By Martin Jumbam
Chapter 8 of Christian Cardinal Tumi’s very readable book, The Political Regimes of Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya, and Christian Tumi, Priest, is the shortest of the 9 chapters that constitute this book. It is tugged in just before the conclusion more like an afterthought than as an integral part of what had informed the writer’s original thinking. And he admits it himself that this chapter was inspired by an incident that occurred just as he was rounding up his book.
It deals with what some have dubbed the “Tumi-Abah Abah Confrontation”. The said confrontation arose as a result of the attempt by the Ministry of Finance and the Economy to place a seal on the door to the Catholic Media House (known by its French acronym MACACOS), for what the Ministry claimed were overdue taxes. It turned out that this incident had more to do with Minister Polycarp Abah Abah’s ego than with State taxes.
MACACOS prints just about three quarters of the newspapers on sale in this country. Back in the days before Minister Abah Abah fell from grace to grass, and ended up being forcefully enrolled in the “University of Kodengui” in Yaoundé, some of the tabloids that were being printed in MACACOS were really out to get him. They tore through the poor fellow with a vengeance. Day in, day out, they churned the man’s reputation in the dust, determined to expose his behind to general derision.
Abah Abah counter-attacks!
Minister Abah Abah's counter-attack wasn't long in coming. He began by summoning a MACACOS board member to appear before his august presence in Yaoundé. During their meeting, the Honourable Minister reportedly screamed in his face and promised he was going to shut down the printing press, if it continued to print those tabloids that were against him. The board member reminded him that MACACOS was not his personal property but that it belonged to the Catholic Archdiocese of Douala.
That revelation seemed to have infuriated the Honourable Minister even more against Cardinal Tumi, the then Occupant of the Metropolitan See of Douala, and he vowed that if MACACOS did not stop printing those tabloids, the list of which he gave to the board member, he would shut it down forever, even if its rightful owner was the Catholic Church, with an Archbishop at the head.
The board member brought back word of his meeting with Minister Abah Abah and warned me – I was then the General Manager of MACACOS – to expect a ‘raid’ of the company by the tax people. I immediately informed Cardinal Tumi of the impending ‘raid’ and explained what my action would be, if it ever materialized. In his usual manner, he merely smiled and asked if our tax situation was up to date. The answer being affirmative, he asked that we wait for the raid, if any were to come. Barely a week later, an advanced team of two gentlemen arrived in MACACOS. They were naturally led to my office where they informed me that they had come because they had word that we were way back in the payment of our taxes. I said our books were open for their scrutiny.
MACACOS heavily fined
They loitered around for a few days before returning to Yaoundé. Then the bombshell fell. MACACOS was asked to pay over a billion francs CFA in outstanding taxes. I am not making any revelation here. It’s all in black and white in Cardinal Tumi’s aforementioned book. Our lawyers, beaming with smiles because they could see a juicy “soya” hanging at the end of the stick, swung into action. Within the deadline given by law, they had filed detailed counterclaims and the Ministry was forced to back down. From over a billion francs CFA, it dropped its claim to less than five times that amount. We still judged it unfair and filed another counterclaim after the payment of the 10% of the amount, as required by law.
But then the Minister’s hammer fell on us. It was barely a week after MACACOS filed the counterclaim that a group of about ten individuals rushed into my office one afternoon. You could have thought they were coming to arrest a dangerous criminal. Before I could say anything, the team leader was standing over me and shouting at the top of his voice. He was ordering me out of my office because in a few minutes time his guys were going to seal it. I told him we had all our tax records in order and that the tax issue in question was being resolved as required by law. He said he wasn’t in the least interested in seeing any of my documents and that we owed taxes and his instructions were to seal the company, and that was what he was determined to do. He warned that if I did not get my bottom off my seat and walk out calmly, his “ninjas” would toss me out the window. The said “ninjas” were already fanning out throughout the company, and work had ceased as the workers were all filing out to see what was happening.
Christian Cardinal Tumi is a man who’s almost always on the move. But, providentially that day, he happened to be on seat. I had been so confused I hadn’t even thought of sending for him; but then, someone did. He arrived just on time to stop those fellows from forcefully evicting me from my office. When he walked in, he asked what the matter was. The head of the team probably didn’t know who he was, or pretended not to. He merely reiterated his claim that he and his people were there to seal the company for overdue taxes and that no one, not even a priest, he said scanning the Cardinal from head to toe, would stop them from executing the ministerial order they had.
