TI CAMEROON WANTS TRANSPARNT MANAGEMENT OF REDD+ FUNDS

Aaron kaah yancho

Officials of Transparency  International, TI Cameroon, have stressed on the importance for transparent and account-able management of funds by members of the national coordination team and other stakeholders involved in the Reducing  Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, REDD+ process in Cameroon.

The authorities of the international non-governmental organization made the call last Thursday, August 14,in Bastos-Yaounde, during a workshop that grouped together stakeholders of the REDD+ national coordination.

According to the Cameroon programme coordinator of REDD+ governance and integrity for Africa,

Nyaciss Lucien Tchakunte, there is a risk that the appropriate outcome of the +Prevention of the negative effects of climate change may not achieved because the programme is being implanted in countries that are highly plagued by corruption. And since huge sums of money from foreign donors are involved in the environment protection campaign, Nyaccis added that it was very necessary for TI Cameroon to step in and put sanity in the milieu.

Going by TI Cameroon sources. Cameroon ranked 144^TH out of 175 countries in the 2013 corruption perception index by Transparency International, scoring an average of 25/100. The global corruption barometer for 2013 equally indicates that 50of interviewees held that the government was very inefficient in the fight against corruption in the country, despite the existence of the disciplinary.  Commission of the supreme state audit and the national anti-corruption commission.

 In another specific study carried out by the non-governmental organization, Forêt et Développement Rural(FODER), it was revealed that the rate of corruption in the forestry sector in Cameroon stands at 6.44/10, placing the sector amongst the most corrupt in the country.

It is against this backdrop that TI Cameroon anti-corruption activists are advocating for the national REDD+ systems to function effectively so as to have the ability to receive, manage and redistribute performance payments in a transparent, equitable and accountable manner.

Thursday’s sensitization seminar which was aimed at enabling Cameroon attain her sustainable development objective was attended by officials from: the French embassy in Cameroon, the ministry of forestry and nature protection, CONAC, the supreme state audit, non-governmental organization, environment and communication experts among others.