TI rates President and Prime Minister's offices amongst most corrupt

Transparency International Cameroon, TI-C, has listed the Presidency of the Republic and the Prime Minister’s Office amongst the most corrupt administrations as perceived by the citizens.

This is the outcome of a survey conducted across 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa by TI in partnership with Afrobarometer between March 2014 and September 2015.

“44 percent of individuals sampled in Cameroon affirmed that corruption rose within the last 12 months,” said Roger Ngoh Yom as he presented the results of the survey in Yaounde on December 9, 2015.

Ngoh Yom said 57 percent of the respondents said the government is failing in its duty to curb corruption.

He said one out of two Cameroonians sampled admitted having paid a bribe within the last 12 months, while corruption, described in the report as endemic in Cameroon, is one of the three main worries of the population after unemployment and health problems.

The report reveals that 56 percent of the population interrogated are ready to individually do something to fight against corruption while 30 feared negative consequences that could befall people who venture to report corrupt practices.

On the other hand, 13 percent were of the opinion that nothing would happen if acts of corruption are reported.

Going by the results and the corruption perception in 10 selected institutions following responses from the citizens, the TI-C report reveals that 56 percent of the population classified the police corps followed by taxation agents with 54 percent, as the most corrupt sectors.

An emerging and strange phenomenon, according to Ngoh Yom, of those perceived and classified in the third position as corrupt in Cameroon are business executives with a percentage of 52, closely followed in the fourth position by court judges and magistrates with 51 percent.

In that order, members of government are rated as corrupt with 45 percent; municipal councillors 36 percent; Parliament 35 percent; Presidency and PM’s Office 34 percent; traditional rulers 27 percent and religious leaders 18 percent.

Presenting corruption in Cameroon as endemic, Ngoh Yom reiterated that one out of every two citizens paid a bribe for a service in the public administration thus, placing Cameroon as the second most corrupt country in Africa after Liberia.

The TI-C survey results notes further that 48 percent of service users in Cameroon paid a bribe to at least one of the six public services under consideration within the last 12 months.

Service sectors such as water and electricity; identification papers, voters’ cards and official authorisation as well as the police, all scoring 34 percent, were identified as the most corrupt where bribes are squeezed out from the population in return for services rendered.

Public schools and the courts with 32 percent each; and clinics and public hospitals with 31 percent, were classified as corrupt in that order.

Highlighting the fact that the efforts of the government in combating corruption are not enough, the TI-C official classified eight most important problems affecting citizens for which the government must look for urgent solutions.

They include: unemployment (42 percent); health (32 percent); corruption (23 percent); education (21 percent); road infrastructure (20 percent); crime and insecurity (17 percent); water (15 percent); and poverty and social exclusion (14 percent).

In a set of recommendations, TI-C called for the ratification of the African Union Convention on the prevention and fight against corruption; adoption of an anti-corruption law which punishes amassing of illicit wealth; ensuring the application of article 66 of the Constitution on the declaration of assets; and implementing strict measures to fight corruption perpetrated by the police and taxation agents.

Others are: rendering independent the actions of anti-corruption organs; reinforcing integrity in all public administrations; protecting corruption whistleblowers and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary.