“The noble objectives of Anglophone lawyers and teachers were derailed”

Ntumfor Fru Jonathan and Achidi Achu during 4th Scholarship Award in 

Baligham

-Ntumfor Fru Jonathan, Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Contracts

Ntumfor Fru Jonathan is the Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Contracts. Back in his native Mbe Village in the Santa Sub Division, he is not only the CPDM Section President but also a Ntumfor firstly of the Mbe Village and also a Ntumfor of the North West Fons. Ntumfor is a very important title that is conferred by a Fon or group of Fons on an outstanding individual or group of individuals in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. Professionally Ntumfor Fru Jonathan has passed through all the rungs of administration frame work in Cameroon. In an exclusive interview with this elite and nation builder from the Santa Sub Division in the North west Region of Cameroon, he touches on wide range of issues and uses this medium to state that the noble objectives of the Anglophone lawyers and teachers has been derailed and as a result Anglophones are confused and need to sit up and evaluate the state of things so as to move forward meaningfully. Mistakes of the past he says should not repeat themselves. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante. He begins by delving into his active political life and the vision he had when he began his political career. Excerpts 

My political vision is that of service. For me, getting into politics is deciding to serve  the people so when you get into politics you should always be available to serve the people. Service equally means that you share with who ever you are with. You are always available around them and you can share ideas,  consoling words when somebody is in problems and you can eat together. That’s the vision I’ve had from when I started growing up to when I began realising that I could do anything for some one. That had always been my vision from Secondary School, High School to University. I have always been around my people sharing everything with them. That’s why you will always see me back in my village. I started politics there and grew to the highest level because I discovered that to reach there, the people needed to recognise what you are doing. They need to appreciate and recognise it, and if I have climbed up today to be Section President one of the highest political posts at the grassroots becoming one of the political bosses of the area from Branch President to Sub Section President and to where I am, it is because of that vision.

What challenges have you had in your trajectory in the CPDM?

You should realise that we are working within a particular context in a very shaky political environment. A lot of changes were introduced into this environment with the passage of the wind of democracy. We needed time for people to understand and some people just came in to say they were democrats and created political parties with everyone proposing to change the lives of the people. I decided to stay with the CPDM because I discovered that the programme was clear compared to that of the other political parties. The SDF for instance came into politics and was shaky. When you come into politics and start staying away from elections then you are shaky. The CPDM is a stable party with a clear vision even though the environment was very hostile to it because the dream of the average North westerner was that a brother had created a political party that could bring change and they as such had to adhere to it. Unfortunately we waited and the change did not come and it made me to feel comfortable with my position of staying with the CPDM. So I moved ahead for the people to follow me and to do this, I ensured that I came back to the people to tell them that this is what the CPDM had given me and shared it with them. Coming back and being with them and sharing with them made them to see that after all they had somebody whom they could follow and identify with. The old mother in the village doesn’t know President Paul Biya. It is me that they know and I am a replica of President Paul Biya on the field and I present to them how the President want us to do things and if what I present to them is good, they follow. Through me they follow the President and that’s why we’ve successfully been moving slowly but surely in Santa from the SDF to the CPDM. We have been progressing positively in the sense that in local elections, results of the CPDM have evolved from say 5% to 10% and has continued in that manner. For a period of 17 years, the opposition was controlling the Council but during a recent mandate we shared the council with the CPDM having ten seats and the opposition having 31. In the following mandate the reverse occurred with the CPDM having 31 and the opposition having ten which means that we are now progressing towards getting everything. This progress shows that the people understands. They want what we present to them and not dreams. That’s how I function and we have used the CPDM to transform the people of Santa following the footsteps of the people ahead of me like Pah Simon Achidi Achu, J.B. Ndeh both of whom I consider as my mentors. Each of them as they got tired called on a younger person for help. Pah Simon Achidi Achu pushed in J. B. Ndeh and he in turn pushed me in and when I get to a certain point I will be looking for somebody to push in.

There is the cultural aspect of you. Is the title of Ntumfor a reflection and recognition of what you have been doing by the traditional rulers?

