Disappearing money and zombie school girls
on Mischa in Cameroon (Cameroon), 23/Jan/2011 15:48, 34 days ago
There are few areas in which Cameroon excels on the international stage. One of these used to be football, but judging by their dismal world cup performance last year they’ve slipped a bit. Another area is corruption: in 1998 they were accorded the dubious honour of being rated as the world’s most corrupt country byTransparency International,although in 2010 they’d dropped down to twenty-second place (fifteen of the top twenty two countries were in Africa).Last week I went over to the Local Council to attend the termly distribution of school supplies (although it didn’t actually take place last term). I was already curious as I’d heard about some of the prices shelled out by the council for the supplies: 5000 CFA (£6.25) for a medium sized box of chalk, 12,000 CFA (£15) for a teacher’s preparation book, and 300 CFA (40 pence) for a biro.You may think these prices may seem high, especially once you know that if you go down to any market in Cameroon a medium box of chalk costs 1500 CFA (£1.90), a preparation book costs about 2000 CFA (£2.50), and a biro costs 100 CFA (13 pence). You may also think that the Council was somehow breaking the law when it spent so much public money on materials that should have been much cheaper, but in fact they were largely using the government approved price list.This price list regularly astronomically inflates the prices of all items that may need to be bought with public money (often ten or twelve times over), to make sure that there is a bit left for everyone in the hierarchical food chain to cream off when the money passes through their offices.When I arrived at the Council buildings most of the headmasters (and the one headmistress) were sitting around disconsolately on their motorbikes under a tree. The supplies had arrived (five months late) but the transport money normally given to each headmaster to transport the materials to their school was‘missing’. The Inspector, the Mayor, and the Sous-Prefect (the administrative head of the district) were in negotiations.“What would the people in your country do,” they asked me hopefully, “if you told them about the corruption here?”“Well, they already know Cameroon is very corrupt,” I pointed out, “But they continue channelling support and aid money here because Cameroon is a strategic stable ally in an unstable region.”After about three hours the Sous-Prefect sent out a messenger to address the teachers. The poor messenger was addressed with a surge of angry yelling and insults (including being told that he was just like Laurent Bgagbo) when he told the teachers that there was still no money available for transport, and that if they didn’t take the supplies and go they would be reported to higher authorities. The teachers all promptly got on their motorbikes and drove off in fury to the Inspection.When I arrived a little later at the Inspection I was greeted with delight,“We weren’t sure if you were in solidarity with us!” and given a motorbike to sit on. Their only regret about storming off in the way that they had, they told me, was that they hadn’t thought to drive their bikes past the Sous-Prefect’s office so that he could see them leaving without thesupplies.“We don’t mind if the authorities eat a little,” said one headmaster to me the next day (by eating he means shaving off public money). “But this is too much. They’ve become gluttons.” In response to the Sous-Prefect’s threat to report the teachers to the higher authorities he said that“Even if they take the title of headmaster away from me I am still a qualified teacher, and no-one can change that.”Now the situation is at stalemate. The school supplies are still at the Local Council offices, the money is still unpaid, and some teachers are shelling out their own money to make sure there is still chalk in the classrooms.Incidentally, a few months ago I wrote about myproblem schoolat Maga. Last week I was discussing the ongoing problems of this school with some of the teachers and my national volunteer, when a new suggestion was put forward for why it was in difficulties.Apparently about five years ago the previous headmaster raised a girl who had been at the secondary school at Maga from the dead and turned her into a zombie. From that point on the more engaged parents lost trust in the school, and sent their kids to the school next door. Occasionally I feel like I’ve somehow wandered into a Cameroonian special of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.