CAMEROON’S IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENT CRISIS

For some years now, Cameroonians have witnessed a deepening crisis in the process of identification and production of identification documents. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have requested but have not obtained a valid and permanent identification document for periods stretching over two years. 

Recently, a popular outcry arose with the hashtag #IWantMyIDCard which circulated quite widely on social media. For Cameroonians who are characteristically patient with (should be read as resigned to…) government incompetence and approximate service provision, the popular, albeit online, call for a fix in the deliverance of identification documents spoke to the extent of frustration over the matter. 

Issues connected to this state of affairs are varied and speak volumes of governance (or lack thereof) in Cameroon in general and of Cameroonians’ (un)preparedness to behold their becoming. These issues cannot possibly all be addressed in a single expression of thought such as this; however, I will attempt to discuss some of the origins, implications and possible solutions to the problem.

ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM

• Inadequate planning

Many years ago, identification documents in Cameroon were hand-written. This was time consuming for calligraphers at identifications posts and the identification documents, issued on cardboard paper were very fragile especially considering that their validity spanned ten years and that they had to be handled almost daily during that time. Also, and quite importantly, updating the identification database occurred post-deliverance of the document. This resulted in multiple cases of double identity as it was possible to obtain a new identification document without a full verification of the information contained in a previous document. These made it necessary to move to a system that was mechanized (first generation digital), ensured verification before deliverance and produced identification cards on a more resistant platform.

The current situation makes it obvious that while the need to reform the system was necessary and urgent, the planning that should be associated to urgency and necessity did not follow – leading to a situation where citizens are legally required to have an identification documents but the system cannot provide them.

• Multiple identity and shortage of material

Many needy Cameroonians have reported that the reason given them as to why their national identification cards have not been produced is that they MAY have a double identity. This is a very serious and widespread problem for two reasons. First, the authority implies that the service user is potentially in a criminal situation. They (the authority) make sure they do not say this with any certainty (notice the use of ‘may’) nor do they say what the service user should or can do about it. This leaves the service user in a limbo and in some cases, makes them stay away from identification posts… which happen to be police stations. Secondly, the system seems to be set-up in such a way that at the time of renewal of the document, if the previous records for Mr. Ashu Agbor is Ashu-Agbor (notice the hyphen), this flags as double identity. The problem is that this may not be Mr. Ashu Agbor’s fault but that of the data entry operative. What is worse is that the system does not have (or more probably does not activate) a way of making contact with the subject to resolve the problem. 

In other instances, especially the case of passports, people have been told that passports cannot be produced because of “lack of paper”. In social media speak, this would be a LOL / LMAO situation.

• Award of contracts

Some news sources have variously reported that the award of contracts for the management of the identification database and production of identification documents are the root of the problem. Some say that on occasion, payment defaults by the government of Cameroon have led to suspension of production of documents. Others reported an even more outlandish version… a version according to which Cameroon had walked out of an identification management contract with company A, awarded the contract to company B then realized that company A was still pulling the strings because company A had bought majority/controlling shares in company B… another LOL situation.

Others have reported the possibility of government officials tossing the contracts for the management of identification database and production of the document from one service provider to another based on their personal interests and without verifying the capacity of the contracted company to deliver. The man/woman on the streets may never know the truth about such reports or their veracity (or lack thereof), but for a country that has been, twice, most corrupt country in the world, nothing of the sort is beyond the realm of possibility.

• Single lane documents 

So far, I have referenced the term “identification document”… For Cameroonians, it is that document generally referred to as “Identity Card” or Carte Nationale d’Identité (French).

In other countries, it would be more common to use the term “Photo ID” to refer to any official document which has the holder’s photo and which establishes the holder’s identity.

In such countries, a passport, driver’s license, voter’s card, disability card or health insurance card can be acceptable identification documents. The reason is that information from the same database is used to issue all of them.

