This was during a visit to the Northwest Province
On elections
I met with the Governor, SDOs, Dos and Mayors. I had a chance to meet with the Head of the SDF, to chat with them a little bit about their views about many pre-occupations. That’s what Ambassadors do.
I was particularly interested in talking about ELECAM. We’re bent to see Cameroon hold elections in future that are transparent. It was a very frank exchange.
On corruption; Arrest of Top Gov’t Officials
It is USA government policy and the embassy to fight corruption that eats away the foundation of a society: makes that society less stable, less prosperous….. It ought to be stopped.
What we have in place is that we discourage corruption.
We’ve told the government of Cameroon that there are policies we’re going to speak out, about corruption.
We will like to see everyone who is corrupt to be arrested. You have to empower the law. Cameroon wants a successful democracy. Cameroon wants to be a successful country. Cameroonians have to do this we will support, we will encourage, we will share and advice but we can’t do the job for you. It has to be done by Cameroonians otherwise it doesn’t work.
On Constitutional Amendment
On issue of the constitution, we were never opposed to the idea of amending the constitution. Cameroonians know how the constitution can be amended. We thought there could be altenance of power, which is a good idea.
On many occasion I made the views of the USA government officials: this is a sovereign country: we do not imposing its will. (You have just achieved independence in the last 50 years).
We’ve a lot of experience in democracy; we’ve made a lot of improvement in our mistakes. We’ve had to learn a lot of lesson along experiences because we don’t want other countries to make those mistakes.
The constitution has been amended; the change has been made. But we’re now focused on good governance policy: the need to make sure that next elections in Cameroon are freest and most democratic.
There has to be confidence that these election are legislative. The next election is the presidential in confidence in 2011. Assistance can be put in place that will give Cameroonians confidence in the electoral process. What will happen in the next election, strongly /Clearly reflects the will of the people.
An Ambassador is the representative of his/her country. We’re very much engaged in making sure we help Cameroon, to continue to develop economically and democratically.
ON NGo FAM CAMEROON
We released a press statement about that organization. They had nothing to do with the USA government or embassy. We do not have any dealing with them.
On Visa Restriction, Biya Building beside USA Embassy
More than half the people who apply for visas, we give them. On Biya’s house near embassy, there are a lot of house built in the neighborhood where the embassy is located. I don’t know who really owns them.
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