To understand this, it will be important that we revisit the origin of it all. This was in 2003/2004 when I was appointed to the Ministry of Transport as the Director of General Affairs. Before then I had been somebody who was working at the grass root working with people in Mbe village carrying out a lot of activities. I was President of the Students Union when I was in the university and did a lot for my village through that forum. Eventually I became the Secretary of our development Association here in Yaounde and later on became Secretary in the National Association MBECUDA with one of my god fathers Yango Fidelis as President. We spent most of our time shuttling between the village, Yaounde and Douala. So it so happened that Minister J.B. Ndeh appointed me as the Director of general Affairs at the Ministry of Transport and that was the highest at the time in my village. When this happened, a very big reception was organised for me in my village and my Fon was involved in this organisation. So like in any village, they decided that they were going to give me a red feather to crown my activities. It is like a son who goes and captures a Tiger or a Lion and they decide to honour him with a red feather. When the Fon took that decision with his notables they said they will not only give a feather but will accompany it with a title. In the event, I didn’t even know what title was going to be given to me. I was presented to the public; a very huge crowd that day and a red feather put on my cap. My hand was raised and they pronounced that this is the Ntumfor of Mbe Village. I became friends with so many Fons and at that time I was fully in politics serving my people and serving Santa and my activities were recognised by many. I eventually got close to the President of the Fons Fon Chafa when he was President and Senator Fon Teche. The Fons then decided that hence there will be a number of Ntumfors from the Region unlike formerly when there was only one Ntumfor. They identified a number of us. I was there alongside Honourable Nji Fidelis, Mbaku Jerry and Eric Njong of Burns and if I am not mistaken Minister Fuh Calistus. If the Fons recognise you as their Messenger or errand boy, you cannot say no. 

Professionally you equally have a long trajectory. How do you think you have used it to live up to the people oriented vision that has always guided you?   

   Professionally I am about 27 years in service which means that in about three years I will be going on retirement. I think  God has blessed me in my professional career because I have climbed from the first rungs to the last. After University, I went to ENAM which is one of the prestigious schools in this country and graduated like a Civil Administrator. When I left ENAM I was appointed Chargee D’Etudes in the Ministry of Plans and Regional Development currently ministry of the economy. That was the rank of the assistant Chief of Service then. I then moved on to Douala as the Provincial Chief of Administration and Finance for Agriculture. I later on had an opportunity to work with a private German company that came in for two years as Director of Cocoa and Coffee. I later on came back into Administration as Assistant Director of General Affairs in the Ministry of Agriculture. When the post of Assistant Administrator was scrapped off, I was appointed Sub Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Agriculture and from there I went on to head the Legal Department of that same Ministry. From the Legal Department I moved up to the Director of General Affairs in the Ministry of Transport  where I worked for Ten years serving six Ministers. I was removed from there and appointed Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Contracts where I am now. This is the rank of Secretary General and is the last rank in Public Administration that you can aspire to except you are looking for a political post or that of a General Manager. For me I have lived a fulfilled professional life moving from the first level to the last level. In the french parlance, you climb from Administrateur Civil to Administrateur Civil Principale and then to Administrateur Civile de classe exceptionelle. From here you go to hors echelle which is where I am. Apart from Administration I have occupied other posts like President of Tenders Board in the Ministry of Transport and I am presently the President of Tenders Board in Hilton Hotel Corporation. I was Board Member in Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority and Board member in Chantier Naval.

What advise can you give Anglophones on the present unending crises?

The problem of English speaking Cameroonians affect all of us but I think that like in every environment, the only thing to be done is for people to sit around a table and talk. After the First World War, for peace to come, people had to sit round a table and talk about it. We also have to be patient with government because government is not an individual who can take an abrupt decision. Decisions come slowly but surely. If we are patient and try to appreciate what government is doing, it will be good. I equally think that there is no situation where violence has ever solved a problem. You can express your annoyance but violence is not good. It is also important to stop and evaluate what has been done. You cannot strike without stopping to evaluate what has been achieved. When you begin a strike, you must stop it at a given time to evaluate. You cannot ask somebody to satisfy a grievance and you think you have to strike until that grievance is satisfied. We should know that the government is impersonal. It is an institution so you cannot punish yourself and say that you are punishing government. As far as I am concerned, we must have dialogue.   

  Every effort is gradually turning towards the reopening of schools in September. What is your take on this?

