The Agricultural Research Institute for Development (Irad) has reduced its staff by about 70 employees.

“This decision authorizes the Director-General to dismiss for false diplomas the staff of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Development," says the document which presents a list of 40 names.

At the end of the 43rd ordinary session of the Board of Directors, 27 other persons accused of holding false diplomas were also dismissed. On June 23, 2020, the Director-General of Irad, Noé Woin, suspended the employment contracts of three staff representatives. Those sanctioned were accused of “blatant insubordination, repeated lack of respect, threats, and assault on managers who wanted to dismiss them.” The hiring decisions of nearly thirty staff members were also terminated for forgery.

In Cameroon, the phenomenon of fake diplomas is a matter of concern for the administration. After several checks in public administrations, 974 false diplomas were detected out of a total of 4,981 files examined in 2009. According to Mutations, 308 fake diplomas were detected by the Ministry of Higher Education (Minesup) in 2010. In 2016, there were 232 agents of Elections Cameroon (Elecam) who were identified with fake diplomas. In 2018, nearly 300 other agents were discovered.

In 2019, Cameroon Airlines-Corporation (Camair-Co) dismissed 150 agents holding false diplomas.

BE