EU Uncovers FCFA 400 Billion yearly fraud in Cameroon.

The European Union has made startling revelations that over FCFA 400 billions are siphoned from the coffers of the state of Cameroon yearly. The report which focused on the investment climate in the country and the economic performance since the attainment of the HIPC
Initiative completion points shows that current economic growth trend is not sustainable as it is
accounted for principally by external loans. The report which comes on the tills of arrest, trial
and jailing of a number of alleged billionaires and embezzlers in the country accordingly corroborates an earlier report published by the World Bank indicating that 40% of Cameroon’s investment budget went into private pockets making it practically difficult for ongoing economic reforms to yield the expected results.

The report estimated that the forest sector which is the major contributor to the state revenue after petrol and agriculture is losing some FCFA 50 billion every year due to illegal timber exploitation. Besides the forestry sector, the report made it clear that Cameroon is also losing out hundreds of billion of francs CFA of its customs earnings and fiscal revenue collection due to deep-rooted corruption practices. To compound matters the public service and the process of award of public contracts in Cameroon are said to be characterized by a chain of corrupt practices depriving the state treasury of billions of FCFA.

The corruption stakes remain radically sky-scraping and irritating, despite the fact that the country’s position in this year’s Transparency International corruption perception indices improved marginally by two places. The report by Transparency International which placed Cameroon 138 out of 180 countries thus indicated that the country is improving slightly by three places from 141 last year. To say the least, it’s an open secret that TI’s rating has always placed Cameroon amongst the most corrupt countries in the world and twice she has championed the table.

Instead of accepting the judgment and seek out solution on how to improve on the situation, the government of Cameroon always finds it difficult to let drop the feasibility of the findings although she however acknowledges the seriousness of corruption trend in Cameroon as well as the need to heap on a fight. This could explain why important measures put in place claiming to fight corruption seem to bring into being below expectations.

No doubt Paul Tessa, president of the newly created anti corruption commission in the country better known by its French language acronym CONAC, told the press recently that the first thing to do to stop the corruption shame in Cameroon, is the need for suitable political will in opposition to phenomenon. Tessa recently said, “Our first target group is the schools because we think that this innocent group has to be protected from contamination at all cost of we have to succeed in this fight”, Tessa, opined.

The CONAC president further told the press that his commission will also concerned with the putting into application article 66 of the country’s constitution on the declaration of assets of all those who hold public office so as to avoid appointees from feeding fat from funds meant to get better the bunch of the general public who are leaving in abject poverty. To him, it was not changing of nomenclature that matters but the will and a change of mentality through sustainable education and a sense of patriotism.

To show government lack of political wills to stop corruption Cameroon has put in place a series of anti-corruption structures, structures which many Cameroonians describe as white elephant with no operational powers. CONAC, the most recently created and placed under the control of the presidency of the republic, many Cameroonians like Ntungwe Elias Ngalame, has only come to add to existing anti-corruption structures like; the national financial investment agency, the national governance program as well as the series of ministerial anti-corruption units.

Courtesy - Harry Ndienla Yemti