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Where are we? Where are we going to? The Catholic Church in Cameroon has become something else nowadays. We see all kinds of atrocities going on around us. From priests and reverend sisters to deacons and catechists involved in sexual scandals, theft and even embezzlement. We all heard the news when a priest was caught red handed stealing from the bag of a Christian who came for confession and happened to leave her handbag around the priest in order to go and relieve herself in full confidence that nothing could ever happen to her bag or its contents because the only person around was the priest (priest my foot). So she was shocked to come back and discover that a sum of 100,000 francs CFA had ‘disappeared’ from her bag. The only person around was the priest, the police were alerted and after a search, the money was discovered with the priest, what a shame. This is just an example of the many things that we hear about priests in Cameroon. True, it is hearsay, but there is no smoke without fire, some of the stories we hear are true. There is also the case of embezzlement, this is not rumour, any of the Anglophones who attend mass at the St Joseph’s Anglophone Catholic Church, Mvogada in Yaoundé can testify. The parish in question has not had the normal harvest thanksgiving all Christian churches have due to a gross misuse and embezzlement of money from the coffers of the church. In 2007, it was demanded by the parishioners that the accounts of the church be rendered public (the parish priest at the time was Mgr Joseph Befe Ateba).They were, parishioners discovered shockingly that 40 million francs CFA from the coffers could not be justified for properly. On the accounts sheet could be seen uncalled for expenditures such as chairs; 2.7 million, window and door blinds for the presbytery; 1.2 million francs CFA, reception for parish council; 1.4 million and so much more. Then we see expenditure on the account sheet for things such as fuel and repairs for the parish cars, SONEL and SNEC bills(679420 francs CFA) aside: then, a different sum of money; 2,335,000 francs CFA as running cost of parish (why the separation? SONEL and SNEC bills are supposed to fall under running cost). If the bills are not part of the running cost, then what is being done with the money used for running cost? What has been run? I see it as a means of embezzlement, considering the fact that if you go to the church in question, you would not see or understand how the money was actually used to run the parish. What do priests who took vows of chastity and simplicity during their ordination got to do with chairs and window blinds for 3.9 million francs? On the account sheet, there is allocation for the gate man (paid off former night watch; 224,775 francs CFA) who had been complaining that he had not been paid before the rendering public of the accounts of the church, where did the money for the salary go to? These accounts that were published were the accounts of expenditure between October 2006 and July 2007. I find it difficult to believe that a parish spends 40 MILLION FRANCS CFA in TEN MONTHS. The spending of 1.7 million francs CFA on food for the presbytery in the space of TEN MONTHS leaves me speechless, was it food to feed cattle?
The publishing of the accounts for the parishioners was just a sordid plan to disguise the theft of money from the coffers of the church by the Yaoundé archdiocese which the parish is under. That is the gross mistake that Anglophones made, borrowing land from the diocese to build on and being under the control of Francophones (we all know how destructive they can be). That is the source of all the problems that Anglophones in the St Joseph’s Anglophone Catholic Church, Mvogada face up till today. Thank GOD that the new Anglophone parish in Simbok has not made the same mistake. Money disappearing from the coffers, a parish priest who is never celebrating mass in his own parish (he cannot even say one full sentence in English), sermons that one cannot understand because the priest is struggling with English, and so much more. A church that Anglophones began building in 1984, up till now is not completed? With all the money that parishioners offer there? No wonder, so many Christians are leaving the Catholic Church for other churches. That is not normal, something is wrong and things have to change.
It is true that I am publishing this article late, but I think it is never to late to expose this kind of theft.
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