Marafa Hamidou Yaya has
fired what commentators say is his sixth letter. The letter makes a critical
judgment analysis of the 2016 state budget. In the letter, Marafa criticizes Cameroon’s
plan to allocate 13% of the 2016 budget, FCFA 550 billion to finance football
infrastructure to host AFCON 2019 while a meager FCFA 499 billion has been
earmarked for education. This he said is happening when the Cameroon is facing
serious security crisis and a drastic drop in the prices of oil. He observed
that the construction of the Douala and Yaounde is expected to cost about FCFA
150 billion while the rehabilitation of the Onmisport stadium in Yaounde,
Douala, Garoua and Bafoussam stadia will consume FCFA 158 billion. On the other
hand, he also made mentioned of the rehabilitation of the outer parts of the
Limbe and Bafoussam stadia estimated at FCFA 28 billion. He wondered why such
huge luxury investments when the benefactors will be external structures and
the end results will be that Cameroon will soon solicit aid from China.
“No, it’s more than 1 billion dollars that we
shall spent to host the prestigious event”. Marafa also observed that this will
lead to over 4.5% deficit on the state budget. He questioned whether Cameroon
cannot renounce its intention to host AFCON like was the case with Morocco. In the
letter, Marafa goes further to propose that Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad should jointly
host AFCON given that these countries already have the adapted infrastructures,
stadia, hotels etc.
(Details analysis soon)
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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