While the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund will soon meet to decide on a new loan to be granted to Cameroon, NGOs and civil society organizations are calling on the international organization to demand anti-corruption measures in exchange for government. this loan.
Mid-May, a review by the Supreme Court’s Review Chamber Cameroon’s 180 billion CFA francs lent by the IMF to combat the pandemic leaked on social networks and revealed that billions of CFA francs had been embezzled.
In the midst of a pandemic, when hospitals lacked everything, gloves, masks, screening tests, ambulances … were promised to care providers thanks to funds lent by the IMF. But the money would have been largely misused. Sarah Saddoun, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, is now asking for guarantees.
“We want openness. We want to access all accounts related to Covid-19. In addition, the audit is only partial. This only applies to two of the ten ministries that have received Covid funding. However, we want a complete and independent review of all costs related to Covid. We also want everyone involved in these corrupt practices to be held accountable. ”
The Ministry of Communications reminds in a statement that a legal investigation is underway. However, Maximillienne Ngo Mbe, head of the Network for Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (Redhac), calls for vigilance.
“If practically all the ministries, including the Prime Minister, went before the special court, we are worried that justice will be very sick for a while and more and more in order. We still saw the special court to be robbed and in particular the offices where some of the ministers have been heard … “
The IMF is contacted by RFI and claims that he pays special attention to the issue of transparency and governance. We do not want it to take a place in this crisis, a spokesman explains.
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