The Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC and its Problems: What must be done to fix these Problems

     Nanje School of Creative Thinking has turned its focus this time around to reveal the findings of its investigations. At issue, is the way the Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC conducts its daily business with its clients.

                                             By Jackson W. Nanje

     Over the years, Cameroonians residing in the United States have always complained about the poor treatment they get from their embassy in Washington DC, which is a place they ought to call home. Rather, it has been a place where hostile treatment has been the hallmark to have necessitated this investigation. Also, it is the opinion of most Cameroonians that the Cameroon Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency, Joseph Foe-Atangana, just like his predecessors, has not been able to adequately address the frustrations of Cameroonians. It is also the conclusion of our investigations that the reason some of these problems have not been solved is partly due to the selection process of our ambassadors (described below) by the President of Republic, who does the selection strictly on tribal grounds rather than on meritorious considerations. The present ambassador may be a good man as some have testified; however, his inability to address the numerous problems that Cameroonians are confronted with tends to give credence to our conclusive investigative report---which hinges around the poor selection process of these ambassadors. These ambassadors lack the necessary fundamentals in conflict resolution to be able to address these problems which have kept stirring at them like a deer in a fog light immediately after Cameroon established diplomatic relations with the United States.  Indeed, because all of our ambassadors, including Foe-Atangana, have never been tested in the field of real diplomacy, and because they were hand-picked without any form of scrutiny by Members of Parliament, they therefore lack the ability to understand the complexities that come with the responsibilities as a Cameroon Ambassador to the United States. This is even more complicated because, if all of them, beginning from Ambassador Paul Pondi to Jerome Mendounga and now to Joseph Foe-Atangana had been previously tested through the ascendency process prior to coming to the United States, they would possess some form of creative imagination in disentangling the web of problems at the embassy that Cameroonians have constantly complained of. All three ambassadors lack sophistry in dealing with the problems; and their inability resonate from the selection process. It is also our understanding that visa requests and passport renewals and issuance are the two sought-after services of most Cameroonian-Americans. Why the embassy cannot accommodate these basic needs, is beyond comprehension.

     Our investigations further reveal that Ambassador Foe-Atangana merits a C-plus in his job approval ratings due to the fact that he has been able to address some of the problems better than his predecessors. Some will even attest to the fact that the ambassador has made it a pledge that anyone who is unable to get good service from any of his embassy staffer should contact him via his direct line with their problems. Indeed, it is the testimony of a few whom the ambassador has intervened on their behalf that, he has in fact, resolved some of their problems at the embassy. But is that what is expected of an ambassador, who is suppose to imbibe in each of his staff the call of duty, to rise to the demands and responsibilities of public service without choosing who, which, and whose problems to solve? This, in no small way calls on the President of the country to revisit the selection process of his ambassadors. He needs to appoint them while the parliament confirms them.

      The issue we are confronted with isn’t whether the ambassador is a good man or whether a few of his staffers who have chosen to ply their career in the public service are good civil servants; we are expecting the embassy servants, under the guidance of the ambassador, whom we expect to possess the necessary skills and credentials, to tackle these problems and also for them to perform beyond the call of duty in the delivery of services to their clients, regardless.

     When we take an ephemeral glance, for instance, at the estimated annual revenue raised by the Embassy officials from visa applications and other services it renders to clients alone, it is unimaginable, unpardonable and unconscionable why a portion of that huge revenue it raises annually cannot be ploughed back into addressing these age-old problems. The embassy can self-finance its activities based on the vast revenue it generates. The embassy processes approximately five hundred (500) visa applications weekly with exceptions to the months of November and December, whereby the weekly numbers double to about a thousand (1000) visa applications.  In a year, the embassy processes approximately twenty-eight thousand (28,000) visas at one hundred and forty-one ($141.00) dollars each. The revenue raised from visa applicants alone is $3,948.000.00 (1,974,000,000FCFA). This is approximately 2billion FCFA raised in the United States alone. And this sum is expected to increase each year because the numbers of Cameroonians who apply to become US Citizens increase yearly and very few Cameroonians retire finally to Cameroon to realize a downward shift in revenue. This is stunning revenue that the embassy (Cameroon government) makes from visa applicants (mostly Cameroonians) compared to the documented (lousy) services that they provide to Cameroonians in return. From this revenue alone, one can clearly discern why the request for dual citizenship, which would erase this vast revenue from the government’s coffers and equally ease the problems of Cameroonians, is a far cry, and at best, a futile effort by some Diaspora groups even as the government fails to see the amount of remittances this same individuals transmit via money transport agencies and what they carry along with them during their annual pilgrimage to Cameroon. However, this is a topic for another day.