In Cameroon, not only are the processes for the issuance of passports, identity cards, voter’s cards and driver’s licenses independent of one another, but also, in addition to showing an Identity card, the documents required for the issuance of a passport are exactly similar to those required for the issuance of an Identity Card. Technically, this means that you cannot have a passport in Cameroon without being a holder of an Identity card but also that, in principle, and for that reason a passport should be accepted as valid identification document in every instance where an Identity card is requested. Also, a driver’s license should be sufficient identification since providing a valid Identity card is a prerequisite for the issuance of a driver’s license. Despite this, (WARNING!) I hasten to advise readers not to dare to show a police officer their passport or driver’s license only if they ask to see an Identity card.

The problem I am highlighting here is that of ‘single lane documents’ or the product of systems which, though related, do not speak to each other. It is needless to say that the amount of savings that can be made if the Identity card and passport databases were unified would be such that the lack of paper to produce passports would be a thing of the past and the administrative/secretarial requirements for the production of either document will be halved.

• Accountability problem

Nobody takes responsibility for anything in Cameroon. In a normal country, if an identification post cannot produce identification documents within reasonable time or by the end of the indicated waiting time, the head of that post should be held to account. Or, if it’s not their fault but that of the identification department in the police establishment, then the head of that department should be accountable. Or has the head of the identification department made all the data available but Identity cards have not been produced because the treasury has not paid for production of the cards? Then some official at the national treasury should be accountable. But then again, these hypotheses are based on the unproven assumption that Cameroon is a normal country.

There is a general tendency in Cameroon to depersonalize the actions and failings of state institutions and systems leaving Cameroonians often blaming “the system” without citing any individual. Two questions come to mind”

First: Is there not a single known individual who is ultimately responsible for the good functioning of “the system”?

Second: How many Cameroonians have clearly told their MP that if this problem is not addressed in parliament, they will be voted out; and how many have gone on to act on the promise/threat?

• Deadlines (law does not say how many times temporary documents can be extended)

Although President Joe Biden has only recently been voted into office, it is already known that the next presidential elections in the USA will be on Tuesday 5th November 2024 and that does not depend on President Joe Biden. 

In Cameroon, not much is fixed in time. Even when the law states that General Managers of State-owned companies can only serve three-year terms renewable twice (totalling nine years maximum), the law does not say what must happen at the end of the maximum tenure. In fact, General managers who signal their intent to respect the law are seen as recalcitrant.

The constitution of 1996 stated that the presidential mandate shall be seven years, renewable once. Then in 2008, in order to rhyme with the general looseness with dates and deadlines, the mandate simply became renewable. 

If laws voted by parliament in Cameroon had time of implementation associated to them, governance and accountability would have been very different. For example, if the law on the declaration of assets (article 66 of the Cameroon constitution) also stated that the law had to be implemented one year (maximum) from the time it was voted we would not have a situation where 25 years after a law was voted, it is still not being implemented.

It is no doubt therefore that there is no hard deadline for the issuance of Identity cards from the date of request. Rather service users obtain a receipt indicating that they have requested an identity card and the receipt serves temporarily as the object of their request. The receipt, on its part, indicates a three months validity period and the law allows for extensions… INDEFINITELY. As a result, in my case, my Identity Card expired on 12th November 2019. I requested renewal and received a receipt valid until 12th February 2020. On 12th February 2020, it was extended by three months to 15th May 2020, then by three months to 17th August 2020, then by 4 months to 31st December 2020 then by seven months to 31st December 2021, totalling almost two years. I am neither alone in this situation nor is the situation generally seen as extraordinary/surreal.

IMPLICATIONS

These lengthy delays with no end in sight impact Cameroonians in various ways

a. Rapid deterioration of temporary document

Printed on a very light cardboard paper and delivered without protection, the receipt (temporary identity card) is very fragile and barely makes it through to the end of its initial validity period. The document also deteriorates quite rapidly because on average, a holder touches/manipulates it every day either to present it at a police check point, to move it from one jacket to another when changing clothes, to move it to another handbag or to complete and administrative, financial or legal operation for which identification is required.

The system is not set up to produce duplicata in the case of damaged cards. So, in order to have a new receipt, a user must identify themselves anew… a process which automatically nullifies any previous request and starts the waiting time all over.

