From my diary of Commissions of Inquiries

There is nothing as glorious as transparency in public management or in a corporate enterprise. And there is nothing that supplements this transparency as the willingness to be probed, or the will by the competent authority to probe those with doubtful comportments in public management. In the heart of transparency therefore, lies the spirit of commissions of inquiries.

If then, in today’s Cameroon, we stand on roof tops and proclaim the message of our ability to fight corruption, without invoking the spirit of public commissions of inquiries in the broader sense of it, or in privacy in the narrower sense of the idea, then; we are working against our own good. We shall never win the battle.

For one thing diverse measures have been introduced, purporting to be fighting corruption, one of which was the introduction of police de police. Only a few months later, no one heard any more about the police which was expected to monitor secretly the activities of the police, mainly in the area of road checks.

Talking about the spirit of commissions of inquiries I would gladly state that I have been opportuned to have witnessed two commissions of inquiries instituted by the government of the then West Cameroon in the mid sixties.

One of these commissions was assigned to look into allegations of mismanagement and corruption in the then West Cameroon Electricity Corporation, popularly known as POWERCAM, headed by Mr. Mbiwan.

The other was an inquiry into the running of the Cameroon Development Agency, a public kind of investment company charged with the establishment of state companies.

The astonishing thing about these commissions was that, they were open to the public with full press coverages.

The other aspect which today will appear strange was that the reports of these commissions were made public and recommendations strictly respected by the sponsors of the commissions.

In one of these cases, the General Manager of Powercam was dismissed on findings that he used the corporation’s funds and materials to construct the Miramar Hotel in Limbe.

In the same case, a senior official of the company whom the management had sponsored for studies in Britain was withdrawn and sacked because; according to the findings he was not qualified for the course.

Similar consequences were meted out to those found guilty in the West Cameroon Development Agency, headed by Mr. Libaga.

So, it surprises me and I am sure some of those who witnessed those days when the spirit of commissions of inquiries lived, that today in Cameroon, commissions of inquiries have been stripped of their true spirit and meaning and simply turned into smokescreen for shading the transgressions of public servants.

Immediately after our disgrace in Brazil, I remember the anguish and disappointment of Cameroonians in the performance of the Lions. No one could determine on who to lay the blame.

The Head of State was not left out in this disappointment. He acted swiftly by instructing the Prime Minister to appoint a commission to investigate the source of this damage on the reputation of Cameroon as a recognized football nation.

One month was given Mr. PM, but whether he followed the instruction, and whether a commission was appointed, and whether it did its job and submitted its report, Cameroonians have not been told anything.

All Cameroonians were told is that, the coach has retained his post, has named his team, and played his first encounter with the DRC on Saturday. It is an unfortunate way of keeping a people in suspense. So who was responsible for the blunder in Brazil? Do Cameroonians not deserve the right to know?

Fortunately, the Coach Folker Finke has vindicated himself with a new team and new victory.