Biya regime restores military pension benefits after fraud review ⁰

More than two years after launching a nationwide audit of military pension payments, Cameroon has begun restoring child pension supplements to retirees whose claims were confirmed as legitimate.

In a directive signed on June 18, 2026, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze instructed the directors general of the Budget and Treasury departments to reinstate the child allowance for pensioners found to be eligible after the review.

The directive also orders the payment of all back benefits from the date the allowance was suspended, without requiring a recovery order. The decision marks a new phase in a process that began after authorities uncovered widespread irregularities in the documents submitted to qualify for the benefit.

A benefit worth up to 10% of a pension

The child supplement is a lifetime benefit paid to retired members of Cameroon’s defense and security forces who raised children meeting the legal eligibility requirements.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the allowance amounts to 10% of a retiree’s basic pension for the first three children, plus an additional 5% for each child starting with the fourth.

The benefit may also be paid to the surviving beneficiaries of deceased military personnel. To qualify, children must have reached the age of 16 for military personnel and 21 for police officers by the time the beneficiary retired.

Designed to supplement retirees’ income, the program gradually became vulnerable to document fraud. A joint task force created by the Ministries of Finance and Defense in 2022 found what authorities described as an abnormal rise in spending.

Between 2013 and 2020, the number of pensioners receiving the supplement increased by 60%, while the program’s cost rose by 98%. Those discrepancies prompted the Ministry of Finance to order a nationwide review.

Nearly one in three birth certificates found to be fraudulent

The audit focused on verifying the authenticity of birth certificates submitted by retirees. Investigators compared the documents with records held by municipal authorities and civil registration offices. Of the 47,258 birth certificates examined, 15,053 were found to be fraudulent, representing nearly 32% of all documents reviewed.

Following those findings, the government suspended the child supplement for 4,300 pensioners in July 2024. Authorities also opened an appeal process, allowing affected retirees to submit additional evidence and challenge the audit’s conclusions.

According to figures released by the Budget Department on February 27, 2025, 1,537 of the 4,300 affected pensioners filed appeals. The review found that 498 retirees had submitted authentic birth certificates and met all eligibility requirements. They will now have their benefits restored and receive all unpaid amounts dating back to the suspension.

Separating legitimate claims from fraud

The audit also uncovered confirmed cases of fraud. According to the Budget Department, 838 pensioners admitted using fraudulent birth certificates to increase their pension payments. Their pension files were to be revised in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Another 201 cases remained under review by the National Civil Registry Office and the General Delegation for National Security. At the end of the first phase of the process, 2,763 pensioners had not responded, even though the deadline for appeals had been set for the end of April 2025.

By restoring the allowance to retirees whose claims were validated, the government aims to distinguish proven fraud from cases that could be regularized. The objective is both to protect the rights of legitimate beneficiaries and to ensure that efforts to clean up the pension system do not unfairly penalize retirees with valid claims.

The decision also forms part of the government’s broader effort to strengthen oversight of public payroll and pension spending. It highlights the scale of document fraud, with nearly one-third of the birth certificates reviewed found to be irregular.

The next challenge will be to complete the reinstatement of benefits, pay outstanding arrears, and continue reviewing the thousands of cases that remain unresolved.

Source: Sbbc