     Which are these problems that Cameroonians have been so eager for (the ambassadors) or the government of Cameroon to fix? The problems are the following: (a) poor customer service; (b) high visa fees compared to those of other countries similarly placed; (c) delay in processing passports and the need to decentralize consular services; (d) selection process of ambassadors to the US; (e) poorly constructed website. 

                                              (a)  Poor Customer Service

     “The amount of money Cameroonians pay to process their visas and passports compared to the quality of service they get from their embassy in return, is, indeed, pathetic and pitiful” Anonymous.

     “We can have an irate customer who is very wrong; but good business practice requires that you, the provider of the product or service, not argue with the customer. You appease the customer. Let the customer go home happy even if he or she is wrong. That is the overarching goal.” (SAF, Camnetwork)

     The above statements were made by two trained Customer Service personalities from Cameroon, residing in the United States, who see customer service completely differently from the way the embassy personnel (who are always confrontational and rude), see it. Their statements above are the prototype examples of what is expected of our embassy staffers as opposed to that which we currently endure from them.

      You will be lucky to get a staff of the Cameroon Embassy on the phone with good scruples, to empathize with you and address your problem in any way or form expected of anyone who serves and is being paid by the same tax payers who foot their salaries but whom they despise. The staffs hardly answer the phones. I wonder, to begin with, why there are phone lines at embassy which they hardly answer! And if and when they do answer the phones, you will even regret why you ever stayed on that phone to listen to their unpleasant service to you. The staffs are a product of bad selection process and of a poor or insufficient training given them by the Cameroon government.  In other African Embassies, for instance the Nigerian Embassy, trained customer service personnel address the concerns of every caller with respect and due diligence. They do transfer callers to the appropriate authorities and if one leaves a voice mail, the customer representative will ensure that a response to your request or inquiry is communicated to you somehow. Sometimes they go the extra mile to ask you if you were satisfied with the services you received at their embassy. However, this is not the case with the Cameroon Embassy. The ambassador must address this problem and others because, Cameroonians are very unhappy with the poor services they get from his leadership and management of the embassy, which ought to be a safe-haven for them.

     Why is Mr. Gervais Bindzi, who is in-charge of passport renewal and issuance as well as visa services, doing this heavy-lifting alone at the embassy? Cameroonians believe that because he is overwhelmed with his workload, and has not been given adequate back up cover by the ambassador, is one of the reasons for the unacceptable delays and poor customer service that has been substituted for courteous, pleasant and swift services? In Cameroon, for instance, the department of Special branch of the Police department is charged with the issuance of new passports and visa processing. Why the ambassador took away this service from the Commissioner at the embassy needs further clarifications.

                                               (b)    High visa fees

     In order to justify the high cost of Cameroon’s visa fees, Nanje School of Creative Thinking did a comparative analysis of six countries in Africa, which have embassies in the United States, of the cost of their visas vis-à-vis that of Cameroon. The countries on the survey are South Africa, Nigeria, Gabon, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Equatorial Guinea. It is important to know that if a country like the United States raises the cost of her travel visa it is usually tied not only on budget constraints but also to the interest-benefit (or utility) to be gotten by applicants once they arrive in the United States; but the high cost of visa by the Cameroon government (which ought to encourage migration into the country), defies the interest-benefit logic.

     The chart below shows what other countries in Africa charge for a travel visa. We selected countries in Central Africa, which is in the same zone as Cameroon, and also, from West Africa and South of Africa as well. If one compares the cost-benefit-interest analyses of South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana to those of Cameroon, there is absolutely no justification for the imposition of the high cost of the Cameroon’s visa. Also, in countries like Gabon that charges $141.00 as Cameroon, the visa demands for multiple entries whereas that of Cameroon is only for a three (3) months stay. Ghana, whose visa is for three (3) months stay comparatively to what the Cameroon government charges, her visa cost is only $60.00 compared to the $141.00 of Cameroon. See the chart for more comparative analysis.

