CAMEROON
Obituary: death of former minister Haman Adama.
Haman Adama, born Halimatou Mahonde in Garoua, is a Cameroonian politician who was Minister of Education from 2004 to 2009. She died on April 29, 2024 following a long illness.
Originally from the Bénoué department, trained at the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), Haman Adama entered the government on March 18, 2000 as Secretary of State for National Education. Then she was Minister of Basic Education from August 8, 2004 to June 30, 2009.
Accused of embezzlement, she was arrested on January 6, 2010. A year earlier, she was fired from the government on June 30, 2009 and replaced by Youssouf Adidja Alim, a native of Bénoué like her. It was after having stayed in district 5 of the Kondengui central prison in Yaoundé for more than two years that she will be officially notified of the facts with which she is accused. Arrested for an embezzlement of nearly a billion CFA francs, the investigating judge will reduce the envelope to around one hundred million CFA francs.
The charges against her related to public contracts linked to the management of the minimum package, supposed to guarantee free primary education. Taking advantage of a provision of the text governing the operation of the Special Criminal Court and which offers the accused the possibility of reimbursing the corpus delicti, Haman Adama will return to the State the sum of 212.5 million CFA francs. An act which allowed her to benefit from the end of the proceedings against her person and to naturally regain her freedom.
Sandrine L
