Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

The Untouchables: Politically Mediated Loans and Political Impunity in Cameroon

Dibussi Tande

In his 1993 study on accumulation and the cultural politics of identity in the Grassfields (in Pathways to Accumulation in Cameroon), Michael Rowlands observed that in Cameroon, there was a “natural affinity between the stream of power and the stream of money or credit”.  He argued that the country was plagued by "an ethos of ostentatious consumption" and by "unproductive patterns of investment and reliance on the state patronage for accumulation".  The surest path to the accumulation of wealth in Cameroon was through politics.

Third World cash exodus 'points to laundering'

By Philip Thornton

Money flowing into UK bank accounts from developing countries has surged in the past few years...with inflows from Cameroon up 516 per cent...The scale of the exodus of capital from countries with major social problems will raise fears of massive corruption and money laundering that will hurt the welfare of the world's most vulnerable people.

Money flowing into UK bank accounts from developing countries has surged in the past few years, dwarfing Britain's official aid budget, figures show. The amount flowing in from poor countries in areas such as Africa and South America surged more than $115bn (£61.2bn) last year to $385bn.

Walk Down Memory Lane: “Chronicle of an Advertised Plunder”

"Crooks, profiteers and blood suckers of all kinds have contributed to the misfortunes of Cameroon and other countries. Those who have emptied the coffers of the state are countless. We have tracked down those men and women who for years, have shamelessly plundered the economy of a country which needed everything except this. In this first article, we name some of these corrupt individuals. There are many more. This is just the beginning. We take full responsibility for our actions. We have the evidence to support our claims, and we will publish them if that becomes necessary..."

It is with these ominous lines that the January 1992 issue of Jeune Afrique Economie (JAE) opened its investigative report on corruption in Cameroon (pp. 175-183), which it titled "Chronique d'un Pillage Annoncé" (Chronicle of an advertised plunder).

Secrecy Undermines Justice and Democracy: An Overview of the Draft Bill on the Declaration of Assets

By Dibussi Tande

"Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind" – George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

After creating the National Anti-Corruption Commission (better known by its French acronym, CONAC, which the irreverent Francophone press has labeled COGNAC), the Government has submitted an anti-corruption bill to Parliament. Parliament begins its review of the income and assets disclosure bill today, March 21, 2006. The bill is based on Article 66 of the Cameroon constitution.

Looking Back at the Messi Messi Affair (3): Monga Returns, the Biya Regime Goes on the Offensive

By Dibussi Tande

Celestin Monga was still in Paris when the May issue of Jeune Afrique Economie made it to the newsstands and started an international firestorm thanks to the Messi Messi Interview. As soon as the story broke, the Biya regime allegedly decided to arrest Monga upon his return to Cameroon (Le Messager, no. 262 du 14 mai 1992).

Looking Back at the Messi Messi Afair (2): "The Interview that Shook the World"

By Dibussi Tande

In an explosive interview that filled 24 pages (Jeune Afrique Economie. "Ainsi a été Pillé la SCB," May 1992, pp. 106-130), Robert Messi Messi, the former General Manager of the bankrupt SCB sang like a canary. Using documents that he had smuggled out of the country, he detailed how the “Presidential couple” and their entourage had pillaged the SCB.

 

Looking Back at the Messi Messi Affair (1): "The Greatest Politico-Financial Scandal of all Times"

By Dibussi Tande

14 years ago, the Biya regime was rocked to its foundations by the Messi Messi affair which many still consider as Cameroon's greatest politico-financial scandal of all times. As a new anti-corruption caravan rolls on, kicking and screaming, we revisit the scandal that brought the country to a virtual standstill back in 1992.

Ndiva Kofele-Kale: Reliance on Article 66 to Combat Official Corruption in Cameroon is Misplaced

Interviewed by Dibussi Tande (Part I)

Ndiva Kofele-Kale, Professor of Public International Law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, is a leading scholar on official corruption in developing countries. He is also at the forefront of the growing movement to make corruption a human rights violation punishable under international law.

In this interview with Dibussi Tande, Prof.Kofele-Kale talks about the anti-corruption drive in Cameroon, and the need to establish international mechanisms for dealing with corruption by high-ranking government officials. 

Prof. Ndiva Kofele-Kale: The Biya Regime Must Confront The Root Causes of Corruption

Interviewed By Dibussi Tande (Part II)

Question: A cursory look at ongoing international attempts at stemming state corruption gives the impression that there is too much focus on  the recovery and repatriation of embezzled funds, and very little on establishing national mechanisms for tackling embezzlement before it happens. Shouldn’t national preventive mechanisms take precedence over international recovery efforts?

Why Cameroon is Poor and Corrupt

A Review By Dibussi Tande

Tim Harford. The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor—and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! Oxford University Press, 2005. 288 pages.

In his book, The Undercover Economist, Tim Harford, a World Bank economist and columnist for the Financial Times, dedicates a chapter to the reason why poor countries remain poor. The chapter draws extensively, if not exclusively, from the Cameroon experience. An abridged version of that book chapter is published in the March 2006 issue of Reason magazine. This posting is a review of that article.

How Far WILL Biya Go — and How Far SHOULD He Go?

“How far will Biya go?” That seems to be the most commonly asked question these days as the public impatiently waits for more “heads to roll" as a result of Biya’s anti-corruption campaign. However, a recent interview given to The Post Newspaper by Garga Haman Adji (AKA "the whale hunter”), a former Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, raises a more relevant question: How far should Biya go, given the mind-boggling depth of institutionalized corruption in Cameroon?

The Great Clean-up... Or Wool Over Our Eyes?

By Dibussi Tande

On January 23, 2006, Amadou Ali, Cameroon’s Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, who also doubles as Vice Prime Minister, revealed to the press that the judiciary was reviewing some six files on corruption. About a month later, on February 21, 2006, a terse statement from the Minister informed the public that "Judicial cases have been opened against a number of officials accused of embezzlement, corruption, forgery and use of forgeries."

The Ethos of Ostentatious Consumption in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

In 1991, prominent Cameroonian historian Achille Mbembe described the venal proclivities of Cameroonian ruling class as "the rampant [and] ostentatious colonization of the state" by an "arrogant ... elite with little mastery of monetary issues and more inclined towards the ethos of lavishness than production". Michael Rowlands would write a few years later that the country was plagued by "an ethos of ostentatious consumption" and "unproductive patterns of investment and reliance on the state patronage for accumulation."