Competitive Exams Mired In Gigantic Fraud

By Kini Nsom

Competitive examinations into professional schools in Cameroon are characterised by heavy fraud.

About 70 percent of those who are recruited into such schools and eventually into the public service gain admission through fraud.Last week, The Foundation For Human Rights and Development, FHRD, raised an alarm when it published a detailed report on "The State of Bribery and Corruption in Cameroon's Professional Schools and Recruitment into the Public Service".

The report signed by the NGO's Executive President, Afanyi Ngeh, reveals that only 30 percent of the candidates admitted in professional schools like the National School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM, the Higher Teachers Training College, ENS, the Higher Institute of Youths and Sports, INJS, the Advanced School of Mass Communication, ASMAC, the Higher School of Engineering, Polytechnic, and the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, pass through merit.

70 percent of such candidates use bribery and corruption, influence peddling and political godfathers to get recruited."Our study of the recruitment of students into ENS Yaounde over the past two years points to the fact that only 20 percent enter through merit, about 20 percent are recruited through recommendation by persons holding high-level positions in government such as cabinet Ministers, Directors and other influential personalities", says the report.

The 26-page report equally reveals that more than 60 percent of recruitments are allegedly done through the exchange of money. The writers of the report say the main sources of the study are; confessions from students in some institutions who confirm having entered through offering a bribe, members of the public who confirm that family members entered these schools after offering money.

Some students also confirm that some elite intervened for them to be granted admission.
The NGO also used data obtained from interviews and questionnaires to establish the report. The report covers the period from May 2006 to July 2008.

Going by the document, meritocracy, in the circumstances, has been sacrificed on the altar of bribery and corruption. Thus, the majority of those who get into the public service are those who buy their way into such schools.

Although ENAM Director, Benoit Ndong Souhmet, refuted the allegation recently, it is reported that the students pay as much as FCFA 3 million to get into ENAM. Given that the private sector is weak and unreliable, working in the public service, to most Cameroonians, is the only sure way to have economic security.

The FHRD report quotes many young Cameroonians as saying they are desperate to have a matriculation number in the public service that will permit them to be paid by the State Treasury and enable them have pension when they finally retire.

Such a phenomenon increased given that the last massive recruitment of graduates into the public service before the rise of the economic crisis happened in 1986 when 1700 graduates were employed. Since then many graduates face unemployment. The human rights foundation also points an accusing finger at the failed political transition to a genuine democracy as one of the main causes of corruption.

It says there is lack of accountability and transparency in the management of public affairs in Cameroon. It stated that rigged elections finally give rise to people in public offices who are under no obligation to be accountable to the masses. They strive on corruption.

The report states: "The use of patronage is an outstanding factor that has helped in erecting corruption to the royal throne that it occupies". The oldest corrupt method of recruiting students into ENS, reads the report, is not through the sale of places, but through patronage.

According to the study, patronage gives rise to the nation-killing prevailing vices such as tribalism, nepotism and favouritism. In this category, the relations, friends and tribes persons of the politically powerful have a direct entry into ENS with little regard to their qualification. The report states: "Elite use the name of the ruling party and constitute themselves into lobby groups through which they place persons into institutions of higher learning".

Notorious ENS

The study is particularly critical of recruitment into ENS. It partly reads, "Towards the end of this period (1992 and 1997) there was a Minister of Higher Education who hails from one of the Divisions with the worst in terms of road network, who flooded ENS Bambili with his village girls and boys".

It is alleged that during the electoral campaigns, students and every unemployed person who needed a matriculation number, needed just to join the campaign caravan of the ruling party.

It is said that between 1992 and 1997, a good number of those who gained admission into professional schools were people who have links with the ruling party. From 1997, the buying of places into ENS is said to have become almost official. The report states that candidates paid as much as FCFA one million and 1.3 million to get into ENS in 2006.

The writers of the report say most of the students who admitted having bribed their way into ENS refused to call names of those who took the money from them."We learned that during the 2008 session between March and May, places in most departments in ENS like History, Philosophy, LMA, Guidance and Counselling, Computer Studies were selling between FCFA 1.5 million.

By mid June, students who went to buy places reported that some departments such as History were already full."From mid June we gathered that a place in the Department of Philosophy rose to FCFA 2 million," reads an excerpt of the report.

This year, the report states, a place in the department of Guidance and Counselling rose to FCFA 2.5 million. It was also discovered that 90 percent of candidates recruited to study Philosophy do not have a University degree in the subject. Of the 18 students in Year Five, only two have university degrees, amongst all the other 16 who do not have are women.

The report screams that from the primary school to the highest rung of the State, corruption sits comfortably as a national girlfriend, waiting for an outing. This is the situation that caused Transparency International, TI, to rate Cameroon twice as the most corrupt country in the world.

