Fight Against Corruption Everyone’s Concern
Government’s effort to combat corruption, fraud, and embezzlement of public funds continues.
Cynthia EFOPA
Who has never been confronted in public services with absurd expressions such as “where is my motivation, my beer, where is my gombo? What do you have for me? Where is the boss fuel? Is that what I eat? Give my taxi money…” these are some of the languages used by corrupter and corrupted persons to practice corruption which till date remains a canker warm despite the certain and constant political will to neutralize the ill. During the council of Ministers meeting of 15 June 2018, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya reiterated his instructions on the need for a judicious use of public resources, reduction of public spending and the fight against corruption. To match words with action, besides the important work done on daily basis in ministries and by anticorruption bodies like the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Financial Investigation Agency and anti-corruption units in ministries, the ill remains a serious public ethical problem as it continues to undermine the foundation of the Cameroon society, it ruins the effort of the nation, slows down development and aggravates the suffering of the population notably the most vulnerable.
This is the reason that while celebrating the 23rd edition of the Africa Public Service Day , under the theme “ Fighting corruption in public institutions with the participation of stakeholders and promoting ethical leadership to attain the objectives of Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals”, the minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms Joseph Le in his letter to users of Public Service declared that the fight against corruption in Cameroon must be considered as everyone’s concern without which the scourge will continue to dig deep into the Cameroon society. He invited users to stop encouraging payment for free services by offering bribes before or after a service in government institutions. He asked them to be more vigilant and responsible and to denounce acts or attempts of corruption of which they are victims or have witnessed. They should seek for information and enquiries from the appropriate source so as to stop the active or passive practice of corruption. He cited the devolution of human resource management, streamlining of administrative procedures, drafting and popularization of users guide as some of the testimony of the will of government to promote ethics and transparency in the functioning of government institutions. But all these measures will just be time wasting if all citizens are not involved in driving Cameroon out of this thorn in her flesh.