In the period January to June 2014 FITCAM continued its multi-faceted work to change the culture of Cameroon to make corruption unacceptable:
- Exposing corruption: FITCAM is the local representative for the South West and North West regions of Cameroon of the neutral national anticorruption agencies, CONAC and CNLCC. For example they helped expose and bring to justice a corrupt public official, who had abused the tender process for construction contracts to allocate them to bidders
who were not technically or financially qualified. - Building capacity to hold officials to account: FITCAM pioneered the development of a project called Basic Education Project and Expenditure Mapping to provide web access to information on the use of resources in schools. Training is being provided to head teachers and members of parent-teachers associations, reducing corruption in the management and use of educational resources. This means that limited resources will produce better levels of education, helping more children to escape from poverty.
- Education: FITCAM ran seminars on issues of fraud and corruption, and supported Ethics Clubs for young people
- Research on the inefficiencies in infrastructure projects and on excessive rises in prices for fuel and other commodities.
FITCAM now has the health sector in its sights. Pervasive corruption in Cameroon’s public health system has left millions of at-risk adults and children without access to basic health services. With little knowledge of their fundamental rights and lack of effective regulatory enforcement within the courts, many Cameroonians have been forced to pay bribes to medical providers for free health services. Health professionals sell public-funded drugs and treatment services for their own gain. Illicit and unlicensed drugs are also common. Action is long overdue.