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Comments

[Essono]

My God,My God,My God !!! What a report.The future of this c'ntry is in peril.

[espoir]

i have always thought that cameroon needs a military unit to fight corruption with units in every area of civil society.

[Fon]

Essono,
Are you surprised with the report. That is exactly what is going on in that country. There is no exaggeration in the report.It is just a reflection of the status quo.
Any serious government, after reading this kind of report, will set a commission to investigate. But Cameroon can´t do it becuase those in power see it as normal.
I am ashamed to be a Cameroonian.

[Danny Boy]

Mr. Essono,
where have you been? That has always been the way things are done in Cameroon when it concerns competitive exams or "concours". Passing the competitive exam is one thing, going through the orals, you need a wad of cash or a god-parent to intercede!!! I know it because I have had to yield to pressure, against my moral rectitude, to assist financially one or two gain admission into these institutions.
I am surprised that you are surprised by this research/report. This is no revelation, mate.
Blessed be.

[Essono]

Fon and Danny Boy,

Well,I have a first hand experience as far as corruption in Cameroon is concerned.And one of them was in 2000 when we went to Yaoundé to sit in for ENAM exams and we were shocked to realise our names weren't on the list of candidates meanwhile we had our matriculation numbers as candidates and had been duly registered.Angered many candidates,marched to the Star Building to meet former PM,Musonge.Despite his personal intervention,many of us couldn't sit for the exams.

Am not surprised as such,is just that the above report is one of those very rare and detailed reports on corruption in Cameroon.And it portrays how deeply rotted Cameroon is.And what frightens me the most that,the youths,on whom the future of Cameroon reposes,on whom the Change we need has to come from,are helpless and have no choice but to dance to the tune of graft.Its a terribly saddening.

[rexon]

Essono registered to go into ENAM, then went to protest when his name was not in the official list directly to prime minister Musonge. This smacks my imagination. Before leaving Cameroon, as a rightminded person, these were the sort of jobs i could never hope of doing. Reason, it is for the bunch of corrupt and doom republiquans hypocrites who could not think of anything good, but to make money out of the sweat of ordinary Cameroonians. Sooners, the colours of all these hypocrites would be exposed for the world to see. How true is this character similar to hypocrite Danny boy who got fake scholarships and refused to return home and remained in the UK after being educated from taxpayers funds. The corrupt maestro is always proud to say his family is fine in Cameroon, probably from the pound he sends from Europe. Timorous beasties.

[Essono]

Look at u.A failed assylum seeker who whines out his whole life assylum camp or in an airtight bedroom,scared of being deported at anytime.Degenarate Scalliwag!!!

Look at the brainless,spineless,feeble-minded bastard.Son of a bitch.When some of us struggled through the best schools ur parents could only imagine in the secret recesses of their peasant minds.We struggled and had our diplomas and are still gunning for more.

I told u Rexon,that u have met ur worst nightmare on this forum.Mark my words.A peanut of priovincial reject.What is inconsistent with what I said.U can verify that incident from anybody who went in for the ENAM exams.Block-busted brainless brat.I haven't finished with u,yet.

[Essono]

This treacherous dimwit who sings the dirges of secession in the day but turns around by night to line his pockets with cash from cameroon Embassy authorities.We know u people,and we shall expose all of u.Out of my side,renegade and dejected opportunists.

[Danny Boy]

Mr. Essono,
my advice to you is not to take what Rexon writes seriously. He is an angry young man.If only he could be constructive for the betterment of his beloved SCNC! What a waste of space. He speaks like a drum that has gone flat, very bad for the ears. Any SCNC out there to tune this dysfunctional apparatus?
His, is only the legitimate passage to Europe,others were fake!! One wonders how he got into UK though...fake scholarship through Sweden? Having been taught in UB by some of the fakes he alludes to, those who returned to Cameroon out of choice, this boy is either naive or green.
I am tired of his diatribes, which is why I said in an earlier posting I was not going to play "space invaders" with him ever again. He talks of people not returning home after their studies, I deign to ask if he is still studying now? When is he returning home?
You see Mr. Essono, this boy is not only naive, green with envy, but illogical too.
I am certain when he reads this, he will come out fighting like a savaged Highland terrier. Would love to kick it into Loch Ness.
Let him eat his heart out for all I care; timorous beastie, I am waiting.
God bless Cameroon.

[Fonngang]

I think this person calling himself Essono here is a fraud and dubious character. It has just ocured to me that he could be an 'agent provicateur' feeding the regime with imformation about those who oppose it.
They way he handled the debate about Nico Halle in this paper actually left a bitter taste in my mind.
Here he is a gain. Why would anyone who claims that he is an 'unapologetic critic'(to use his own words) of the regime express surprise after reading such a report which is actually mild in its description of the bribery and corruption in Cameroon? This report does not in anyway touch the tip of the iceberg so far as the the scale of the problem in Cameroonis concerned. And then a Cameroonian who says he is a critic of the regime would publicly express such amazement. He is faking the whole thing.