It was then that I saw the Cardinal Tumi I had never seen before even though I had worked closely with him for many years. It was a very angry Cardinal Tumi I was looking at. The ever-infectious smile was gone from his face. His voice, which is already among the most commanding voices we have in this country, gained in volume and vibrancy. The whole building seemed to shake as he screamed, asking them to leave immediately. The so-called leader of the “gang of ten” turned to some of his men and arrogantly declared: “Il faut noter qu’il y a une rebellion ici” (Note that there is a rebellion here), whatever that meant.
But then, those with him were already moving a few steps back as the Cardinal’s voice of defiance increased in volume. Before long, even the leader of the group himself, who had been beaming with such confidence and making open threats when he came into my office, was also backing away into one corner.
He then furtively came towards me to ask just how much we could give them so they could gently disappear. I asked what he meant and he explained that if only they could have a few million francs CFA to show to their boss when they got back to their office, they would leave immediately. As he was whispering to me, the Cardinal turned round, his eyes red with fury, and asked me what he was saying. I told him he was asking for a few million francs and that he would withdraw his men, if we could give him something to show to their boss as booty for the day. The Cardinal angrily told him that MACACOS was up to date in its taxes and that there was no question of negotiating with people who were holding us hostage.
I’m not sure who might have called the then Governor of the Littoral Province because it wasn't long before someone rushed in from the Governor's office, took the head of the team to one corner and told him the Governor had given firm instructions for them to leave MACACOS immediately. We later learned that the embarrassed Governor had called the head of the taxation department in Douala to explain why her people were trying to seal the Cardinal in his office.
Rumour also had it that word of the presence of tax inspectors at MACACOS had even reached Yaoundé and that instructions had come directly from the Presidency for their immediate withdrawal. Was this simply “radio-one-battery” information, or really something true? I couldn’t say. What I do know, for sure, is that it was the only day I ever saw Cardinal Tumi really angry. But his anger did not last for long, though, because the head of the tax team, after receiving instructions to withdraw his men, turned to us and said: “Au moins, ça m’a quand même permis de rencontrer le Cardinal Tumi pour la première fois” (This incident has, at least, enabled me to meet Cardinal Tumi for the first time); and with that the smile came back to the Cardinal’s face. He told him, “My son, I understand you’re carrying out instructions but just make sure you carry them out judiciously and respectfully”. He then blessed the tax collector’s, Saint Matthew’s successors, before they left our premises.
Behind this confrontation, however, lay the figure of Honourable Minister Polycarp Abah Abah, who had vowed to shut down MACACOS. This was a confrontation between Cardinal Tumi and the Minister of the Economy and Finance, through the latter’s proxies, his tax collectors. This was one more confrontation between Cardinal Tumi and a powerful member of the Biya government. Once more, Cardinal Tumi had emerged victorious. Temporal authority had again been forced to chicken out before the weight of ecclesial authority.
Did MACACOS FINALLY PAY THE ADJUSTED TAXES THAT WERE REDUCED AFTER TAX DISPUTE.Just to emphasise that the procedure of audit was regular-very regular.The taxation system in Cameroon is declaratory.Audits come in periodically to ascertain the sincerity of the declarations.Were the accounts of the company blocked in the course of recovery?This is a very effective way of recovering taxes.Your bank is obliged to debit your account to the benefit of the state.
Posted by: DINDZE | July 15, 2010 at 03:43 PM
Hi Dindze, from your reaction, I see that you're a tax man yourself, one of Saint Matthew's successors! You see, when I took over the leadership of MACACOS, our Cardinal Archbishop Christian Tumi gave me two firm orders. First, never to give a bribe or ask for any. Two, to always ensure that all legal taxes to the government were paid, and on time. So, a tax assessment was nothing new to us. However, our contention was that this particular tax assessment was launched with a very different objective. The then Honourable Minister Polycarp Abah Abah made it clear that his objective was to close down our company that was printing papers that were hostile to him. He was merely using his position as a government minister to settle a score with us. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, he ran up against an immoveable wall called Christian Cardinal Tumi, who was determined to keep the company running and save the jobs of over 67 Cameroonians. What Abah Abah wanted to do in a very subtle way, and through his tax proxies, was to achieve what the other members of the Biya oligarchy, notably Koungou Edima and Jacques Fame Ndongo, had tried and failed through a frontal attack of Cardinal Tumi. He was out to destabilize Cardinal Tumi's social work, which provides food for numerous Cameroonian families. The latter gentlemen -- ministers Koungou Edima and Fame Ndongo -- had tried, each in his own way, to floor the Cardinal Archbishop, provoking clashes, the echoes of which reverberated around the world. Each of them was forced to back down and out, for Cardinal Tumi stands his grounds when he's convinced of what he's doing, come rain, come shine.
Posted by: Martin Jumbam | July 17, 2010 at 06:01 AM