Mouth-watering salaries of Biya’s ministers uncovered!

According to findings, an ordinary minister in Cameroon earns by far more than the current French president

By Ngah Christian Mbipgo in Yaounde

Biya

An investigation carried out by The Guardian Post has unveiled the mouth-watering monthly salaries of Cameroon’s members of government. According to our findings, 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, in addition to what they officially earn, the benefits which Cameroonian ministers are entitled to, can see them smiling home with up to 10MFCFA every month. Housing and transportation advantages add up to FCFA 790.000 while quarterly payment for undefined charges can amount to 30MFCFA; depending also on the weight of the ministries they run. Cameroonian ministers, we gathered, are entitled to 10% of all public contracts awarded by their respective ministries.

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 sum of 5MFCFA or even less!

It is worth mentioning that while Cameroonian ministers are swimming in affluence at the expense of the ordinary; a vast majority of who can barely manage a meal a day, the French government recently reduced the pay package of their ministers by 30%.

 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 reportedly grumbling that what they earn as salaries and advantages are far below “the workload” on their tables.

Another shocking result of our investigation was in the area of award of contracts. It emerged from our findings that most ministers run ghost companies to which they award juicy contracts. Those who are afraid to be caught in the anti-corruption web create companies and place their relatives and numerous girl friends at the helm. Such are the companies that are often paid huge sums of money for uncompleted contracts or contracts that are not executed at all.

In the face of the high-level corruption in the award and execution of public contracts, the much-trumpeted anti-corruption units in ministries would have been the first to blow the alarm. But how can they do it when they are appointed by the same individuals who are spear-heading corrupt practices?