Editorial: Exorbitant cost of ID cards: Time for lawmakers to defend interest of people they represent.

This year's Finance Law was christened as "citizen budget", which should mean having the welfare of Cameroonians as the nexus. 

Halfway into the budget, President Paul Biya, on June 20, signed an ordinance, to increase the current budget by 533 billion FCFA. A whopping amount of the addition is expected to come from foreign loans.

In specific terms, the ordinance sent to parliament revising the 2024 state budget, shows an increase of 8%; which means the budget will be raised from 6,679.5 billion FCFA to 7,212.5 billion FCFA.

In order to raise the additional money needed to support the increase, reports say the government plans to accelerate borrowing and increase taxes.

The revised budget proposes an additional 488 billion FCFA in “loans and other financing”. 

Consequently, the total borrowing is expected to rise from 1,489.4 billion FCFA to 1,977.4 billion FCFA, with most of the new debts expected to come from international and bilateral lenders.

The ordinance calls for a reduction of 95 billion FCFA in public securities, usually issued domestically. 

It also plans for an additional 240 billion FCFA in programme loans from multilateral lenders, increasing loans in this sector from 125.9 billion FCFA to 365.9 billion FCFA.

Also, the government plans to secure 467 billion FCFA from private foreign financiers, a source it had not initially included in the 2024 State Budget.

In addition to the planned borrowing, the government estimates the slight increase in domestic revenue to be an additional 533 billion FCFA.

Total revenue is projected to rise by 45 billion FCFA, from 5,190.1 billion FCFA to 5,235.1 billion FCFA. 

The increase includes an expected 35 billion FCFA rise in tax revenue, reaching 4,203 billion FCFA, from the previously projected 4,168.1 billion FCFA.

Also, government aims to boost external trade, forecasting an additional 14 billion FCFA from “taxes on external trade and international transactions,” above the initial 515.3 billion FCFA, and 13.7 billion FCFA more from "other tax revenues.

“Domestic taxes on goods and services” are expected to increase by 2.6 billion FCFA, from the initially projected 2, 204.4 billion FCFA. 

What a catalogue of debts and taxes in the middle of a financial year!

The crux of the matter is how the ordinance, which will surely be endorsed by the crushing majority of CPDM lawmakers, will impact on the lives of Cameroonians struggling with high costs of living.

One of the articulate politicians, Prof Maurice Kamto, president of the opposition MRC party, in a scathing rebuff of the ordinance, noted that it is punitive to the masses. He cited the spike in the cost of obtaining the National Identity Card required from every Cameroonian from age 18.

He said: "The CPDM government is disconnected from the realities of the lives of Cameroonians. Otherwise, how can it, in a context of generalised impoverishment of populations, proceed with an astronomical increase in the cost of passport stamps and other documents, and in particular the National Identity Card? Such a decision, which is part of the regime's I-don't-care attitude, is indefensible and therefore unacceptable?".

“The ordinance wants the cost of producing ID card to shoot from 2,800 FCFA to 10,000 FCFA, an exponential increase of 257%. 

If the costs of stamp and nationality certificate of 3,500 FCFA and other documents required to get the document are added, the final cost of establishing it would total nearly 15,500 F CFA, or "one-third of the minimum wage, which is 41,875 F CFA," he added.

The increase also extends to passports and visas. It is not only at the national level that decisions are being taken to complicate the standard of living of vulnerable Cameroonians.

Take Tiko Council in the South West Region as a case study. A document circulating in the social media indicates that a deliberation of the council is demanding landlords wanting to connect water financed by the Germans into their houses to apply with a communal stamp of 1,000 FCFA attached to it.

It further instructs that the application and other documents should be put in a file, which is sold at local bookshops for 100 FCFA. 

Applicants must, however, buy the same file only from the council at an exorbitant price of 2,500 FCFA! A fee of 200,000 FCFA and a connection charge are prone to corruption.  

The case of the Tiko Council, which may not be an exception, is to further illustrate how Cameroonians facing life-threatening high costs of living are again being squeezed, even at local levels.

At The Guardian Post, especially on the eve of an election year, we hold strongly that it is imprudent for the CPDM regime, at any level, to continue to levy taxes on the vulnerable. 

We understand that government is in dire straits of cash to provide regular electricity, efficient drinking water, quality education and affordable health services, which at the moment remain apologetic.

But there are other ways it can generate revenue such as restricting members of government, mayors and other top government officials from buying expensive luxury vehicles that cost around 100 million FCFA each.

With ten million Cameroonians living at the nadir of less than 1,000 FCFA a day, as reported by the National Institute of Statistics, NIS, last March, we urged lawmakers to maintain the 2,800 FCFA cost of producing a National Identity Card in the interest of vulnerable citizens.

Lawmakers, especially of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, who often vote bills that are sent to parliament by government based on party discipline, need not be reminded that the recent Presidential Ordinance, envisaging a more than 250% increase in the cost of National Identity Cards, is a veritable litmus test for them to choose between party discipline and the people who voted them into parliament.

Cameroonians and the rest of the world are watching! 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3149 of Tuesday June 25, 2024