Corruption and Leadership

Why Biya must lead, and not only rule Cameroon
Paul Biya must rise up to the challenge of his office and assume a leadership anchored on principles, integrity, and exemplary self-sacrifice. Only then would he become the leader of Cameroon; not just its President.
By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai, Boston Massachussettes, USA

Paul Biya

For the umpteenth time, Cameroonians at the turn of the year had the assurances of President Paul Biya that better days were at hand. For that many number of times, Cameroonians have ended up with shattered hopes, broken promises and failed commitments. If anything, the nation has continued to harvest audacious scandals of pervasive high profile corruption, embezzlement, inertia and insubordination.
    Which ever way Cameroonians turn, they are confronted with overarching problems. There is a sense of foreboding that prosperity will be long in coming, as hospitals, roads, schools, jobs and all indices of the greatest good for the greatest number remain elusive.
    It is entirely in line with the character of Cameroonian leadership to moan about problems, which ordinarily, are their responsibility to solve. The latest display of this disgraceful disposition came from the President himself who used the occasion of his traditional year-end address on 31 December 2013 to express apprehension over the inertia, pervasive corruption and under-performance of his government.
    However, the President failed to tell Cameroonians what he intends to do about these ills, besides the usual banter and empty platitudes. Neither did he even mention the several reports of Transparency International (TI), the global corruption watchdog, which has always rated Cameroon poorly.
    It is cheering for Biya to admit after 33 years that nation-building can only be pursued in an environment of social justice and equity; this is what democracy is all about. But if the perception outlook of corruption and misrule in Cameroon is to improve, Biya should be more accommodating of critical independent reports, which he must publicly reference to demonstrate his firm resolves to tackle the problems. Ignoring such reports is not an appropriate way to tackle such endemic problems.

    In its annual ranking of corruption for 2013, TI ranked Cameroon as the 30th most corrupt country in the world. Despite all the anti-corruption hysteria in the wake of the arrest of some high profile public servants on charges of corruption and embezzlement, Cameroon dropped ten places from 2011 when it ranked 40th.
    This unsavory development should worry the President because it points to the failure of the government, as a whole, to roll out a cohesive and comprehensive policy against corruption that is causing considerable embarrassment to Cameroonians, even as the problem continues to spiral out of control. Biya should seriously address the threat posed by corruption to the nation’s future.
    There is little doubt that time is running out on the country, as its daunting developmental challenges are deeply rooted in widespread poverty and unemployment, which in turn, are outcomes of pervasive corruption and bad governance. Pathological greed for money has rendered purposeful leadership prostrate. Cameroon has been taken hostage by vampire elite who are hell bent on maintaining and expanding their private economic estates and see the country as a jungle to be plundered with impunity.
Biya has the ultimate and unique responsibility to demonstrate his seriousness about tackling graft. He should lead by example! Business as usual will only lead Cameroon into despondency and chaos.
    The TI report somewhat confirmed the Mo Ibrahim Foundation 2012 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which ranked Cameroon 36th out of 52 African countries on indicators of good governance. Cameroon’s woeful performance on the TI and Ibrahim African Governance Index is the result of systemic corruption; a reflection of the sad inability of the government to translate public revenue into improved living standards for the majority of Cameroonians. Interestingly, Cameroonians know, based on their own experiences, that their country is one of the most corrupt in the world.
    It is disheartening that corruption investigations by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC) and the Ministry of Supreme State Audit are simply dismissed as political vendetta against those who have fallen out of favor with the ruling establishment. Despite the 2012 CONAC report on corruption, the President should be worried that none of the persons cited in the report have been questioned, let alone arrested.
    It points to the absence of a coherent strategy to scale back galloping corruption and make the anti-graft agencies more effective. The special anti-corruption court remains a huge joke. Progress and credibility in fighting corruption can only be won through concrete, proactive strategies, not cheap slogans. There should be a coordinated strategy against corruption and the buck must stop at the President’s desk.
    2015 is the time to recalibrate the fight against corruption with target benchmarks to measure results. Cameroonians are not fooled by official pretences to fight graft. Even in this climate of rot, Biya himself has admitted that the culture of impunity is indefensible as it undermines trust in government and national institutions. It also increases the appeal of unorthodox means to achieve change which Cameroonians have been yearning for since 1990.
    Our path to greatness will be defined by the choices we make today. Biya should take the lead in saving the country from corruption and other retrogressive vices occurring in the country. The President must rise up to the challenge of his office to diligently assume a leadership anchored on principles, integrity and exemplary self-sacrifice. Only then would he become the leader of Cameroon; not just its President.