By Sally Ncha Amoh, UB student journalist on
internship in Yaounde
The current edition of
Africa’s authoritative magazine, Jeune
Afrique has unveiled the mouth-watering monthly salaries of Cameroon’s
members of government. According to the publication, a sitting minister in
Cameroon earns at least 10 MFCFA a month. This amount excludes undefined
advantages; kick-backs (running into hundreds of millions) ministers receive in
shady deals and award of contracts. All
these advantages put together denote that an ordinary minister in Cameroon
earns by far more than the current French president; whose monthly salary is
just a little above 9 MFCFA!
According to official
figures, ministers of state earn FCFA 794.651 while an ordinary minister
receives a pay package of FCFA 679.297; secretaries of state get FCFA 583.328
and the delegates general for the gendarmerie and the police earn FCFA 546.798.
However, Jeune Afrique
reveals that the benefits that ministers are entitled to can add up to 10
million FCFA. Housing and transportation benefits add up to FCFA 790.000;
quarterly payment for undefined charges
can add up to 30 million FCFA; and they equally receive 10% of all
public contracts awarded by their ministry.
In addition, ministers
are entitled to yearly car budget of up to 80 MFCFA. According to normal
practice in Cameroon, a minister can buy his three-year old car (initially
bought with state money at the cost of 80MFCFA) at the paltry cost of 5 MFCFA!
It is worth mentioning
that the French government recently reduced the pay package of their ministers
by 30%. But while the World Bank and other international financial bodies are
putting pressure on Cameroon to reduce the current salaries and advantages of
ministers, the members of government for their part are ironically asking that
their salaries and advantages be augmented.
The ministers,
according to reports, are arguing that their workload by far outweighs their
official monthly take-home package. They are equally arguing that the yearly
ministerial road maps as demanded by President Paul Biya are consuming a good
chunk of their salaries and advantages.
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