Operation Sparrow Hawk:Climbing the Altar of Equity with Dirty Hands

By Kenneth Ngu Foncha, Buea

When Lieutenant Luc Emane disappeared with one of Mr. Paul Biya's valise containing FCFA 3,400 million, he was probably guided by the philosophy that stealing from another thief is not too bad after all.

This thinking goes back to the colonial administration. Because the colonial regime was alienated from the people, it was considered a new invention and artificial. It lacked legitimacy and government property therefore, lacked respect.

It became also a patriotic duty to misappropriate the resources of the government. After all, since the regime was foreign, it was like stealing from another thief and stealing from a foreign theft was an act of heroic restoration.

Emane is Joseph Fouda's private secretary, who happens to be Paul Biya's personal body guard. He is thus, a member of the president's bureau. Trying to run away with his master's suitcase was just his own manner in participating in the predatory racket that takes place in the presidency. He probably understood what others had gathered for themselves.

In a country where children still learn on bare floors in schools, for Mr. Biya to be trotting around the world with huge amount of the taxpayers' hard-earned money to sponsor his extended vacations, and lavish shopping, in a specially chartered plane, is nauseating.

A million in any currency is a lot of money. It is yet to dawn on many that it is not up to a million days since the time of Christ. If any one had saved FCFA 4000 each day since the time of Christ till date it would not give FCFA 3,400 million.

Come to think of it. Imagine how many wallets the president carries along each time he leaves the country and how many times he leaves the country in a year. The state treasury is just an adjunct of gangsterism. Paul Biya's bureau makes no distinction between state and personal expenditure.

Former "illiterate" President Ahmadou Ahidjo understood the consequences of sudden oil wealth on a weak capitalist economy, learning from the Nigeria and Gabon experiences. He created a special fund from the oil revenue out of the state budget. In 1992, late statesman Samuel Eboua testified that as Secretary General at the presidency in the early 1980s, oil revenue in the 1980-81 financial year was used for the construction of the CRTV structure at Mballa II, the rehabilitation of the Yoaunde-Douala highway and the construction of the then Yaounde University's ultra modern restaurant.

Eboua would challenge Paul Biya to tell Cameroonians where oil revenue had gone since November 1982. The obvious answer is not hard to find. Until the Bretton Woods Intuitions insisted that oil revenue must be reflected in the state budget, oil revenue for more than 20 years in this country went into hip pockets; a ready source of cash to buy off opponents, reward friends and co-opt enemies, all to sustain the Biya-led kleptocracy.

Operation Sparrow Hawk is only a ploy to purge the system of potential monsters who could threaten the regime while the regime buys time. Genuine change cannot come in the present dispensation. Biya has demonstrated for more than a quarter of a century that he lacks the political will to lead this country. His hands are too soiled to go to the altar of equity.

Comments

[Francis Nche]

Mr. Kenneth Ngu Foncha, your analysis is a master piecs. I am sure God frawned on Cameroon the day Paul Biya was born. This is an indiviual who has killed the aspirations of millions in generations. Only a devil will be carrying money in a suit case in modern era where a simple plastic credit or debit card is sufficent to travel with the whole bank in a pocket. The God news is that his days are already numbered on earth.
May God bless cameroon

[Don Duke]

Bravoooo Mr. Kenneth!!! You couldn't have said it better. I stood up after reading your piece. I had the feeling of hope for counry headed by a hopeless regime. The regime is headed by the most man ever created.

Paul Biya was created by God to test the patience and endurance of Cameroonians in times of hardship. Just like what happened to Job in the bible. Cameroon is very close to better days after Paul Biya is gone - Very soon.

[JN Royal]

This figure of 3.4 billion...makes me wonder! Because, a million francs CFA(brand new bank notes) weighs about 2.5 lbs "pounds", rubber-banded...and not in any of the typical khaki "payee" banks' envelopes...so, if we do the math, 100 million will weigh about 250lbs and 3400 million will weigh...(3400 X 2.5 lbs)= 8,500 lbs. What kind of suite (brief) case carries 8,500lbs? This is approximately the weight of 2 diesel powered Land cruisers & then some. Why will Biya fly to NYC and with that amount of CFA...which with no Riggs bank in existence...Thomas Cook does not even exchange it? Don't believe me...try changing CFA and let me know if you can.

I guess you can figure where I am going with this...or can't you? So I have some question to you Mr. Kenneth?

1. Does this alleged figure hold any veracity? Remember...even if the funds were in euro, which has one of the highest single note value (€500) ~ approx 325K FCFFA...the weight factor is still disturbing to imagine...Let's even further divide the 8500lbs say by derivative math ~ 8500/3.33(euro roughly factored to CFA) ~ 2,552.55 lbs... Still too much to carry around.

2. In this U.S.A, just to shed some light on some law; there is a statue: whenever you are to pay over $9,999.99 in cash for any one itemized transaction...Uncle Sam (IRS) like our own ministry of finance/taxation...must be notified.

3. With all the experience bestowed, Head of states will not want to travel with this kind of current cash...

4. My guess is that this has been blown out of proportion, and there is yet to be a single verifiable source; all what I've read thus far are all allegations. When you write...it is important to note/spell this out for the readers.

5. I rest, to think this is another hear-say, make stories in the Diaspora.

Let Cameroon be unity and live in peace, unity and prosperity.

Fua.

[Danny Boy]

JN Royal 11,
why spoil a good story with such a brilliant analysis? You see my dear friend, the Post is there to sell papers. Facts are not their business, for they know that sensational stuff is what people like to talk about in their "mbu" houses.
If I may add to your calculations, 2.5 lbs is just over a Kilogram, for the benefit of those used only to metrication (1 KG= 2.2046 lbs). Without going into details, we can reasonable assume that 3,400 million frs. weigh roughly 3,400 KG!
That is some weight for any human to carry!
Having said this, one is not denying the fact that something did happen. But what? we shall never know from such shoddy piece of journalism.
Blessed be Cameroon.

[mk the southerner]

I see wisdom In Anglophones wasting.
This is wisdom said above by the two last contributors.

[Essono]

He who comes to Equity,must come with clean hands.

[Delors]

Those who are being frightened by this amount and the weight whatsover are those who think that biya could not do that too much,however, my question is why was biya carryng bags of cameroonian money with him and at the same time pretending to arrest other cameroonians for stealing cameroonian money. If someone thinks that money was much, I will tell you it was not, considering the fact that he had to visit many of his various bank accounts in different countries. The cpdm so called militants in the US were waiting for their own share as last year.

[Jallow]

Fua & JN Royal 11 (whoever they are) have provided some really interesting insights. I am only guessing here (I was not in that hotel with Biya and Lt Luc Emane) but my thinking on this issue is probably more accurate than Kenneth Ngu Foncha's story put out by the Post.

1st - Something did happen. 2nd - Biya's suitcase will never have CFA (dollars or Euros but not CFA), no President travels with just their country's currency. 3rd - Lt Luc Emane (so much for Cameroon's security apparatus) must be a fool. Who tells him that a hotel that takes Presidents or the wealthy for guests leaves any room or corridor un-monitored. There are CCTV cameras everywhere but they are so cleaverly designed and concealled you have to be in trade to spot them. He was being watch by hotel security from the moment he entered the room... Just one hasty step, one stealthy look and this "abnormal" behaviour would be noticed by someone studying the CCTV monitors. 4th - for Lt Luc Emane the road to Kondengui began with his lack of experience of how security works.

Jallow