By Christopher Ambe Shu
Two former ministers of Cameroon believed to be billionaires after allegedly embezzling public funds with impunity when they were in office have been languishing in detention since Monday March 31 when they were arrested by judicial police in Yaoundé
Polycarpe Abah Abah, former economy and finance minister and Urbain Olanguena Awono, former public health minister were arrested on allegations of corruption and embezzlement of public funds
Abah Abah, 58, became Cameroon’s minister of economy and finance in December 2004 and was sacked in September 2007 while Olanguena Awono, 53, became minister of public health in April 2001 and was only relieved of his functions in September 2007.
Abah Abah is being interrogated to justify how as director of taxes, before becoming minister, he got over FCFA 1.5 billion in his private account and other huge sums of money elsewhere.
Former minister Olanguena Awono is being asked to properly account for the use of some FCFA 70 billion being foreign aid given to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Cameroon
But before they were arrested last Monday rumors of their possible arrests had been circulating in Yaounde for long, making the suspects to live in fear and anxiety. Last week, some Members of Parliament (MP’s) joined many other citizens to express disappointment at the rather slow pace the war against corruption was taking. The MPs thought the government’s foot-dragging in the corruption fight was giving suspects enough time to hide evidence of ill-gotten wealth.
But Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister in charge of Justice, Ahmadou Ali, argued in the National Assembly that the government was simply being methodical and careful in the treatment of cases which are sensitive to ensure that legal procedures are followed. He disclosed that, over 100 persons suspected of corruption including ex-ministers, managers of public corporations had already been prosecuted, with many receiving jail terms ranging from 10 to 50 years.
The two most recently arrested ex-ministers are since Monday in detention alongside other top civil servants suspected of complicity in defrauding the state. They included Etogo Mbezele, former treasurer-general for the Centre Province and Maurice Fezeu, former director of the National AIDS Control Committee.Also, Dr Mrs. Rose Chia Forchingong, Southwest Provincial Coordinator of the ProvincialTechincal Group (PTG) for the Fight Against AIDS was Monday arrested in Buea for alleged complicity in the embezzlement of funds
It is not the first time ex-ministers have been arrested, tried and jailed in Cameroon for embezzlement of public funds.
Disturbed by Cameroon’s rating, at least twice (in 1998 and 1999) as the most corrupt nation in the world by Transparency International, a Berlin-based good governance NGO and the stigmatization of the name of Cameroon as synonymous to corruption, President Paul Biya in 2006 launched a stronger corruption clamp down after the previous one was not very effective.
The clampdown this time saw the arrest, trial and imprisonment of some former ministers charged for embezzlement of public funds such as Alphonse Siyam Siwe (he was last December jailed for 30 years) and general- managers of state-owned corporations such as Emmanuel Gerard Ondo Ndong of FEICOM and former Port Authority of Douala chair, Etonde Ekoto
But some critical minds have said the arrest of the two ex-ministers on Monday has political overtones especially as reports hold that the two are members of Generation 2011(G11),a group of Biya’s former cronies opposing the president’s plan to amend the constitution and run again for office when his current mandate ends in 2011.
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