Cameroon has been suspended from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) programme.

Last February 29, EITI ( Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) officially suspended Cameroon, citing the country’s “relatively low overall EITI implementation score (53 points)”. The EITI is designed to improve understanding of how natural resources are managed, strengthen public and corporate governance and accountability, and provide the data needed to inform policy and multi-stakeholder dialogue in the extractive sector.

Cameroon, which joined the programme in 2007, has just been suspended for failing to be accountable. And, according to Barrister Akere Muna, the management of the Glencore affair bears a certain amount of responsibility. “I am very saddened by this suspension of our country from the EITI, the second of its kind in less than three years. I am 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” says Barrister Akere Muna.

Member countries of the EITI programme have the duty to disclose information along the extractive industry value chain, from how extraction rights are awarded, to how revenues make their way through government and how they benefit the public.

The EITI Standard help in building awareness of how the transition will affect extractive sector activities and revenues and in supporting the responsible and transparent production of minerals that are critical for a sustainable future. The EITI provides data that can help identify and close channels for corruption – not only in mining, oil and gas but increasingly in the renewables sector.