Computer software Park: Public services in danger

The majority of state structures are using counterfeit programs, according to a confidential study Antic and Consupe.

The park of computer software used by state structures is very exposed. To believe a confidential study by the National Agency for Information Technology and Communication (Antic) and services of greater State control (Consupe) made aware to CT, a large majority of public services use non-genuine software.

Out of 28 administrations controlled for now, 76.40% of them use these fake programs. "Extrapolating the 37 departments in the country, all administrative public institutions, public or semi-public corporations, municipalities and urban communities, the information we are reporting has an alarming situation," says Antoine Ndong tung, technical adviser No. 2 Consupe.

This phenomenon poses serious risks to the economy and security of the state. "We have local experiences where uncontrolled development of certain IT projects and programs has led to real financial catastrophes", noted on Tuesday May 5, Minister Henri Ayissi Eyebe. In the confidential study mentioned above, we also learn that there are multiple cases of manipulations of the software to insert the data.

Another element of fraud, "some agents photocopy the first and last page of an act of appointment, then reproduce a separate page with the same font by inserting their name." The document submitted to the Ministry of Finance, one is left with officials who earn salaries well above the statutory income. At Antic and Consupe approximate sources could not give a figure for assessing loss of state following these practices. But all experts agree they are enormous.

In addition, due to the use of non-genuine software, sensitive administrations run the risk of massive piracy of their confidential data.

Besides, the publishers of such software can even sue the state of Cameroon for misuse of their products. As a result of this, the Prime Minister, Head of Government has created a whole technological monitoring committee and control software compliance state parks, regional and local authorities, under the authority of the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Higher State Control.