The government of Cameroon wants to prevent the fundraising initiated by the main opponent Maurice Kamto to fight against the coronavirus, which it considers illegal, and orders two telephone operators to close the mobile accounts opened for this initiative.
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The Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji requests to "proceed without delay to the closure of the open account" by the association created by the opponent Kamto in order to collect funds, in correspondence addressed to Orange Cameroon and MTN Cameroon, consulted by AFP. In April, Maurice Kamto announced the launch of an operation called "Survie Cameroon-Survival initiative" , to raise funds in Cameroon and abroad in order to carry out actions to combat the coronavirus. Since then, Yaoundé has been in battle order to counter this initiative.
In his letters, Paul Atanga Nji explains that " any appeal to public generosity, for whatever reason, must be authorized by" his ministry. He thus considers this operation "illegal". In mid-April, he had already seized the Minister of Finance, inviting him to turn to the National Agency for Financial Investigation (Anif), an official body fighting against money laundering, so that it opens an investigation into the operation of Maurice Kamto. Paul Atanga Nji then recommended freezing the funds already collected. A few days before, he had written to a private bank, Afriland First Bank, asking him to close the initiative's account.
"We are amazed at the nameless cruelty and the inhuman nature of the measures taken at this time by the Minister of Territorial Administration , " reacted AFP Olivier Bibou Nissack, spokesperson for Maurice Kamto. "These actions aim to deprive the Cameroonian people of the humanitarian aid they need in an essential way, " he added, assuring that the initiative will continue. The coronavirus epidemic in Cameroon is the occasion for a new pass of arms between the majority and Maurice Kamto, unsuccessful presidential candidate of 2018 who spent 8 months in prison, before being released last October. The opponent tried to launch a procedure in mid-April to establish the vacancy in power in Cameroon, saying "irresponsible" the "prolonged" absence of President Paul Biya.
The 87-year-old head of state, in power since 1982, has not spoken on television since the start of the epidemic. Ranked among the countries most affected by the virus in sub-Saharan Africa, Cameroon totaled more than 1,830 cases on Wednesday evening, including 61 deaths.