28, June 2016
Tears as Cameroonian media gurus are told National Anti-Corruption Commission boss earns a monthly salary of 7 million FCFA 0
Dieudonné Massi Gams, the CPDM President of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC) has made public his salary to the media. The Biya chosen man of God made the revelation on Monday, June 27, 2016 in Yaounde, the nation’s capital. The president of CONAC earns a monthly salary of 7 million FCFA (10,671.43 euros). Dieudonne Massi Gams boasted in front of journalists shedding tears when the amount was revealed that “My salary is seven (7) million FCFA per month for me not to be corrupt.”
The salary of Pastor Dieudonné Massi Gams, is 193 times higher than the guaranteed minimum wage which is set at 36,270 FCFA since July 2014 in Cameroon—– a CPDM privilege to the so called man of God but an injustice in a country where the applicable average wage is between 80 and 100 thousand FCFA. In addition to his salary, Rev. Dieudonné Massi Gams, has huge benefits, which he blatantly refused to disclosed to the press. Cameroon Concord News Yaounde city reporter who contributed to this report observed that, “Rev Massi Gams has no reason to envy some ministers who officially earn less than 800 000 FCFA per month, but the bribes exceed the limits of the imaginable”.
We gathered intelligence that the state takes care of his phone expenses, housing allowance, several vehicles for child and wife including fuel cost. The servants and guards including his many drivers loaded at the residence of the President of the CONAC are also paid by the Cameroonian tax payer. Despite these advantages granted by the CPDM crime syndicate to CONAC, corruption in the country is increasing at alarming proportion with some agents of CONAC including its leadership regularly quoted in local press for bribery and corruption scam.
Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)
29, June 2016
Cameroon says over 20 billion of ill-gotten wealth revovered 0
Alfred Etom, is the Coordinator of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, a body operating within the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) In a recent conversation with Cameroon Tribune, he speaks of the National Anti-Corruption Commission 2014 report! He says over 20 billion FCFA has been recovered.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission’s 2014 Anti-Corruption Status Report unveils fabulous sums of State funds embezzled. How much of these embezzled funds have been recovered?
Alfred Etom: Let me first recall that this report does not only contain activities carried out by the NACC, but also by other ministries and institutions with the aim of fighting corruption. In 2014, the Special Criminal Court recovered more than FCFA 7 billion. More than FCFA 3 billion was recovered by the Supreme Court. The Council for Financial and Budgetary Discipline also recovered more than FCFA 3 billion.
Vote holders were fined to the tune of FCFA 70 million, while NACC recovered FCFA 6 billion this year. So, nearly FCFA 20 billion of ill-gotten funds have been recovered since 2014. Specifically, the funds were recovered on the national territory. Although the process of recovering ill-gotten wealth hidden abroad is complex, it is ongoing.
Does this indicate an evolution in the recovery of embezzled State’s assets?
Alfred Etom: Yes, because Cameroonians are more and more cooperative. At the beginning, it was not easy, but they have noticed that we are committed. Once NACC is after you, we do not give up until we have the expected results. Now that we have developed our visibility, Cameroonians have a greater tendency to trust us. And this trust is motivation for us to keep working. This also accounts for the results achieved so far.
What are some of the challenges in this task?
Alfred Etom: One of the challenges we have to overcome is that we do not have regional branches. For us to carry out an effective fight to downscale corruption, we have to be close to the population. When people send us their tip-offs, it takes time for NACC to react just because we are far from them. It slows down the process and frustrates those who report corruption cases.
The report also talks of only 27 per cent rate of implementation of Regional Anti-Corruption Action Plans. What is your take on this?
Alfred Etom: The 27.3 per cent was in 2014. Then, we thought there was no real will to tackle the issue of corruption in the regions for many reasons. One of the reasons is that Regional Inspectorates of Service were not well-equipped to carry out anti-corruption actions, initiatives and investigations. Secondly, there was also lack of will to combat corruption because they thought that NACC only fought against big corruption, which is wrong. The third reason is that they themselves fed on corruption. It is difficult for somebody who feeds on corruption to fight corruption. Ever since, the situation has improved to about 30 per cent today. Things have improved.
Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Cameroon Tribune