I am hopeful. If you are moving on a path and you fall in a hole when you are going up and you come back and fall in the same hole when you are going down then there should be something wrong with you. What has happened shows that we made a mistake somewhere in the approach. Anglophones had authentic problems but the method remains a subject of debate. If we say schools should not start in September then it will be going too far and it will affect us negatively. In 1992 we had ghost towns but are we now satisfied that we carried out things the way we did? We burnt our property, our roads and people died. We seem to be doing the same thing and if we continue, then there is a problem somewhere. So I think the declarations that our people are making with regards to the fact that it’s a blank school year are not true. It is not a blank school year. There is no new state as they declared. Our people have been wrapped in a cobweb. We have lost the noble objectives that the teachers and the lawyers went on strike for. The noble objectives of Anglophone lawyers and teachers were derailed. What is the problem at the moment? Some people say release those who are in prison, others say we want a new state called Ambazonia. If you give a new state it will not solve the problem and if you release the people in prison it still wouldn’t solve the problem. Anglophones are confused and I think it is time they sat down and evaluate the situation before deciding on what to do.   

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Federalism is a better way to start the Reconciliation process in Cameroon

-Barrister Ben Muna, lead counsel for the outlawed Anglophone Consortium Leaders

The lead counsel for detained leaders of the banned Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, Barrister Ben Muna, in this exclusive interview argues energetically that the much-talked-of an imminent Anglophone independence is a far-fetched dream that going by him would never see the light of day, even in 100 years.

Ben Muna however says Anglophones can only have independence if they choose to go to war with La Republique du Cameroun but quickly adds that he doesn’t see that happening because Anglophones have no army, weapons and the much-needed billions to wage an independence war.

The only option left for Anglophones, he suggests, is for them to hold the Biya regime firmly by its testes until it accepts a return to federalism.

Barrister Ben Muna equally talks about the possible conditional release of Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba and the impact it could have on the Anglophone struggle. He begins by expressing his mixed feelings on the submission of the military prosecutor regarding the fate of his clients Barrister Agbor Balla Felix, Dr. Fontem Neba, Bibixy Mancho and the 25 other Anglophone detainees.

Well, I received the submission with mixed feelings. The military prosecutor as you must have learnt on Wednesday May 24, 2017, in reply to our submissions for bail on behalf of Dr. Fontem, Agbor Balla, Mancho Bibixy and all the other 25 accused persons, said he was not opposed to bail for Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem who are well known.

For the time being, the prosecutor has not given his ruling concerning the application for bail we made on behalf of Bibixy Mancho and the 25 other Anglophone detainees. I am hopeful that come June 7, 2017, he would say something positive regarding the application for bail we made.

Whatever be the case, I urge the court not to follow the logic of the military prosecutor who seems to be saying that bail might be granted only to Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem. All the 28 accused persons should be treated equally especially as they are being tried jointly.

The prosecutor’s submission might have made some sense if Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem were being tried separately. But now that all of them are on one charge, you cannot give bail to one part of the people and refuse it to the other part. I am however hoping that…

What meaning do you read in the prosecutor’s interpretation of the law?

Let me just finish and say that they should not do that! They should give bail to all of them. I think that there is scheming on the part of some members of government, because on that day, there was actually an open quarrel between the civilian members of the prosecution and the military bench.

They did not seem to agree on what submission to make on that day because there was an open disagreement among them. This reflects the trend of thought among the hardliners that government has a big say concerning the fate of my clients who are awaiting trial at the military tribunal.

Let me quickly add that I see in the prosecutor’s submission that bail might be granted only to Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem, a Machiavellic intention. 

Government’s thinking is apparently that if they grant bail only to these two leaders, the population will now be angry that these two leaders have been bought over by the Yaounde authorities.

The second thing is that those from the CPDM government who want to see violence in West Cameroon would now use their release to provoke Anglophones who might say: “Since our leaders have been bought over, this thing can only be resolved by separation”. This plan has Machiavellic intentions and I hope the judge will not allow this to happen.

We seem to be talking only about Agbor Balla, Dr. Fontem, Bibixy Mancho and the 25 others who are currently standing trial at the military tribunal! What about the many other Anglophone detainees who have not yet been charged?

