FAO money embezzled with Telefood - Survey

A survey on the funds collection campaign was initiated by the United Nations Fund for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to reduce hunger and malnutrition worldwide through funding sustainable agro-pastoral project.

The survey, which was reported by the private daily Mutations, stated that it was a campaign whose first edition was launched in Cameroon in 1997.

Mutations revealed that funds raised through TeleFood were embezzled. The newspaper quoted in terms of illustration, the granting of FCFA 1.5 million to GIC (Association of Community Interest) located in Nkometou, a small town of the department of Lékié, Central Region. Reliable sources informed that after having received the money, the owner of GIC, whose name was not mentioned, "had transformed the premises of his farm into a house."

In addition to these cases, it was also noted in the selection of financing, "fictitious projects, criteria that did not comply with the standards prescribed by the FAO, the lack of transparency on the funds collected, false promises and fictitious cheques, etc.”

The responsibilities of this state of affairs were shared. "Three structures managed the operation in Cameroon. The MINADER - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development collects the money and pays the FAO, which provides funding for projects. The maintenance of the projects were left to the committee to assist the FAO-Pam," Mutations wrote. These are structures whose work is currently faced with the harsh reality of the terrain.

For the record, Cameroon mobilized FCFA 238 million in 2014 for the Telefood operation.