How
can corruption be fought in Cameroon? The fight against corruption is an
ongoing fight. Lots of proposals have been put up. Dr. Chi Asafor Cornelius, a
state inspector; Inspector General of the Supreme State Audit Office of
Cameroon drew up a list of measures which can be categorized into institutional
and legal reforms. Other initiatives from civil society were included as well.
The measures he proposed are:
v The
setting up of price intelligence units;
v The
harmonization of business law in Africa;
v An
overall improvement of accounting standards;
v The
establishment of national ethics committees;
v The
enactment of corruption and economic crimes acts;
v The
establishment of codes of conduct for public officers;
v The
reform of banking laws to check money laundering
v The
institution of national programs on governance;
v The
development of corporate governance manuals;
v The
introduction of legislation governing whistle blowing;
v The
promotion of transparency within the oil sector;
v The
monitoring of budget expenditure by members of the public;
v The
development of a code of conduct for government ministers;
v The
creation of special courts of justice to deal with corruption;
v The
finalization of a number of governance codes;
o
For the commercial sector;
o
For the cooperative
sector;
o
Sample code of best practices;
o
Corporate governance
strategies for the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
v The
institution of minimal internal audit standards for banking institutions;
v Establishment
of more initiatives to improve the environment for capital markets;
v The
enactment of laws on the formal disclosures of assets by all high ranking
government officers;
v The
establishment of national committees on investments and a national charter on
investments;
v The
initiation and implementation of due diligence processes in the award of
contracts;
v The
creation of specialized units to fight fraud in sensitive economic areas like
forestry and mining;
v The
launching of corporate governance training programs through institutions of
higher learning;
v The
establishment of legal reforms to strengthen the anti-corruption drive, public
procurement and internal audit;
v The
launching of the business action against corruption aimed at providing the
first opportunity for government and the private sector to jointly conduct a
diagnosis of the critical problems relative to corruption.
There
are certain preconditions that must be present for the effective implementation
of anti-corruption measures. These preconditions include the following:
ü The
existence of public administration systems and public sector stability, which
entails the organization of administration with rules whose violation warrants
sanctions from a well-established legal system. This means the state is subject
to the rule of law.
ü The
existence of compatible legal regimes that can help avoid constant conflicts of
laws that might be responsible for delays in procedure and due process (Cornelius) .
ü The
ability of a criminal system to deal with complex cases: these entail the
training of magistrates in some special areas like banking law and practices,
money laundering, international trade, customs law (national and
international), company law, international criminal law, conflict of laws,
international monetary transactions (Cornelius) .
ü There
has to be prioritization in action in order to prevent the anti-corruption
process from being mixed-up and cumbersome.
ü The
institution of pay-for-performance in the public sector.
Anti-Corruption
Initiatives Initiated by Cameroon’s Government
The
Cameroon government has already taken certain measures to fight against
corruption. The establishment of the National Anti-corruption Commission
(CONAC) by Decree No. 2006/088 on March 11, 2006 by the Head of State;
President Paul Biya is a major milestone in the fight against corruption in the
country.
CONAC
can be classified among independent bodies although it is directly supervised
by the Head of State. It monitors and evaluates the effective implementation of
the government’s anti-corruption program. It also coordinates and regulates the
national anti-corruption policy framework in Cameroon, with investigative
capacities and a mandate to gather and analyze allegations and information about
corrupt practices.
Cameroon’s
National Anti-Corruption strategy was elaborated in 2010 and adopted by the
government in 2011. A second volume elaborated in 2012 still awaits adoption by
the government. The following are the main anti-corruption laws in Cameroon (Profiles: Cameroon, 2016) :
§ Constitution
of Cameroon: Amendment of constitution of Cameroon by Law N° 96-06 of 18
January 1996 completing the 1972 Constitution of Cameroon requires the filling
of a statement of assets and liabilities for all public officials.
§ Declaration
of assets and properties: Law N° 2006/3 of 25/04/2006.
§ Penal
Code: Law N° 65-LF–24 of 12 November, 1965; Law N° 6-LF–1 of 12 June, 1967; Law
N° 177/23 of 6 December, 1997; Law N° 72
– 16 of 28 September, 1972.
§ Criminal
Procedure Code: Law N° 2005/007 of 27th July 2005.
§ Special
Criminal Court: Law N° 2011/028 of 14 December, 2011.
§ Bank
confidentiality: Law N° 2003/004 of 21/04/2003.
§ Financing
of political parties and election campaigns: Law N° 2000/088 of 11 March 2006.
§ Cameroon
Tax Code;
§ Cameroon
Public Service Code;
§ National
Governance Program;
§ Cameroon
Public Procurement Code;
§ African
Union Convention on the fight against corruption;
§ UN
Convention against corruption ratified by Cameroon on 25th April
2004;
UN
Convention for the fight against transnational organized crimes.
Works Cited
Cornelius,
D. C. (n.d.). Exploring Issues Around Preconditions For Effective
Implementation of Anti-Corruption Measures. Retrieved January 28, 2016,
from nacf.org.za:
www.nacf.org.za/global_forum5/presentations1/030_Cornelius.doc
Profiles: Cameroon. (2016, February).
Retrieved January 28, 2016, from acauthorities.org:
http://www.acauthorities.org/country/cm
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