So, what some persons do is photocopy the receipt once they receive it and make a police certification of it to be used perhaps in two years to collect their card when it is produced. Meanwhile in the waiting period, in case the receipt gets damaged, they return to a police station and establish an “Attestation of Loss” which can be renewed an endless number of times and without evidence.

b. Bank operations

One truly worrying implication of lengthy delays in the production of Identity Cards is the doubt that it raises on the authority of the state. Generally, banks and other financially institutions refuse to serve clients who only have receipts extended beyond their initial periods of validity. In fact, as uncomfortable as this may be, it is a consequence of their obligation to respect the law. The law requires financial institutions to fully identify every client that they serve. Such identification involves recording the users name, identification number and dates of validity of their identification document. As a result, once the initial validity expires, a financial institution can no longer fully attest to the authenticity of an unregulated extension. Or perhaps banks can “adjust” to the nature of the problem as it is widely known to be… but that would be adjusting to a lower standard of control.

The worry here is that if the police officer who signs an extension does so as a state official, then the dysfunctionality leaves a situation where an institution (a bank for example) operating within a sovereign state does not recognize the authenticity of a document issued by an state of that same state… this is, indeed, worrying.

c. Limitations on international travel and activity

Some people have reported difficulties in international travel because they could not obtain their passports on time. Others have been unable to do business abroad or contract with an international partner simply because they could not present an identification document establishing that they are who they say they are.

d. Change of residence

Change of residence within Cameroon creates another difficulty for Cameroonians awaiting the precious document. This is because each card produced is redirected to the post of identification where the identification process was done. As such, should you move from one town/city to another you may have to travel back to the town of identification to obtain a new extension if the card has not been produced.

If the full extent of the problem is not perceptible yet, perhaps the fact that some persons in the North West and South West Regions have found themselves in Military Tribunal because they couldn’t show an Identity card at a crucial police checkpoint may be a reminder of some of the grave implications of the problem. Such persons may not have been able to renew their receipt of identification because they may have been identified hundreds of kilometers away then moved to a security hotspot.

e. Corruption

Finally, the delays in the production of Identification documents, especially passports, have created a juicy area for corruption and graft. No-one can tell anymore what the stipulated waiting time for the issuance of a regular passport is. But the existence of a normal route parallel to an expedite route means that the lengthy delays in the normal process seem engineered and aimed at causing service users to turn to the efficient and more expensive expedite process. Whether the national treasury can actually account for all the extras paid for the rapid issuance of some passports is not a question that an outside observer can answer.

SOLUTIONS

The whole situation has become a bit of a mess and needs urgent fixing. The following short, medium and long-term actions could resolve the problem.

• SOLUTION 1: Produce the documents

The first solution… produce and distribute the documents. There are only three possible reasons why identification documents are not being produced/distributed.

First, the incompetence of persons responsible.

I am convinced that there are scores of competent people in Cameroon who can manage production and distribution more efficiently.

Second, the terms of the contract for the production and distribution of cards and passports.

I think that the identification of citizens is of such importance that the state should be able to rescind the contract regardless of the costs that may be incurred.

Third, availability of funds.

If the persons involved in the production and distribution circuit have done their jobs to the best of their ability and according to their job descriptions and the content of the contract for production is not to blame, payment may be the last possible culprit. However, the problem has persisted for so long that I would be surprised if, over the years, a budget line for that purpose has not been included in the state budget. So, if personnel, contracts and funds are not the problem, then… JUST PRODUCE THE DOCUMENTS

• SOLUTION 2: Identification Agency

Dismantle the census agency (BUREC) and the National Civil Status Registration Agency (BUNEC) and create an independent population data agency.

The population agency will be responsible for population data, civil status registration and identification and will be a one-stop-shop for data on all persons present in Cameroon.

In order to understand the need for an independent identification agency, ask yourself the question: Why is the process of identification a “Police matter” and the process of registering births for the deliverance of birth certificates is not?

