Ghost Gov't Workers In Cameroon: Use Biometrics To Catch Their Tricks

By Macdonald Ayang Okumb

     This is the proposal I made to government earlier this year in my column (in Eden Newspaper). Little did I know that as many as 10, 377 sate functionaries were not duly recognised as such, yet were paid. By the way, how can one readily believe the figures exposed by government when it cannot say with definitive certitude how many citizens it employs? And how can we also believe when, for example, The Guardian Post reported last week that 13, 600 farmers had been uncovered in the south Region as ghost workers, a figure which outnumbers what government published.

     Imagine that each of the 10,377 workers was receiving a monthly salary of FCFA 100,000 (one hundred thousand), then simple arithmetic shows that the state has been spending about one billion and 37 million monthly on ghost workers for God knows how long now. This excludes cash wasted on fuel for bogus cars of government officials, lengthy and at times useless missions, and that which is outrightly embezzled.

     Our economy is such a nascent and fragile one that cannot thrive and consequently meet the 2035 emergence target if it continuously makes such illicit payments to ill-intentioned citizens. I recall vividly when a writer and ardent militant of Hon. Paul Ayah’s Peoples Action Party, Njousi Abang, once questioned whether anyone had ever caught a ghost somewhere.

     It may sound funny but the bitter truth is that the phenomenon is very common in most African countries and Cameroon in particular.  Those keen on developments in next door Nigeria know for sure how that country’s president, Buhari, is currently waging a merciless anti-corruption war in public institutions with the intention of not only consolidating Nigeria’s position as Africa’s strongest economy, but also to make citizens taste a fair share of the national gateau. So if we mean it, we can fight it.

     That’s why government must be lauded for initiating such a campaign to purge out thieving citizens who pass for state workers. But publishing names and calling on the concerned to go regularise their status is just the first step of a fight that must be thorough and must continue. The names published were of those said not to be recognised by their user ministries. So what about those who are indeed state workers but who scheme and take home multiple salaries?

     Some may argue that salaries in Cameroon are so insultingly meagre that civil servants are forced to indulge in all forms of unorthodoxy to take home bigger pay packages, but the truth remains that we must do justice to our public purse. Govt also needs money to do other things for the benefit of those who are not civil servants. There is nothing wrong in copying a good example. That’s why when I first made proposals on the use of the biometric system to manage our civil service; I made ample allusion to a country like Kenya.

Some months ago, Kenya, which is East Africa’s biggest economy, took a drastic move to confront the cankerworm of ghost workers. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who happens to be that region’s second youngest Head of State, initiated a campaign that forced all workers on the state’s payroll to undergo a biometric registration process so as to rid the civil service of fake or non existent workers. The interesting thing is that President Uhuru Kenyatta was the first person to register.

     The move was instigated by startling revelations made by an audit that at least $1m, about FCFA 500 million, was lost every month in payments to ghost civil servants as well as other financial irregularities in the country.  Kenyatta realised that that if such a trend continued, it would have a destructive toll on the Kenyan economy.

     It may be an expensive venture for Cameroon no doubt but it would be worthwhile for, it would help the state save huge sums of Money wasted. No one doubts that we are in dire need of infrastructure and social amenities.

     Was it not the same case with our voter registration system? We all know that prior to the introduction of the biometric registration option of voters in Cameroon, numerous irregularities characterised the voters registration process. Cases existed of people who registered once but ended up having two or three cards. 

     This is what also led to the much criticised phenomenon of ghost voters. Government had demonstrated palpable reluctance on the issue but it finally yielded to pressure from both the international community and from opposition party leaders and civil society actors to introduce the biometric system of registration as is the case in other African democracies. The government said it spent well over FCFA 11 billion for the project but no one would deny the fact that it was necessary for the advancement of our electoral experience.

     Although softwares exist already with which government manages civil servants’ information, I strongly opine that establishing a biometric data base for our civil servants should be the next option as government says it is planning to put in place a new system. This would not only enable government to curb or completely exterminate undue payments to fake workers but it will also enable it have an exact knowledge on the number of its employees. At as now, it is understood that it is not clear the precise number of civil servants Cameroon employs. This is not good for government’s strategic planning and civil service policy formulation.

     The fight against corruption must be seen to be effective and not just based on slogans alone. One sector that very much reeks with corruption in this country is the civil service whereas the youth are wallowing in desperation and crumbling under the weight of biting unemployment.