S. Africa	Cameroon	Gabon	Nigeria	Ghana	Sierra Leone	Equatorial Guinea
$72.00	$141.00	$141.00	Varies but less than Cameroon	$60.00 &$100.00	£75.00/ £100.00	No fees
Valid for 3months	Valid for 3months	Valid for 1825days	Multiple entry	3months &Multiple	6 months Multiple entry	Visa not required

      Obviously, there should be more explanations which the government of Cameroon may provide to justify the high cost of their travel visa fees to visitors different from those of countries similarly placed than meet the eyes. Whatever explanations the government may give for the high cost of its visa fee eludes the cost-benefit-interest analyses. Therefore, the call for a reduction of the fee or the extension in the entry period (multiple) into the country is absolutely needed. The government cannot postpone this issue anymore. They must be addressed now.

              (c) Delays in Passport Issuance & a need to Decentralize Consular Offices

    

     Presently, the Cameroon embassy, like those of other nations in the United States, is situated in the capital city of Washington DC. It caters for the needs of Cameroonians and non-Cameroonians in United States, Mexico, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the United Nations Diplomats. Most African nations have had exponential growth in their population in the United States over the years as a result of migration from their native countries. And as a result of the increase in their population they have expanded their consular services in strategic population belts as well. Cameroon population in the US has experienced similar increase; however, in spite of the growth in population, Cameroonians have relentlessly demanded of their government to expand consular services in states closer to them, to ease the congestion at the embassy and to reduce the delays in services. From ambassador to ambassador, promises have been made but none have been kept by all these ambassadors. In fact, they have taken Cameroonians for fools.

      If one should indeed examine the annual revenue (2billion FCFA) earnings of the embassy, with Cameroonians as the primary source of the revenue, it is apparent that, at least two other consular installations in addition to the embassy in Washington DC could be built in the US, and another in the Virgin Islands. But these demands have fallen on dearth ears. Cameroonians have expressed their displeasures for the lack of action through various cultural groups and other ancillary organizations beginning with Ambassadors Paul Pondi (in the 80’s), to Jerome Mendounga (in the 90’s) and now to Joseph Foe-Atangana, for them to inform the Cameroon government of the need to honor their repeated request, to decentralize consular services within the US.

     The Nigerian government for instance, has its embassy in Washington DC but it also has consular offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and in New York. The Cameroon operates an embassy in Abuja, Lagos and in Calabar, where Cameroon’s present ambassador to the US, Foe-Atangana came from. Also, the Ivory Coast government has, in addition to their embassy in Washington DC, a consular office in Los Angeles. The list is endless. We are however hopeful that the government will undo its wrongdoings and for a change, “listen” to the people in 2013. 

     Since 2008, the government of Cameroon stopped using the Cameroon passport and in its place, adopted the Central African Regional passport that bears the acronym-CEMAC. Cameroonians with the old passports were given substantial time to change from their Cameroon-issued passports to the CEMAC regional passports. In Cameroon it is easy to change or be issued a new passport once all requirements are fulfilled. However, in the United States, as it is with other Cameroonian embassies abroad, there are some bottlenecks involved that has necessitated this report. The Cameroon Embassy in Washington DC serves the following countries: the vast country of the United States, Mexico, and Jamaica, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and United Nations diplomats. Also, Cameroonians who reside in countries out of the United States must make travel arrangements, usually costly, to come to the United States (which is the only passport renewal/issuance authorized center in the region), in order to get a new passport.

     The reason why those making a new passport must travel to the embassy is because the new passports are required to be biometric, that is, passport applicants must provide their fingerprints to be inscribed on the passports. The government ought to have sub-contracted the fingerprint to local Police departments (and have the materials mailed to that police department at cost to the applicant) wherever the applicant finds himself/herself, to prevent the displacement of the applicant, which comes with huge travel cost. In every country of the world today, the Police departments handle the fingerprinting of any sort; and why the Cameroon government cannot outsource the fingerprinting at cost to her clients, stretches my imagination.

     Another disheartening aspect in this passport snag is the amount of time it takes for applicants to receive their passports once the renewal process has been completed. The passports are not processed at the embassy in Washington DC; they are transported to Cameroon by an embassy staff or a reliable individual who happens to be traveling to Cameroon and they are equally brought back by another reliable source when one is found in Cameroon who is coming back to the United States. Why the embassy has not contracted one of these several courier services like UPS, FEDEX, or DHL, all of which have a base in Cameroon (even at cost to the passport applicant), defies every theory of system of organization. So, applicants who need to make their urgent business trips for instance must wait (for approximately 3 months) until when the embassy can find their so-called reliable source to take and bring back their passports before they may travel. This is indeed, despicable. For the money we pay for services at the embassy, they ought to be expedient with the services they provide to their customers because, such delays, are, indeed, unnecessary.

