Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o (born 22 January 1957
["Mebe Ngo'o Edgar Alain", ''Cameroun: Les Hommes de Pouvoir'', number 7]
Africa Intelligence
17 September 2002 .) is a
Cameroonian politician who has occupied multiple positions in the government of Cameroon and has served in the government of Cameroon as Minister of Transport from 2015 to 2017. An important security official, he was Delegate-General for National Security (head of the national police) from 2004 to 2009 and Minister-Delegate at the Presidency for Defense (
defense minister
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
) from 2009 to 2015.
Political career
Mebe Ngo'o was born in
Sangmélima. He was Economic Affairs Adviser to the Governor of
East Province from 1985 to 1988 and Secretary-General of
North Province from 1988 to 1991. Subsequently, he was Prefect of Ocean Department from 1991 to 1995, Prefect of
Mefou and Afamba Department from 1995 to 1996, and Prefect of Mfoundi Department from 1996 to 1997.
[
On 7 December 1997, Mebe Ngo'o was appointed as Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency; after seven years in that position, he was instead appointed as Delegate-General for National Security on 8 December 2004. As Delegate-General for National Security, Mebe Ngo'o was credited with cracking down on police abuses and reviving the "police of the police", a unit intended to investigate abuses, in 2005; he also publicly acknowledged corruption in the police force, including the use of torture and extortion.
After four and a half years as head of the national police, Biya moved Mebe Ngo'o to the post of Minister-Delegate at the Presidency for Defense on 30 June 2009. Mebe Ngo'o was retained in his post in the government named on 9 December 2011, in the wake of Biya's re-election for another term. That Biya chose to keep Mebe Ngo'o in his post was viewed as surprising by some, given that the latter had been the target of corruption allegations.
In May 2014, in the wake of the ]Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students and also Muslim students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok i ...
, "defense minister Edgard Allain Mebe Ngo'o met with Chad
Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...
's minister of national defense, Benaindo Tatola, in Yaounde. Ngo'o said Chad had also deployed troops to work together with Cameroonian forces on the borders with Nigeria. He also said troops from the two countries will cross into Nigeria and fight Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...
in collaboration with Nigerian forces."
He was moved to the post of Minister of Transport on 2 October 2015 until 2 March 2018. On the 12th of March 2019, his residence was searched by the police and he was arrested and now waiting to be judged by the criminal special court. He is currently in the Kondengui prison.[Monda Bakoa]
"Ils changent de portefeuille"
''Cameroon Tribune'', 4 October 2015 .
In January 2023, he was sentenced to thirty years in prison for embezzlement of public fund
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mebe Ngo'o
1957 births
Living people
Government ministers of Cameroon
Defence ministers of Cameroon