There are VIPs (Very Important Prisoners). Most of them are former ministers and former general managers of state corporations, at the Kondengui prison in Yaounde, jailed for the embezzlement of public funds.
Many of these VIP inmates are still languishing in pre-trial detention two years after they were arrested. Human rights groups are already screaming that they have been denied justice by delaying it. The Post sneaked into the prison recently and sought to chronicle the mood of the VIPs inmates.
Jean Atangana Mebara
Before his arrest on August 1, 2008, Jean Marie Atangana Mebara still walked tall in his past glories. Before power left him on September 7, 2007, the varsity don had dinned at the “New Deal” table as the Minister of Higher Education, the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic and the Minister of External Relations.
His arrest, on charges of the embezzlement of public funds, came at a time that he had enrolled as a student pastor in the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Yaounde. He is one of those who vehemently condemned their pre-trial detention at the Kondengui prison as “illegal”.

Observers at the prison hold that the former minister looks defected and melancholy-stricken but always tries hard to put on a smile. He is said to always confine himself to his cell or room.
Virtually bent on keeping his moustache, Atangana Mebara is insistent on checking the ever-advancing grey. He remains clean shaven and seems to take solace in the small statue of Holy Mary, rosary and other such gadgets he keeps around him.
The erstwhile minister digs deep into his paperwork with vociferations like: “I will prove to those people that I did not steal a franc.” He parades his imposing frame almost only on visiting days as he strides to a small cell-like visitor’s room built by the prison authorities for the VIPs
Polycarpe Abah Abah
The bespectacled Polycarpe Abah Abah was the all-powerful Minister of Finance and the Economy who scorned instructions of the Prime Minister with impunity. Like Atangana Mebara, Abah Abah enrolled in the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Yaounde. His journey to Kondengui began on March 31, when elements of the Judicial Police arrested him at his Odzoa residence neighbourhood in Yaounde.
Since his arrival at Kondengui, Abah Abah has continued to put on high spirits. He is often seen moving around the prison yard or playing lawn tennis. The former Minister is often seen around the female ward, exchanging pleasantries with some of his female collaborators, who are his alleged co-embezzlers.
It is reported that some of his subordinates, who were sentenced due to complaints from Abah Abah when he was Minister of Finance in 2005, look at him with a lot of disdain. After all, they are now pals in crime. The former minister still manages to walk tall in his Quarter 2 area - a section in prison reserved for VIPs. He puts on a smile and is apparently full of life.
Prison sources say, when Abah Abah was Minister of Finance, he blocked all funds meant for the purchase of cellular trucks for the transportation of prisoners to court. Recently, the former minister refused to appear at the Mfoundi High Court, complaining that gendarmes treated him poorly the last time he was brought to court.
Urbain Olanguena Awono
The former Minister of Public Health cuts the figure of an introvert. He was arrested on March 31, 2008 for alleged embezzlement of public funds.
At the Kondengui prison, Olanguena is quoted to be always wondering aloud why, after serving this nation with dignity, he should be treated with such humiliation. He buries his days in reading some pamphlets on Holy Mary and some prayer books. He and Mebara are ward mates in Quarter 7, of the VIP section of the prison. He is ever balding and growing frail
Jerome Mendouga
He was at the pinnacle of the diplomatic competence as the Cameroonian Ambassador to the US. He was caged for the role he allegedly played in the fraudulent purchase of the presidential plane, the Albatross in 2003. At Kondengui, he is pensive, almost putting on the posture of an all-time great thinker, often dressed in big “Haussa gown” and a hand-woven hat.
Mendouga sits on a stool every morning. He plays the spectator to tennis players. His close associates told The Post that: “He never fails to shed a tear or two each time his son visits him.” Like Abah Abah, Mendouga lives in a special area in the VIP part of the prison.
Mouchipou Seidou
Government found the former Minister of Post and Telecommunication good material to inaugurate the fight against corruption in 1999. The Mfoundi High Court later slammed a 20-year jail term on him for embezzling public funds.
At Kondengui, the former minister seems to have resigned himself to fate. His temper is said to be usually tickled when he sees a team of controllers from the Ministry of Justice and Keeper of the Seals. His close associates say he never fails to taunt the team of controllers: “Go and ask Amadou Ali (Justice Minister) and Paul Biya (Head of State) why they are keeping me here. Let them tell me what I have done to them,” he is quoted to have once told the team.
Pierre Desire Engo
Sentenced to15 years imprisonment for embezzlement, the former General Manager of the National Social Insurance Fund, reportedly weeps everyday. He is said to be taking solace sometimes playing the clown by standing at attention and doing a military salute when police officers are passing by.