A recent 100-day drive curtailed the collection of illegal levies by 80 per cent.

The Ministry of Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicraft, MINPMEESA, is not relenting in its efforts to make things easy for intending investors in the country. After noticing that middlemen and some corrupt staff were charging members of the public more in their business registration transactions, the ministry, with the backing of the National Anti-corruption Commission, CONAC, on April 30, 2014, launched a 100-day campaign to drastically curtail the malpractices.

The result was an 80 per cent reduction in the level of malpractices in the business registration centres of Douala and Yaounde. Presenting its report on Friday, October 24, 2014, in Yaounde to the Minister, Prof. Laurent Serges Etoundi Ngoa, the head of MINPMEESA’s anti-corruption unit, Prof. Agwara Ondoh Moïse, warned that even though there was a remarkable change in the attitude of field staff, sensitisation needed to be sustained in order that they do not return to their old habits. He announced the creation of a hotline for members of the public who feel cheated to call.

On his part, Minister Etoundi Ngoa cautioned that corruption cannot be ended abruptly and indefinitely; reason why the fight must continue in order to improve service output and delivery. He called on business registration staff to strictly respect the newly developed Code of Conduct and Integrity Pact by always explaining to intending business owners the right procedures to follow. He promised that regular evaluation will be carried out to ensure that corruption does not hamper the efforts of investors; adding that Cameroon’s plans of becoming an emergent economy by 2035 will only become reality if there was greater ease in registering businesses.