How Banks In Cameroon Frustrate Clients

By Douglas Achingale

The tale of banking in Cameroon is a tangled one. A  litany of crises, which reached their acme in the early 1990s, when a number of prominent banks were forced to crumble bedeviled this sector. Thereafter, many other financial houses, which took, and are still taking advantage of the confusion continue to frustrate their clients, emerged.

Several Cameroonians who carry out financial transactions in banks have very sour memories of the early 1990s.  They often look back with indignation at the time when corrupt government officials politicised financial operators, and managers to the extent that the latter either siphoned money from banks, or colluded with the powers that be to grant them loans without collateral.

These loans were of course, not paid back. On this account, many of the banks collapsed - Credit Agricole, SCB, Meridien BIAO, BICIC as well as Cambank, which was inextricably linked to Southern Cameroonians who were very articulate on the issue of separation at the time.

Of course, the sufferers were not only the owners and employees of the banks, but their customers as well. The terrain was thus, conducive for Cameroonians businessmen to set up thrift and loans organisations known as njangi houses.

In all desperation, civil servants and non-civil servants alike scuttled to these financial houses in their numbers in the joyful hope of performing the best of transactions. In fact, their thinking was that these ‘banks’ had come to right the wrongs of the defunct financial houses. But they got it all wrong. Rather than attractive, their services are repulsive ad nauseam.

If most of these institutions survive today it is thanks to the enormous profits they make through the payment of the salaries of civil servants. The frustration that is brought to bear on their clients is most evident in the way they handle matters concerning salaries.

Whereas some banks that also pay civil servants’ salaries, do so in time in order to help them  try to meet their basic needs, the said financial institutions tend to rather delay the payments for dubious reasons. Such delay, which often lasts two to three days, are meant to oblige the clients to take overdrafts (ODS ) for which they pay a significant interest.

Generally speaking, the idea behind ODS is not a bad one given that these are short-term in times of hardship. However, it becomes disheartening when instead of paying customers' salaries, the "banks" create artificial scarcity so as to compel the former to take ODS.

Clients who habitually go for ODS have perpetual deficits in their accounts. Sometimes they may not even know the exact amounts that they earn as salary, until they withdraw their pay vouchers from the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. This is due to the arbitrary cuts the "banks" make on the salaries of those concerned.

No worker in such a "bank" is willing, for instance, to explain to a customer why he should be paid FCFA 75.000 instead of FCFA 80.000 after the latter must have carefully made his calculations deducting the OD, the interest as well as the bank charges, from his salary.

Knowing fully well the frustration they would meet in trying to find out the reason for these arbitrary cuts, and being in desperate need for money, clients simply go for ODS to make up for the deficits. In this way, the pilfering and frustration continue.
Not only are the workers unprepared to clearly explain certain things to their customers, they are also arrogant and slow at work, attributes which smack of incompetence.

Most of them give the impression that they are superior to their clients, but if you make some enquiry about them, you would realise that they do not explain because a good number of them are not professional bankers. For the most part, they are employed for tribal and other obnoxious reasons.

To add insult to injury, these financial houses operate in premises, which are not so conducive for banking activities. Despite the huge amounts they make as profits, managers fear to take spacious building that would entail heavy rents. More often than not, their employees work in cramped offices not very different from concentration camps. When it is time to pay salaries, it is the customers who suffer because very little space is left for them to stand or sit.

In fact, on many occasions, customers have collapsed either due to suffocation or scrambling. As a result of the rather deplorable services these "banks" offer their clients, many of the latter get fed up and seek to go back to the treasury, which is now better organised - people cash their vouchers with little or no strain.

The treasury workers no longer pay only round figures on pretext that they don’t have coins. Nonetheless, these "banks" would hardly liberate such persons for obvious reasons. This is a blatant case of human rights abuse. Indeed, some clients go to the extent of hiring lawyers and bailiffs in order to be freed from the truculent claws of these njangi houses.