I believe that as usual, the prosecution, pushed by the government got people arrested when they did not have any evidence. You probably want to know that the 19 youths who were arrested in Wum in February 2016 and taken to Kondengui have not yet been charged!

I am talking about those arrested in connection to the current Anglophone crisis?

I am aware. My understanding is that government is punishing them by detaining them without trial. This is unlawful punishment. Those who were arrested in this second wave of demonstrations for the rights of West Cameroon may also be detained indefinitely, especially if bail is eventually granted only to Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem.

Government knows that Agbor Balla is a lawyer and Dr. Fontem a lecturer at the University of Buea. In government’s thinking, if they, Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem are released, the international community would forget about what is happening in Cameroon.

What is your take on those asking Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem not to accept conditional bail or not to accept to be bailed while the other Anglophone detainees are kept in jail?

I read on WhatsApp that some people, especially in the Diaspora, are saying that Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem should not accept conditional bail or accept to be bailed only on condition that all other Anglophone detainees are freed along side with them.

I am saddened by this reasoning because people who are free, people who have fled the country and Anglophone escapees, who are enjoying freedom in another person’s country, can sit from there to dictate how we should manage our own freedom here.

It is also curious that those championing such primitive campaigns are people who are using the fact that Dr. Fontem, Agbor Balla and about 84 others are in jail to enrich themselves.

We have documentary evidence how some Anglophones in the Diaspora are making huge sums of money indirectly and through fundraising under the guise of looking for support for Anglophone detainees back home.

Therefore for anybody to suggest that Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem should not accept conditional bail or not accept to be bailed until all Anglophone detainees are freed is tantamount to using them as fodder to feed their own ambitions.

I challenge those who share in this school of thought to leave the United States or Nigeria and come to Cameroon and offer themselves for arrest like the others did. I am opposed to this type of thinking where people who are several miles away from the reality on the ground are giving lectures to those who have been deprived of liberty. It is very unfortunate that people would want their compatriots to stay in jail so that they would continue to make money out of their sufferings.

I think the argument is that if Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem refuse any conditional release or accept bail only on condition that all Anglophone detainees are freed alongside them, government would be forced to free all of them?

Well, it sounds true but knowing what this government is capable of doing, one cannot be too sure.  Rather, I think if Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem are freed, they would be in a better position to amplify the struggle from without than from within (in jail).

Even if one of the conditions of the release is that when they get out, they should shut up, I bet you that it would be less so even when they are granted a conditional release.

But what do your clients, Dr. Fontem and Agbor Balla think about getting conditional bail or leaving jail while their other compatriots stay back behind bars?

I have spoken to both Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem and their thinking is rather that they would be happy to continue to stay in jail if only such a move can force government to free all the other Anglophone detainees. If the tables are turned and the government thinks the other way round, what will you in their position do? Personally, I think there are more advantages in their accepting even a conditional bail especially as they have rich international profiles which while out can be used to magnify what is happening to Anglophone detainees in Kondengui and Anglophones in Cameroon.

The fear, I think, is also that Bibixy Mancho and the 26 others who are being tried alongside Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem may not have the same legal representation as soon as the Consortium leaders are bailed?

My law firm has been constituted for all of them. I mean, the 26/27 who are there and the 80 others who are yet to appear in court. I go to prison at least twice a week to visit them. There are other lawyers, Francophones and Anglophones, who are also coming in to help.

I agree with you that if Agbor Balla is granted bail on June 7, some of the lawyers, thinking that their colleague is already out of danger, might not have the same enthusiasm. I am praying they should know that they are not only fighting for their colleague but for the liberty of innocent Cameroonians.

Do you sincerely think life will return to normalcy in the two Anglophone regions if all Anglophone detainees are freed, come June 7?

Life can never be normal. Life can never really be normal. But people could return to their activities. Normal in the sense that everybody returns to their business, people go to school, etc. but there will be a scar in the minds of the people of the North West and South West regions. Some of us cannot easily forget that anybody can treat a part of this country the way they have been treating us. But you never know, if a new government takes over eventually, things would return to normal. Let children return to school in September, let lawyers return to court on condition that government also releases all Anglophones who have been arrested in connection to the current crisis.

