Corruption in Government:Does Biya really care for the problem which is already getting out of hand?

In spite of his pronouncements and posturing, Paul Biya clearly lacks the strength to take the bull of corruption by the horns – for practical reasons. The awful disclosures of massive corruption in government may have forced him to stop and rethink his new government which should have been out a week ago. Given the critical juncture of the regime it is now commonsense to try to bring in new people with integrity and competence. The Biya regime is badly in need of a new, refreshing and uplifting look.

Last September Paul Biya vowed to the world from the rostrum of the United Nations that nothing would make him relent on his campaign against corruption in Cameroon. Three months on the president who often has difficulty following things through is still hesitating. With 2008 now at an end all the president did this year in fighting the monster were a few rabble-rousing arrests of former aides, which pundits even believe he did only for his political gain. Paul Biya used the arrests to woo a sour public much opposed to the constitutional amendment of last April intended to facilitate his extension of mandate. Sent to prison pending a charge, some of the detainees have become surprisingly impossible so far to incriminate. The government has not been able to summon enough evidence to charge Zacheus Forjindam, ex-GM of Chantier Naval. Neither have they succeeded with Atangana Mebara, former secretary general at the presidency. A few other senior officials of the regime have been invited for questioning by the police and state counsel but no arrests nor charges have been made. No doubt this record is anything but impressive, given the high ground the president takes on the issue. And while Paul Biya drags his feet the problem is not waiting for him. It is growing ever more formidable. There is the feeling that public officials believe the president is overwhelmed and has become increasingly helpless on the matter. This perception of Paul Biya’s helplessness appears to have opened floodgates for the evil which has apparently swept everyone along, almost everyone. It seems that it is now only a matter of degree, how deep individuals are involved! The last fortnight brought this home disturbingly vividly. The corrupt sharing out of about 50 out of 60 Indian aid tractors among senior men of the regime, as revealed by an inquiry conducted by ACDIC a Yaounde NGO was disturbing enough. But that was not all. The ACDIC inquiry also discovered that nearly all Common Initiative Groups that exist in Cameroon are fronts for senior public officials who use them to get public money in the form of support grants from the government! Since 2002, the report disclosed, government had given grants instalments totalling 1.2 billion fcfa! The ACDIC disclosures were like a window opened unto the world of corruption inside the government. What the window permits us to see is something of a Sodom and Gomorrah. Like in the Biblical cities of irredeemable corruption we are optimistic enough to believe there will be individuals here and there who still stand out even though it is now hard to say who.

Conspiracy of silence
ACDIC’s disclosures also suggest that there is some conspiracy of silence inside the government. It goes somewhat like this: I take, you take; we all know it is illegal or wrong but you don’t betray me and I don’t betray you too! Given the sheer magnitude and pervasiveness of the evil, Paul Biya in his helplessness and fear for his life or career has become defensive. Instead of embarking upon a wholesale attack he timidly picks on only a few whom he deliberately antagonises. Having done that the president then engages the others yet uninculpated through the party organ to sing his praises for his commitment to the fight against corruption. He himself takes every opportunity to claim the high ground for himself. That way Frankenstein is clever enough to keep his life-threatening monster at bay! Naturally public officials were so shocked by the ACDIC exposures that they quickly took the first opportunity to roughen up Bernard Njonga by arresting and assaulting him and his colleagues whom the police picked up as they prepared for a peaceful march in downtown Yaounde, accusing them of disturbing the public peace. Thanks to Paul Biya who stepped in and ordered that the man and his friends be allowed to go home. The president is said to be in full possession of the highly explosive report which incriminates far too many men, including even some who usually appear unassailable. One excuse Paul Biya usually gives to explain his cautiousness on this issue is that he wants proofs beyond reasonable doubt before proceeding to inculpate people. (But the president made an unfortunate exception in the cases of Forjindam and Atangana Mebara). The point we are making here is that beyond the unsubstantiated hue and cry of the masses ACDIC has jolted Paul Biya with incontrovertible evidence of theft and abuse of office at an unimaginable scale. Even the president’s sacred cows are all in! Paul Biya’s problem now is that the report and all the names are outside the government! Perhaps the report with all those names has already been sent to ACDIC’s sponsors abroad! Isn’t that potentially dangerous for the president whose regime could be blown up as if by a massive bomb? The president acted out of expediency by directing that Njonga and his colleagues be released. It is believed the charge against them will also in due course be dropped. But the greater problem for Biya is the safety of his regime. Would the damaging nature of the report have been the reason why Paul Biya changed his mind about announcing his much awaited new government at the weekend of 6/7th December, after putting CRTV on standby? Our usually reliable sources thought that the president cancelled the much awaited announcement in order to respect the Muslim festival which would almost certainly have been overshadowed by news of a new government. The announcement usually causes commotion with jubilation for some and mourning for others. Would Paul Biya have returned to his drawing table to review his list after erasing some names prominent in the ACDIC report? How would the president explain to the public that he had reappointed ministers with shouting proofs of their being involved in corruption and abuse of office at such a scale?

Corruption list
The public waits eagerly to see what the president comes up with. This newspaper has wind of the corruption list. Paul Biya likes to sleep over many matters and everyone knows this change of government issue has been on for several months now. While he takes his time to ruminate over the matter it is clear that Biya’s twenty-six year old regime is presently at a critical juncture. One underlying but powerful factor that the president cannot ignore at this point is the entire mood of his regime which has become sour, fearful, unreliable and antagonistic. Biya’s unpredictable selection of corruption culprits is the main reason for this. The president even went so far as to deliberately cast doubt upon the reputation of very senior serving officials, which is politically despicable. The deepest feeling since sometime now within the regime, including its most senior actors is one of pure fatigue. Almost everyone thinks it is in the country’s best interest for Biya to retire, and to do so sooner than later. Now for the first time ever the corruption perception of members of the regime will be taken into consideration in appointing the government. It would be strategically right to give the image of a government of people of integrity, or at least people who are not known to have soiled records. This will require Paul Biya to reach out, far out indeed, for competence and integrity. Bernard Njonga, for instance, is among the more experienced, committed and honest men for Agriculture that Cameroon now has. The idea is to come out of the CPDM box thinking and go for people who will give the regime a much needed new look and true leadership. We have had too much of the same thing and that is simply not helping anymore. If Biya sincerely wants to take public opinion into consideration then he must accept that some ministers simply make people sick in their very manners and incompetence. You see them and you know they are there simply to fill up the numbers. Along with the corruption beast is tribalism which Paul Biya must be ashamed to admit is very much a hall mark of his regime. Biya has no qualms whatever to continue to give the choicest and creamiest jobs to his kith and kin. From the South region alone there are ten ministers with nine of the choicest positions; ten army generals and ten general managers with the most prestigious and lucrative public enterprises and institutions. The SW and NW are left with the crumbs and bare bones! The president must overcome this primitive form of injustice which marginalises sections of the country and makes outsiders continue to refer to ‘their regime’ as opposed to ‘ours.’ It is simply the wrong way of operating and founding a young country like Cameroon. It is interesting to know that corruption is partly caused and sustained by the crass tribalism that Paul Biya practices. Let the president try for once to go for competence, integrity, ethnic balance, justice and equity in the distribution of public goods. That wouldn’t only give his regime a new and refreshing look; it will also provide it with much welcome new energy and direction

Source:The Herald