The answer is simple… the process of identification is a police matter because it has always been a police matter… not because it has to be a police matter. Someone somewhere simply does not want to let go.

• SOLUTION 3: Set up a system of checking and revocation

Images have circulated on social media of stockpiles of Identity cards that have not been collected or that have been produced but revoked… therefore not distributed.

Considering the administrative perks that come with persons unable to show any kind of identification or who can show some kind of non-permanent ‘receipt’… recognized in some administrations and not in others, revocable cards could be produced. This will allow everyone one to be identifiable while government keeps the possibility to recall who need to regularize possible red flags.

• SOLUTION 4: Set up a compound identification database.

Most importantly and in the long term, a compound identification database should be created and managed by the independent population date agency referred to in SOLUTION 2.

- Identification data will be taken for each child at birth a number attributed to them and a birth certificate automatically generated.

- Once a person turns eighteen, the system would automatically generate an Identity card and when they turn twenty-one, they receive their voter’s card.

- Considering aging and morphological changes, each person would be expected to update their photo every five years in the database.

- Once a person passes their driver’s license test, results will be sent to the identification agency and a driver’s license produced.

- Courts would automatically send criminal records to the database

- Having a passport will be by simple request without need to provide the same documents required to obtain an Identity card, the same documents for a driver’s license, the same documents for National Insurance cover, the same documents to register for a competitive exam etc.

- Persons may be legally required to report change of domicile and/or address thus allowing the system to inform decision makers on potential changes in social services needs such as schools and hospitals.

- Progressively, the entire population will be entered into the system and there’ll never be a need for a national census as population data will be real and up-to-date at all times.

- Once a person is reported or recorded deceased, the system closes their file.

- The system MUST be independent and free from political influence.

Do I want the Head of State or Prime Minister to call me up to talk about this further? YES!

Do I think they will? Ehmm… NOT SURE!

Do I think they do not know how a proper identification system should work? NO… THEY KNOW

CONCLUSION

In the foregoing, I have shared my thoughts on a problem that affects many Cameroonians and raised some of the related issues that affect major aspects of the good functioning of a ‘normal country’. The issues are serious and urgent; and any suggestion of the contrary is an attempt to downplay the gravity of the situation or absolve government of its responsibilities.

In fact, if anything, perhaps the fundamental problem is the view that each person has of their responsibility towards the proper functioning of the country. This is not just a reference to the notion of all-for-one / one-for-all but also a reminder to the governing class that they have a duty to serve, a responsibility for millions of people and a responsibility to history.

A radical change in mindset on the question of accountability is required for a vast majority of Cameroonians… and this comes with a 180o turn in citizen education.

The fact that Cameroonians look the other way when they can’t have identification documents, or that they sit and wait patiently when power supply is interrupted without notice, or that they don’t speak out when thousands of people rot in jail without judgment or that they are numb to thousands that have been killed or have fled the country to live as refugees in a neighbouring country following a crisis of identity that will not be discussed in parliament are not demonstrations of patriotism. Rather, they are manifestations of deeply seated and engineered cowardice at best or, in truth, a warped and contorted view of citizens’ rights and responsibilities.

As Cameroonians, we need to get our priorities right. For many years, lavish expenditures have been explained (explanations which do not amount to justifications) with the notion of ‘national pride’. Hosting three continental football tournaments in five years costing thousands of billions of francs because it enhances the national pride is one such case in point. Yet, I am convinced that more Cameroonians would feel more proud if a fraction of that cost was invested in infrastructure, services and governance reforms making all Cameroonians feeling equally catered for and fully benefitting from the country’s economic potential… or if a tinier fraction was redirected to the production and distribution of identification documents.

Perhaps it is a coincidence that a crisis of identification documents comes up at a time when the country is grappling with a crisis of identity… or perhaps it’s just KARMA.

It is true that a short-lived social media buzz erupted over the identity card problem recently as I said earlier. But Cameroonians must learn to differentiate between rights and privileges and to protest beyond sporadic social media buzz.

Harry ACHA