Some 130 North Westerners who were earmarked for compensation over the destruction of their property during the 1984 Bamenda airport construction have said government discriminated against them in the payment of the compensations. They were shortlisted for compensation amongst some 124 others from other regions across the country for similar reasons, bringing the total number to 254.

Despite efforts made by the Bamenda victims to have the National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC, intervene, a letter addressed to the anti corruption whistle blower by the Caisse Autonome D’Amortissement, CAA, (roughly translated as Debt Relief Fund) in response to the NACC’s investigation on January 13, 2014, states that a significant number of documents submitted by the Bamenda victims were rejected for reasons of double nationality or non conformity to supporting documents of successors of beneficiaries.

One of the victims who contacted the Journal in Yaounde a fortnight ago to express his frustration accused CAA of selective payments. The victim who begged not to be named said out of a total sum of one billion nine hundred and seven million nine hundred and thirty four thousand eight hundred and ninety seven francs CFA (1.907.934.897 FCFA) that was allocated to compensate the 254 victims, some nine hundred and thirty three million, one hundred and twenty five thousand, three hundred and three francs CFA (933.125.303FCFA) has been paid out.

But his frustration stems from the fact that out of the amount already paid out, only about three victims from the North West region have received payment. “…And the most annoying side of the story is that the few Anglophones who have received this payment were under duress to surrender at least 40% to agents of CAA as prerequisite to be paid,” the visibly incensed victim narrated.

He said all attempts by the other victims from the North West to get paid have met with stiff resistance on the part of officials of the relief fund. He said he was at a loss how up to 900 MFCFA of the total amount was paid when over a hundred of the Bamenda airport victims are yet to receive a single franc.

“How would you explain the fact that out of 1.907.934.897 FCFA that was supposed to be paid to 254 victims, 933.125.303FCFA has already been paid out, yet only about three or so of us have received payment? So who are those who have been receiving these payments, given that we from Bamenda are the majority?”

An extract in a letter they jointly wrote on January 15, 2014 to the governor of the North West region to express their frustration reads: “…In as much as we continue to be patient and pray that we be considered now, we are saying that every patient has its limit, so much so that if our plight is not given urgent consideration, we may take it out to the streets, just to let the world know, for we have witnessed the death of most of our colleague victims under circumstances whereby their lives would have been saved had they received compensation early enough… as we write this memorandum, many of us are old, some are sick and lying in hospitals… we fear a moment when there shall be few or no living witnesses to the destruction in question and which event would eventually weaken the present quest for compensation…”

They are also concerned that the drastic devaluation of the FCFA in 1993 has badly affected the various amounts that were supposed to be paid to them. “The heavy devaluation of the FCFA in 1993 has badly affected the value of the awaited compensation while the problems of the victims caused by the said destruction have multiplied many folds and continue to multiply as the days go by.”

Asked if they have made attempts to contact authorities of the fund to understand why only the other victims have been receiving payments, the source reiterated that a cross section of them have done so several times but added that on every occasion, they were asked to surrender a quarter of the amount as precondition for payment.

“It is important to inform you that due to our long wait and the frustration that have ensued, many corrupt individuals have exploited the situation and duped us of the little finances we were either left with (after the destruction of our property) or what we managed to raise thereafter… Even right now we continue to resist further attempts to yield to corruption for we have abundantly suffered injustice.”

He corroborated his point by indicating that a Bamenda-based lawyer, Barrister Kemende Henry whose services they solicited to front for them has visited the institution several times but no good news has yet come out.

CAA denies accusations

Smarting from the allegations and the documentary evidence the Anglophone victims are brandishing, the Journal stormed the debt relief fund headquarters in Yaounde to get their version of the story.

We were not privileged to meet the General Manager of CAA in person, Dieudonné Evou’ou Mekou, but an expert in the internal debt service whom the general manager had delegated to answer our questions refuted all the allegations.

The expert vehemently resisted persuasions to give us his names and the post he occupies at the CAA. When we asked if he was speaking on conditions of anonymity, his response was no. “I am speaking as a delegated expert of CAA.”

“Can we therefore have your full names and the post you occupy here so as to ascertain if you are the right staff to address our worries?” His response was a categorical no. He claimed that by seizing NACC and later the press, the Bamenda airport victims could as well kill him if they succeed to identify him.

The official whose only name The Journal later got as Ewane and who works at the internal debt service at CAA confirmed all the figures as alleged by the victims but denied that there was any selective payment. The staff who spoke only French language disclosed that the payment of the 254 victims began in 2003.

He also claimed that more than 60% of the total number of victims has been paid; a figure which appears controversial to the number of victims claiming payment which stands at close to 130.

Asked what criteria were used to select those to be paid, he said payments were done based on scrupulous study of documents that were submitted by the beneficiaries. “We must make sure all the documents presented correspond to the individuals claiming payment and that the submitted documents succumb to the required conditions,” he said.

He claimed that most documents submitted from the North West region were forged and that some did not correspond to the original claimants. “In addition to that most of their documents did not carry their contacts and so we found it difficult to get back to them whenever doubts were noticed.”

Quizzed on the alleged selective payment of beneficiaries, he retorted: “I can’t confirm this allegation because I don’t know who is from Bamenda and who is not. We even have cases where people have received payments and come back to be paid again.”

The CAA official refuted accusations that some agents of the institution were pressuring the beneficiaries to surrender a quarter of their dues as precondition for payment. “We do not even see the money. We deal only with papers. After treating the papers, we forward them to the bank for payment. It’s a long process. It begins with the Prime Minister, to the Minister of Finance before reaching us,” he intimated.

Matters, however, came to a head when we sought to have a list of the beneficiaries in order to clarify all doubts and clear CAA of any accusations. Hear his response: No! I can’t give you a copy of the list for administrative reasons. I can’t.”

Further attempts to convince him that the only way to prove that CAA was not doing selective payments was by making available a copy of the list of those who have already received the payments met a stonewall. He made it clear that he was ready to accept any accusation of any type than make available the document.