How Far WILL Biya Go - And How Far SHOULD He Go?

By Dibussi Tande

"How far will Biya go?" That seems to be the most commonly asked question these days as the public impatiently waits for more "heads to roll" as a result of Biya's anti-corruption campaign. However, a recent interview given to The Post Newspaper by Garga Haman Adji (aka "the whale hunter"), a former Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, raises a more relevant question: How far should Biya go, given the mind-boggling depth of institutionalised corruption in Cameroon?

For those who don't remember, a similar anti-corruption drive was launched in the early 1990s when Garga was the Minister of Public Services. Garga took the anti-corruption campaign so seriously that his enthusiasm threatened the very foundations of the Biya regime.

As a result, the President stepped in and unceremoniously stripped Garga of his authority to hunt the "big whales" that were emptying the national treasury. He resigned in protest in August 1992.

In his interview to The Post, Garga reveals that:

“When I resigned from the government in 1992, I left 42 very important files, which would be submitted to this body for the trial of at least 42 persons. I say "at least" because the administration or the public enterprises that State Control investigated, not only general managers or the financial directors that were corrupt; many other people were involved. Among these 42 persons that I am telling you, only three of them have been arrested between 1997 and now.”

Garga's 1992 "minimal list", must have increased tenfold by now... So how far should the anti-corruption go in order to be taken seriously and considered credible? You do the maths...

In the same vein, prominent Cameroonian journalist, Ntemfac Ofege, has published a series of articles on his weblog that "wade into the vile muck of corruption in Cameroon".
The articles show how the Biya regime created a predatory and prebendal system that thrived on institutionalised corruption:

"The turnover of every Biya government is about six months. What this means concretely is that persons appointed as ministers are given a very short time and the license to steal before they are kicked out again. Now there have been over 600 ministers, junior ministers, and persons with rank of minister since Mr. Biya came into power in 1982. This has been very bad news for Cameroon's public treasury.

Name one Biya minister who has not been involved in one racked or another! Small wonder a little upstart like Henri Eyebe Ayissi became Minister of Housing and Town planning when he had a rickety and wobbly "504". He left several months later with nineteen cars and a host of land titles."

Garga Haman's interview and Ntemfac's corruption series are required reading for anyone interested in understanding how Cameroon ended up in the mess that it finds itself today.

Dibussi Tande runs the Cameroon News weblog, "Scribbles from the Den" at www.dibussi.com

Comments

[Agborarrey]

Eyebe Ayissi, or what ever the name is, do you really care about others or just about yourself?? You are not a human when one looks at how greedy you embezzle wealth that has been contributed for the benefit of all of US. May you live for ever and drive your 19 cars. Shame on you and even some who clame they are God fearing like those who always sing and want to be portrayed as holly still are theives. Shame on you Mendo ZE. If we do not notice what you all are doing, know that God is and .......God know I say!!!!

[N G Tebeck]

Agbor ARREY, You seem to me not to have been in camerron for long.If you are so worried about some one who steals 19 cars or what ever what will you say about some one who swallowed hundreds of millions of frs CFA destined to help his village where he is even the chief after a natural didster strok that village. Guess what? He is one of the top ranking officals in gomen today, shhhhhh, don't tell any one lol,
I am not in support of corruption but what i am pointing out here in the this AYISSI man is only servant in the "kings palace" when it comes to corruption in this country.If you ask me how far biya should go i will tell you " he should go as far as arresting and prosecuting himself"

[Collins]

I think that question has its anwser ready. Biya should go as far as making sure all the money is back home including his. That`s all!!!!!!

[giddy]

Why worry aboout an injury that has already been sustained, may be good, in order to avoid future injuries, it does not matter how long, but for sure it is going to heal. for this reason i sometimes don't just want to be crossed by this bitter reality of corruption. If there is a word i have about this then is just one word, while the servants are jailed simply because they are servant to the king, the king should be paid in his own coins, the one word i have is the preseidential elections 1992 in Cameroon, corruption free or not. A good answer to my one word question is a way forward for the fight against corruption. Long live Cameroon and it institutions.

MANYWISE