Last week I had an adventure in Douala. Douala is the economic capitol of Cameroon. It’s a coastal city with all the amenities and challenges of a city – congestion, traffic, dirt, noise, street children, small calm oases, potholes – a jumble of contradictions and surprises. On the way to meet a friend, the driver, who didn’t know the city well, turned onto a small street that turned out to be one way. Of course, we were going in the wrong direction – at a corner which housed a small satellite police station. The policeman met us with an outstretched arm in the middle of the street. “Halt!” He took the driver’s license and the vehicle documents off to his small office and then summoned the driver. My friend accompanied the driver and I remained (trying to be unnoticed) in the back seat of the car. A few moments later my friend returned with the news that the policeman wanted 15000 fcfa (a little over $30 now that the dollar has dropped to an official exchange rate of 498 fcfa). This he said, was the fine for driving the wrong direction on a one way street. An expected request might have been 2-3000 fcfa, so 15000 was quite unexpected. I immediately telephoned a contact in the Embassy Branch Office in Douala to get advice. Should we pay? Wasn’t that too much? My contact told me that the fine should be about 6000 fcfa and that we should request a receipt. I could also reveal the fact that I’d spoken to an embassy contact who would complain of harassment on my behalf, if necessary. I hate being a rude and unfriendly US American at any time, but some times it can be necessary. So I calmly informed the policeman of my contact’s suggestion that we be taken to police headquarters so that we could get a receipt for our payment of the fine. The policeman informed me that he was in fact, doing me a favor by asking for only 15000 – that if we went to the HQ, the fine would surely be 50,000 cfa. I told him that this would be fine so long as I got a receipt for the money. He also told me that HQ would only issue a receipt to an embassy official, not to me. I told him that he was welcome to call the embassy to find out whether or not they would support me. The policeman still did not think I was from the US, but his colleague who had been observing me was pretty nonplussed. He decided that it would be best to simply let us leave. After all, why should they tempt fate? I might be telling the truth. So he told his partner to allow us to leave. The first policeman wasn’t ready to do so just yet though. He made one more plea. This time for mimbo – drink, palm wine, alcohol – to assuage the noonday sun. He was right. It was a very hot and sticky day. But he shouldn’t have been greedier than the ordinary policeman to whom I would have gladly given 2000 cfa. We thanked the wiser partner and left – this time going in the right direction. We were able to meet another friend for a cool soft drink at the French Cultural Centre (which has great artwork) and we still beat the unforgiving traffic jam that was sure to develop on the approach to Bonaberi. That was the adventure in Douala.


I’ve made fun of a persistent problem in Cameroon – that of corruption. It is endemic at every level of society. The government has recently taken a number of measures aimed at stamping out corruption. Several parliamentarians have had their immunity stripped so that they can be tried and a conference is taking place in the capitol this week to discuss the implementation of anti-corruption measures. While these public efforts are to be lauded, it is also clear here that corruption has become such a way of life that not much gets done unless the necessary “dashes” are offered. Some people simply refuse to complete ordinary tasks without that dash. Everyone wants his or her share. Of course there are many reasons why this culture developed – too many to explain here – and many that are in fact somewhat legitimate in some ways. For example, there were time periods during which civil servants weren’t being paid by the government but were still expected to work. Requesting payment was for them the only way to make sure they had some form of income. But things have changed – at least for some. But the concept of being paid by a client has not gone away. And the notion of doing a job simply because it is your job is not shared by everyone. Let me be clear – not everyone participates in this collusion. Many people do not. But those who do contribute mightily to the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies that hinder progress in this wonderful country. Those who are making the effort to change the culture of corruption are to be applauded.