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RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1653
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C O N F I D E N T I A L YAOUNDE 001811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/C 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA ACTION OFFICERS 
EUCOM FOR J5-S AFRICA DIVISION AND POLAD YATES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016 
TAGS: KCOR PREL PGOV EFIN CM
SUBJECT: TOUGH LOVE IN CAMEROON'S ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Tad Brown for reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  Corruption, specifically the 
Government's faithfulness to its anti-corruption promises, 
continues to take center stage in Cameroon.  Indeed, this was 
Anti-corruption Week in Cameroon, as the Prime Minister 
launched a high-profile seminar on how to implment the UN 
Anti-Corruption Convention, which Cameroon ratifed earlier 
this year.  Amidst increasingly palpable public frustration 
and mounting donor concern that the Government of Cameroon's 
(GRC) anti-corruption campaign has lost steam, the Ambassador 
joined other donors on December 5 to deliver a frank "tough 
love" message in a private meeting with Prime Minister Inoni. 
 Welcoming such candid exchanges as evidence of donor 
sincerity, Inoni reviewed the GRC's progress thus far and 
provided details of impending actions.  Speaking publicly to 
virutally his entire the Cabinet at the launch of the 
anti-corruption forum the following day, Inoni reasserted his 
personal commitment to advancing reform.  The US, British, 
and Dutch Ambassadors also adressed this forum and stressed 
the need for action, not words.  We are comforted by Inoni's 
continued public and personal engagement, but remain wary 
that success will require donor vigilance to ensure that idle 
talk and bureaucratic machinations are not used as cover for 
flaccid political will.  End summary. 
 
----------------------- 
Donors on the Same Page 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  A December 4 meeting of the "8 6 Group" 
(Ambassadors from the major donors and the IFIs) revealed 
unanimous concern about the GRC's lagging pace of reform, 
especially the apparent lack of political will to follow 
through on public commitments.  It was further agreed that 
Executive Board meetings on December 7 (World Bank) and 
December 22 (IMF) provided important forums for donor 
representatives to convey donor disappointment and impatience 
with the GRC's lack of -- or, at best, slow -- progress. 
Having already conveyed these concerns in a strongly-worded 
letter to Inoni on October 13 (see full text para 7), the 8 6 
Group resolved that a rump delegation should deliver a 
private, more frank assessment in person. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Delivering a Message of Tough Love 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C)  On December 5, Ambassador Marquardt joined the Dutch 
Ambassador and Resreps from the UN and IMF to convey donor 
apprehensions.  Flanked by Vice Prime Minister/Minister of 
Justice Amadou Ali and the Minister in Charge of State 
Control Siegfried David Etame Massoma (roughly equivalent to 
the U.S. GAO), Inoni welcomed the frank assessment as a sign 
of sincere concern on behalf of the donors.  Seeking to 
reassure, Inoni reviewed the anti-corruptions progress 
already underway, including a civil service survey that has 
turned up 40,000 ghost workers and a series of judicial 
proceedings involving former public officials.  Importantly, 
Inoni confided that the GRC is compiling a "short-list" of 
candidates to sit on the long-awaited council required to 
implement mandatory asset declarations for public servants, 
as well as naming members to the National Anti-Corruption 
Commission announced in March by President Biya.  Inoni 
pointed to the standing-up of the National Agency for 
Financial Investigations and a growing number of state audits 
(up from 4 in 2005 to 23 in 2006) as evidence of the GRC,s 
steady progress in working behind the scenes to clean up the 
government over the last year.  Inoni concluded the meeting 
by vowing: "I made commitments to (World Bank President) 
Wolfowitz and (IMF Director) De Rato in March in Washington, 
and I will not let people think I was lying." 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Inoni Sends a Message to His Ministers 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In a culture that traffics in subtle messages, 
Inoni,s participation in the conference launching 
implementation of the UN Anti-Corruption Convention the 
following day, December 6, sent a clear public signal of his 
personal investment in the anti-corruption agenda.  Inoni had 
been scheduled to open the conference in mid-November, but 
was called by President Biya to travel out of the country at 
the last minute.  Rather than send a representative in his 
place as he would customarily do, Inoni requested that the 
conference be postponed so that he could attend personally. 
The political symbolism of the occasion would not have been 
lost on Inoni.   Almost the entire Cabinet was in attendance 
as Ambassadors from the U.S., UK and the Netherlands and 
representatives from the UN, World Bank, and Transparency 
International delivered a unified message saluting Inoni,s 
leadership and demanding stepped-up action.  Expressing 
thinly-veiled expectations that corrupt senior officials, 
including some of the ministers present, would be dismissed 
and prosecuted, the donor representatives and Inoni himself 
made clear that the "total war on corruption" announced by 
Biya was not yet winding down. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
Comment: Working with Inoni and Ali to Keep up the Momentum 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶5.  (C)  The diverse donor community is speaking with a 
unified voice that mirrors the frustrations expressed 
increasingly vocally on the Cameroonian street.  We are still 
waiting for long-delayed actions to fulfill GRC commitments 
made at the beginning of the year, when pressure to reach 
completion point offered powerful motivation.  Rumors that 
Ali has threatened to resign if he does not receive full 
backing for his on-going and pending judicial actions against 
corrupt officials provide reason for hope that there are 
enough anti-corruption activists within the government to 
make needed reforms.  We are encouraged that Inoni and Vice 
PM Ali are so personally engaged on this issue, and will 
continue to seek ways to support their efforts.  We will 
watch closely for Inoni's promised actions, especially to 
assess whether the anti-corruption commission is sufficiently 
empowered and truly independent. 
 
