12/07/2024
This Thurday, July 11 is Africa Anti-Corruption Day. It is also an anniversary day, because 25 years ago to the day, 48 African countries adopted in Maputo, Mozambique, the African Union Convention against Corruption. Twenty years later, is there anything to celebrate? What conclusions can we draw?
I will begin with a short prayer to salute the initiative of the Republic of Ghana which begins any official ceremony with the prayer just after the national anthem.
Praise be to God peace and blessing be upon all those who overnight fight to eradicate corruption on a daily basis and advocate good governance in the name of the God of Apostle Nestor Toukea who is also our God Amen,
It is a great pleasure for me to be present among you for this African day dedicated to the fight against corruption. Mr. Director General of Transparency International, I gladly responded to your invitation because, in my capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the non-governmental organization Cameroon Africa World for the Promotion of Good Governance and Integrity, I am verysensitive to the problem of corruption and in particular to the damage and devastation it can cause on our society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The speakers who preceded me on this podium rightly underlined the permanence of this phenomenon beyond space and time. Indeed, no country and no regime in the world is vaccinated against this scourge. No institution of human origin can claim to be permanently free from corruption. On our continent alone, Africa, specialists estimate the loss of revenue for the public authorities at 20% of GDP.
This observation, ladies and gentlemen, we must do. Not to clear us and relativize corruption in our country. Nor to line up behind the fatality of this scourge on the pretext of its universality, as the representative of the Minister of Justice of Namibia pointed out, corruption is universal and so is integrity.