The name Essono first of all is not unfamiliar to me. As a student in Yaounde Univrsity in the 80s there were reports of a notorious or mythical armed robber who went by that name ESSONO, in Douala. They said he was finally shot by police. Is our Essono here his reincrnation? This was before the Biya regime allowed armed robbery to became a common crime in Cameroon although with more deadly consequences.I did not expect our Essono here to disclose his real identity but just like the dubious fellow he is his mind set could not stray far away from crimnal associations - hence his choice of name
If anybody reads crime stories and police detective techniques, or follow such programmes on TV he or she will always notice that the criminal always leaves some evidence behind to help track him down. No matter how hard a ciminal tries to clean up after a crime he always leaves that one crucial evidence which a keen investigator will use to track him down with. Essono has just left his own evidence behind here, by pretending surprise that there is corruption in Cameroon Professinal schools and government jobs. What has been the complain of Camroonians since Mr Biya took over? Why would anyone familiar with issues in Cameroon even blink an eye when such stories are told?
What has been our problem with the regime for over these years?
In my opinion most Cameroonians would not even care who stays in power and for how long so far as they can just make ends meet, have hopes for a bright future for themselves and their children. Corruption has dashed these simple and ordinary wishes by Cameroonians to the ground and the government is doing anything about it. That is our problem. It is not complicated. We are not even asking for free handouts from government - like free education, health care transportation, housing, water supply, electricity etc. We just want fairness and justice and we are confident everything will eventually fall in place. That is what we call HOPE, and I tell you a government can survive a hundred years if only it can instill that feling of HOPE into its people but not by mereley saying so, but by making the people the people seeing it and feeling that way.
If Essono is ignorant of this, then let him know that no one is afraid to air his or her views here. There is nothing you can take to your bosses from here that will make some of us even waste one of our precious minutes worrying about. What disturbs me is - WHY WOULD ANYBODY BE AN AGENT PROVOCATEUR?

[Emah]

Sincerely anybody who cast doubts on the above write up which to my opinion is even less on its emphasis is to be doubted on his or her sincerity.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Teachers training examinations that were taken in Buea. The DELEGATE in Buea, I know what I am saying, the present delagate incharge, was and is still collecting 100,000frs from any candidate who will 'want' to pass.Reason today as I write he is constructing a manson of a 'mini cite'. Naturally how much does he make per annum if not from a clear issue like this.

He who doubts should take this up and investigate.

Is no Joke, is just one of more than a million cases known in this country.Is a SICK country.

[Grass_field]

For those of you who can read French, read this interview in Le Messager given by the outgoing Netherlands Ambassador Norbert Braakhuis. What an objective analysis of the mess we are in. I will advice all forum members to read the interview covering all aspects in Cameroon

http://www.lemessager.net/

http://www.camerounlink.net/fr/news.php?nid=40296

the second link has possibility to translate (computer translated) into some poor readable English.
We have a lot to learn there before coming back to argue (sometimes blindly) in support of the mess in Cameroon

[rexon]

Essono,

You wanted to go to ENAM. If you had succeeded, you would'nt have been saying what you are saying here today. We all know what comes out of ENAM, by wishing to go there, you clearly had a hidden agenda as no rightminded Cameroonian without an evil mind in the past decade or so would dare "wish" to be product of ENAM. Were you going there for the salary or for the bribes that comes out of it? Sooner or later, the true colours of some hypocrites would be exposed.

Danny Boy,

Why should i envy you? I would hurt my soul if i am against you unjustly. You do not deserve that. I would instead be against anyone envying you. I am mainly concerned about the taxpayers funds that was used to finance your studies. Unfortunately, you never returned to serve the state. The cost of your education have deprived millions of poor children back home of a livelihood. Do you know that. And worst still, you are not even standing for the truth, instead, you are busy promoting incompetencies versus incompetencies that have worked against their future. What you need to do is to stand clear of the way of our liberation. Those of us who have suffered under tyranny of that regime and have to run to organise ourselves and storm back to liberate our country are serious about what we stand for. If you had the priviledge to be given a scholarship by those despots, you should not think you should stand on the way of our independence simply because u benefitted from their largesse.

Fongang,

I admire your objectivity in this forum. Sooner or later, forumnites will tend to understand clearly the positions of hypocrites like Essono.

Many thanks.

[Radicalbrother]

CAMEROON FOR SALE
By FUH NGWA

There was once a country endowed with natural resources and man power. A country of milk and honey that has been ruined within a quarter of a century by a man I will call ‘Mobutu of Cameroon”. When I compare the things Cameroonians have missed to the ones they have achieved, the ones they have lost to the ones they ought to have gained, there is no room for pride. If a free society can not help the many who are poor, that very society can not save the few who are rich. Where cats are hairdressers, the rat will go about with uncombed hair for wealth is accumulated in the few hands of infidels and the majorities are languishing in abject poverty which is better experienced than defined.

