CAMEROON GETS CORRUPTION WATCHDOG, BUT WILL IT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 YAOUNDE 000442 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR AF/C LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA ACTION OFFICERS EUCOM FOR J5-A AFRICA DIVISION AND POLAD YATES E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2017 TAGS: KCOR PGOV ECON PREL CM SUBJECT: CAMEROON GETS CORRUPTION WATCHDOG, BUT WILL IT BITE? REF: YAOUNDE 289 Classified By: Poloff Tad Brown for reasons 1.4 b and d. ¶1. (C) Summary. One year after establishing the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC),President Biya on March 15 nominated a slate largely consisting of ruling CPDM party apparatchiks to CONAC's Coordination Committee. It will be headed by Paul Tessa, a longtime Presidency confidante. Most independent observers derided the nominations as indicative of Biya's unambitious approach to rooting out corruption and predicted that CONAC would soon be relegated to the long list of Government initiatives forgotten soon after their announcement. We share some skepticism, but see e hope in the inclusion (perhaps at our insistance) of former Minister Garga Haman Adji, easily Cameroon's most credible corruption fighter, and a few relatively reform-minded members of the ruling CPDM party (perhaps including Tessa himself). Additionally, by admittedly low Cameroonian standards, all the new members appear to pass a minimum standard for personal probity. The next step will be standing up CONAC and endowing it with the (hopefully) independent fiscal, legal and political powers it will need to carry out its mandate, which Biya promises will come "quickly". End summary. -------------- Better Late Than Never -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On March 15, the final day of a joint World Bank-IMF Mission (reftel),President Biya announced the leadership of Cameroon's National Anti-Corruption Commission (known by its French acronym, CONAC). CONAC was nominally created by Presidential decree on March 11, 2006 as a centerpiece of Biya's "War on Corruption." The lack of visible follow-up over the succeeding 12 months led some to conclude that the announcement of CONAC was an empty gesture in the GRC's campaign to attain completion point in the HIPC process. According to GRC insiders, however, the lengthy delay was needed to carry out extensive background checks on all of the committee members to ensure that all were free from suspicions of corruption. We are told that many names were reviewed and eliminated over the months due to revelations of personal corruption. ¶3. (SBU) The CONAC nominations were made in three separate March 15 decrees. The first nominated Paul Tessa as CONAC President and Massi Gams Dieudonne as CONAC Vice President, each for a once-renewable three year term. The second created a secretariat under the leadership of Permanent Secretary Ngalle Eyoum. The third announced the appointment, SIPDIS for once-renewable three-year terms, of nine members of the CONAC Coordination Committee. (A full list of the Coordination Committee members and available info on all CONAC members is at the end of this message.) -------------- Foxes in the Henhouse? -------------- ¶4. (C) Nonetheless, the announcement was met with skepticism, apathy and, at times, outright disdain by observers with whom we spoke. Opposition leader John Fru Ndi told the Ambassador in a March 16 meeting the CONAC membership is "scandalous" and "they are all thieves," accusing Tessa for having enriched himself during his time in government. Charles Nguini, President of Cameroon's chapter of Transparency International, was more balanced, commending the long-awaited nominations but lamenting that Presidency-insider and CPDM hack Paul Tessa, instead of revered corruption fighter Garga, was the selected as President. Nguini further confided that some of the CONAC members are rumored to have benefited from their time in public service. -------------- There Are Diamonds in this Rough -------------- ¶5. (C) The nine committee members, however, include at least two individuals whose anti-corruption credentials are well-regarded in Cameroon: Garga, who is the only Cameroonian minister ever to have resigned to protest weak anti-corruption efforts, earned the nickname "the whale YAOUNDE 00000442 002 OF 005 hunter" for his perceived aggressive pursuit of high-level corruption targets ("whales", in local parlance); and Patrice Ndedi Penda, a member of a reformist wing within the CPDM who is author of, among others, a 2005 book entitled Cameroon: The God-Fathers of Corruption. Even the easily critical Fru Ndi admitted that Garga's presence adds credibility to the CONAC team. ¶6. (C) Garga told the Ambassador March 18 that he believes he can work with the other CONAC officials, who he characterized as "not too dirty." (The only one he specifically criticized for personal corruption was former Livestock Minister Hamadjoda Ajouji, whose limited credibility was further strained last week when Biya also promoted him from Treasurer to Deputy Secretary General of the CPDM (septel).) Their main shortcoming, Garga said, is not their lack of personal probity but that they are "tired." Indeed, many (including