Embezzlers of soldiers allowances will face military courts

Cameroon’s Defence Minister, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o has said that, senior military officials who embezzle allowances meant for soldiers fighting Boko Haram in the Far North Region of the country will be tried in military courts.

He spoke to reporters in Maroua on Friday, on his way from Mora where he communed with Cameroonian soldiers who form part of the First Region of the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission set up exterminate Boko Haram terrorist group.

Mebe Ngo’o said, Brigadier General Bouba Dobekreo who is commander of the force is taking strides to mobilize the soldiers so that in the coming days when they are fully operational, Boko Haran will be neutralized.

He appreciated the pace at which the force is being put in place, stating that Cameroonians and citizens of the other affected countries would soon expectedly remember the crisis as history.

The Defence Minister insisted on good governance that must guide the actions of soldiers on the field to enable them effectively carry out war operations. The military leaders at the war front should preach by example. This entails that they have to respect the rights of the soldiers with regard to food allowance, war allowances and other allowances that the soldiers know and that the leaders have the obligation to satisfy them.

“I state clearly that depriving troops and soldiers of their rights in times of war is an act of treason that will lead the perpetrators to be judged in military courts,” Mebe Ngo’o said.

According to President Paul Biya, he pays special attention at this moment to the military, thus, military leaders must maintain the rules of discipline and good governance.

Despite the change in the attack strategy of Boko Haram to suicide bombings now, the Defence Minister said the population affected has remained patriotic and in close collaboration with the security forces.

In Maroua, he commissioned Brigadier General Jacob Kodji as new Commander of the Fourth Combined Military Region. The series of commissioning ceremonies started in Garoua, September 16, where Brigadier General Frederic Ndjonkey Meyomhe was also commissioned as new Commander of the Third