The long and interesting history
of the fight against corruption in Cameroon has taken a new twist.
Instead of arresting culprits of embezzlement and throwing them in jail without
recovering the stolen funds, government has adapted a new method of forcing
those found guilty of financial mismanagement to immediately cough out the
money. This move was further institutionalized and legalized by the creation of
Administrative Tribunals in all the Regions and the creation of the Special
Criminal Court for the trial of white collar robbers and the recovery of what
they have unduly stolen.
The first culprits amongst so
many others to face the new music include, Jean Jacques Ndoudoumou, Director
General of the Public Contracts Regulatory Board, ARMP that has been found
guilty of financial mismanagement and asked to pay FCFA 64 million just like
Jean Tabi Manga, Rector of University of Yaounde II Soa who has to pay FCFA 63
million while his Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Emmanuel Bokalli has to pay above CFA 162,671,100 being money he
mismanaged between 2006 and 2009. Equally, the former Government Delegate to
the Limbe City Council, Samuel Lifanda is to reimburse the sum of more than
FCFA 165 million to the Limbe City Council just like some of his closest
collaborators that have to regurgitate sums they either swallowed willingly or
caused others to swallow. On the firing lines are Iya Mohamed of SODECOTON,
Bruno Bekolo, Rector University of Douala, and Humphrey Ekema Monono, Registrar
of the Cameroon GCE that have to appear in front of the Budgetary and Financial
Disciplinary Council. The verdict of the Budgetary and Financial Disciplinary
Council has fallen as a bomb and Cameroonians have applauded the decisions
arguing that it is the right path to the anti-graft fight. The Budgetary and
Financial Disciplinary Council is an inter-ministerial organ chaired by Henri
Eyebe Ayissi, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Supreme State
Audit. Its decisions were made public on Monday June 11 and Wednesday June 13,
2012 indicting some state functionaries and inviting others to face the organ
in the days ahead. The Budgetary and Financial Disciplinary Council is an
inter-ministerial structure with members from the Presidency of the Republic,
the Ministries of Finance, Justice, Public Service and Administrative Reforms,
and the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation. These
sanctions emanate from scrupulous work done by members of the structure that
has held four sessions between April 15 and June 11, 2012 and has come out with
a final decision that has condemned and imputed sanctions on some public vote
holders for mismanagement and financial impropriety.
It is worthy to recall that when
the opposition political parties started crying foul in the early 90s that some
Cameroonians entrusted with the public purse were dipping their hands too deep
into the public purse and confusing between their private pockets and public
pockets, the powers that be asked for proofs. And it came to pass that the SDF
MPs in parliament pointed at the proofs and the Mounchipou gate kick-started
what was going to be a long and sustained effort by government to fight
corruption and embezzlement of public funds. A National Anti Corruption
Observatory was created and placed under the Prime Minister. Yet corruption
accentuated despite the fact that some government ministers and General Managers
of public and para-public structures were indicted for corruption and thrown
into prison.
The Head of State, President Paul
Biya took the bull by the horns and signed a Presidential Decree o Saturday,
March 11, 2006, creating a National Anti-Corruption Commission, NAC, with him
at the helm. Members were appointed in March 2007. NAC that was thus created
replaced the National Anti-Corruption Observatory, hitherto headed by the Prime
Minister that had its tentacles in all ministerial departments. NAC was given
independence and mission and responsibility of fighting against corruption.
NAC held seminars and partnered
with numerous Civil Society Organizations, associations, churches and
traditional leaders in a bid to kick out corruption in Cameroon. It even paid missions
abroad and curried foreign support to fight corruption. For instance in 2010
NAC received and treated 723 cases of corruption, 132 cases of embezzlement of
public funds and property, 41 cases of the violation of the dispositions
governing public contracts, 38 cases of interest in an act, 21 cases of
favouritsim, 15 cases of misappropriation of public funds, 27 cases of
influence peddling, 13 cases of abuse of function, 5 cases of conflict of
interest, 4 cases of unjustified enrichment and 1 case of participation in an
act.
However, NAC remained at the
level of denunciation and no concrete action was taken. Those accused of
embezzlement were thrown in jail without the funds being recovered. The Head of
State even recruited foreign expertise to recover the embezzled funds. Yet the
VIP criminals were enjoying the money in prison at the expense of Cameroonians.
According to Marc Mendouga Alima,
the Secretary of the Disciplinary Council, the state is interested in
recovering the money lost. This is when it is realized that the vote holder
caused a prejudice that caused the state to incur a loss in monetary terms or
services. He adds that when the Disciplinary Council has to investigate any
ministerial department or government structure, or even a local collectivity, a
representative of that structure is co-opted into the board to defend the
interest of that institution or ministerial department. There is also an
inter-ministerial organ charged with professional discipline that has its
headquarters in the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms.
Embezzlement is punished by the
penal code as public funds are used for personal ends, while mismanagement is
when a vote holder causes a prejudice by using the credits allocated for a
project for another project that might not have any bearing with what the
credits were destined for contrary to the law of 1974.
However, he added that
mismanagement can amount into a crime if the vote holder deliberately
institutes procedures that are not found in texts. For instance he said, a vote
holder can institute a bonus of 100% that the texts do not prevue, and then
collects 80% of that bonus or advantage. That amounts to embezzlement and not
simple mismanagement, he added. He said the interest of the State was to
recuperate money it has lost through her own means. It is still administrative
not yet judiciary. People not satisfied can proof their innocence in front of
an administrative judge, but this is done only after the State has already
collected the money. The SG reiterated that the decisions apply
immediately. Salary and property can be seized by sheriff/bailiffs for the
state to recuperate the money. A mixed commission of DGSN, MINATD, MINFI,
CONSUPE has been put in place to immediately recover the money. If after
seizure the administrative judge states that the person is not guilty the state
reimburses.
There is no gainsay that the
decision of the Budgetary and Financial Disciplinary Council has sent hot sweat
running down the spines of many public administrator as nobody knows for sure
who next will face the music. The public has applauded the decision because
instead of throwing people in jail while they still starch in foreign accounts
what they have stolen makes no sense. It becomes more evident that many public
managers are afraid of the unknown given that the Budgetary and Financial
Disciplinary Council intends to shine its searchlight into the darkest
cupboards and bring out all cases of financial impropriety. Chances are that
even some death people may be found guilty and asked to repay, in which cases
their properties may be seized and auction to recover what they embezzled.
What is making news is that those
caught in the corruption trap are those who are normally supposed to serve as
examples in the fight against corruption. Since there are only 100 days, the
thief may have 99 days but the one day left for the owner is the great day of
reckoning for the thief. Their names are being read over the radios and carried
on newspapers pages. What a way to study in the castle and graduate in the
toilet.
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