Editorial: Urgent need for Ombudsman to tackle police corruption head-on!.

The Cameroon National Institute of Statistics in its 4^th household survey wrote: “Overall, 91% of the Cameroonian population report that police officers...are involved in corruption".

The 2023 Transparency International Corruption index also reported that the police are seen by Cameroonians as the most corrupt institution in the country.

A survey finding by Afrobarometer, a Pan-African organization, with the collaboration of its Cameroonian partners, Cible Etudes & Conseil, interviewed 1,200 Cameroonian adults in April and May 2022, showed that: "Fewer than one-third of Cameroonians say the police generally operate in a professional manner and respect all citizens’ rights”. 

“Majorities say at least some officers use excessive force with protesters and suspected criminals, stop drivers without good reason, and engage in criminal activities. Vast majorities of citizens think that most police officers are corrupt…among those who encountered the police during the previous year, more than half say they had to pay a bribe to get help or avoid problems," added the survey findings. 

When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Cameroon, Daniel Mekobe, opened the judicial year last month, he also had some punches for the police. 

“If some judicial police officers are excellent in the practice of their jobs, there are also others who work in an unconscious manner and do not respect the fundamental rules governing temporary detention, interrogations, search, execution of warrants and court decisions,” Mekobe said.

Also indicting the police is the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, whose report has triggered the Delegate General of National Security to warn members of his force against the proliferation of corrupt practices and harassment, mostly at checkpoints on high-ways nationwide.

In a note which The Guardian Post reported on yesterday, the police boss ordered regional delegates of Public Security and Mobile Intervention Group Commanders, to “take all necessary measures to effectively combat corruption and police harassment at public highways.”

He added that multiple complaints from members of the public about police harassment have reached the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, and there is need to put an end to the practice, which he said is uncivil.

The Police Chief, in the note, equally called on uniform officers to work according to the guidelines contained in a June 2023 message, which he issued, prohibiting the seizure of identification documents, even expired ones; from users during checks at the various control points.

Last year while presenting the state of corruption in the country for 2022, CONAC divulged that it received over 169 complaints by citizens, decrying police harassment and corruption. CONAC, in the report, put the police among five most corrupt institutions in the country.

It was further revealed in the report that police officers and gendarmes have gained notoriety on the public highway for extorting road users at various checkpoints. 

The security forces were also indicted by CONAC for collecting bribes from passengers, without identification documents or those with expired documents.

The plethora of condemnations against the police force, which is expected to keep peace and order, has far reaching consequences on the socio-political and economic life of the country.

Such corruption poses obstacles to the smooth functioning of justice. 

Justice Mekobe Sone, in his candid, objective and just evaluation of the judiciary of which the police plays a key role, pointed out "the loss of confidence by citizens in judicial institutions...our fellow citizens, economic operators, businesses, national and foreign investors are thirsty for justice.”

To quench that thirst, he tasked judicial officers to “...strive to satisfy their expectations". 

How can Cameroonians have confidence in the rule of law, when the police force, which is crucial in carrying out investigations, is being accused of corruption left, right and centre?

While The Guardian Post salutes the Delegate General for National Security, for his concern, which should extend beyond just corruption on the roads, he needs to go further to punish culprits for illegal detentions and police officers demeaning themselves as bribe collectors.

The Guardian Post acknowledges the fact that it is not easy to fight corruption, which is endemic, not only in the police force but in all aspects of public life in Cameroon.

At one point, a Police de Police was instituted to curb corruption. Regrettably, it was a still birth. CONAC does not have the resources, personnel or geographical spread across the country or even the power to arrest and prosecute suspects.

President Paul Biya, to whose office the police reports and is known to have used every given opportunity to denounce illicit enrichment, can however go an extra mile to institute an ombudsman in every regional capital to whom suspected corrupt people in uniform and the judiciary can file complaints. 

It has worked effectively in other countries. There is no reason its efficacy should not be impacted in Cameroon to save the billions lost to corrupt practices each year.