Prof. Maurice Kamto expresses shock as ID Card now costs one-third of minimum wage

The dust raised by the increase in the cost of obtaining a national identity card in Cameroon is yet to settle, as one of Cameroon’s top politicians, Professor Maurice Kamto, has added his voice to the growing criticism of the policy.

The cost of getting a National Identity Card, which is a compulsory document for every adult, now amounts to one-third of the country’s minimum wage. This follows the government’s recent decision to increase the cost by over 250 percent.

Cameroonians from all walks of life have been reacting to the news after President Paul Biya signed an ordinance on Thursday, June 20, 2024, modifying the 2024 Finance Law of 19, 2023.

Opposition political party leader, Maurice Kamto, who heads the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, says the regime has lost connection with local realities with its nonchalant attitude.

“After the continued increase in fuel prices, Presidential order No. 2024/001 of June 20, 2025, is further proof that the CPDM government is disconnected from the realities of the lives of Cameroonians,” the MRC leader said in a press release.

He questioned, “Otherwise, how can he, in a context of generalised impoverishment of populations, proceed with an astronomical increase in the cost of passport stamps and other documents, in particular the National Identity Card, (NIC)?”

The recent presidential ordinance spelled out a sharp increase in the cost of acquiring a National Identification Card in Cameroon.

Titled, “Stamp duties on passports and other documents of presidential Ordinance No. 2024/001 of June 20,2024,” President Paul Biya increased the cost of the national document from FCFA 2,800 to FCFA 10,000, with supplementary documents totalling FCFA 15,500.

“Such a decision which is part of the regime’s I-dont-care attitude is indefensible and therefore unacceptable,” Kamto stated.

Prior to the presidential order, obtaining a National Identity Card has been hell for Cameroonians.

Aside from spending huge sums on the document, most citizens complained of not getting it more than one year after initiating the process.

The decision, which Kamto says is the result of bad governance, has increased the cost of ID Cards by an exponential 257 percent.

“When we add to this stamp price, the cost of the nationality certificate (3,500) and that of the copy of birth certificate (2,000), the final cost of establishing the NIC now amounts to nearly 15,500 or 1/3 of the minimum wage which is 41,875frs,” he pointed out.

The amended tax law “does not take into account the private tax levied on users in our various administrations,” says Kamto.

This comes at a time when a majority of Cameroonians are faced with poverty and low purchasing power.

The National Institute of Statistics, NIS, estimates that 10 million Cameroonians live on less than FCFA 1,000 per day.

Increasing the cost of an identity card, Maurice Kamto says, “deprives Cameroonians without jobs and without income of essential elements for the exercise of their rights as citizens and their ordinary economic activities.”

“……..the state coffers have been emptied by unrepentant kleptomaniacs and our country lives hand to mouth,” he went on.

“The order betrays the financial pressure the country has been facing for some time now.”

©Mimi Mefo Info