In the past week, some media organs in the country presumed to be sponsored by schemers have linked the Head of state’s son to a financial scandal of up to Fcfa 100 billion.
“Activists” think he benefited from the support of many members of the presidential family. Out of the blow, the Alliance for the defense of the common property (known in French as l’Alliance pour la défense du bien public), went bluffing and claiming to know the truth on the file on debt securities of Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) in which Frank Biya’s company, .was involved. JoyBell C, poetry, prose, novel-writer defines such “activists” as “those whose primary ability is to spin wheels of manipulation. It is their second skin and without these spinning wheels, they simply do not know how to function. They are like toys on wheels of manipulation and control. If you remove one of the wheels, they’ll never be able to feel secure, be whole.”The case dates back to 1997, when the Cameroon government decided to “secure” its domestic debt. The aim was to permit the government to turn its domestic debt into financial securities to be sold to private investors. That is how and why treasury bonds, code named “Treasury bonds, zero coupon” or “Otz” were issued for several state corporations including Camtel and the National Social Insurance Fund (Cnps).What is bewildering is that these activists spreading this cruel story speak in the conditional tense because apparently they are unclear about their statements. It would suggest a hidden agenda with an aim to hit the son of the President of the Republic, and by extension the Head of State, as they try to demonstrate that the state machinery from the top was complicit in the alleged theft by Frank Biya. For these whistleblowers, it is this system that protects the president’s son from answering to these allegations before the courts. And for things to gel, the Alliance makes reference to the par value of the coupon.If we also consider that such interest is capitalized and paid at the same time as the payment of the principal debt (in this case maturity ranging from 10 to 15 years), it is a big catch. These agitators in the name of defending the common good claim that Franck Biya realized he could buy Otz below their market value and make more money. What these conscience manipulators hide from Cameroonians is that, before Franck Biya got involved in the operation, Yves Michel Fotso was the first to take an interest in these debt securities, after the signing in 2004 of the convention commuting the entire debt of the State vis-à-vis Camtel. To be bailed out, Camtel needed a whopping Fcfa 52 billion of these financial securities, domiciled in the Autonomous Sinking Fund (Caa)-a coporattion tasked with the management of Cameroon’s internal and external debts. This was an offer no investor could refuse.With the much talk on fraudulent transactions of Franck Biya, which would have enabled him to suck the state treasury of more than Fcfa 100 billion, why do the “campaigners” fail to present Caa receipts that show proof of funds released? Another question, if Caa had actually left the money in its coffers, what is the sum total of these funds? Answer blowing in the wind.Another relevant concern: was the initiative taken by le Groupe Ingénierie forestière (IngF), where Franck Biya was the manager, outside the law? The answer is no! Further, was the head of State’s son the only private investor to have grabbed the opportunity? The answer once again remains same. It is an unpolished manipulation plotted against the Head of State, through his son. This is a story readapted to the Cameroonian scene. It comes after similar “crusades” in the international media against the sons of the Presidents of Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Senegal and others.Upon observation, the media fuss around this “case” is aimed at distracting Cameroonians from the pending cases of embezzlement involving some top brass of the state likewise to discredit the fight, tagging it a political one. Unable to axe President Paul Biya after several attempts, the new strategy is to pin on those who share emotional or blood relationship with the Head of State, if it is not his wife Chantal Biya, then it is Frank Biya. In the absence of any such evidence, we can conclude that a cruel story runs on wheels, and every hand oils the wheels as they run.
