Transparency Int'l vindicates jailed Njombe-Penja CPDM mayor

By Daisy Fuh Ngwa & Elise Tcheutchoua Yonkeu (UB journalism students on internship) in Yaounde 

Officials of Transparency International, TI Cameroon have confirmed on good authority the claims that were made by the former mayor of Njombe-Penja, Paul Eric Kingue, against Plantations du Haut Penja, PHP and cohorts for massive fraud, wanton corruption, human rights abuse, exploitation of workers, amongst others.

Jailed Eric Kingue

The allegations by the imprisoned mayor were said to be founded, during a press conference at TI Cameroon’s headquarter in Bastos, Yaounde, August 6.

Briefing pressmen at the conference, the country director of TI Cameroon, Charles Nguini said they were spurred to investigate corruption charges in the Njombe-Penja banana plantation sector after Eric Kingue initially gave them the scoop way back in 2010.

According to Nguini, a rigorous study carried out by TI on mismanagement and corruption in the banana sector, indicates that Plantations du Haut Penja, SPM and CAPLAIN, all operating in Njombe-Penja subdivision, are defrauding the state.

Going by the report, it was disclosed that the Njombe-Penja council had lost over 2 billion FCFA as taxes in the last 30 years. This was due to a well planned mafia of council tax evasion by PHP, SPM and CAPLAIN. The report went further to corroborate some of the corrupt aspects which Paul Eric Kingue had denounced while he served as mayor of the municipality.

Some years back, Kingue as mayor of Njombe-Penja had revealed that the companies did not pay thirteen of their communal taxes as stated in Article 160 of the general tax code, thereby reducing the council’s financial ability to respond to the municipality’s social needs. This he said was perpetrated in complicity with some civil administrators in the locality.

Transparency international investigators confirmed that the banana plantations use their economic and financial power to manipulate civil administrators in order to dodge from paying their due taxes.

Apart from the conspiracy by the banana companies to defraud the state, TI equally disclosed that the plantations are marked by poor working conditions, very long hours of work, low wages, exposure of workers to health risks, and other human rights violations.

It is worth noting that when the jailed mayor, Paul Eric Kingue discovered irregularities in the banana sector, he called on the managers of the companies involved for a dialogue. Rather, the managers, conscious of the gravity of the problem, asked for an agreement with Kingue based on corruption. Kingue’s refusal of the proposal put him at logger-heads with some stakeholders involved in the likes of the director of the PHP Company, M. François Armel, who was later joined by the managers of the other companies. The outcome was multiple attacks from the director of the PHP Company.  Kingue reported to Transparency International as well as other civil societies when he discovered that the problem was beyond him to solve.