Branded PB HEV, short for “Paul Biya Higher Education Vision,” Biya’s promised laptops have finally made it into circulation and everyone has something to say about them. The jokes and parody surrounding the laptop affair are all good for laughs but let’s take some time here to talk about this on a serious note.
It would be foul to speak on these laptops without actually laying my hands on one, so I went through the pains of finding one of the recipients to borrow theirs for my research.
The laptop has the following specs
Screen: 11 inches RAM: 2GB Processor speed: 1. 44 GHz intel Atom Storage: 32GB ( with more than half already used up for system files) USB 2.0 ports: 1 USB 3.0 ports: 1 HDMI Port: 1 Micro SD card slot: 1 Useful applications Included: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio.
Benchmark Product: HP Stream 11.
Paul Biya’s laptops have the same body build with the HP stream and are just as sturdy. I know we had a video here of one of the laptops malfunctioning just minutes after being picked up but with such large orders, that is to be expected and of course we had it just for the laughs.
I purchased the HP stream 11 with the same specs as the PB HEV in 2015 for 130,000 XAF but the retail price of the same laptop today is $200/ ~ 110,000XAF - given the exchange rate at the time of writing this article.
*I know there are reports of a similar laptop being sold on alibaba for 30,000 XAF a pop but let’s just assume thats the price for an unbranded piece and Biya’s newly created brand is worth as much as the HP brand to warrant the increase in perceived value.
Now the Numbers:
Assuming our government officials are the poorest negotiators in the world and cannot secure a discount for a bulk purchase of 500,000 laptops, the total cost of purchase should come up to XAF55 Billion which leaves XAF25 Billion for shipping and handling costs. I don’t know about you but I don’t think it can cost up to XAF 1 Billion to ship and distribute the laptops; so we are talking about some cool 24Billion XAF weh e don enter water just like that.
On Propaganda and Deceit:
The laptops are being referred to as a gift from the president and I ask myself “na the same president weh e tok say e salary na 300 bag per year?”
There is little mention of the fact that the 75Billion allocated for this project is a loan from a Chinese bank which was ‘tied’ - meaning, the loan was granted in favor of a particular Chinese Company (Shichuan Telecom Construction Engineering Company).
For those who still do not understand the evils of tied loans let me put it in lamnso.
Imagine that you were sick and you came to me for a loan so you can go to the hospital. For your treatment, hospital A is asking for 50,000 XAF but since I want to rip you off I will offer to give you the loan on condition that you get treatment from hospital B which is my hospital (tied aid) - but my hospital charges 100,000 XAF for the same treatment. If you are desperate and have nowhere else to turn to or if you are just stupid and reckless like our government officials are, you will agree to the loan, come to my hospital where you will be treated using the same resources like hospital A would have used but you will have to pay double the amount.
You realize I have basically given you my money and forced you to give it back to me but you still owe me?
In lamnso again - I have given you a loan, sent my boys to rob you and bring back the money to me, then I come back asking you to pay back my money. That is what the IMF and World Bank are doing us on a daily basis.
On Effectiveness of The Project:
The objective of providing students with these laptops, according to the president, is to boost the development of our digital economy and foster the diffusion of knowledge in Cameroon. Albeit a positive goal, the question begging is, will the laptops help us achieve that objective?
First of all, there is nothing else you can do on these laptops besides processing office documents and browsing the internet. The laptop can hardly support an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) without freezing and crashing all the time - meaning you can’t program anything on this computer. Adobe Photoshop or Premier pro will not work on this laptop. The screen resolution and color sensitivity is too poor for it to be considered as a graphic design tool.
That is to say, there is nothing new that students will be able to achieve with Biya’s laptop that they have not been able to do before. So, this dashing of laptops is essentially not solving any particular problem unless you mean to tell me there was a serious issue with students not being able to type their projects.
- Tino Foy