Cameroonian anger at lost savings

Account holders have not been paid since December

Frustrated Cameroonians have been out on the streets protesting at a massive fraud scandal affecting the national post office.

Frustrated account holders stopped traffic and paralysed activities in the capital, Yaounde, after they were unable to withdraw savings and salaries.

The post office's director general Guilaume Ejange says about $580,000 has been lost in the scandal, but savers fear the figure is much higher.

The collapse of many banks a decade ago, saw Cameroon savers flock to the post office, where they thought their investments would be safe.

It took the intervention of the police and the release of emergency cash to quell the disturbances in the capital.

'Crippled bank'

The BBC's Randy Joe Saah in Yaounde says civil servants have not been able to get their money from the post office since December last year.

About 20 postmasters have been arrested in the course of investigations into the fraud that is threatening to cripple the post office's banking system.

Our correspondent says the crisis has affected all post office branches in the country.

"I have saved more than 5 million Cameroon francs ($9,500) at the post office but I have not been able to get my money, I did not spend my Christmas well because of that," one angry account holder told the BBC in Yaounde.

The post office now plans to pay account holders in instalments, in an attempt to ease the growing tension in Cameroon.

Correspondents say the massive financial scandal is a slap in the face for a government which has been claiming victories in the fight against corruption.

Last November, the former minister of Post and Telecommunications, Mounchipou Saidou was sentenced to 20 years in jail following a 2.5 billion francs ($4.8M) embezzlement case brought against him by government