Western missions join the fight against corruption in Cameroon

Pledge to repatriate embezzled funds stashed in foreign bank accounts

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

There exist many lame duke commissions created by the government of Cameroon to fight against corruption and embezzlement of state funds. These include structures like; the Supreme State Control, the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court, the Good Governance Programme, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC); the National Agency for Financial Investigation (ANIF); The National Commission On Human Rights and Freedoms; Election Cameroon (ELECAM). Not leaving out anti-corruption units and various economic and agricultural commissions intended to monitor and check corruption in various government structures among others.

Just recently, the judiciary claimed to be exercising some powers which many may be trapped to believe is a free hand to investigate and bring to book persons suspected of corruption and embezzlement of state funds.. Though many may be tempted to believe the famous “Operation Sparrow Hawk” has given teeth to the fight as some top ranking government functionaries have been arrested and jailed for corruption and embezzlement, many officials charged with the management of state resources end up carrying them away. The case of the cashier in Douala who escaped with huge sums of money recently is still fresh in our mind. All these attest to the fact that the country is still corrupt. Besides, the country is also noted for flawed elections, sluggish democratization, poor human rights, bad governance records, and a hostile business climate, among others.
The question many here are asking is “why does corruption continues to plague our society in spite of the ruthless attempts to punish culprits?”. Well, others believe there is therefore the need to diversify the approach by taking the crusade to individual level.

Time and again officials are being called to; open a new front in the fight in their various departments; wage a relentless war against corruption and embezzlement and to consider the fight against corruption a priority of priorities. Yet, the country is still corrupt. Who is deceiving who? It is that the appeal is falling on deaf ears?

Yes, there is great need not only to diversify the approach but to work in total collaboration to win the fight against corruption. No single structure, no matter how powerful, will win the fight alone.

It is within this backdrop that Cameroon’s multilateral and bilateral partners including some Western governments; NGOs and the media are working in collaboration in the fight against corruption and towards the repatriation of embezzled state funds that are stashed in foreign bank accounts. The very partners code named the 8+6 Group are those who campaign for Cameroon’s attainment of the HIPC initiative of April 2006. But they are totally disappointed that part of the money is being embezzled and taken abroad by some unscrupulous Cameroonians

The Western governments, including the The Netherlands, United States, Britain, Japan, France, Canada, and donor institutions like the World Bank, IMF and the UN development programme are working towards the repatriation of stolen funds from foreign banks to Cameroon.
Many commentators assessing President Paul Biya’s anti-corruption campaign, dubbed “Operation Sparrow Hawk” are of the opinion that the most important aspect of the campaign is the repatriation of the stolen funds (Being described as more colossal than believed by many) which could help in development projects and in improving the standard of living of Cameroonians.

Although the partners believe president Paul Biya is genuinely fighting corruption, many critics believe the president is using the campaign to eliminate his main political opponents. Whatever the case, the campaign had to begin somewhere before attaining its most crucial point.
Even so, the president has to be blamed for being a stumbling block to the application of Article 66 of the country's constitution which requires that public officials should declare their assets before and after taking office.
The fight against corruption has to begin from the declaration of assets. An initiative hat would help the anti-corruption campaign to track down everybody including; the military; police officers on the road; and other public servants who request for bribe before rendering services to Cameroonians.