Emmanuel Gérard Ondo Ndong, former Director-General of the Special Fund for Equipment and Intercommunal Intervention (FEICOM), was released on February 21, 2026, after serving a 20-year prison sentence. His release, which occurred without a presidential pardon or retrial, was marked by a surprising statement: Ondo Ndong thanked President Paul Biya.
Ondo Ndong had been convicted of embezzling public funds as part of Operation Sparrowhawk (Opération Épervier), an anti-corruption campaign launched in 2006. During his imprisonment, he lost his mother, and he expressed gratitude to the Head of State for authorizing a solemn funeral. This expression of thanks, made on ABK Radio web, raises questions about the perception of power in Cameroon.
This apparent paradox – a man who served a full sentence without favor and thanking the president – reveals, according to some observers, a characteristic of regimes with prolonged personal power. In these systems, the head of state tends to become the ultimate reference point, influencing the perception of justice and dignity. Thanking Biya for authorizing a funeral, an ordinary administrative act in a state governed by the rule of law, suggests that even after 20 years in prison, access to dignity can be seen as a presidential favor rather than a right.
The release of Ondo Ndong and his thanks could be interpreted as a signal of realignment by the Cameroonian elite, indicating an absence of threat and a willingness to reintegrate peacefully. In the long term, this case highlights the selectivity of the Cameroonian justice system, where similar cases have not always resulted in the same sentences.
The question that remains is: why thank a man to whom one does not owe his freedom? Ondo Ndong's release coincides with that of Gilles Roger Belinga, also a former Director-General of the Société Immobilière du Cameroun (SIC), who was also arrested in 2006 as part of Operation Sparrowhawk.
