Cameroon's Mr Clean causes outrage with death of detained journalist

On 3 May, World Press Freedom
Day, the government sent armed troops to
break up a peaceful protest at the news of
Ngota's death by more than 300 journalists
in front of Prime Minister Philémon Yunji
Yang's office in central Yaoundé.
Ngota, who edited the Cameroon
Express newspaper, and his colleagues
were gaoled after they launched an
investigation into allegations of corruption
at the heart of the presidency in Yaoundé.
Since Biya took over the Presidency 28
years ago, Cameroon's reputation for
governance has deteriorated sharply
and it has appeared regularly among the
five governments judged to be the most
corrupt in the world by the Berlin-based
lobby Transparency International.
Ngota had been arrested along with
two other journalists, Harrys Robert
Mintya of Le Devoir and Serge Sabouang
of La Nation; another journalist arrested,
Simon Hervé Nko'o of Bebela, fled after his
release, whereabouts unknown. 'We hold
the Cameroon government responsible
for Ngota's death,' said Joel Simon of the
United States-based Committee to Protect
Journalists. The President of the Union des
Journalistes du Cameroun, Charley Ndi
Chia, had called for laws to guarantee
press freedom and access to information.
Ngota and the other journalists were
asking for information from the Secretary
General at the Presidency, Laurent Esso.
Instead of answering their questions, he
ordered their arrest. Details of the subject
they were investigating are murky. They
had a document, apparently signed by the
quiet but powerful Esso, indicating that
he, as board Chairman of the national
energy company, the Société Nationale des
Hydrocarbures, had secretly ordered the
payment of 1.3 billion CFA francs (US$2.6
million) as commission to Antoine Alo'o
Bikoro, Director General of the Chantier
Naval et Industriel du Cameroun, Jean-
Marcel Dayas Mounoumé, DG of the Port
Autonome de Douala, and Francis Dooh
Collins, a financial expert. The three are

Another corruption crisis
alleged to have facilitated the purchase
in Turkey of a 70-metre 'luxury' offshore
service ship for SNH, the Rio del Rey, for
17 bn. CFA ($32.86 mn.).
Esso accused the journalists of
falsifying his signature and official stamp
on the document, and ordered their arrest.
The secret police took them to the Direction
Générale de la Recherche Extérieure
where, according to Sabouang, they were
tortured to make them reveal the source
of the document. The three were then sent
to Kondengui Prison. Ngota was under
treatment for high blood pressure, asthma
and a hernia, for which he needed an
operation. His health deteriorated but the
prison authorities refused to release him.
He died on 22 April and a post-mortem
was carried out in the absence of any of
his family members or close colleagues.
Journalist Félix Cyriaque Ebolé
Bola later said Communications Minister
Issa Bakary Tchiroma had ordered him
to attend the autopsy but by the time he
arrived it was over. Tchiroma declared
on state radio and television that Ngota
had died from 'opportunistic infections'
caused by his weakened immune system
because he was HIV-positive. The
Cameroon Medical Council condemned
the publication of Ngota's medical records,
promising to punish any doctor involved
in their release. Germain Ngota's widow,
Colette Angèle Ngota, denied her
husband was HIV-positive, adding that
her children can no longer play with other
children because of the minister's claim
that their father had HIV.
The Editor of the French-language
daily Mutation, Alain-Blaise Batongue,
says the people need to know whether the
incriminating document was authentic,
whether Cameroon really bought a luxury
ship and, if so, how much was paid and
who might have earned a commission on
the sale. Esso has still made no statement.
The President of the staff journalists'
trades union, the Syndicat des Journalistes
Employés du Cameroun, Norbert Tchana
Ngante, holds that the government
has deliberately refused to introduce
legislation to define who is a journalist.
Ngota's Cameroon Express, a private
bimonthly, is one of more than 400
registered independent newspapers, most
of which struggle to publish once a month.
Le Devoir and La Nation, owned by the
other two arrested journalists, are in the
same category. ●