     In order for the embassy to reduce the wait time necessary to process these passports, and increase the positive feedbacks from her clients, she must contract the services of either UPS or FEDEX or DHL. Once one of these agencies is contracted, it will reduce the uncertainty that goes with the so-called reliable passport handlers.

                   (d) The selection process of ambassadors to serve in the US

      We, at the Nanje School of Creative Thinking understand that to include the critic of the ambassadorial selection process may robe some officials of the government the wrong way; perhaps this may be a start for others to start subjecting some of the government’s erratic policies to some degree of scrutiny. It is the belief of most Cameroonians, as our investigations gathered that, the reason why the services at the embassy have been so compromising is partially due to the fact that the selection process of most of our ambassadors, especially those posted to the United States of America, have been wanting. The fact that none of the ambassadors posted to the United States were tested before their diplomatic assignments to complex diplomatic terrain, where superior diplomatic skills shouldn’t be in short supply, is one of the root causes of the contempt. Take for example in America, before one is thrown in the hot zones of diplomacy, such an individual must have served in lesser challenging countries to areas of challenging diplomacy before been posted to the highly compartmentalized diplomatic zones.

     Alternatively, maybe it is about time that the Cameroon government began reviewing the inadequacies of the School of International Relations (IRIC) that trains these ambassadors. There are Cameroonians who studied in schools outside IRIC and out of Cameroon, who could complement the diplomatic core as they make their passage through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into future ambassadors. This unnecessary over-reliance on IRIC, is a disastrous policy that the government must consider making a paradigm shift. Countries like Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ivory Coast, who are far advanced in diplomacy and democratic values than Cameroon, often tap members of its diplomatic core from universities abroad. Professors of Public administration, history and political sciences make good members of the diplomatic core and our government must start looking into those areas for selection of diplomats. After all, they are teachers of diplomacy.

      For over thirty years that President Paul Biya has been in power, he has appointed two ambassadors to the United States: ambassadors Jerome Mendounga and Joseph Foe-Atangana, without the confirmation of the Cameroon House of Parliament. Mendounga was a product of DR Congo (formerly Zaire) and Foe-Atangana came from a consular office in Calabar, Nigeria. We cannot over-emphasize the inadequacies in the selection process or the experiences these two men had prior to their appointments to the highest diplomatic service center in the world; but nonetheless, the conclusion we came to, is that, the poor services Cameroonians encounter at the embassy may be a direct reflection of the poor selection process. No one but President Paul Biya knows what matrix is used in the selection of our ambassadors. We expect those who have excelled in tested areas like Italy, France, Canada, Britain, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, to merit the honor to be confirmed in our House of Assembly before they are sent to serve in the United States, the heartbeat of democracy and diplomacy. Ambassadors from those small states, especially those from most African countries, who have not evolved through this natural ascendency process, do not honestly qualify to serve as ambassadors in the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia, no matter how hard the regime in Yaoundé tries to doctor or impress upon us with their scanty credentials.

     Also, ambassadors are supposed to be career diplomats who have served in different countries for at least two years, and at most, three years and be transferred immediately after to another country where they are expected to stay same. But this is not the case with ambassadors from Cameroon. Our ambassadors spend on average, ten (10) years or more in posted countries before they are transferred. For instance, in the US, Cameroon as a nation has had just three (3) ambassadors since 1960 (52 years). These ambassadors with unnecessary long tenures see themselves as untouchables and therefore, the peoples’ problems and concerns do not mean anything to them. In fact, these untouchables do not see any urgency in addressing the problems of Cameroonians who contribute billions every year to the national budget. And since these ambassadors are answerable to their master (the President) rather than to the tax payers (the people), the problems shall continue to stir at us.