Garga) are in their 60's. Garga said that he is mostly being advised to turn down the nomination but will accept it out of deference to Ambassador Marquardt (who strongly recommended Garga to Biya),and Garga's belief that CONAC may be able to have an impact. Garga confirmed that he has two important cards to play at CONAC: he will go to the press if important recommendations are put on the back burner, and he can resign, or threaten to. Garga's participation gives CONAC 90 percent of its credibility, and that gives him significant leverage. Garga also said that, in Cameroonian terms, he was not surprised that Biya could not name him President of the CONAC: doing so, he said, would have been tantamount to admitting that there was no one in the CPDM clean enough to do the job. -------------- Details Matter -------------- ¶7. (C) CONAC's long-term impact on corruption will depend, beyond the personalities nominated to its leadership, on whether the Presidency endows it with the financial, legal and political powers it will need to discharge its mandate. CONAC is nominally independent but reports directly to the President (and all members serve at the pleasure of the Presidency). The most concrete element of CONAC's responsibility to emerge thus far is the requirement that CONAC meet at least once a month and produce an annual report to the President on the state of corruption in Cameroon. CONAC replaces the moribund National Anti-Corruption Observatory, itself created in 2000, that was headed by Prime Minister Inoni to negligible effect. ¶8. (C) The Ambassador met on April 3 with CONAC President Tessa, who seemed unhurried and methodical about the task of setting CONAC up. He said that since his appointment he had met separately with Presidency Secretary General Laurent Esso and with Biya's Director of Civil Cabinet Jean-Baptiste Beleoken to start arrangements on his budget, offices, and equipment; nothing has been done on any of them so far. He wants to see Biya because the decree has him reporting directly to the President, but so far has no appointment. He said he would not know whether he will need donor support for CONAC until he sees the President. (Note: In the April 5 "8 6" meeting, there was no donor enthusiasm for supporting CONAC; ambassadors want to see Biya empower CONAC before they are willing to consider chipping in.) In a telling commentary about the tasks ahead, Tessa noted that CONAC members will also need significant security, including bodyguards. ¶9. (U) Favoring style over substance, most of the March 2006 decree focuses on the mundane details of the committee's functioning. Article 20, however, is noteworthy in that it empowers the Commission members to access all documents or other information within any government or parapublic entity, including with the force of the police, if necessary. This power is not backed up with punitive sanctions; if their demands are refused, CONAC members can only "report" to the Presideny. Article 27 indicates that CONAC funding will come from the state budget, donor support, and "other eventual resources." To our knowledge, CONAC was not apportioned funding in the FY07 process. CONAC staff will be seconded from other governmental agencies, but CONAC is permitted to hire other staff when necessary. ¶10. (C) On April 9, the Ambassador raised CONAC with President Biya, stressing the importance of moving forward YAOUNDE 00000442 003 OF 005 firmly and quickly. Biya explained that the delay in naming members came not only from the difficulty in finding "clean" candidates, but from the fact that so many potential nominees turned him down. He said that this will be dangerous, unpopular work, and also noted the importance of bodyguards for the members. He said, however, that he is serious and had given instructions for them to be given offices, equipment, cars, and -- yes -- bodyguards forthwith. He lamented having personally to attend to so many if the details of setting CONAC up, such as setting salaries (one million CFA monthly, equivalent to what ministers receive here -- or USD two thousand) and deciding who gets private offices (all of them). He was then critical of President Tessa, who initially was asking Biya for instructions rather than coming forward with his own bold action plan. "Do I have to think of everything?" he asked. Biya also said it will be important for Tessa to figure out quickly where CONAC will fit into the existing anti-corruption architecture, such as it is. ¶11. (U) The March 2006 decree that created CONAC listed six functions: --to follow and evaluate the effective implementation of the Government's plan for the fight against corruption; --to collect and act on information made known to CONAC about acts of corruption; --to conduct studies and investigations and to propose whatever measures are needed to prevent or interdict corruption; --to evaluate, when necessary, the level of execution of public projects and to evaluate the conditions of tenders and public procurements; --to diffuse and publicize texts related to the fight against corruption; --to identify the causes of corruption and propose to the competent authorities the appropriate measures to eliminates corruption in all public and parapublic