Cameroon Country Profile

Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives

  • Legislation: Corruption in the form of active and passive bribery, extortion, bribing a foreign official, money laundering and misuse of public funds for private gain is criminalised the Penal Code and punishment can include a prison term of 5 years to life and a fine up to USD 4,000 plus seizure of assets. In mid-2005, Parliament passed a bill to harmonise the Penal Code in the French and English-speaking parts of the country. Article 66 in Cameroon's constitution stipulates that those overseeing public funds declare their possessions. A law on the subject was passed in 2006, which requires state administrators and managers to disclose their assets upon entering office and when leaving office. A presidential decree implementing the law is however still missing. The Code of Penal Procedures 2005 came into force in January 2007. The code entails some new features as it extends the lawyer's role to include the preliminary phase of the penal lawsuit and it establishes an examining magistrate thereby ending the joint prosecution and investigation functions of the public prosecutor, which was previously a source of corruption. Moreover, the code requires judges to write down their rulings before they are delivered as the delay in drafting rulings provided opportunities for corruption. Access the Lexadin World Law Guide for a collection of legislation in Cameroon.

  • Government Strategies: The government installed a new computer programme to detect fraud by government employees in March 2005, which revealed that around 3,000 'ghost' employees had served the public administration since 1994, and cost the government around USD 2 million each month. The CHOC-Cameroon programme (CHOC stands for Change Habits, Oppose Corruption) was launched in February 2007. Initiated by the government and the '8+6 Group', and supported by international donors, the three-year programme is intended to reduce corruption by creating a national governance programme, enforced by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC), anti-corruption cells within ministries and the new Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF). CHOC-Cameroon must now draw up a national anti-corruption strategy, implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), operationalise CONAC and ANIF and strengthen the role of civil society. The last of these entails drawing up an anti-corruption charter for civil society organisation, establishing a national committee to coordinate and train member organisations, determining a network action plan and providing financial support for a national awareness-raising anti-corruption campaign.

  • Anti-Corruption Agency: The National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC) is the main anti-corruption agency in Cameroon and was established by presidential Decree No. 2006/088 (in French) in March 2006, thus replacing the National Corruption Observatory as of May 2007. The CONAC has a central structure with branches in almost all ministries. The CONAC has a coordinating and regulatory role in relation to the national anti-corruption policy framework in Cameroon. It has investigating capacities and has a mandate to gather and analyse allegations and information about corrupt practices. The findings of a CONAC inquiry can ultimately lead to disciplinary or legal proceedings. However, the CONAC cannot freeze, seize or confiscate assets nor does it have the power to refer cases to court or other disciplinary institutions. CONAC belongs under the authority of the President and the current chairman -Paul Tessa- is a member of the ruling party, which makes the impartiality of the institution questionable. Moreover, the management of CONAC's funds is controlled by other state authorities.

  • National Agency for Financial Investigations (ANIF): The ANIF was created by Decree No. 2005/087 of May 2005, following the adoption of regulation aimed at eradicating and preventing money laundering and the financing of terror in Central Africa by the Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale (CEMAC). As such, the ANIF is part of a network comprising similar institutions in the other member countries and has to report periodically to the regional supervisory authority - the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC).

  • Auditor-General: Cameroon has two supreme audit institutions. The Superior State Audit is a ministry under the Presidency of the Republic (Ministère chargé du contrôle supérieur de l'état au Cameroun) which is governed by the decree on the organisation of the government of 8 December 2004. It is mandated with the controlling and subsequent drafting of financial audits on the use of public funds by public bodies, regions, associations and professional organisations. The observations and recommendations of the audits are submitted to the President and afterwards the audit report is published in the Official Gazette. Moreover, the Superior State Audit certifies public accounts and examines them according to current law and submits them to the Court of Auditors for a judgement within three months of the close of the fiscal year. The Court of Auditors of the Supreme Court is governed by Law No. 2003/005. It is equivalent to a court of accounts and it reviews the accounts of certified public and other practising accountants. Moreover, the Court of Auditors carries out compliance audits. It has established a commission which examines accounts and documents. The findings and recommendations of the commission are forwarded in a confidential report to the President of the Republic and to the presidents of the Senate and of the National Assembly.

  • Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI): The government accepted the conditions of EITI in March 2005 and declared its oil revenue from an international oil pipeline online. The EITI supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining. Cameroon is listed as a candidate country in the EITI, which aims at strengthening transparency in the oil sector. It now has until 9 March 2010 to undertake validation. Cameroon's national oil company (SNH) has begun to publish data on its revenues, production and sales and Cameroon's Initiative Monitoring Committee has published two conciliation reports, one in 2006 and the other in 2007. Transparency International 2008 notes several problematic areas of Cameroon's efforts to conform to the EITI, stating that the EITI remains an elitist initiative remote from the everyday concerns of the people, while budgetary monitoring and opportunities for criticism and recommendations are inadequately developed.

  • E-Governance: The Presidency of the Republic in Cameroon has an official website with useful information on laws, decrees and information on corruption and governance. The website also provides links to other ministries as well as to foreign embassies and consulates in Cameroon. However, public initiatives that provide for online services such as licensing and registration which limit encounters with public officials have not been established. The National Agency for Information and Communication Technology (ANTIC) has in July 2009 developed a document for the installation and use of information technologies within government institutions. The aim of the document is to harmonise the practice within the different institution and modernise and ease public administration.

  • Public Procurement: The government began reforms in the public procurement process in 2002, installing observers to perform ex-post-facto audits on valuable procurements. A new procurement code regulating public tendering was passed in September 2004, replacing the three decrees from 1995 and 2002. The code has provisions that ensure objectivity; among them are the requirements that bidders are anonymous, limits on the use of mutual agreement and special markets procedures, maintenance of accounting documents etc. The bidding can be competitive and open or qualified, although sole sourcing is strictly limited. In addition, the government has recently created tender boards in all ministries to ensure transparency in tenders worth more than XAF 5,000,000. Any company which is found guilty of corruption will be given a two year sentence of suspension from public contracts. Unsuccessful bidders are legally entitled to instigate an official review of procurement decisions and to challenge them in court. However, when it comes to the enforcement of the regulation, many flaws are evident. Global Integrity 2008 states that the provisions are just there to please donors and not to be enforced. Reportedly, even if there is a high degree of transparency, with all major contracts being advertised and the final decision being made public, in practice contracts are awarded to political connected people. Moreover, only few of the companies found guilty of major violations of procurement regulations are prohibited from participating in future procurement bids.

  • Whistle-Blowing: According to Global Integrity 2008, neither civil servants nor private sector employees are legally or practically protected from recrimination or other negative consequences when they report cases of corruption. There are no internal reporting mechanisms for public or private sector employees to report corruption. The nascent National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC) lacks capacity and funding and has not established any whistleblower reporting mechanisms or given evidence that it intends to do so.

  • General Comments on the Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives: Cameroon government's will to fight corruption has been questionable for a long time, but the government seems to have committed more resources to curbing corruption in the past few years. Positive developments include the stripe of conviction of high-ranking officials and member of the government on corruption and embezzlement charges starting from 2006. Moreover, Article 66 of the constitution of 1996, which stipulates the disclosure of possessions of those who oversee public funds, was finally implemented in law in 2006. However, major flaws in the implementation of many measures persist. Among others, the law on declaration of assets is not in force yet. Moreover, the CONAC is not independent from political interference and neither is the Superior State Audit which is placed under the presidency of the Republic. The appointments and dismissals of the presidents of the Superior State Audit and the Court of Auditors are entirely up to the President. The Superior State Audit also suffers from under financing. Furthermore, the provisions in the public procurement code are not well observed in practice. In sum, the different agencies and commissions are not endowed with the adequate funding and mandate to carry out their mission. In addition, there is a need for a public information law, which would provide the public and civil society with effective instrument to hold the government accountable and check on public expenditure.