Kamto Insists That Orange Money Cameroun Must Formally Apologized To MRC, Or Else – – – –

MRC accused Orange Money Cameroun of alleged discrimination and interfering in Cameroon politics, by allegedly delaying to open an account for the party’s campaign funds

However in a communiqué, Orange Money Cameroun explained that such a delay is due to necessary procedure and precautionary measures applied, to ensure effective security for such an account

But the MRC leader on Monday insisted that the party was waiting for an explanation by Orange Money Cameroun, and that it has to be done “within a reasonable period of time”.

The thought of many observers over the weekend, was that what has become known as the MRC – Orange Money Cameroun Affair, was finally over, following the opening of a special mobile money account (‘Comptes Marchand’) for MRC by Orange Money Cameroun. The account is to enable the MRC to receive contributions from militants, sympathizers or well –wishers for the party’s 2025 presidential election campaign.

It should be noted that the financial enterprise, Orange Money Cameroun, is owned, or better still, is an affiliate of the mobile telephony company, Orange Cameroun SA, just as the financial enterprise, MTN Mobile Money Cameroon, is owned, or is an affiliate of the mobile telephone company, MTN Cameroon Plc. Both enter[rises, Orange Money Cameroun and MTN Mobile Money operate under the control of the Central  African Banking Commission, COBAC, and   the Ministry of Finance in Cameroon.  This explanation is necessary, because from what The Mentor News has observed on the social media these past couple of days, many people think that Orange Money is a service or department in Orange Cameroun.

MRC Leader Launches Fund Raising For 2025 Presidential Election Campaign

Meanwhile it would be recalled that on January 30, 2025, the National President of MRC, Prof Maurice Kamto, who is said to be the party’s candidate for 2025 presidential election, announced at a press conference in Yaounde that the party had adopted the colossal sum of 6,169,682,000 FCFA (Six billion, one hundred and sixty nine million, six hundred and eighty two thousand francs CFA), as the party’s campaign budget for the 2025 presidential election. Kamto said contributions by MRC militants, sympathizers or well – wishers could be paid into accounts at UBA Cameroon, Afriland First Bank or NFC Bank. He added that the financial contributions could also be made by MTN Mobile Money (MoMo).

 Why Kamto Did Not Mention Orange Money

But curiously enough, the MRC leader made no mention of Orange Money. Some people thought it was probably a matter of choice by the MRC leadership, to treat only with MTN Momo and leave out Orange Money.  But it turned out that MRC leadership had tried to open an account with Orange Money for the fund raising, but it had so far then, not worked.  That was why Orange Money was not mentioned at the January 30 press conference by the MRC leader.

According to MRC, the party through its Treasurer General contacted Orange Money Cameroun since December 2024 with all necessary or required documents, to open an account for the party. Still according to MRC, the party after making a number of verbal reminders, to Orange Money, that did not yield any fruit, addressed a mail to the General Manager of Orange Money Cameroon on January 27, 2025, to remind the enterprise of the urgent need of the account. But still, the delayed reportedly continued.

 Kamto Lashes Out, While MRC Militants Express Outrage

MRC officials alleged that Orange Money Cameroun, did not want to open the account because it was MRC. The situation between MRC Party leadership and Orange Money Cameroun rapidly degenerated to the point where last week, precisely on Friday, March 21, 2025, the National President of the party, Maurice Kamto, made a public outing on the issue, and lashed out at Orange Money Cameroun. Kamto alleged that Orange Money did not want to open an account for the MRC to receive contributions to the campaign funds for the 2025 presidential election, because it was the MRC party.  MRC militants immediately expressed outrage against Orange Money Cameroon.  Quite a number of the militants stormed the social media, and threatened to launch an operation for the boycott of Orange Money by militants and sympathizers of MRC.

There is no doubt that the threat of boycott was really a nightmare to Orange Money Cameroun, considering that MRC militants and sympathizers are predominantly Bamilekes, most of whom are economic operators that use the services of Orange Money for their daily business transactions.  Suffice to say that Orange Money Cameroun financially opened the account. A senior journalist known to be closed to MRC, triumphantly announced in a social media post that: “La pression a paye, Orange a attribue un compte au MRC cet après midi”. That is, “The pressure has paid off. Orange has attributed an account to MRC this afternoon”. This is the way MRC militants also saw it. They believe that Orange Money Cameroun yielded to their pressure, and threat (of the boycott of Orange Money).

Reaction Of Orange Money Cameroun

But to Orange Money Cameroun, it was neither a matter of refusing to open an account for MRC or yielding to pressure. In a communiqué that was issued over the weekend by Orange Money Cameroun, it was explained that Orange Money accounts are not all the same, and that opening an account for an individual for example, is not the same like opening an account for an association. The enterprise said there are thus variations for several reasons in the opening of Orange Money accounts, and that a times some delays unfortunately come up in the course of applying necessary procedure of opening certain accounts. The enterprise laid emphasis on the need to strictly respect the NECESSARY PROCEDURES, so as to be in CONFORMITY with the rules and regulations laid down in the opening of the different accounts, and thus ensuring the SECURITY of the accounts.

Orange Money Cameroun also talked about the issue of verification of the documentation provided for the opening of an Orange Money account. The enterprise explained that generally, the opening of mobile money accounts for all customers, are subjected to verifications of documentations, and that the verifications involved other actors in that sector of activity. Orange Money Cameroun said besides the verification, when it comes to having to open accounts which involve a large number of people like associations, Orange Money Cameroun is obliged to take special precautions as well as carryout proper security tests, with the sole goal being to deliver quality service (reliable and secured service).

It should be noted, that Orange Money Cameroun did not in the communiqué mentioned MRC by name, and gave the impression that the communiqué was meant to serve as information to its dear customers.  However nobody who read the communiqué and who knew about the MRC – Orange Money Cameroun Affair, had any doubt that the communiqué had to do with the affair.

Kamto Insists That MRC Deserves An Explanation From Orange Money

Well, since Orange Money Cameroun indicated that its communiqué was meant for its customers, and  thus not to MRC in particular, the National President of MRC, Prof Maurice Kamto, came out with a rather hard release on Monday, March 24, 2025, taking on Orange Money Cameroun. Kamto explained the efforts that the party made since December 2024 to get the authorities of Orange Money to open the account, and the trouble the party had faced since then due to the persistent failure by Orange Money to open the account.  But Kamto said when he made his no nonsense outing on Friday, March 21, 2025, Orange Cameroon hastily opened the account within a matter of hours, and handed the ‘Marchand Code’ of the account to the National Treasurer of MRC.

As aforementioned, Kamto in his March 24 release used some hard words against Orange Money Cameroun, as well as some hard accusations or allegations. Kamto said Orange Money Cameroun has the obligation to open an account for any Cameroonian or any legally existing association in Cameroon, as long as the person or association presents the required documents. Kamto insisted that the demand to open an Orange Money account by a Cameroonian is a right and not a favour, and fumed that Orange Money robbed MRC of its right.

In conclusion, the MRC leader said if Orange Money had respect for its customers, it would have formally tendered an apology to MRC for what happened. Kamto insisted that MRC deserves an explanation from Orange Money Cameroun, for what happened, and said the party for now is exercising patience, waiting for the explanation. Bur he warned that the time to exercise the patience is not unlimited, and that the explanation has to be given by Orange Money to MRC, within a reasonable period of time.  Kamto however did not say what will happen if Orange Money Cameroun does not tender the apology or present the explanation.