DOUALA, Cameroon (Trustlaw) – Cameroon’s high profile anti-graft operation has turned into a political witch-hunt ahead of next year’s presidential election, civil society groups say.
Public support for the crackdown is dwindling amid suspicions it is being used as a way to remove certain influential people from power, activists say.
The government has denied the allegations and strongly defended Operation Epervier (Sparrowhawk) as a crucial weapon in the fight to stamp out graft in Cameroon, once considered the world’s most corrupt country.
The operation has seen the arrest of dozens of former government ministers, parliamentarians, senior civil servants and managers of state-run corporations.
But activists, lawyers and media reports say the operation is cherry-picking its targets and doing nothing to lower levels of corruption.
“We have put people in jail, but we have done absolutely nothing within the system to stop the next guy from doing the exact same thing,” said Kah Walla, head of Cameroon Obosso, a Douala-based civil society group.
Walla said the operation has failed to deter rampant corruption across the country because people believe it is directly linked to political infighting within the ruling party of President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 28 years.
“It has not escaped our minds that the people who were put in jail are primarily those who were suspected of setting themselves up as successors to Paul Biya,” said Walla, who plans to run for president.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Cameroon was ranked 146 out of 178 nations in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index in 2010, an improvement on 1998 and 1999 when it was ranked the most corrupt country in the world. Some officials believe recent government efforts to combat corruption, including Sparrowhawk, have contributed to this progress.
“Cameroonians complained about corruption and said nothing was being done about it; now people are being arrested, tried and sentenced and they say it is politically motivated. What do they want at the end of the day,” said a senior ministry of justice official who did not want to be named.
Some of the government’s bilateral partners also voiced support for the overall anti-corruption drive saying graft has been a serious impediment to the country’s efforts to attract investment and the impact of the campaign will come gradually.
Click to continue reading Cameroon graft crackdown is poiltical witchhunt -civil groups
There is no doubt that this is a political witch hunt by Paul Biya, the butcher of etoudi.
Biya Paul has stolen the most money from La Repupublique and Southern Cameroons than any individual or entity.
For there to be justice and peace in Cameroon, the tree of Liberty and Freedom must watered with the blood of terrorist, gang members, thiefs like Paul Biya and his mobster accomplices.
CPDM is rallying frogs here and arm robbers in uniform to Abakwa ahead of the butchers visit.
We call on Abakwa boys and girls, men and women, our brothers and Sisters from all over Southern Cameroons to rise up against 28 years of reign of terror against Southern Cameroonians.
Posted by: njimaforboy | Wednesday, 17 November 2010 at 03:01 PM