Corruption: Transparency International fires back at Issa Tchiroma

The President of the Cameroonian branch of Transparency International disapproves the media outing of the government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma, who challenged the report of the NGO.

Mr. Charles Nguini did not really enjoy the last media outing of Issa Tchiroma Bakary. As usual, after the publication of a report of an international organization, the government spokesman attended the press on December 24, 2015.

For about 15 minutes, the Minister of Communication continued to debunk the results of the Global Corruption Barometer, published recently by Transparency International.

A study which placed Cameroon 2nd in Africa among the countries with the most bribes to obtain service in public administrations. The arguments of the Minister as that, “corruption is a universal scourge” and “Transparency International’s survey is not scientific.”

These unveiled attacks could not make the president of the Cameroon branch of the international NGO indifferent. A subject that made the front page of Mutations on the December 28, 2015.

According to the newspaper, Mr. Charles Nguini called on “the government itself to initiate a survey on corruption in Cameroon with guidance of a serious organization."

When he talked of serious organizations, the lawyer did "not refer to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Conac) and the National Financial Investigation Agency (Anif), which nevertheless are among the key government agencies in the fight against the scourge." He excluded the Conac and Anif whose autonomy according to him, is not yet proven, wrote Mutations.

Mr. Charles Nguini also wished to make the approach of Transparency International understanderable.

Our colleague mentioned: “This ensures the credibility of the TI study. He noted that this study is 10 years old. Mr Nguini emphasized that the representative sample consists of 1182 anonymous Cameroonian citizens over 18 years. They were questioned between January and February 2015. Mr. Nguini stated that the “Global Corruption Barometer did not rank countries, but classify their respective administrations. The ranking of countries will end in January 2016 in the Corruption Perceptions Index."

The solution of the lawyer, reported Mutations, requires the adoption of an anti-corruption law and the application of Article 66 of the Constitution on the declaration of assets of public wealth managers.