                                         (e) A Poorly constructed Website

     The gateway into every country is through the airport. And, taxi drivers give the first and last impression to visitors that come into any city. Similarly, a hotel doorman, who welcomes the guests on arrival and departure, gives the first and last impression to all guests. All these hold same in our Cameroon embassy in Washington DC, where the first individual clients meet or talk to on the phone is the receptionist, who does not give Cameroonians a pleasant impression. Again, the story of the receptionist at the embassy is one which will be told some other day. The above indicators tell us all about an establishment. Nowadays, many people use the internet as a tool to do business with any organization and/or establishment. You take the American Embassy in Cameroon for an example, you can go online and schedule a visa appointment and that appointment date shall be honored once you arrive at the embassy.

      In today’s world, computers have practically replaced lots of the work previously done by humans. It has also transformed the world and made tasks very easy to accomplish. Many have seized the opportunities that technology has to offer but the Cameroon embassy is yet to get a handle of technology because some of the duties that computers perform are still being performed by the embassy staff. Quite rudimentary! The Cameroon embassy’s website (www.ambacam.org) is one of the worst in the world. Even the websites of some tribes like the Oroko (www.orokousa.org), Manyu (www.mecca-usa.org) and the Bakossi (www.bacda.org), Bali (www.bca.org),  or my village, Dikome Balue (www.dideco.org), have better websites than that of the embassy. In most websites today, one can practically pay for everything through the internet and place them in a cart. When these menu bars are made available at the embassy website, the embassy will be left with very little to do. Such a website is called an interactive one, whereby the customer pays for all his services like visa application, passport size photographs, fiscal stamps and notary online without going from place to place to get these documents assembled. There is absolutely no reason why the high visa fee required of Cameroonians cannot be paid directly into the embassy’s account from the comfort of our homes like other embassies do.

     The presentation of the website is very unpleasant to its clients. Why the embassy cannot hire the services of its countrymen, who are capable of lifting the image of the country by constructing a state-of-the-art website, troubles my aching heart. And most of us are aware of how much it costs to build a website. Why the government cannot cover some of its frailties by changing the gateway (website) into the country, and with all the revenue the embassy generates from visa and passports, it is, indeed, pitiful.

                                             Conclusion

      In conclusion, we found the need to document these problems (which have existed shortly after Cameroon established diplomatic relations with the US) not because we want to bring the embassy to submission, but because of the need to draw the embassy’s attention to the grey areas where it has failed to bring about effective, meaningful, and transformational changes. Mindful of the criticisms lingering around the embassy, the ambassador may be in the position now, hopefully, to search for alternative solutions to address these problems. We are hopeful that our investigative and critical analysis shall enable the Cameroon government, through its ambassador, to who vested powers is given, to start making transformational changes at the embassy in order to win the trust of Cameroonians. Some of such changes should include: (a) sponsorship of many field trips to enable the embassy personnel to interact with Cameroonians during their annual conventions; (b) have cultural representatives or a goodwill ambassadors as liaison officers to the embassy who shall provide updates to their respective communities; (c) Sponsorship of programs to familiarize the embassy staffers to new approach in governance (d) installation of consular services nearer areas in close proximity to Cameroonians (e) employing Cameroonians within the United States who possess the necessary expertise and better customer service skills to positions at the embassy and in the new consular offices. (f) Employ Cameroonian interns (students of Political sciences, hospitality, Public Administration, Liberal Arts) to intern in various departments at the embassy all year round. All these programs are geared towards establishing good and effective Embassy-Cameroonian community relations so that Cameroonians can pride themselves to call the embassy home, at long last.

     Platitudes aside, whether the government of Cameroon assigns incompetent personnel to the Cameroon embassy in the United States or not, is really not the issue; the issue is, each of these ambassadors ought to have used the powers decreed to them and the enormous resources at their disposal, to transform the place into an institutional paradise. It is the ambassador’s responsibility to bring necessary reforms that would transform and uplift the image of the embassy. Cameroonians are tired to see that ambassadors who are sent here only come to loot rather than transform the place, and later abandon the place worse off than they met it. And the fact that the Biya regime keeps each of these ambassadors here for more than ten (10) years is also an issue of grave concern. In order for the embassy to evolve from the present state of decrepitude the government must start rotating Cameroon ambassadors and diplomatic staff members for at least every two (2) years, and at most, three years. No embassy person is expected to stay in any one embassy installations for as many years as Cameroon keep theirs. The fact that they stay for so long in one country is the root cause of corruption and the “I don’t care attitude” they often demonstrate to clients rather than they need to serve them.