¶6.  (C)  We could not help but notice Minister of Finance 
Polycarpe Abah Abah, widely regarded as a paragon of 
corruption, sitting glumly through the anti-corruption 
ceremony in the front row, conspicuously unmentioned in the 
glowing words of praise for Inoni, Ali and other members of 
the Government.  Abah Abah would have much to gain if the 
anti-corruption campaign lost steam, and his disappointment 
was manifest.  His presence there -- like that of other of 
deeply tainted ministers -- was all part of the treatre of 
the grotesque that characterizes Cameroon's halting effort to 
escape from corruption:  no one, no matter how complicit, 
misses a chance to be seen on the right side of this highly 
charged issue.  End comment. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Begin text (translation from the French) of 
October 13 letter from the "8 6 Group" to Prime Minister 
Inoni. 
 
Excellency: 
 
On behalf of Ambassadors and Representatives of International 
Organizations members of the 8   6, I wish to renew the offer 
of support made by our group to your government, which has 
embarked on a policy aimed at improving governance, 
particularly in the fight against corruption. 
 
Establishing the 8   6 group has in fact been the most 
immediate contribution of the Cameroon's major partners in 
keeping with the commitment demonstrated by the Head of State 
to make fighting corruption a priority of the Government.  At 
the end of almost one year of work, members of the 8   6 are 
convinced that a strong and continued political commitment on 
the part of the Government is a prerequisite in the fight 
against corruption. 
 
Despite the fact that the Government has taken a number of 
individual actions so far, the impact of these actions, in 
our opinion, has not yet translated to an overall improvement 
of the situation. 
 
The phenomenon of petty corruption that continues to affect 
the Cameroonian population each day suggests that the actions 
taken thus far have not ameliorated the situation.  As you 
know, issues of governance, particularly corruption, are the 
main concerns and the focus of the actions of Cameroon's 
partners. 
 
Our embassies often receive reports of dysfunction in the 
taxation services, the judiciary, the police or concerning 
the award and execution of public contracts.  Difficulties 
encountered in the Hazim forestry case, which were raised in 
our last letter, shocked us deeply, and we are hopeful they 
will soon be resolved through legal proceedings in keeping 
with the general interest. 
 
As you know, the political, economic and social cost of 
corruption is tremendous.  It is highly detrimental to 
Cameroon's development, Cameroonian citizens' well-being and, 
to a greater extent, the political stability of the country. 
The loss of potential resources caused by Cameroon's poor 
rating in the domain of governance (resources from the 
European Union, the World Bank) or the investment climate 
testify to that situation. 
 
In order to consolidate and improve upon gains already made, 
the Government should develop and implement a global 
anti-corruption strategy to which we are prepared to provide 
our strong support. 
 
In this domain, more than any other, the success of this 
fight depends on real owndership: the fight against 
corruption must be the concern of all Cameroonians including 
political leaders, administrations, the media, and the civil 
society.  To win this difficult fight, it will be necessary 
to keep the effort in the public eye, to ensure extensive 
public and media coverage.  Though it is also concerned by 
the scourge of corruption, the civil society, to which we 
plan to provide capacity building, must play an instrumental 
role in the fight. 
 
We suggest that the following concrete actions be taken 
quickly, at various levels: 
 
--To establish a tripartite informal structure (comprising 
Cameroonian authorities, economic actors, ambassadors and 
representatives of international organizations) which should 
be a forum for regular exchange on specific difficulties 
encountered, notably by companies facing corrupt practices. 
The group suggests that this platform of dialogue and actions 
be established quickly, and that the 8   6 be one of the 
three cornerstones.  The aim would be, apart from fighting 
corruption, to give a positive signal to private investors 
who face continued frustrations and harrassment by various 
administrations which demand money from them. 
 
--To continue with civil service census to root out ghost 
workers.  The results of the operation, which was begun but 
is presently stalled, can put an end to the nepotism that 
plagues Cameroonian administrations and help recover 
sufficient funds to allow a salary increase for state 
employees, as part of Cameroon's agreements with the IMF. 
 
--To pursue media campaigns on corruption cases including 
naming the culprits and making public the sanctions they have 
received.  Stigmatizing corruption must create a general 
climate of opprobrium in order to put corrupt persons in a 
situation of permanent unease. 
 
--To fully implement article 66 of the Constitution.  This 
provides for the mandatory declaration of assets by state 
employees. 
 
--To make the National Anti-Corruption Commission functional 
by appointing its members and providing the Commission with 
the means necessary for its adequate functioning. 
 
--To carry out an appraisal of corruption in key sectors like 
health and education, as suggested by the multi-donor mission 
on the fight against corruption in Cameroon lead by OCDE/DAC. 
 A copy of the draft report is attached. 
 
Excellency, members of the 8 6 Group wish to once more 
express their deep concern to you and to discuss with you the 
implementation of these proposals for which, as I have 
already mentioned, you will have out support. 
 
On behalf of members of the 8   6 Group, I would like to take 
this opportunity to renew to you, Your Excellency, the 
assurances of my highest consideration. 
 
Norbert Braakhuis 
Ambassador of the Netherlands  (rotating chairman of the 8 
6) 
 
End text of letter. 
MARQUARDT