Whether we believe it or not , we are engaged in a complicated finding game , a potentially infinite cycle of concealments, false revelations ,revelations , discoveries and rediscoveries in which reality is in a maze of reflecting and distorting mirrors. Cameroon is sick and the clinical signs are glaring to all patriotic citizens of this our beloved country. Unemployment, corruption, inertia etc. The causes are also very visible to any average honest Cameroonian. Bad governance tribalism, homosexuality etc

A youth born in the last quarter of the century has seen nothing but misery and relies on hope that he is the leader of tomorrow. He must be reminded that those who live on hope will die fasting. Why is he not the leader today? This is a country where youth has no age limit and as long as you can always afford a dye to tint the hair, you will always remain a youth. After all, youth is the state of the mind as it is the famous slogan of this shameful empire. Age does not always come along with wisdom, sometimes age comes alone. This explains why there are so many old and dull Cameroonians who are trying to rule the country as if it is an empire. Let us assume that the beautiful ones are not yet born. This is because the ugly ones refuse to die or to quit power

What can an average Cameroonian boast of? Probably because there is enough food on the table to eat does not mean that all is well. He must not forget to ask himself how the food managed to reach his table without farm to market roads. The aviation sector is epileptic and satellites for information have been replaced by hunters. It is really an empire of shame and disdain.

Should a youth in the university boast of the educational system, he must not forget that the “Nanfang Motorcycle and Call box Unions” await him upon graduation. This is a country where patriotic intellectuals are never given the opportunity to serve their fatherland; this is a country where education is a curse rather than a cure. This is a country where the Anglo-Saxon system of education is by far superior to the Francophone system of education and is justified by the number of Francophone in Anglophone schools yet Anglophones are marginalized. May be this is a strategy to make sure that there is no Anglophone Cameroon in the next twenty years. Time will tell.

The Military is nothing to write home about. The recent issue at Bakassi in which they were crushed like flies is still very fresh in our memory. The few survivors left could only be seen flexing muscles with unarmed civilians during strike action. The incidence in University of Buea in which students were brutalized and killed attests to the fact that we are being ruled by a military regime.

Should we identify our selves positively with the judiciary, we must not forget that Kangaroo system of justice awaits supposed culprits arrested during strike actions. They will be hastily tried and jailed forgetting the “Flagrant delicto” of the new criminal procedure. Liberty , freedom and justice without lawyers are mere words. Justice in Cameroon like any other commodity is bought and sold by the highest bidder. The judiciary system of the country is so corrupt that Jesus needs a special invitation to come and perform a miracle before going back. A long time of not thinking that something is wrong gives it the superficial notion of being right.

When multi-partism was introduced, there was jubilation from Cameroonians as if the kingdom of God was at hand. Today, these political parties have turned themselves into Non Governmental Organization in which individuals enrich themselves at the mercy of an average Cameroonian caught in the web of misery.

Should we boast of identifying ourselves positively with football for which Cameroon is well noted for, we must ask ourselves these questions. How many times has Cameroon won the Nations cup? How much was put into the tournament and what was the positive change in the livelihoods of an average Cameroonian when the cup was brought back? Gone are those days in the primary school when we used to jubilate with an empty cup after a football tournament while the headmaster collects the envelope with the money. How many times has Cameroon hosted the Nations cup?. Football in Cameroon to me brings nothing but momentary joy and hardship thereafter. It is during football tournaments that some ministers and other top ranking officials enrich themselves. Football in this country is one of the areas where the highest degree of discrimination is being exhibited. Is it a therefore a tool for segregation or a unifying factor?

The reasons why United Republic of Cameroon was changed to Republic of Cameroon are still much obscured to my imagination. The buttocks are in constant friction with one another yet they are always together. The absence of war in Cameroon does not in any way imply that there is peace. The importance of any finger is never known until it is cut off.

Laughter and tears are both expressions of frustration and exhaustion. I prefer to laugh since there is less cleaning required there after. Some people like pleasure from a treasure without measure and that is what is killing us today. Corrupt officials are every where and I hope the concept of regional balance will be respected as far as the arrest of these criminals is concern for it was introduced at the start of the Medical school in Buea and must continue.

We do not need to change friends if we understand that friends do change. In the same manner, we do not need to change a regime if we understand that a regime can change. It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for this “focus less, goalless and ambitious less” regime to change so as to please the masses who are suffering. It is really a ‘chop broke pot’ system of government which calls for privatization like other Para-statals and developmental organizations.

Forgive me if Cameroon is already privatized. I am therefore deformed if I am not informed. It is a matter of information.