The Absurdity of Redundant Certification in Cameroon
The writer describes the frustrating cycle of repeatedly certifying documents in Cameroon—birth certificates, ID cards, medical certificates—often for the same documents within days or weeks. Through personal anecdote, the piece exposes a system that wastes citizens' time and money while generating marginal government revenue, then proposes a centralized Document Certification Authority as a more rational alternative.
You sometimes have to be amazed at the outright ridiculous things that happen in this country. Many of us have had, at one point, to do things like a obtain a medical certificate. A medical certificate is a document to show your health status and whether or not you are fit to perform certain activities or duties. To get many things done around here, it is not uncommon to be asked to bring a medical certificate. Getting a driver’s license for example requires that you present the ministry of transport with a medical certificate.
I had never had to do a medical certificate before I needed to renew my driver’s license last year. I went to the hospital and got the related form which by the way had a different price than the price you actually pay written on it. A younger me that was newer to Cameroon would have brought down hell there and then but I have since learned to just get what I need and get out sometimes. So I filled the form, paid the money and had to take a seat to wait for the doctor to get back so he can sign the document. I finally get into the doctor’s office, he signs my medical certificate and shows me the way out of his office. I mean, I was expecting to get on the examination table, have him point a torch into my eyes, or check for whatever they usually check for with the stethoscope, etc. But no, I had just been deemed mentally and physically fit to handle a motor vehicle on any of Cameroon’s roads because I paid 1,500frs for a document that has 600frs written on it.
Any—ha!
The story of me obtaining a medical certificate is not the core of what I want to talk about here but it kind of sets the stage for what I want to talk about here.
There was a time I wanted to get a government issued equivalent for my foreign degree, so there was a lot of the usual documents required that I had to compile:- certified copies of ID card, birth certificate, results slips, diplomas, certificate of non-conviction, etc. The certificate of non-conviction one gets me cracking up all the time. In this country, it is no news that, you can literally walk out of prison and get you a certificate of non-conviction a few hours later.Long story short, I had to submit these documents to different ministries which did not accept photocopies of certified photocopies for certain documents. That meant I had to go and do a medical certificate twice in the span of two days for that purpose. It so happened that it was around the same time I was getting a replacement of my driver’s license. In a week, I therefore had to obtain three medical certificates.
You see this Cameroon that we are inside like that hein, it can make you feel like you are crazy. Gradually, I am slowly coming to the realization that humans in general are not as smart as I thought they were and it is really disheartening. As a country, we talk everyday about wanting to boost our economy yada yada yada but my observation is that we generally do not understand basic concepts like time vs money; so how do we expect to understand other more complex fiscal operations. The attitude you even get in government offices when you have business there is one that screams “we do not care about your time. You need us we don’t need you.” You get that nobody is even asking if there is a better way to get things done. Remember the article on asking the right questions?
Bon.
First of all, there is no reason on earth why I have to certify more than once in my lifetime that my birth certificate is a valid and authentic one. That goes for other things like the GCE results certificates and ID cards that have not expired since their authenticity was last checked.
I totally understand how that could be a means for the government to generate revenue which is totally fine, understandable, and even necessary. My worry is why they have to do it all the time like they are trying to openly steal from us. No government should be afraid of taxing its citizens. I’m guessing here, they know they are going to embezzle the money we pay in taxes so for them they already start acting guilty before committing the crime.
I probably spent about 30k in the process of running up and down doing doubles of documents. Most of the 30k did not go into the government’s coffers but rather went to things like taxi fares, communication credit etc. For me, that was not only 30k ‘wasted’ but also two to three days of my time significantly wasted. Sometimes I do not know if it is just a deliberate desire to be inefficient or na idea just jam. If na the later then I get idea.
What if there existed a Document Certification Authority(DCA), that saved all our records and all we had to do when another entity needed those documents is -pay the Document Certification Authority to forward our files to the demanding entity. I wouldn’t mind paying the money they currently take from me in the name of stamps. In fact I wouldn’t mind paying a little but more if that means I don’t have to spend hours of many days in the sun running around certifying things I already certified. So basically, I would go once to the DCA with something like my birth certificate and get it certified. The birth certificate has no expiration date so why do I have to do another certification ever again for it? So I get it done once and every time someone needs to get my birth certificate verified, I just make a request to the DCA and pay a fee for them to send the document or a status report to whoever needs it. Certification of authenticity for things like ID cards can be renewed every time you get a new or replacement ID card. For stuff like the medical certificate, maybe their validity can be six months to a year, just so I don’t find myself having to do 3 medical certificates in the same week. I think the time, energy, and other resources saved here can lead to better productivity both on my part and on the part of the government.
My prayer is that we are actually in this cesspool because of the lack of ideas. That is my prayer because it will all be easy to fix once we can lend audience to the people with great ideas. In the case where it is a matter of us deliberately refusing to pursue efficiency and practicality, that's different waters.
- Tino Foy
The post reflects a common experience of navigating Cameroonian bureaucracy in the late 2010s, when formal credential processing still required extensive in-person visits and paper certification. It speaks to the everyday friction of administrative life in a country where systems seem designed without regard for citizens' time or efficiency.
Then, it articulated a specific and concrete frustration that many educated Cameroonians faced when pursuing credentials or licenses. Now, it reads as a clear-eyed critique of institutional inefficiency and hidden revenue extraction—problems that persist across many African bureaucracies and that remain largely unresolved. The proposal for a DCA, while practical, also implicitly questions why such basic modernization has not happened.