The National Coalition Against Corruption that brings together 30 civil society organisations, yesterday, April 30 in Yaounde presented its triennial plan of action to Cameroon’s technical and financial partners in view of soliciting their support. The civil society organisations work with the National Anti-corruption Commission (NACC) to reinforce the fight against corruption in Cameroon.
The Vice Chairman of the National Anti-corruption Commission, Dieudonné Massi Gams who presided at the opening ceremony of the workshop, stated that it was organised to seek alternative ways of financing the anti-corruption plan of action. The Yaounde workshop came after the official launching of the National Anti-corruption Strategy. He said the objective of the coalition was to strengthen and coordinate the involvement of the civil society in the fight against corruption. The coalition therefore, has the mission to draw up the strategy for the fight against corruption, sensitise the public, denounce corrupt practices and pass on information to NACC, organise activities to disseminate and popularise information on corruption and evaluate the effective fight against the scourge. The plan of action drawn up the by the coalition to span through 2010 to 2012, Dieudonné Massi Gams said, is being implemented with an estimated budget of FCFA 327,525,000.
The Coordinator of the National Coalition Against Corruption who also doubles as the Executive Secretary of the National Anti-corruption Strategy, Alfred Etom said the plan of action concerns all the five areas of the fight against corruption. He said priority is not given to any specific aspect as they work simultaneously in implementing them. The objective of the coalition is to make sure that Cameroonians know their rights and to ensure that sanctions are meted out on corrupt people caught red-handed. The coalition therefore plans to organise workshops throughout the country and distribute documentation on the fight against corruption.
Focus on yesterday’s workshop that brought together over 50 participants was on the presentation of pertinent topics. One of the topics was the stakes and challenges of the coalition as a key actor in the strategy for the fight against corruption in Cameroon with focus on its operational mechanisms. Other topics were on the presentation of a study on the consolidation of the national anti-corruption coalition and the business plan of the coalition.