The SDF has created a commission to investigate all the killings and human rights abuses in the South West and North West regions. The party’s chairman, Fru Ndi, says he would transmit the reports to international bodies. In your opinion, is the move too late or too little?

Well, we have already transmitted many reports to international bodies through international channels, and we did this as civil society and independent people and not necessarily as an opposition party which has an interest in bringing down a government.

We have an interest in democracy and in seeing this country being run properly. If they would do it well, nobody would be opposing him. However, I do not think that this particular inquiry would have the weight as it would have had if the SDF members of parliament themselves raised the matter as Hon. Wirba Joseph did and walked out of parliament in anger.

Mounting an inquiry as an opposition party? It is assumed that it will be partial. So I doubt that any international body will take them seriously. As a political party, their action should be felt in parliament, not belatedly creating a commission of inquiry.

Do you have the feeling that the international community is giving a blind eye and deaf ear to the Anglophone crisis?

Oh, they are rising to it. They are now seeing the danger that it poses. Last weekend, another top official of the United Nations came and we had a chat; he asked me some questions because he is writing a report he will submit to his boss. In the near future, a bigger mission from the UN, not just the human rights group, would be visiting Cameroon in connection to the current crisis rocking the North West and South West regions.

The much talk about Anglophone independence! Do you see this happening even in the next 100 years?

I read a very interesting article on WhatsApp on Anglophone independence where the author was asking to know the modalities of gaining the much-talked-about Anglophone independence. His worries were: “How will we go about it? How would it be done? Who will do the declaration of Anglophone independence...?

These are key questions begging for urgent and convincing answers. I am saddened to read the deformation of UN Resolution 1608. At no time did any UN Resolution state that Southern Cameroons should be granted independence! All they said was that Southern Cameroons should either gain independence by joining Nigeria or by joining La Republique du Cameroun.

Secondly, from a practical point of view, nobody, not even any organisation in the world, can come back again and say: “OK, Cameroon, I divide you back into two.”

Number three, I do not know any such court in the world that can give Anglophones such an opportunity to choose between gaining total independence and staying with La Republique du Cameroun.

Already, the International Court of Justice had shown what it thinks when Ahidjo sued the UN and praying the ICJ to retract the delivery of Northern Cameroon to Nigeria. The ICJ gave its decision that 1) The United Nations can no longer consider that decision because when once it cancelled the trusteeship agreement, the United Nations has no more hands to interfere because the trusteeship is finished and it ended on 1^st October 1961.

The United Nations can no longer consider any such issue as the independence of either the Northern or Southern Cameroons. There is no court in the world that has the jurisdiction to force the UN to open up a matter that it had already closed.

I do not therefore see where we can open up a jurisdiction to get a peaceful restoration of the statehood of Southern Cameroons. The only way that we can gain statehood is by war.

Now, let us look at other countries. Sudan fought for more than 20 years; during which thousands of lives were lost. The United Nations came in just because the crisis was threatening world peace.

Somalia had Somali-land which re-established its parliament and its state and has been existing for more than 30 years, but the rest of Somalia is still at war. But this day, no one country has recognized Somali-land as a separate state. They have a government; they are doing better than the rest of Somalia but nobody recognises them as a nation.

Let us take Sri-Lanka. They had a bloody civil war in which the Tamil population was massacred, killed; at that time, the United Nations did not say anything. The government killed all it wanted to kill and occupied the whole land, and then the UN came in and said, there has been genocide here. Honestly, I do not know any country that the United Nations intervened at the first stage of a bloody crisis to separate them into two states.

Do you think that Anglophones have the weapons to force their independence through war?

Well, for the time being, I am seeing a lot of flags, but I am not seeing the type of weapons or whatever that will be used to fight for independence or the money which they have. It costs a lot of money to go into war against a government. It is not the few hundred or few thousand dollars that you can raise from the US that will finance the weaponry that you need to fight a war of independence.

So what do you think is the way forward out of the crisis in the North West and South West regions?

I think that this unfortunate marriage has taken place. For the time being, I think that since we are living in one house, let us say “Since we are not agreeing, you have your own room, I have my own room. We can come and eat at table together, cook together and so on, but let us have separate rooms.” That is the practical solution for now.

So what are you proposing as the way forward?

