Cameroon suspended from Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

During the meeting, the Board concluded that Cameroon has achieved a fairly low overall score (53 points) in EITI implementation. 

The body said in a statement that Cameroon has sustained its EITI reporting and gradually strengthened systematic disclosures. 

However, the country was suspended until its next validation, due to insufficient progress in civil society engagement and government constraints on civil society’s freedoms of expression and association. 

“I commend Cameroonian stakeholders for sustaining EITI implementation during the challenging years of COVID-19,” said EITI Board Chair, Helen Clark. 

“To be meaningful, the EITI process requires robust multi-stakeholder engagement in an enabling environment for critical public debate on extractive industry governance issues. Cameroon EITI is well placed to support and inform national priorities and the impacts of the energy transition, drawing on two decades of EITI implementation and data,” Clark added.

Cameroon’s economy is heavily dependent on the oil and gas sector, constituting around 4% of GDP, 16% of government revenues and 31% of exports in 2021 according to EITI reporting. 

The country has also expanded its gas production and exports in recent years. Artisanal mining of gold and diamonds is prevalent, and the country is seeking to attract large-scale industrial mining projects. 

Public debate

Since its last validation in 2021, Cameroon has maintained its EITI reporting but faced challenges in improving timeliness of disclosures. 

In the absence of a Ministry of Petroleum in Cameroon, the National Hydrocarbons Corporation, SNH, and the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, MINMIDT, have played key roles in routinely disclosing oil and gas sector data, for example on applicable laws and regulations, license data, production and liftings, annual reports and, for the first time, SNH’s full audited financial statements for 2021. 

The said disclosures have encouraged some private oil and gas companies, such as Gaz du Cameroun, to regularly publish data through their corporate websites. 

Cameroon has used its EITI reporting to address some issues of public interest. 

For example, in its 2021 EITI Report, the country introduced innovative disclosures of oil and gas project costs and seizures of illegal gold exports. 

The publication of key mining contracts, such as that of SINOSTEEL in 2022, have also generated significant public debate, including by international stakeholders such as the Tax Justice Network. 

Greater multi-stakeholder engagement in the design of EITI reporting could further enhance Cameroon EITI’s contribution to debate on issues of public interest. 

With a wealth of EITI data covering more than two decades, EITI Cameroon has significant opportunities to improve data accessibility to catalyse greater use by stakeholders. 

Efforts such as the new National Statistics Institute’s, INS portal, which was launched in September 2023 and hosts some of Cameroon EITI’s disclosures, enables easier access to EITI data that can be used for research and analysis. 

The EITI, it should be said, was formed in London in June 2003, when 140 delegates from governments, companies, industry groups, international organisations, civil society organisations and investors agreed the EITI Principles, establishing the EITI as a multi-stakeholder organisation and underpinning its mission. 

The momentum for the EITI came in part from a growing body of research, which described how the potential benefits of oil, gas and mining activity were not being realised and mapped their association with increased poverty, conflict and corruption. Transparency and public dialogue were identified as an important starting point for remedying this “resource curse”.

Suspension was avoidable-Akere Muna

Meanwhile, in reacting to Cameroon’s suspended from the EITI, the country’s foremost anti-corruption campaigner and international lawyer of repute, Barrister Akere Muna, said he was saddened by the development.

Describing it as unfortunate, Barrister Akere Muna noted “I am very saddened by this suspension of our country from the EITI, the second of its kind in less than three years”.

The renowned legal luminary said he was “all the more sad since I contributed modestly with Minister Abah Abah, to the entry of Cameroon into this initiative (London 2007) but above all because the GLENCORE case is one of the reasons, even though we have made proposals that could have avoided this”. 

“In the final analysis, opacity in the management of our extractive industry is the direct result of systemic corruption. Let's hope that with this, they will get the names of the gravediggers of our country from GLENCORE” he concluded.