Is this not corruption ?

Virtually, no problem has ever held center stage in Cameroon for as long as corruption has done a ris continuing to do. This is not at all surprising because the harmful effects of this evil are obvious: aggravation of poverty, deterioration of the socio-economic fabric, reversal of the scale of values, etc. until recently, it seemed as if the government was not bothered about the problem. Worse still people had the impression that it accommodated or even encouraged the phenomenon.at the beginning of1998 GERDDES-Cameroon asked for assistance from the friedrich-ebert-stiftung to carry out a study on corruption. This led to the publication of work entitled “corruption in Cameroon” which has since become the most sought after document in the history of the foundation in Cameroon

When the government finally woke up to the magnitude and gravity of the problem, it launched a media campaign to make the public aware of the harmful effect of corruption. In January 2000, it set up the “corruption observatory” and six months later installed its members. In an interview given to Cameroon tribune in the Thursday 21 September issue, the chairman of the observatory Mr. Christol George manon talked about the structure and the activities it had up till then carried out. His team he said had visited high schools and colleges where they had noticed “very poor organizational structures, total laxity and a complete lack of control and follo-up». When asked what he proposed to do eradicate corruption in schools, he answered thus: «I cannot as of now tell you what should be done”. This answer shows that the problem is complex and all pervasive. The chairman however insisted that it was necessary to continue making Cameroonians aware of the problem.it is precisely to this end that the Friedrich- Ebert foundation has thought it necessary to publish another work on corruption. It hopes that this way, it will lend a hand in the said awareness campaign. This book that you are now reading, called “is this not corruption?” was written by a group of Cameroonians and non Cameroonians resident or once residence in Cameroon.