As I write no one is challenging the facts. President Paul Biya is currently spending more than 27 million francs a night in hotels bills in La Baule, France, where he is on holiday with his wife Chantal. In all, the president is paying for 43 rooms, spread across two luxury hotels: L'Hermitage (5 stars) and Le Royal (4 stars). At the end of the president's three-week holiday, which includes a crowd of about 40 officials, personal staff and bodyguards, the total bill would have reached about half a billion francs. The math excludes restoration, shopping and possibly casino expenses. According to one French analyst, this is more than the holiday bills of Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and George Bush put together.
In a swift rejoinder, the general manager of Lucien Barrière hotel, the mother company of the two hotels said the reports, carried in France's best circulating daily newspaper Ouest France, France Inter, and a local broadcaster Radio Fidélité Nantes were incorrect and at best deceitful. At a press briefing on Tuesday 1 September, the communication minister said the reports were the handiwork of shadowing forces meting wanton assaults of President Paul Biya. Issa Tchiroma linked the media reports to allegations some months back that Biya may have used his office to illegally enrich himself. Tchiroma, who is clearly a strong believer in the existence of a conspiracy to unseat Biya, said the president deserved a good holiday, wherever he pleased. "Why him? Why now?" he asked.
Like with the claims of the president's excessive wealth some months ago, the government's strategy has consisted of trying to blame evil hands wanting to stir trouble. The intention appears to try to whip up sentiments and rally support for the president by diverting attention from the core issue. In the opinion of most people I have talked to, it has never been about the president taking a holiday or not. The scandal is in its cost. That is the fact the government has been unable to rebut or explain. It is unbelievable that the parliament approved 27 million a night in hotel bills for the president as Tchiroma tried to suggest. Even if that were the case - that would in itself be an issue to raise hell about - WE SIMPLY CAN'T AFFORD IT.
The reason is simple. Cameroon is a struggling nation. Sometime before 2003, Biya wanted to buy a presidential plane. But Ephraim Inoni, who was then the country's front man in dealings with the IMF, warned that the IMF would not let the plan go through. Inoni reckoned the IMF would find the venture too expensive for a broke country that was undergoing structural reforms. Much has not changed. During the current year, one of the priorities of the government is to cut back on non-essential spending. For example, there is a check on the purchase of new state cars and ministers are forced to limit their trips abroad and reduce the size of their delegations. As we speak, the bulk of development projects being undertaken in the country are funded with debt relief money. Three years into the completion point of the HIPC initiative, the country is already incurring new loans. Government economists fear that with the coming of the global economic crisis, things would worsen - growth would contract by nearly half, from about 4.9 percent to 2.9 percent this year. Cameroon still posts some of the highest poverty rates of the continent, estimated at about one out of every four people.
To imagine that this is not something the media should pay attention to is to admit a misunderstanding of the role of the media. My guess is that the government is aware of the wastefulness of the president's lifestyle. What I see in all the ballyhoo of government officials is an embarrassment that this truth is now spilling onto the public domain. Our attitude at this point should not be to try to blame others when our president spends 7.5 million in public fund a night. It makes no sense that a government that is in the middle of a campaign against abuse of public office should try to write off such blatant extravagance. Biya himself has said more than once that for the country to move ahead, sacrifices have to be made. What the president's La Baule bills suggest is that those sacrifices have nothing to do with him.
In a swift rejoinder, the general manager of Lucien Barrière hotel, the mother company of the two hotels said the reports, carried in France's best circulating daily newspaper Ouest France, France Inter, and a local broadcaster Radio Fidélité Nantes were incorrect and at best deceitful. At a press briefing on Tuesday 1 September, the communication minister said the reports were the handiwork of shadowing forces meting wanton assaults of President Paul Biya. Issa Tchiroma linked the media reports to allegations some months back that Biya may have used his office to illegally enrich himself. Tchiroma, who is clearly a strong believer in the existence of a conspiracy to unseat Biya, said the president deserved a good holiday, wherever he pleased. "Why him? Why now?" he asked.
Like with the claims of the president's excessive wealth some months ago, the government's strategy has consisted of trying to blame evil hands wanting to stir trouble. The intention appears to try to whip up sentiments and rally support for the president by diverting attention from the core issue. In the opinion of most people I have talked to, it has never been about the president taking a holiday or not. The scandal is in its cost. That is the fact the government has been unable to rebut or explain. It is unbelievable that the parliament approved 27 million a night in hotel bills for the president as Tchiroma tried to suggest. Even if that were the case - that would in itself be an issue to raise hell about - WE SIMPLY CAN'T AFFORD IT.
The reason is simple. Cameroon is a struggling nation. Sometime before 2003, Biya wanted to buy a presidential plane. But Ephraim Inoni, who was then the country's front man in dealings with the IMF, warned that the IMF would not let the plan go through. Inoni reckoned the IMF would find the venture too expensive for a broke country that was undergoing structural reforms. Much has not changed. During the current year, one of the priorities of the government is to cut back on non-essential spending. For example, there is a check on the purchase of new state cars and ministers are forced to limit their trips abroad and reduce the size of their delegations. As we speak, the bulk of development projects being undertaken in the country are funded with debt relief money. Three years into the completion point of the HIPC initiative, the country is already incurring new loans. Government economists fear that with the coming of the global economic crisis, things would worsen - growth would contract by nearly half, from about 4.9 percent to 2.9 percent this year. Cameroon still posts some of the highest poverty rates of the continent, estimated at about one out of every four people.
To imagine that this is not something the media should pay attention to is to admit a misunderstanding of the role of the media. My guess is that the government is aware of the wastefulness of the president's lifestyle. What I see in all the ballyhoo of government officials is an embarrassment that this truth is now spilling onto the public domain. Our attitude at this point should not be to try to blame others when our president spends 7.5 million in public fund a night. It makes no sense that a government that is in the middle of a campaign against abuse of public office should try to write off such blatant extravagance. Biya himself has said more than once that for the country to move ahead, sacrifices have to be made. What the president's La Baule bills suggest is that those sacrifices have nothing to do with him.
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