We go back to federation. The marriage has not worked, it is clear that it is not working at all. There is no need trying to force it; it is not working. Let us look at our desires to start building fences and see where we went wrong. It is not like in a marriage. Those who are advocating a return to federalism have this in mind and I think that is a better way to start the reconciliation process.

Adapted from The Guardian Post

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illicit financial flows from Africa amount to at least 50 billion USD per month,

-Justice Rose Mbah Acha Fomundam, Cameroon’s Minister of Supreme State Audit

Illicit financial flows have been identified as the bane of African economies, accounting for losses equivalent to the total amount received by the continent in terms of public development assistance. It is in a bid to reverse this trend that an international conference on the fight against illicit financial flows using an African approach held in Yaounde from 24 to 26 May. At the end of the conference summoned by the African good financial governance network, it was recommended that an information sharing framework on best practices in the fight against the scourge be established for the benefit of African countries.

Stakeholders also advocated a harmonisation of the legal framework for the prosecution of criminal offences in the area of illicit financial flows.

The forest and wildlife sectors which have been identified as most vulnerable to the scourge, it was further resolved, should be given more attention.

The network called on African Union countries to continue educating citizens on public morals and fight against money laundering through the use of tools developed by ATAF and CRADEC.

In another resolution contained in the final communiqué issued on 28 May, African Union states were urged to designate a head of state who serves as a role-model to champion the fight against illicit financial flows. Ahead of the Yaounde Conference, Justice Rose Mbah Acha Fomundam, Cameroon’s Minister of Supreme State Audit (CONSUPE), spoke on its stakes and expectations. In an interview aired on CRTV’s Cameroon Calling on Sunday 28 May, she said Cameroon lost over 4200 billion FCFA between 2003 and 2012 in illicit financial flows. She began by explaining what illicit financial flows are all about.

 Excerpts:

Illicit financial flow refers to capital that is earned, transferred or used illegally. Illicit cash flows generally originate from three main sources and the sources are commercial activities in which people commit the offence of concealing wealth, evading taxes aggressively and evading custom duties and internal taxes. Offences in commercial activities are estimated at about 65% of the volume of illegal financial flows. There are also criminal activities evaluated at about 30%, that is, making all together, 95% and these criminal activities consist in concealing transactions from the police or tax authorities. Lastly, there is also corruption which is the crime of facilitating and hiding every aspect of illicit financial flows and this is estimated at about 5% making it all togethera 100%.

What is the raison d’etre of this international conference?

There was a publication of a report of a high-level panel on illicit financial flows and this high- level panel was presided over by former South African President, Thabo Mbeki , and this report was like the beginning point of the awareness of the negative effects of illicit financial flows on the continent. According to some surveys especially that of the American NGO called Global Financial Integrity, illicit financial flows from Africa amount to at least 50 billion USD per month, which is a huge amount of money. Through tax evasion, money laundering and other crimes, illicit financial flows is a major problem for the social, economic and political development of our African continent. I can give you statistics from this high-level panel report: Nigeria lost about 157 billion US Dollars between 2003 and 2012. Over the same period, South Africa lost about 122 billion US Dollars, Egypt – 37 billion and Cameroon for her part lost over 7 billion over the same period. In FCFA, this amounts to more than 4200 billion. Needless to emphasise what such a huge sum can achieve at this point in time when we are striving to achieve emergence by 2035. In general terms, several studies have established that the losses resulting from illicit financial flows on our continent are more or less the equivalent of the amount the continent receives as public development assistance, you can imagine that. This means that the fight against illegal financial flows appears to be a major objective of our respective States in the implementation of their development visions. It is therefore in consideration of the magnitude of this phenomenon and its consequences and the perspective of finding solutions to this problem that the network of good financial governance in Africa decided to organise this international conference hosted by my ministerial department CONSUPE in its capacity as the Secretary General of African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions. This brings together nearly 200 participants from all over the world. To let you know that the good financial governance network consists of the following organisations: the African Organisation of Public Accounts Committees, the African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions, the African Tax Administration Forum, the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative. In this good financial governance network, we have four partners and this conference is supported by the good financial governance implemented by the German International Cooperation.

A lot of money that you have indicated has been lost by African countries to these illegal financial flows. Madam Minister, what goals does this conference intend to achieve at the end of the day?

