By George Esunge Fominyen
I gather Paul Ngamo Hamani, the last provisional administrator of the now dead Cameroon Airlines company, has been arrested on allegations of corruption.
Hmmmmm!!!!
Slowly and steadily, there is a full football team (complete with reserves) of former ministers and top managers of state corporations in Cameroon that is rising in the Yaounde and Douala Central prisons. It makes me wonder if there is a need to splash and celebrate when a friend, "brother from the village or region" is appointed to a top position. Who knows, it may be time for Donny Elwood to revisit his song "en haut". And Cameroon is not the only place where some mighty people are falling after supposedly milking dry the national cow!
I was recently in Zambia. At the end of my first day at work in the country, I tuned to the evening news on radio. The top story was that Mrs Regina Chiluba, the wife of Zambia's second President Frederick Chiluba, had been sentenced to three and a half years in prison . She had been found guilty of receiving stolen property. This included state property.
The next item on the news was as bewildering as the first. The former Zambia Army Commander Lieutenant General Jeojago Musengule had been sentenced to four years in jail with hard labour for abuse of office and corrupt practices.
By all accounts these used to be top-notch figures in the Zambian estabishment. Like in Cameroon, they are facing the pangs of an anti-corruption drive. As in Cameroon there are those who are happy that such persons are being sent to "ngatta" (prison) while others believe it is all a matter of settling political scores and playing to the gallery to obtain western aid.
Where things differ is that these folks have actually been sentenced whereas the likes of Abah Abah (ex-minister of the Economy and Finance), Jean Marie Atangana Mebara (ex-Secretary General at the Preseidency of the Republic and former Minister of External relations), Zacheus Forjindam (ex-director General of Chantier Naval) and now Paul Ngamo Hamani have still not been tried.
By the time I was leaving Zambia, Regina Chiluba and Lieutenant General Musengule had appealed and successfully obatained bail. Their passports had beein siezed but at least they have the possibility of still defending themselves until confirmed as guilty. Of course this does not please everyone. There are many Zambians who feel that this is unfair. They argue that there are several other poor, lowly prisoners languishing cells without bail, who may not be as guilty as these top fellows who have eaten public good and use their money to breathe free air.
I know there are such people in Cameroon too. Fed up by the rampant corruption they just want to know that someone pays for that cankerworm that leaves them in poverty throughout their lifetime. But then, for justice to be just, it has to follow the rules. Why keep people in jail awaiting trial for ages? It is not only about this new breed of prisoners. It goes for the many others in Cameroonian jails. Yet the authorities complain that there is no space.
Awaiting trial aside, why is it that some get arrested after preliminary investigations while others stay warm at home (though in anxiety)? Didn't I hear sometime ago that Gervais Mendo Ze,the former Director General of the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), was found out by the disciplinary council of the Supreme State Control to have swindled, corrupted officials and mismanaged over 2 billion FCFA? Many Cameroonians are asking why is he not with the others? And what about the Director General of the National Petroleum products Depot - Jean Baptiste Nguini Effa? He is said to have been found guilty of at least 25 counts of managerial and financial impropriety by the same disciplinary body that cross-checked Paul Ngamo Hamani. Why is he still walking free?
Hmmmm! Only the master knows when their time will come - isn't it.
Speaking of big people in trouble and the difference between Cameroon and Zambia. Whereas in Cameroon - Sparrow-hawk or Epervier waits for the executive to decide when justice should act and only after someone has been sacked from their office, in Zambia an acting Minister is facing a tribunal on accusation of corrupt practices.
Ms Dora Siliya , Minister of Communications and transport is being probed on allegations that she was involved in a shady contracts awards deal regarding the Zambian aviation service. Read here to see how the justice system elswhere functions. The judge writes to the President and informs him that a minister has to be probed. While the tribunal is going on she is still minister until proven guilty.
Ah! When would that happen in Cameroon?
All the same, I am now wary of appointments.These days, when it is not Sparrow-hawk (epervier) that is singing your marching orders to the Kondengui Central prison or the fithy New-Bell gaol like Ngamo Hamani, you may be startled by the dishonourable revelations about your past (true or untrue?). I mean the sort of thing experienced by Fonkam Azu'u the sworn chairman of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM).
Do you still want to be "en haut"?
Comments