Fighting Corruption: Tackle Cankerworm From The Roots

Concretely, the current policy of NACC is focused on the preventive aspect of the anti-corruption drive by training the education community and getting everyone on board so that when the pupils and students take up responsibilities of leadership in society, they will be people of integrity to promote justice, peace, equity, transparency, general interest and development.
To nip the corruption cankerworm in the bud, the National Anti-corruption Commission has embarked on a nationwide campaign to fight against corruption in the school milieu on the theme, “Back to school 2022-2023 without corruption”. The campaign led by the Chairman of NACC, Rev. Dr. Dieudonné Massi Gams targets administrative authorities, regional delegates of education and vocational training ministries, heads of public educational institutions, bureau members of the Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs) ; as well as pupils and students. The anti-corruption crusaders move from school to school and other public places putting up anti-corruption posters with the objective to draw the attention of the education stakeholders on the negative effects of corruption and ways of fighting the cankerworm.
The target sector of the anti-corruption crusade is more so justified by statistics from the survey carried out by NACC which indicate that the educational milieu is one of the most corrupt in the country. Information from the survey indicates that corruption at the Basic Education level is 6.4 over 10, Secondary Education 7.5 over 10 and Higher Education 7.8 over 10. The level of corruption has negative consequences such as scepticism on the validity of results obtained in competitive and official examinations, quality of performance and certificates awarded.
The dangerous practices of buying and selling of marks, exchange of marks for good and services, fraud in examinations and some parents seeking to influence the promotion of their children to higher classes are rife in the educational milieu. At this level, many children are introduced to cheating, corruption and when they grow up it becomes a culture which is difficult to eradicate.
The domain of award of certificates is one of the most porous as fake certificates are fabricated by different networks and sold to people seeking admission to the public service and other institutions. The recent decision by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo to dismiss 929 Gendarme and army recruits from military training schools and centres because they possessed and presented fake certificates during the entry phase is eloquent proof of the corrupt  practices  that go on around certificates in the country.
Government has over the years been putting up a spirited fight against the cankerworm that has eaten deep into the various fabrics of society. A myriad of institutions have been created each specialised in its domain to fight against corruption. There are institutions such as the Supreme State Audit Office, National Anti-corruption Commission, the Special Criminal Court, the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court, National Agency for Financial Investigation, the various courts and the Anti-corruption Units in Ministries, some public and semi-public institutions. These institutions have been making formidable efforts to fight either to eradicate or reduced the corruption scorch in society. The proof is that many people including former top government officials have been and are being taken to court for corruption charges. Some have been judged, found guilty and sentenced accordingly.
With the existence of the anti-corruption institutions, one would have been thinking that Cameroon should be among the communities where corruption has been reduced to the barest minimum. The institutions and the calibre of some people who have been imprisoned on corru...