The aim of this conference is not only to enable all the participants to develop a common understanding of illicit financial flows but also to raise awareness on the actions undertaken by other stakeholders in tackling such flows. Because you realise that other stakeholders have been trying to tackle these flows. Most specifically, this will develop a shared and more nuanced understanding of the challenges of illegal financial flows including the various pillars and levels. It would reaffirm the commitment of participants to good financial governance, stressing the importance of cooperation and ensuring the sustainability of the network and describe the tools they use to tackle illicit financial flows.

Let’s look at the theme of the conference “Tackling Illicit Financial Flows: An African Approach to a Global Phenomenon”. What is this African approach all about?

When we talk of an African approach, it is because Africa is currently the continent most affected by this scourge. It is necessary for African countries to comprehend this theme and contextualise the measures that may be taken to eradicate this phenomenon. And so it is necessary to ensure that the legislative and regulatory mechanisms are sufficiently adopted to detect and curb the major vectors of these illicit financial flows such as tax fraud, smuggling, also corruption and all forms of economic crimes. It is also important to establish or empower institutions responsible for tackling illegal financial flows. Since implementation is not sufficient, it is also necessary that these entities should be endowed with the appropriate capacities because in many cases we realised that the financial flows occur in situations where there is asymmetric information. In this perspective, therefore, the mechanisms for sharing and coordinating information between the various institutions and administrations are of paramount importance. I would like to mention finally that it is necessary to know how to involve all the components of the society as widely as possible by encouraging especially the participation of citizens. These are the components of the African approach to be debated and enriched during the conference.

You are the Cameroonian Minister in charge of the Supreme State Audit Office and Cameroon itself is highly plagued by this illegal financial flows and those listening to you right now will be asking – What about Cameroon? What measures have been taken by the Government of this country to effectively curb the illegal financial flows?

The Government of Cameroon has taken several measures. This response provided by the State of Cameroon to curb this phenomenon should be assessed in terms of the types of illicit financial flows, which remember, I said come from three main sources. When we talk about illicit financial flows resulting from commercial activities, in particular with regard to direct taxation and basic taxation, the Ministry of Finance has a very well equipped unit to fight against abusive price transfers or smuggling. In addition, in the extractive sector, Cameroon has subscribed and fulfilled all her obligations to enhance transparency in the sector notably through the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. And the Ministry of Mines as well has also put in place concrete measures to stabilise the sector. When addressing another aspect of illicit financial flows related to corruption in the public sector, it goes without saying that in the fight against corruption, a host of administrations and structures have been set up such as the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court, the National Agency for Financial Investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and of course the Supreme State Audit Office, that is, the Cameroon Supreme Audit Institutions which I head but also the Special Criminal Court whose effectiveness is well known. When dealing with financial crimes, there are bodies in charge of supervising banks at regional and national levels. At the level of the Ministry of Finance, we have for example, ANIF, which plays a central role and INTERPOL is also a leading player. There are some of the measures and actions taken by the Cameroon Government to combat this phenomenon. Obviously this is surely not enough especially when we know that the phenomenon is cross- border on the one hand and also that it requires the establishment of a multi-stakeholder platform at the national level as well. Consequently, a State alone cannot fight this phenomenon. And with each State, it is indispensable to ensure cooperation and information sharing between the different entities involved in the fight against illicit financial flows. So once again, the relevance of the conference in Yaounde is for a synergy of actions aimed at effectively tackling this problem.

You have said and rightly so that the Government alone cannot tackle this problem. Now, what is the take-home message from that conference?

The participants have achieved a lot. They would realise that in order to resolve this problem, it is essential to engage a concerted action throughout Africa. And when we talk of an African concerted action, what do we mean? This presupposes that we agree on the measures to be taken. Our expectations for all the stakeholders is that we should have a common and shared understanding of the issues and impacts of illicit financial flows on the development of African countries. We adopt a concerted action plan on the activities to be carried out by the members of the network to fight illicit financial flows and everybody will be pleased to see the implementation of the action plan and the establishment of a monitoring mechanism. I am very optimistic, people showed a lot of interest and I said, it is a scourge, a phenomenon that has to be combated not only by the Government, even by the citizens. Everybody alike.

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