(Business in Cameroon) – Between 2008 and 2024, Cameroon’s Budgetary and Financial Discipline Council, which operates under the Ministry of Supreme State Audit (Consupe), reviewed 137 cases involving poor management of public funds. A total of 340 public officials were sanctioned during this period for committing over 1,000 offenses tied to suspected financial irregularities.
The council shared the update in Yaoundé during the launch of its 2025 agenda. According to the report, some of the irregularities reviewed fell outside its legal jurisdiction, but many others resulted in clear financial penalties and recovery efforts.
In total, officials ordered to pay special fines have been charged CFA246 million. The state is also working to recover CFA145.1 billion in losses directly linked to mismanagement. This sum represents the financial harm caused to the government and other public institutions and is now being pursued by the Ministry of Finance, through the public Treasury.
The majority of violations came from credit authorizing officers, credit managers, and public finance controllers. Senior figures such as directors general, department heads, and mayors have been among the most frequently cited.
Directors general of public companies alone were held responsible for losses totaling CFA74.3 billion. Interim administrators followed with CFA31.4 billion, and public agents, either officially appointed or not, were linked to another CFA12 billion.
Other officials were also involved, including several mayors whose actions cost the state CFA625 million, as well as deputy directors responsible for CFA5 billion in losses. University rectors accounted for CFA2 billion, while other categories of public servants added another CFA8 billion.
Under Cameroonian law, the most severe penalties the council can impose include fines ranging from CFA200,000 to CFA2 million, along with bans that prevent the convicted officials from managing public funds or holding government office for up to ten years.
