Minister affirms incompetence in control of donations for military

To the amazement of the public, Luc Magloire Mbarga, Cameroon Minister of Trade has said he does not have due competence to control millions in financial donations and foodstuff donated by citizens to support government’s fight against Boko Haram, despite the fact that he initiated the whole exercise in the first place.

He made the observation Thursday April 2, at the 101 Military Airbase in Yaoundé, shortly after handing over some donated cash and food items to Koumpa Issa, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defense in charge of Ex-Servicemen and War Victims.

Mbarga who had just officially handed over 160 Million FCFA donations alongside a huge consignment of foodstuff to Kumpa who received them on behalf of the Defense Minister, appeared surprised when reporters repeatedly wanted to know how the donations made to the armed forces were being managed.

He dismissed reports that the money was being embezzled and some of the foodstuff ending up in the homes of high ranking officers of the army. “Those rumours are from people with bad faith,” Mbarga said. He added that his role is only to collect and would not be a police poking his nose into the management of whatever is collected.

“The government is well structured, when the money is collected, I know that it is sent to the governor of the Far North Region to manage. I know that it is well managed” The minister said.

Quizzed on whether he is getting feedback from the governor, even a phone call, regarding the distribution of the donations, Mbarga said, it is not necessary. “My role is to collect the money and hand it to the appropriate quarters.”

From February this year to April 2, more than 360Million FCFA has been collected in cash, plus tens of tons of rice, maize, vegetable oil, sardines, bottled water etc has been collected from citizens, businessmen and politicians to support the army and families victimized by the B’Haram war. The donation exercise goes on under what the government calls ‘National Solidarity Chain’ initiated by the Trade Minister.

“The President initiated this chain when he called on all Cameroonians to support the army. I simply put in place a chain that will facilitate the pooling of this support. My aim is to make it as long as possible. The collection of money within this Chain will never end. It will evolve with the fight against Boko Haram. Even when the war shall end, we will still continue collecting, for other causes” he stated.

The donations the trade minister handed over to the armed forces today April 2, included, undisclosed gifts from 34 companies and citizens from six regions, the North West, South West, North, Adamawa, East and West.

A union of petroleum companies in Cameroon (made up of Tradex, Total, MRS, OilLiya, Neptune Oil and Camgaz) donated 2,000 bags of rice, 20,000 sachets of Spaghetti, 30,900 tins of tomatoes, and 25,000 tins of Sardine. The Cameroon Water Utilities Corporation, CAMWATER donated 180,000 bottles of water. Societe Royal des Jeux gambling and gaming company donated similar foodstuffs plus 100 bags of salt.

CIMENCAM made similar goods worth 5,000 MFCFA while the Cameroon Oil Refinery Corporation made a contribution of 100 bags of rice worth 1,5Million FCFA. The CDC, PHP and Boh Plantations donated 36 tons of fresh bananas while other companies, including the Mukete Estate Ltd, OK Foods, DOVV Distribution, Source du Pays, Mont Cameroun, Santa Lucia among others, equally donated bags of rice, bottled water, palm oil and sardines. The Cameroon Baptist Convention donated medicine and gloves.

In addition to colossal sums which had earlier been collected in some regions, the Adamawa region donated through the National Solidarity Chain, 7,775,550FCFA, accompanied with a consignment of foodstuff packed at the regional delegation for the ministry of trade, including 19bags of rice, detergents, toilet tissue, and maize among others.

The East region donated alongside a similar consignment of foodstuff, and 2,453,300FCFA in cash. The North region contributed 4,830,000FCFA in cash, 80 bags of rice, 10bags of flour, 2 cows, and 210 cartons of edible oil.

The lot from the West region, besides 29,027,000FCFA cash, included several tons of maize, 10,800 eggs,2,620 litters of water, beans, coffee, plantains, medicine, T-shirts,cups,260,000frs worth of petrol coupons.

The Secretary General at the office of the South West governor witnessed the ceremony during which 44,107,900FCFA donated by the region was handed to the armed forces with tons of maize, cocoyams, water, sweet drinks, CDC bananas among many other gifts.

Another consignment of assorted gifts was donated by customers of Mahima Akwa, +Goodies, CASINO, DOVV, Santa Lucia and ECOMARCHE supermarkets in Yaoundé and Douala.

It was the second time the minister of trade is handing over contributions to the ministry of defence. The Business Employers Association of Cameroon, commonly known by its French acronym, GICAM donated foodstuff and several millions to the armed forces. The minister handed the goods to the defense minister on February 26, after which the defence minister stated that it would take several turns for the military cargo plane to transport the goods to the Far North.

While the contribution of the Senate is yet to be received, following an announcement by Marcel Niat Njifenji that the upper house of parliament would contribute 100Million FCFA to support the fight against Boko Haram, Philemon Yunji Yang, Prime Minister, chaired a fund raiser in the Northwest last month; 80MFCFA was raised.

Joseph Beti Assomo, Governor of the Littoral region who equally relayed the National Solidarity Chain to his jurisdiction, oversaw collection of over 207Million FCFA.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, South West governor, still on the platform of the Chain, coordinated the collection of over 43Million FCFA.

The Senior Divisional Officer of Moungo is reported to have collected circa 40Million FCFA in the division while that of the Sanaga Maritime Division has reportedly collected closed to 40Million FCFA as well. Circa 20Million FCFA is said to have also been collected in the Ocean division.

Meantime, Col. Jacob Kodji, Interim Commander of the 4th Joint Military Region stated in an interview with state newspaper, Cameroon Tribune on April 1, that there is transparency in the management of donations from citizens to the armed forces. He said the governor of the Far North, Madjiyawa Backary heads a committee that manages foodstuff donated to the army.

Kodji said that a bank account is yet to be created for cash donations and stressed that whatever citizens are giving is just support. “The needs of the army are the responsibilities of the state” he pointed out, noting that the soldiers at the war front receive their monthly salaries, special bonuses, among other benefits from the state coffers.