Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (SJHSS)
Volume-3 | Issue-06 | 760-772
Review Article
Redeeming Financial Crimes in the Cameroon Public Service: The Etiquettes of the Southern/West Cameroon Model
Confidence Chia Ngam
Published : June 30, 2018
Abstract
The Cameroon Public service is a blend of the moral and cultural values that
were inherited in British and French systems of administration along with the desire
put in by the different administering authorities to cope with the demands of time.
Unfortunately, this blend even in the era of modern technology with improved tools of
communication has not completely destroyed the ligaments of financial crimes and
scandals that have encumbered this department. Going by reachable evidences, in the
heat of economic crises that warranted the introduction of broad based structural
adjustment Programmes, Cameroon ranked twice as most corrupt country in the world.
Again, most of the top officials (ministers and directors) that have served the different
departments of the public service have been judged and sentenced for differential
durations in prisons due to financial crimes.The questions that beg for convincing
answers are; why is the Cameroon public service department still bedevilled by
financial crimes inspite of the measures put in place to assure transparency? What are
these crimes and what is their impact on national and international dealings? From
primary and secondary sources complimented with statistical and oral interviews, this
paper argues that the near absence of blueprint etiquettes along with administrative
lapses is at the root of these financial crimes. It uses the way accountability was assured
in the management of Southern/West Cameroon budget as model to argue that; with a
determined will churned from endearing etiquettes, the financial crimes alive in the
Cameroon public service can be reduce to the barest minimum or at best, eliminated. It
posits that in an era of modern technology, moral etiquettes that express themselves in
an astute art of private and public righteousness of financial management is required of
state authorities. By so doing, it makes a claim which is not only valid for Cameroon
but also for every state and institution suffocating under the spell of financial crimes
that, much can be redeemed using the model provided.