Allegations of corruption and personal responsibility

A former South Korean President, Roh Moo-Hyun (2003-2008), committed suicide for allegations that his family accepted $ 6 million in bribes during his term.

Although Mr. Roh never accepted wrongdoing, he left a suicide note for his family and the press which read "I am in debt to too many people…Too many people have suffered because of me… And I cannot imagine the suffering they will go through in the future."

I do not endorse suicide as a measure of one’s integrity, but suffice to state that in comparison to President Roh’s sense of remorse, most of the individuals accused of corruptions in Cameroon are nothing but devils incarnate.

A few years ago, in response to allegations of corruption from French anti-corruption watchdog groups, the former Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, authorised the Mayors of French cities where he was alleged to own properties to sell off whatever they find and donate the proceeds to charity.

Mr. Wade was precise, bold, definitive, detailed and daring in his denial. President Wade claimed that he owned only a flat in Paris, his residence when he spent many years in political exile as an opposition leader – long before he became the President of Senegal. Audacious move!! Getting ahead of the story of his rumoured property acquisitions was Wade’s tactic of damage control.

But it was also a move meant to demonstrate his attention to the Senegalese public’s disapproval of corruption. Whatever one thinks of Wade’s strategy of crisis management, he did something noteworthy: he responded directly, courageously, pointedly and in great detail to the allegations of corruption against him.

Models in Cameroon In Cameroon, public officials don’t get the point of responding to allegations and inquiries. They don’t get the principle that failing to disclose one’s position to the public on an allegation constitutes an abuse of public trust.

They prefer to hide in the disputed details or an arrogant bluster spiced with a dubious, distracting game of figures. They prefer to greet such allegations with a contemptuous silence. The principle is that silence starves the allegation of oxygen and kills it eventually without the accused public official having to defend his/her integrity. When was the last time a Cameroonian public official denied allegations of corruption with the clarity and declarative force of Wade’s denial?

Cameroonian public officials have another familiar, tired template for responding to their ethical problems: their political enemies are behind allegations that they have helped themselves to the public till. They never deny the allegations unequivocally or use the opportunity of “their enemies’ attacks” to declare what they own or don’t own and how and when they acquired their most valuable assets. Where clarity is desired they respond with evasion.

Good stewardship is about accounting for public funds entrusted into one’s care. A good steward would be insulted by allegations of corruption, so insulted as to be moved almost impulsively to be totally transparent with the details of his personal finances. Transparent, unambiguous denial is the answer to corruption allegations, not suspicious silence. It puts the burden right back on the accuser.

For the Cameroonian public official though, transparency is the enemy; his/her irrational fear is that denial only invites more scrutiny, which is true only if the denial is loaded with empty rhetoric calculated to obscure and distract rather than illuminate.

Because some Cameroonians public officials are, by and large, poor stewards of public resources, and because they usually have tainted consciences and unlawfully acquired bank accounts, they balk at disclosure, fearing it might open their dark sides and expose them to more damage. Why should a Minister with a clean record and an uncompromised conscience dread public scrutiny?

When a General Manager issues a denial statement that is steeped in officious, legalistic lingo and fails to directly confront the allegation against him/her, the public will rightly generate more probing questions for him/her, not less.

A morally secured Director should seek to thoughtfully and conclusively put any potentially damaging allegations to rest with a detailed denial and a challenge to the accusers to come forward with evidence. Many Cameroonian officials prefer the stonewalling technique. The game is perversely brilliant in its simplicity: if you don’t deny or confirm, you don’t open yourself up for more humiliating allegations. But this violates and disregards the public’s right to know.

The Country’s Burden The burden of these trends and attitudes is that Cameroon, once the rising pillar and pride of Africa, has become essentially unmanageable. The desire, as well as the capability, to make society achieve and progress, has almost totally vanished from the country.

How else should I explain the fact that, in Cameroon, some of the most corrupt Government officials are the most generous, preferring to dispense the country’s budget directly from their pockets, rather than from the public treasury?

The stories of Professor Gervais Mendo Ze’s and Gérard Emmanuel Ondo Ndong’s "generosity" are enough to fill the pages of an encyclopaedia. Some I have read and heard, could bring tears to your eyes. This false charity preserves the giver's power, keeping the people ever grateful and indebted. No wonder most of their supporters are ready to bite anyone that threatens the hand that feeds them.

In a related divide-and-conquer strategy, Cameroon’s corruption profile is not merely a matter of public official stealing public resources; it is a deliberate instrument of dominance, with which the controllers of Cameroon employ to recruit, subvert and manipulate chosen members of the elite of Cameroon’s various tribes.

The centrepiece of the recruitment and subversion is to ensure that the principal bandits in the game of corruption will thus have, among every tribe in Cameroon, a loyal army of fellow travellers, protectors and defenders. In this way, a large proportion of the politically ambitious men and women throughout the country have been converted into brigands and bandits – brigands and bandits focused on pillaging society, bereft of any loyalty to the country.

Question Of Personal Responsibility How about the personal responsibility of the accused individuals? These individuals who, it would appear, are always camouflaging their guilt by pointing to others who may be equally guilty? Or others, who are only being pointed to in an attempt to distract the real guilt of those being investigated, arrested and charged?

This is as if to say, my defence is rested on the guilt of others? Instead of using or relying on my complete innocence? Cameroonians ought to require and demand that accused persons answer for themselves and not depend on mere suspicions, unproven allegations, and guilt of all others! Individual introspective approach is needed before pointing a finger at anyone.