CameroonOnline.ORG | After two decades of confinement, the gates of Cameroon’s prison system have finally opened for two of the country’s most prominent former officials. Roger Belinga, the former head of the Sic (Cameroon Housing Corporation), and Gérard Ondo Ndong, the former director of the Feicom (Special Inter-communal Equipment and Intervention Fund), were released this weekend after completing 20-year sentences for the embezzlement of public funds.
Their release marks the conclusion of a long and high-profile chapter in Cameroon’s judicial history. Both men were ensnared in the early waves of “Operation Sparrowhawk” (Opération Épervier), an ambitious and often controversial anti-corruption campaign launched by the government in the mid-2000s to target high-level graft within state institutions.
At the height of their careers, Belinga and Ondo Ndong were pillars of the administrative elite, overseeing agencies central to the nation’s infrastructure and local development. Their subsequent arrests and convictions sent shockwaves through the political landscape, serving as a stark warning to the ruling class at the time.
The atmosphere surrounding their release was one of quiet intensity. For their families and supporters, the moment represented the end of a generational wait—twenty years is a lifetime in politics and a heavy toll on a person’s private life. However, for the Cameroonian public, the event serves as a reminder of a period defined by massive financial scandals and the subsequent legal crackdowns.
While these two figures return to private life, their journey remains a symbol of the complexities of governance in Cameroon. Their release is not an act of clemency, but rather the fulfillment of a legal term, leaving the public to reflect on whether such lengthy sentences have truly reshaped the culture of transparency in the country’s public sector.