer un « Hôtel de référence» que ce dernier a construit à Ebolowa. Le coût de la construction est estimé entre 200 et 300 millions de F CFA, financés par la Société camerounaise de banque, sans garanties. »
Without doubt, Robert Messi Messi, whom the Government described as delusional back in 1992 must be having a good laugh as the chickens come to roost – even if is only symbolically…
When the story of the Biya regime is finally written, it will ultimately be about "the rampant [and] ostentatious colonization of the state" by an "arrogant ... elite with little mastery of monetary issues and more inclined towards the ethos of lavishness than production" (Mbembe). An ethos of lavishness, avarice, and unaccountability which explains how a public functionary can walk into a bank totally broke, and then walk out with 50 million FCFA in his pocket , with only his verbal promise to repay….
Le Cameroun c’est le Cameroun indeed!
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