Cameroonians in Anglophone regions face frustrating ID application process

Some individuals have complained about how hard it has been for them to get national ID cards in Cameroon over the past years.

Getting one in the North West and South West regions has become worse some say, since the start of the Anglophone crisis.

It is not uncommon to see long queues of individuals young and old at police stations trying to get the cards done or waiting to collect.

Many have also raised concerns regarding the characters of those working at the production centers, noting that a lot are quick tempered and arrogant even to the old.

Talking to MMI, an individual who declines to be named says “when you extend it four to five times without the original coming they start telling you to make a different one”.

“If you don’t have money they will refuse to extend the old one” he went on.

“The last time I made an ID card, it cost 12.000FCFA and it has not been produced nine months later” he testifies, noting that the receipt expires after three months.

Others have made similar complaints, noting that the forces of law and order at checkpoints give them a lot of headache, with some refusing to let them through when in possession of the ID card receipt.

In 2016, a ‘new ID card’ incorporated with a laser-engraved color portrait of the bearer in high definition inside the body of the card itself.

While some admit it is harder to forge the new ID card type, others say the innovation does not really matter if they cannot own one in the first place.