“Decentralise CONAC Structures By Creating Branches in Regions”

Rev. Dr Dieudonné Massi Gams, Chairman of the National Anti-corruption Commission (CONAC).

What are the major improvements in the fight against corruption contained in Cameroon’s 2016 Anti-corruption Status Report compared to that of 2015?

When we compare the level of the fight against corruption in 2015 to 2016, we can say that there is improvement. This is because we have noticed that in 2015 the fight had an average of about 27 per cent implementation rate of the National Strategy for the Fight Against Corruption. After that, we went to the field and also saw how regions were working. We saw that at the national level there was a slight improvement of 1.89 per cent implementation rate. The first region in the fight against corruption is the Adamawa and the last one is the South Region. The volume and contents of the 2016 Report demonstrates the strong involvement of many stakeholders in its elaboration. In 2015, only 25 out of 37 ministries took an active part in the fight against corruption. In 2016, this figure rose to 31 out of 37. In the same year, eight Anti-corruption Units were created in Public Administrative Establishments, Public and Semi-public companies and three others in Ministries. The report further shows the willingness of the majority of citizens to fight against corruption. A total of 2,402 reports were received from all regions of Cameroon as well as from abroad. The 2016 Anti-corruption Status Report focused on five key areas. What the motivated the choice of these areas? The sectors concerned in the report are Customs, General Treasuries of Buea and Bertoua, National Cocoa and Coffee Board, financial controls of road works and rapid intervention actions. We did not have preference for any particular sector. We carried out investigations following the denunciations we received. Every year, we work according to the denunciations we receive. For example, the denunciations in 2016 indicated that the country’s treasury sector had some problems. As such, we sent our staff on the field to carry out the investigations of the denunciations. Next time we will do more than that in other structures. We have continued to work according to what we have decided to. We work according to the strategy that the government has adopted. The implementation of the National Anticorruption Strategy defines the work we have to do. I say the fight against corruption is not only the responsibility of CONAC but that of every ministry, structure, every citizen of this country and everybody must be really involved. When people think that the fight a...