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Corruption in Cameroon

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Corruption in Cameroon Corruption in Cameroon CORRUPTION IN CAMEROON - 1 - Corruption in Cameroon © Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Cameronn Tél: 22 21 29 96 / 22 21 52 92 - Fax: 22 21 52 74 E-mail : [email protected] Printed by : SAAGRAPH ISBN 2-911208-20-X - 2 - Corruption in Cameroon CO-ORDINATED BY Pierre TITI NWEL Corruption in Cameroon Study Realised by : GERDDES-Cameroon Published by : FRIEDRICH-EBERT -STIFTUNG Translated from French by : M. Diom Richard Senior Translator - MINDIC June 1999 - 3 - Corruption in Cameroon - 4 - Corruption in Cameroon PREFACE The need to talk about corruption in Cameroon was and remains very crucial. But let it be said that the existence of corruption within a society is not specific to Cameroon alone. In principle, corruption is a scourge which has existed since human beings started organising themselves into communities, indicating that corruption exists in countries in the World over. What generally differs from country to country is its dimensions, its intensity and most important, the way the Government and the Society at large deal with the problem so as to reduce or eliminate it. At the time GERDDES-CAMEROON contacted the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for a support to carry out a study on corruption at the beginning of 1998, nobody could imagine that some months later, a German-based-Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Transparency International, would render public a Report on 85 corrupt countries, and Cameroon would top the list, followed by Paraguay and Honduras. - 5 - Corruption in Cameroon Already at that time in Cameroon, there was a general outcry as to the intensity of the manifestation of corruption at virtually all levels of the society. Consequently, it did not take much for GERDDES- CAMEROON to convince the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung as to the pertinence of such a study. Its devastating consequences for the society, the economy and, on the behaviour of citizens in general were and still cannot be overemphasised. Besides, it is not the first time that the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has lend support for such an endeavour, with the objective to help in the fight towards the elimination of this «drawback» to democracy. By way of example, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung organised from the 16th to the 17th of February 1995, in Berlin, a conference on corruption in Germany. The conference papers were later published under the heading : «Corruption in Germany : its causes, its manifestations and strategies to fight against it» This publication attracted a high level of attention in the German Media and in the German society as a whole. So, it is the fervent wish of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Carneroon that the present study on Corruption in Cameroon be taken as a working instrument by all those who are in-charge of running both the Civil and Political affairs of the country, to help them in locating and analysing, etc., the «Corruption Syndrome» towards taking the necessary measures to fight to reduce, why not, eliminate it. In my opinion the empirical part of the study describes the problem in a very concrete and vivid way. I wish to express my gratitude to GERDDES-CAMEROON, the co-ordinator of this study and to all those who in one way or the other, contributed in making this study available for Reading and for the eventual putting into use of it. Dr. Harald Bammel Resident - Representative - 6 - Corruption in Cameroon Table of contents PREFACE .......................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................. 11 INTRODUCTION........................................................... 13 1. The problem ......................................................................... 14 2. Methodology and reasons for this survey ...................... 21 A. The national survey ...................................................... 21 B. Workshops ....................................................................... 24 C. Survey according to sector of activity ....................... 25 3. Observations recorded during the national survey ....... 26 4. Plan of survey ...................................................................... 28 Part One OBSERVATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENON ........................................... 29 Chapter I PERCEPTION OF THE CORRUPTION PHENOMENON ............................................................ 31 - 7 - Corruption in Cameroon 2. Impact of government campaign against corruption. ........ 39 Chapter II MANIFEST A TIONS OF CORRUPTION.................. 43 1. Corruption in the award of government contracts ............. 44 2. Corruption in the insurance sector ........................................ 51 3. Corruption in the customs service ......................................... 52 4. Graft in the army and in the forces of law and order ......... 53 5. Corruption in the justice department .................................... 54 a. Corruption practised between clients and members of the Judiciary.................................................................... 54 b. Corruption among members of the judiciary .................. 55 6. Political corruption.............................................................. 57 Chapter III THE CAUSES .................................................................. 59 1. Historical causes ....................................................................... 61 2. Causes of corruption according to the findings of the national survey ............................................................. 64 3. Causes of corruption according to the findings of the sectorial survey............................................................. 66 A. Justice.................................................................................... 66 C. The insurance sector........................................................... 69 4. Interpretation of the corruption phenomenon .................... 71 a. A critical look at the problem of impunity...................... 72 b. Do poverty and poor conditions of work account for or justify corruption?.................................................... 78 c. The cause of corruption ..................................................... 80 - 8 - Corruption in Cameroon Chapter IV CONSEQUENCES OF CORRUPTION ...................... 83 A. Consequences of corruption on justice ............................... 83 B. Consequences of corruption on the economy..................... 84 C. Consequences of corruption on society ............................... 90 a.On the social structure ........................................................ 90 b. Impunity, a most serious crime against the nation ......... 91 Chapter V WAYS AND MEANS TO CURB CORRUPTION ....... 95 Part II VARIOUS VIEWS ON CORRUPTION IN CAMEROON ................................................................. 103 CORRUPTION IN CAMEROON : THE MEDIA ‘S VIEWPOINT .................................................................. 105 I. Corruption in Cameroon from 1990 to 1997 ......................106 A. Sports: an arena full of corruption ................................107 a. The «eked affair»...........................................................107 B. The tomota affair...............................................................108 a. The ombgassema affair ................................................109 C. The 1992 cellucam affair .................................................112 D. 1992 Legislatives elections..............................................114 E. The 1991 Odile MBALA affair ......................................115 II. What do newspapers in cameroon say? ..............................117 THE JURIST’S POINT OF VIEW ................................ 133 By Alain-Didier Olinga and Jean-Marie Bendegue ..........133 - 9 - Corruption in Cameroon II. The Law, a Relatively unadapted Instrument for the fight Against Corruption. ............................................... 145 Bendegue Jean-Marie Vianney Introduction ..................................................................................151 1. Cameroonian Law in the way it is structured and practised at present cannot deal with the thorny problem of corruption...........................................................152 2. Manifestation of Impotence........................................... 177 II. Appropriate rerorms are necessary for solving the current crisis and restoring the law in its preventive and coercive functions. ....................... 180 1. Punitive measures..............................................................180 Presentation on corruption in Cameroon By a Political Figure ....................................................... 195 Corruption and its economic effects in Cameroon ...... 200 Introduction ...................................................................... 200 I. The manifestation of corruption .....................................201 II. The foundations of corruption .......................................203 III. The economic and social effects of corruption .........206 Conclusion...............................................................................211 Bibliography ............................................................................212 Transparency International and Cameroon.................. 213 Introduction ..................................................................................213 I.Controversy surrounding a communique.........................216 II. From same to same, pockets of resistance...................231
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