Perception soothes … Reality is Rotten.

“…where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous”. (Tacitus – Rome AD56-AD117)

The latest report from Transparency International (TI) breezed through Cameroon with the obvious criminal silence that is characteristic of the guilty. Highly ranked at 9.3 on 10, are Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore. Cameroon ranks 146 on 178 alongside Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Nepal, Paraguay and Yemen with a score of 2.2 on 10. As a rule-of-thumb in Cameroon, such reports are spun by apparatchiks to demonstrate external conspiracies to destabilize Cameroon. They prove a point unintentionally! Institutionally unreliable and structurally weak states do get easily manipulated by external reports. What is TI’s methodology and which countries rank alongside Cameroon? 

Scope: The World Bank describes corruption as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development. As such attracting foreign investment requires perceptions of a healthy business environment, and information on levels of corruption influences the willingness of donors to assist or relate overtly with developing countries. First published in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has gained prominence over the years as a leading indicator on institutional corruption. Through these years, Cameroon’s consistency is apparent at the bottom ranks. This grim picture contrasts recent spectacular arrests of potentially corrupt public sector officials in Cameroon. Evidently these arrests have a reverse effect on Cameroon’s CPI rating. Rather than pulling Cameroon up the rankings, they stay low because these selective arrests prove that corruption in Cameroon  affects even the means to fight corruption. Perception finally caught up with reality. 

Limitations: The CPI is a cumulative indicator that ranks countries on the degree to which corruption is perceived among public officials and politicians. TI defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain” and relies on thirteen resident and non-resident surveys from ten independent organizations. A minimum of three sources must be available for a country to be included in the CPI. Variations in the number of sources used for each country certainly occur. For example, while Singapore’s 2010 CPI rating was based on nine sources, only three were available for Iraq. The final source averages, score each country. Calling the report a perception index, betrays the difficulty in quantifying corruption absolutely. The major difficulty may stem from a non-universally agreed definition for corruption. Where is the line drawn between lobbying and bribery? 

TI defines corruption as “abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Is this definition reasonable for a kleptocratic bureaucracy whose elite confiscate power by fraud, intimidation and tailor-made constitutions? “Abuse of entrusted power” does not therefore exist where power was never entrusted! Does this mean authoritarian regimes are not corrupt? Rather, it would be plausible to suggest that all the activities of ruling elites are corrupt, since their primary motivation is to hold on to power for private gain at all cost. Regardless, there exist striking similarities between Cameroon and the countries scoring 2.2 on CPI 2010:

• Heavy reliance on external financial aid,
• General disregard for human rights,
• A diplomacy that neither has determinants nor objectives,
• Constantly changing constitutions,
• A youthful but largely unemployed population,
• And an increasingly ageing and isolated ruling elite.

Yemen for example is convulsing with Islamic extremism; Haiti completely depends on emergency aid relief and witchcraft; Cote d’Ivoire is yet to recover from an identity crisis that sparked a civil war. Iran is trapped between technological blackmail and religious bigotry, while Libya is yet to differentiate between the state and the Gaddaffi clan. Nepal just emerged from regicidal carnage to parliamentary democracy won by Maoists in 2008 although Mao or Maoism never tolerates more than one party. Among these country’s rulers, President Ali Abdullah Saleh is president of North Yemen since 1978 and unified Yemen since 1990. Muammar Gaddaffi, Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution, presides Libya since 1969 while Paul Biya remote controls Cameroon  since 1982. The resulting picture is a group of institutionally weak states who maintain these same low ratings on HDI (Human Development Index) and MDG (Millennium Development Goals). 

Reality: Paul Biya’s increasingly long absences from Cameroon prove that he neither has the intention nor is he capable of fighting corruption effectively, because it is a tool he uses to control a cohort of c0-opted accomplices. This explains why “Operation Epervier” is carried out “with direct instructions from the Head of State”! The judiciary and the police end up playing stage-managed roles in a tragedy that will go down with a loud bang. 

“…clearing the mess should never be entrusted to the one who created the mess…” (Anonymous – Indian Traditional)