Until government intervenes directly to make things better for the public, the latter will continue to writhe in the frustration of unscrupulous "bank" managers and their colleagues.

Comments

[Fritzane Kiki HK]

Is Civil war the cause of famine in Sub-Saharan Africa?

I think the answer is YES.As of the present statistic all the countries in Sub-saharan Africa have undergone food shortages because of civil strife and political instabiltiy; the consequences are far more crucial than expected.Today,almost 24 African countries face famine and hunger but the world media has not yet given a favorable stand to this plight in their reports;however,we all know that the problems remain those ranging from civil strife and war to adverse weather and economic crisis.Though report says some 30.5 million people will need food assistance in Africa but the numbers might be on the rise as civil continue to rock the hunger striken masses.Most regions in sub-Saharan Africa continue to need some food assistance, but the situation is worst in southern Africa, where about 12 million people need immediate emergency food following a poor cereal harvest earlier this year,and more civil wars, civil strifes, civil disobedience and poor governance in most of these countries.

Southern African countries like Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe will all need emergency food assistance as early as June following a poor cereal harvest earlier this year which will cast no doubt that the world need more helping hand to these African countries still in civil wars and chaos.In Malawi, it is estimated that the number of people facing food shortages is about 4.6 million, about 40 percent of the population, due mainly to rising maize prices and mismanagement.Even in Zimbabwe, the number of people facing food shortages could possiblly reach 3 million and the prospects for 2007 are seriously threatened by the short supply and high costs of farm inputs such as seeds, fuel and fertilizer.South Africa has fared much better with a good maize harvest, and the resulting closing stocks of 5.1 million tonnes, as of 30 June 2006, are more than enough to cover the subregion's maize import requirements.

While in the Eastern part of Africa the 2006 main season harvest of cereal crops is ending in southern parts of eastern Africa, while in northern areas crops are at varying stages of development. Despite beneficial rains and favourable crop prospects in some parts, the report warns "the food situation remains precarious for a large number of people with high malnutrition rates reported in several countries."

The food situation in Sudan is particularly alarming due to prolonged conflict, especially in Darfur and in southern Sudan. According to the report, access to food is worsening for returnees and poor households in parts of southern Sudan and the continued crisis in Greater Darfur remains the most pressing humanitarian problem.

Similarly, in Somalia, recent assessments indicate that the poor 2005 main season harvest in southern Somalia, forecast at 44 percent below average, coupled with an upsurge in civil strife have exacerbated the food situation. Overall, nearly one million people need humanitarian assistance.

Eritrea and Ethiopia are expected to have generally favourable main cropping seasons for 2005. However, a large number of people still depend on food assistance due to the lingering effects of earlier drought and/or war, according to the report.

The case in Western Africa is a bit favorable where the regions crop prospects are said to be "generally good" in the Sahel. But, the Sahel and northern parts of several coastal countries continue to face a difficult lean season, due mainly to unusually high food prices.Some crops in Niger are developing satisfactorily thanks to generally widespread rainfall and adequate soil moisture and overall harvest prospects are favourable.

In another development, in the Central Africa civil strife and insecurity still undermine food security in several countries, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the report says food insecurity affects over 70 percent of the population of 57 million.

Food aid is highly needed if not things will go for the worst since the civil wars continue to hamper a smooth agricultural atmosphere.Even though cereal import requirements in sub-Saharan Africa in 2006/07 are expected to remain a bit high. The total food aid requirement in 2006/07 is estimated at about 3.2 million tonnes. Cereal food aid pledges for 2006/07, including those carried over from 2005/06, amount to 2.8 million tonnes, of which 2 million tonnes have been delivered.

Take note that until date most of the sub Saharan African countries are under famine level and as of now up to 24 countries are still facing food emergencies and are in urgent need for support.They are Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.Where are we heading to?We need a change of gorvernance and peaceful co-existance to survive this demise.

Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong

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