services; --to accomplish any other mission that is given to CONAC by the Presidency. -------------- -------------- Comment: Where There's a Will, There's a Way -- but is there? -------------- -------------- ¶12. (C) Many here think that CONAC's labored birth is illustrative of Biya's approach to his declared "Total War on Corruption" (if not of his style of governance in general) whereby he undertakes only the barest minimal steps to comply with the letter (if not the spirit) of his commitments to the international community. But Biya's statements today again strongly underscored his desire to achieve results in fighting corruption, as well as mounting frustration with his lieutenants and his impatience with the slowness of his judiciary (septel). Tessa seems to be relatively honest and sincere in assuming his new responsibilities, but certainly is not the energetic dynamo needed to lead an ambitious anti-corruption campaign in this challenging environment. As announced, CONAC's responsibilities are so broad as to be potentially meaningless. It is not yet clear what role CONAC will play within the architecture already in place, including the Ministry for State Control, nominally the Government's auditor; the financial investigations agency, ANIF; the yet-to-be-created bureaucracy for handling asset declarations; and the ongoing operations led by Justice Minister/VPM Amadou Ali. Given the measured pace of everything in Cameroon, if we have an answer by next year to the many outstanding questions, CONAC will have gotten off to a fast start. End Comment. ¶13. (SBU) Biographical information on individuals nominated to CONAC: President: Paul Tessa --Born August 10, 1938 at Fomopea, in the Menoua Department --July 1972 appointed Minister of Equipment, Habitat, and Domains YAOUNDE 00000442 004 OF 005 --May 1988 appointed Secretary General at the Presidency --April 1989 appointed Minister of Public Works and Transport --of the Bafang ethnic group --studied law in France --from 1965 to 1969, served in the Office of the Inspector General --received the honorary title of Commander of the Order of Valor --in the Le Messager's expose on unpaid loans from public banks, Tessa was listed as among those who had begun paying back their loans Vice President: Massi Gams Dieudonne --originally from the East Province --vocal opponent of corruption, sin, and homosexuality Permanent Secretary: Ngalle Eyoum --relatively unknown --from the Littoral Province Members of the Coordination Committee: Hamadjoda Adjoudji --in April 2007, appointed as Deputy Secretary Genral of the ruling CPDM party --July 1984 appointed to be Minister of Livestock and Fisheries (through December 2004) --1992 appointed to Ministry of State Control following Garga's resignation --President of Administrative Council at the University of Ngaoundere --served on the Agency for Regulation of Public Procurement --served for 25 years in Biya's government --served as the Treasurer of the ruling CPDM party --from Adamoua Province Emilien Jerome Abondo --served as President of the now defunct National Lottery of Cameroon --August 1985 appointed to be Minister of Defense --November 1986 appointed to be Minister of Interior --from the Center Province Garga Haman Adji --1990 appointed to be Minister of Public Function and Reform --1992 resigned in a public show of dissatisfaction with Biya's commitment to anti-corruption, making him the only Minister in memory to have resigned in protest over corruption --earned the name "the whale hunter" for his perceived aggressive pursuit of corrupt ministers --2004 stood as the Presidential candidate for the Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) party of which he is President --from the Far North Province; born around 1944 --served as superintendent of police -- Patrice Ndedi Penda --born March 4, 1945 at Banya (Yabassi) --considered to be a leader of the "reformist" wing within the ruling CPDM party --received bachelors and higher level education in Paris --worked in the private sector in maritime transport --lives in Douala Simon Bolivar Njami Nwandi --November 1992 appointed to be Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Health --1996 Minister of Urban Areas and Housing --an ordained reverend --from 1992 to 1997 was a member of the UPC party --from the Central Province --from the Basaa ethnic group --known for his willingness to speak frankly and publicly Moussa Moustapha --has participated in the Hajj --has been the Lamido, or traditional ruler, of the Demsa area since 1990 --born in Gashiga --trained as a banker, served as Director of the Central African Bank's operations in Garoua --in 1978 appointed to be Vice-President of Cameroon Football (until 1995) YAOUNDE 00000442 005 OF 005 Fon Fosi Yakumtaw --served as a Commissioner of Police --served as Governor of the North Province --traditional chief from the Northwest Province Magloire Nguiamba --from the South Province Amos Namanga Ngongi --born September 3, 1945 --trained as an agronomist --1994-2001 served as a Deputy Director of the World Food Program --September 2001 served as the Chief of Mission of the United Nations office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo --from the Northwest Province MARQUARDT