These Hard-to-die Bad Practices

The National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, recently published the 2021 corruption status report of the country which indicates that the State suffered a deficit of FCFA 43 billion 947 million 794 thousand and 138 francs as corruption damages. As compared to the 2020 report, Cameroon incurred an additional FCFA 26 billion corruption damages. Several practices were identified in eleven sectors of activity as to being rife in corruption practices. Of the eleven sectors are territorial administration, State property, survey and land tenure, education, health, road transport, justice, finance (customs, taxation, treasury), and trade. 
At the level of territorial administration, some bad practices that still persist include bribery as precondition for administrative authorities to sign documents, extortion of funds by Mayors during rounds conducted by SDOs and DOs, and demand for financial and material support from citizens during field visits by fact-finding and evaluation commissions. Issuance of fake land certificates and indulgence in the sale of private State land top corrupt practices in the land sector. In the educational milieu, bad habits that sail include bribery for recruitment and admission by Heads of Schools, protection of deserting teachers, illegal sale of uniforms in schools, refusal to issue receipts after payment of PTA fees, corruption in competitive entrance examinations to higher education institutions and embezzlement of the salaries of temporary teachers and support staff. 
Common misdeeds that unfortunately continue to prevail in the finance sector as noted by the report are; requesting tips when treating files, blocking files for non-payment of bribes, demanding percentages before the treatment of invoices by Finance Controllers and Municipal Treasures as well as the concealment of files. In health, the illegal sale of medications, swindling in the issuance of medical certificates, corruption in the issuance of Covid-19 test results and the ext...