The National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC, popularly known in French as CONAC, has successfully evaluated the 2012 drafted Southwest Regional Plan of Action. However, Delegates attending the event openly differed on issues relating to the level of attainment of certain priority actions.
At a two-day evaluation meeting spanning July 22 and 23, at the Buea Municipal Council, previous commitments of the different Government sectors from 2012 were appraised, new action plans drawn up with a move to educate and assist sectors on how to do away with corrupt practices. During the meeting, a member of the Coordination Committee, NACC, Samuel Tangang Fohtung, noted that NACC for the very first time was not out to track down embezzlers but to help train these Government bodies on how to avoid bad practices that could lead to drastic sanctions.
Attended by Southwest Regional Delegates, local Chiefs, Councilors, Mayors, Non-governmental Organisations, NGOs, religious bodies, civil society organisations and other relevant interest groups were split on the evaluation of the earlier drafted 2012 action plan for the Region. In the transport domain, the evaluation committee noted that there was an 80 percent improvement in the sector; reason being that, one could acquire a driving license within four days of commencing the procedure.
This however, was countered by other delegates who argued only ranking officials were privy to this innovation and that the man in the street could not be said to feel this same impact, or better still, benefit from the same innovation. On developing an electronic contracts award procedure, some participants felt that a lot has to be done in the domain as only about 20 percent success rate was recorded during the year under review.
Differences heightened, when they debated the educational sector in which about 15 percent was allocated to the monitoring of teachers and their professional ethics. The team which evaluated the sector was of the opinion that, very few teachers uphold ethical practices adding that a majority of teachers, especially those in the elementary sector in the suburbs, illegally collect fees, sell marks, teach for a week and abandon their stations after collecting money as test fee and more.
But a representative from the Delegation of Education contradicted this view, saying that about 60 percent should be allotted to the domain owing to the fact that many schools have discipline masters who do not only sanction students but also teachers.
Another worrying scenario of this sector which was raised was the lack of sensitisation of teachers on the existence of texts concerning their allowances. This as from 2012 to 2014 saw only a percentage of 10.
It was revealed with dismay that the Government provides incentives to teachers but that the dues don’t get to them because of corrupt Head Teachers who hide this information and that even when they do release it the money is often distributed unevenly to teachers.
The dressing code of the Region was also brought under examination as participants acknowledged that a lot had been done to curb indecent dressing. They recalled instances of arrests by policemen of girls and boys who dressed poorly, especially during celebrations to mark Cameroons 50 years of Reunification that took place in Buea.
In the long run, NACC was partially satisfied with the developments, and so, together with the participants came up with the Annual Anti-Corruption Plan of Action for the Region for 2014 to 2015. According to the said Plan, Regional Delegates, Heads of Service, are supposed to make sure that acceptable codes of conduct in their respective sectors are implemented and made accessible to the public and to compile a Regional directory of corrupt contractors and vote holders.
Nonetheless, the Plan also stipulates that quarterly meetings be held to evaluate anti-corruption activities carried out in the Region; a quarterly report on the state of corruption be produced and that administrative authorities should display the costs of specific services offered, as well as ensure that the budgeting and management of financial resources in councils are computarised through specific software.
Moreover, the involvement of the media, CSO, NGOs, traditional and religious authorities in every anti-corruption initiative carried out in the Region was also prime on the Plan. The IMAM of Buea, Alhadji Mohammed Aboubakar, saw religion as an ideal weapon of curbing corruption. According to him religious organisations ought not to relent in moralizing the population. “If you want to effect a change, you must start from yourself. As humans, we have flaws, but we should endeavor to make amends,” Aboubakar added.
The Chief of Bonjava Village in the Bonjongo Court Area, Patrick Ikoke, and the 2nd Deputy Mayor of the Limbe II Council, Nangah Ndome Neh also present at the seminar, challenged participants to re-examine their collective conscience, and that corruption would not only affect the present generation but the future as well.
