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.

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Better Late Than Never
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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.)

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Foxes in the Henhouse?
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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.

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There Are Diamonds in this Rough
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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

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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.

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Details Matter
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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

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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.


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Comment: Where There's a Will, There's a Way -- but is
there?
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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

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--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)


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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