State budget: Mysterious Lines 65 & 94 now history!.

They are budget heads that often amount to a stratospheric amount in the national budget and voted without question, by the National Assembly and cynically referred to as "mysterious," because they can be used for several "interventions," including personal financial gifts in several millions, without any accountability.

Line 94 is officially meant for "Investment Interventions", with the objective being to cover the State's unforeseen investment and often amounts to some 1,000 billion FCFA.

Line 65 is for "government operations" and intended to cover unforeseen government operating expenses. It is approximately 400 billion FCFA per year.

Both budget heads are managed by officials at the Presidency of the Republic and Ministry of Finance, without any publicity or tenders.

Businessmen, civil servants, and political dignitaries in the ruling party and opposition, are said to have been sucking the two milking cows. 

Critics say the booties are for "everything; from fictitious missions, both internally and externally, mission orders exceeding the norm of a maximum of 90 days per year, except for special exemptions, sham medical evacuations, and more".

They divulge that: "Everything is covered; lack of transparency surrounding the evaluation and selection criteria for projects to be financed, the number of projects financed, the amount of each financing, the non-implementation of some projects that were financed, funded projects that haven't even begun implementation yet, the names of the beneficiaries are unclear, etc”.

There is a case where an astronomical gift of 696 million FCFA, that is said to have been offered for the construction and equipment of a private institute of higher education.

In 2021, the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Parliamentarian, Jean Michel Nintcheu, in a letter made public, had lamented that several other hundreds of millions had been donated to a journalist for the purchase of a European television station, "to encourage" a compatriot who became a bragging and boasting media mogul using it to publicise activities of the ruling party.

Faced with such financial decrepitude, the bitter bile of the Presidency was pricked. More than 1,790 civil servants and government agents were reportedly summoned to the Ministry of Finance for investigations.

Reports emerged that in 2022, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of the Supreme State Audit Office, Mbah Acha Rose, invited beneficiaries to appear for matters concerning them “at Gate 127 of Building A of the Ministry of Finance in Yaounde".

The purpose of the summons, on "the very high instructions of the President of the Republic,” was with a view to auditing the management of resources of Lines 65 and 94" from the last 10 years to 2021, during which at least 500 billion FCFA per year was squandered.

There were reports in the media that: "If this audit is completed and result in legal proceedings initiated in strict compliance with the Penal Code, there is no doubt that colossal assets scattered throughout the country will be seized and sold or exploited to replenish the depleted State coffers". 

The result of the auditing, however, remains equally a mystery, as were those of the AFCON and COVID-19 scandals.

It is even alleged that the late journalist, Zogo Martinez, was kidnapped and tortured to death because he exposed some of those who had inexplicably benefited hundreds of millions of FCFA, without any justification, from the State "intervention".

To put an end to using the two budget lines to milk the State, President Paul Biya has ordered their cancellation in next year's budget under preparation.

Considered as one of the blind spots in public spending in Cameroon, the infamous Lines 65 and 94, will be transformed into allocations for "accidental and unforeseen expenses, capped at 10% of the State budget appropriations," according to a report by EcoMatin.

The elimination of the two heads is said to be under the pressure of the Brettonwoods institutions. 

The Guardian Post commends the Head of State for the action, but we are quick to point out that it does not amount to open budget or prevent corruption in budgetary management. 

As has been noted in the country, "When the door to corruption is shut, it jumps in through the window".

The only remedy is for the government to ensure that auditing results of public institutions should be made public and the culprits of embezzlement prosecuted and defaulters brought to shame, irrespective of whose ox is gored, so as to serve as a deterrent to others in their criminal mindsets.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3513 of Thursday July 24, 2025