In the beginning of last academic year, the Head of State, H.E Paul Biya promised to distribute 500000 laptops to all legal universities across the country. This gesture of his was contradicted by a handful of intellectuals who saw it as a mere waste of funds. Their analysis were as follows;
Firstly, the said laptops were to be bought with borrowed funds amounting to a sum of 75 Billion CFA. This amount was to be borrowed from China. To intellects, the amount was seen to be far too much for such a venture and the mere fact that the money was going to borrowed meant entangling the country into a cumbersome national debt for a venture that is not durable.
Again, the contract for the said laptops was to be carried out by a Chinese company named Sichuan Telecomm Construction Engineering back in China. This meant all rewards for man power, intermediary and other auxiliary services were all to be at the benefit of the Chinese. To these school of intellects, the president could bring the Company in charge so it works for a while in Cameroon. As such, Cameroonian youths will be given the chance to work in the Company and it will help augment their Know-how.
Also, the company working in Cameroon will minimise transportation cost on the part of the Cameroonian government and will also pay some dues directly through taxes and indirectly through consumption and feeding. This will would have made the bargain a win-win affair. But it was never the case as everything was to be done in China up to the packaging.
As the academic year was drawing to an end, registrations for the said laptops took off in the universities across the country. It first started with the University of Dschang, University of Yaoundé 1, University of Buea then spread to the others. The registration involved the collection of an electronic signature, thumb prints and a passport sized digital photograph.
The insufficient nature of the registering devices made the process so tedious and boring. For Example, in the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences in the University of Yaoundé 1, only three devices were made available to serve almost 10,000+ students at a limited time span of 2 weeks. This caused some students to miss classes so as to catch up with the registration norms while a good number of them just gave up the process because of the stress.
It Has been 3 months now since the registration process took place in the University of Yaoundé 1 but no sign of distribution have been seen around campus. No one talks about it anymore. It is like a dead glory.
Many students were displeased with this promise from the head of state because it caused their parents and guardians not to get theirs but wait for the one the president promised.
As it is always said, Cameroon remains Cameroon.. the country of great dreams that often are unrealistic. Nonetheless, the wait continues.
Firstly, the said laptops were to be bought with borrowed funds amounting to a sum of 75 Billion CFA. This amount was to be borrowed from China. To intellects, the amount was seen to be far too much for such a venture and the mere fact that the money was going to borrowed meant entangling the country into a cumbersome national debt for a venture that is not durable.
Again, the contract for the said laptops was to be carried out by a Chinese company named Sichuan Telecomm Construction Engineering back in China. This meant all rewards for man power, intermediary and other auxiliary services were all to be at the benefit of the Chinese. To these school of intellects, the president could bring the Company in charge so it works for a while in Cameroon. As such, Cameroonian youths will be given the chance to work in the Company and it will help augment their Know-how.
Also, the company working in Cameroon will minimise transportation cost on the part of the Cameroonian government and will also pay some dues directly through taxes and indirectly through consumption and feeding. This will would have made the bargain a win-win affair. But it was never the case as everything was to be done in China up to the packaging.
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| Laptops still at sea |
As the academic year was drawing to an end, registrations for the said laptops took off in the universities across the country. It first started with the University of Dschang, University of Yaoundé 1, University of Buea then spread to the others. The registration involved the collection of an electronic signature, thumb prints and a passport sized digital photograph.
The insufficient nature of the registering devices made the process so tedious and boring. For Example, in the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences in the University of Yaoundé 1, only three devices were made available to serve almost 10,000+ students at a limited time span of 2 weeks. This caused some students to miss classes so as to catch up with the registration norms while a good number of them just gave up the process because of the stress.
It Has been 3 months now since the registration process took place in the University of Yaoundé 1 but no sign of distribution have been seen around campus. No one talks about it anymore. It is like a dead glory.
Many students were displeased with this promise from the head of state because it caused their parents and guardians not to get theirs but wait for the one the president promised.
As it is always said, Cameroon remains Cameroon.. the country of great dreams that often are unrealistic. Nonetheless, the wait continues.