Covidgate in Cameroon: NGOs demand more controls before any new IMF loan
View of Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon.
(Illustrative photo) Tim E. White / Getty Images
Text by: RFI Follow
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While the executive board of the International Monetary Fund is due to meet soon to decide on a new loan to be granted to Cameroon, NGOs and civil society organizations are stepping up to ask the international organization to demand anti-corruption measures to the government in exchange for this loan.
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In mid-May,
an audit by the Chamber of Accounts of the
Cameroonian
Supreme Court
of 180 billion CFA francs loaned by the IMF to fight 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 caregivers thanks to funds loaned by the IMF.
But the money would have been largely misappropriated.
Sarah Saddoun, researcher at Human Rights Watch, is now asking for guarantees.
“
We want transparency.
We want to access the full accounts related to Covid-19.
In addition, the audit is only partial.
It only concerns two of the ten ministries that have received Covid funds.
However, we want a full and independent audit of all expenses related to the Covid.
We also want everyone involved in these corrupt practices to be held to account.
"
The Ministry of Communication recalls in a statement that a judicial investigation is underway.
However, Maximillienne Ngo Mbe, director of the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (Redhac), calls for vigilance.
“
If practically all the ministries, including the Prime Minister, have gone before the special tribunal, we are worried because the justice system has been very sick for a while and more and more in order.
We nevertheless saw the special tribunal
being broken into
and especially the offices where some of the ministers were heard ...
"
Contacted by RFI, the IMF claims to
pay “particular attention to the issue of transparency and governance.
We do not want this to take a back seat in this crisis,
”explains a spokesperson.
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