(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (Conac) invited the government to foster the denunciation of corruption through a reward system, a report published late 2018 said.

Conac suggests the government should follow the US “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977”  model which rewards whistleblowers proportionally to the assets that are recovered.

This anti-bribery approach, Conac says, puts an end to the sense of impunity that the powerful had during the 1970s. In addition to being protected by the law through several anti-retaliation measures, citizens are encouraged to report acts of corruption and their perpetrators. The commission also recommends that whistleblowers as well as victims and witnesses of acts of corruption must be under law protection.

“Several times, Conac saw situations where the whistleblower refused to give a written statement, fearing retaliation if ever he/she were identified as such and had to appear before a court to affirm their statements,”  the report states, specifying that “the reason  whistleblowers are very often hesitant is the absence of texts or mechanisms that allow them to testify, behind a window or with a voice that is difficult to recognize”.

Sylvain Andzongo