Kini Nsom
1 May 2008
Buea — The US Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Janet Elizabeth Garvey, has urged government to go the whole hog and arrest all its corrupt officials in order to lay corruption to rest.
She made the call while visiting the Higher Institute of Public Management in Yaounde last week.
The Ambassador saluted government for arresting two former Ministers on charges of corruption recently. She urged government to go ahead, investigate and arrest all those who are embezzling billions of public funds and bringing untold misery to the Cameroonian people.
Garvey said she is expecting to see the National Anti-corruption Commission, CONAC, go on full throttle against the cankerworm by ensuring the veritable application of article 66 of the Cameroon Constitution that compels public officials to declare their assets.
The diplomat said there is no reason why Cameroon should continue to appear in the Transparency International ratings as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
While harping on the adverse effects of corruption, Garvey said the ill lowers the esteem and erodes the credibility of government.
To her, corruption scares the international community and keeps away foreign investors that would have created wealth through their investments in the country.Quoting World Bank statistics, the Ambassador said corruption heightens the cost of doing business in many parts of the world by 10 percent.
Corruption, she said, affects governance and economic prosperity. She said when former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was President of the African Union in 2006, he estimated that African countries lose as much as 25 percent of their national revenue to corruption.
The Ambassador said corruption is a universal scourge that exists even in the US. She revealed that public servants in the US are forced to abide by certain ethics that keep them away from falling in to temptation.
Garvey also said her embassy workers abide by strict ethics that make sure that corruption does not set in as 15,000 people scramble for visas. She said even she as the Ambassador cannot influence a consular officer to give a visa to anybody. According to the diplomat, anybody who is found guilty of corruption as far as visa delivery is concerned, is prosecuted and sentenced to a very heavy jail term.
The Higher Institute of Public managers, she said, should play an important role in the fight against corruption. She remarked that the institute can sensitize government officials on the high price of corruption and brief them on the advantages of accountability and transparency.
The Ambassador held that small acts of corruption were as harmful as big ones. When a policeman takes FCFA 1000 from a taxi driver, when a parent gives a bottle of wine to a school authority for his child to be admitted, she said, these are all acts of corruption that have the same effect.
Going by her, fighting corruption will lead to greater confidence between the government and the governed."I have heard that corruption is part of culture in this country. I take exception to this affirmation," she remarked. Garvey held that corruption reflects a system where impunity reigns. She said bad practices are not inevitable and can always be eliminated.
Efficient mechanisms, committed persons and political will, constitute all it takes for Cameroon to establish a situation of norms, ethics, checks and balances.She disclosed that the US government was committed to help the Cameroon government put in place the best management and transparency practices.
Each year she said, the embassy sends government officials, members of the civil society, journalists and MPs to the US to attend conferences on responsibility, governance and transparency. "Our objective is to help you, help your government," she intimated. In this perspective she said they bring in experts from the US to talk to Cameroonians on good governance.
The US Ambassador promised to help Cameroon retrieve stolen funds that have been stashed in foreign banks. Garvey's bold stance against corruption in Cameroon is akin to that of her predecessor, Niels Marquardt, who is believed to have pushed government to accelerate the fight against the scourge.
Government is now expected to go full swing and arrest the sharks whose names are said to appear in the list of those targeted for investigation by the Vice Prime Minister In charge of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Amadou Ali.
After delivering the lecture, the Ambassador donated 50 books on management, corruption, good governance, democracy, finances and human rights to the school. The Director of the school, Lawrence Effiom, received the books with a lot of gratitude.
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Corruption which is a universal perception unfolding any organised, mutually supporting structure in which part of the structure is either not performing duties it was initially intended to, or performing them in an inappropriate way, to the disadvantage of the system’s initial principle, has reached its water mark in Cameroon. It has affected the entire fabrics of the society. It has eroded investor confidence in Cameroon, and has absolutely accounted for the crumbling of the entire economy of the country. It’s more experienced in the public sector. With regards to political governance in Cameroon, corruption has rendered the political system completely dysfunctional in such a way that government and political officials seek personal gain through illegitimate means such as bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft and embezzlement. Political corruption is a specific form of rent seeking which is at its apex in Cameroon and must not be confused with property rental. Corruption is a cankerworm in Cameroon that has eaten deep into the stomach of its citizens. It is practically visible in every domain of human life in Cameroon, ranging from primary school headmasters and principals of government high schools, to directors in government departments and of various state corporations. In reality, part of the ethics governing public service delivery in Cameroon is corruption. It is in this light that the US Ambassador in Cameroon, His Excellency Janet Gavey in her talk urges the Cameroon government to embark on efficient mechanisms, committed persons and political will so as to establish a situation of norms, ethics, checks and balances. She postulated that corruption affects governance and economic prosperity. According to her argument with regards to the level of corruption in Cameroon, it implies that it is as a result of its water mark pitch that the international community is scared to come to Cameroon thus keeping away foreign investors that would have created wealth through their investment in the country. While hammering on the vices of corruption, she pointed out that its adversities are stumbling blocks to the government’s credibility. Even though she mentioned that corruption is a universal scourge that exists even in the US, she further argues that it is limited because of certain measures that the US government has put in place which forces its citizens to abide to certain rules that keeps them away from falling into temptation. At the end of her discussion, she urges the Cameroon government to emulate some of these examples. My suggestion here is that the way corruption is fought in the US cannot necessarily be the same way it could be combated in Cameroon. By this I mean, these are two different societies, in other words, it should be fought with regards to how our society functions. That is to say, the mechanisms that have been implored in the US may not necessarily be the same in Cameroon. Her suggestion of the Higher Institute of Public Management playing the national oversight role in the fight against corruption is a tangible point to reckon with. I think with the efficient running of this institute, it will be able to sensitize the government on the adversities of corruption and brief them on the advantages of accountability and transparency.