Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

14SOLD DOWN THE RIVER‘The goat grazes where itis tied’Remarks on the neo-patrimonialadministration of Cameroon’sforestry sectorBy Samuel Nguiffo, CEDFor several years now, numerous reportshave attested to the frequency and extent ofillegal practices in Cameroon’s forestry sector.There are serious problems in the relationshipbetween the State and donors (especiallyregarding the smooth-running of thestructural adjustment programme). However,this is not the only thing to tarnishCameroon’s image; worse still, the differentdevelopment programmes suffer from a lackof coherence and sustainability. It is importantto note that the sums of money we are talkingabout here are sometimes extremely largeand represent a real loss to the nationaltreasury. In the context of the only justificationof the industrial exploitation of wood being itsprofitability for the State, one has to ask whythese practices continue, and consider theimpunity which surrounds them.Until now, illegal activities within theforestry sector have generally been seen asbeing isolated incidents, The aim of this paperis to demonstrate how the ‘system’ operates -a system which allows illegal activities in theforestry sector to develop - and whichexplains the resistance to the remedies whichhave been put forward by the donors.Inspired by the work of Max Weber, thetheoretical outline of the neo-patrimonialstate developed by Prof. Jean-FrançoisMédard offers a way of seeing how the Statein Africa, and the relationship between theState’s leaders and the State’s resources,functions. According to Prof. Médard, theneo-patrimonial State is characterized by thefollowing aspects:1. The personalization of power which‘irrigates the whole of the State apparatusfrom the top to the bottom. Each official witha little bit of power appropriates andmanages it for their own benefit [...]. At alllevels it is patronage and clientelism whichdominates’. This is accompanied by theinstitutional atrophying of the State which, inthe example which concerns us, couldexplain the weakness of the controlmechanisms (both material and human) offorestry administration.2. The reign of the arbitrary which theadministration is incapable of stopping. Thebehaviour of those with State authority hasnot been curbed by any means, they are leftto their own devices - most notably inensuring that those who rebel are brought torespect the rules of the ‘system’. It isimportant to mention that the law, which issupposed to prevent illegal activities,frequently helps to further this corruption.Here, for example, it is worth noting that theforestry administration enjoys the power tocome to an out of court settlement withoffenders of the forestry law. This legalarrangement constitutes an incitement tocorrupt practices. A judge should have alegal obligation to act here.3. Confusion between the public and theprivate, which is the key plank of the neopatrimonialsystem. In this system, ‘allgovernmental authority and correspondingeconomic rights, tend to be treated aseconomic gains, privately appropriated’. 1 Adialectic exists between wealth and power,and Prof. Médard indicates, ‘Searching forpower is to search for wealth, and searchingfor wealth is to search for power, because oneleads to the other and vice versa.’ 2 It is thiswhich explains the large number of the elite,whether local or national, in the forestryindustry, who see it as a way to both enjoy thespin-offs of political-administrative status, andto obtain the necessary financial resources toensure that their status is maintained orimproved. This is the way in which theadministrative functions ‘are distributed tothose friends, family or clients as payments, inorder to sustain their own position, and extractthe surplus for themselves.’ 3 A Camerooniansaying deftly explains this situation: ‘the goatgrazes where it is tied’.The management of the forestry sector inCameroon is a good example of thepatrimonial tendency of the State. The forest iscontributing to an enterprise of theaccumulation of private wealth amongnumerous people with a degree of power. Inthe dividing up of the ‘forestry cake’, thehierarchy of power is respected. Pressure onthe forest is growing, other sources of wealthcreation are drying up with the onset of thestructural adjustment programme. There aretwo main routes of access to patrimonialbenefits from the forest:§ a direct route, through the conversion of aposition of power into a position ofexploitation (whether legal or de facto) orvia capitalizing on the services provided inthe normal framework of the role (grantingof logging rights, but also controllingforestry exploitation);§ an indirect route, by putting pressure onpoliticians and the administration to obtainfavourable decisions which they would nototherwise have taken.It is the operation of these cross-cuttingstrategies of wealth creation which haveallowed the growth of a system of corruptionaround forestry in Cameroon. The managementof approvals, the granting of forestryexploitation rights, the control of forestryactivities, and the management of forestry dues,are strongly influenced by this system.Looking at the list of solicitors working inforestry in Cameroon, it is easy to spotindividuals who do not fulfill the necessaryrecognised legal requirements in terms oftheir knowledge and their methods.Also, the granting of forestry exploitationrights generally give rise to a number ofirregularities which, due to their gravity andfrequency, cannot be explained by anythingother than pressure having been brought tobear or financial inducements having beenmade.A World Bank report raises one elementof the situation, ‘Finally the Government hasstarted the auction cutting rights, but in theventes de coupe and especially in theOctober 1997 allocation of concessions, thespecified allocation criteria have not beenfully respected [...]. Concessions wereawarded to the highest bidder in only 10 ofthe 25 cases [...]. In some cases, the awardswere politically motivated.’ 4Another strategy of access to forestryresources is through the granting of smallscaleexploitation concessions(recouperations or ventes de coupe loggingpermits) which serve as pretexts for theextraction of unlimited amounts of wood. In ajoint MINEF/World Bank report, it was notedthat ‘illegal exploitation is public knowledgein the urban centres, including of the officialsof the administration who are based there’. 5The control of exploitation activities followa similar pattern. A study recently carried outin the forestry area of East province showedthat 21 % of the civil proceedings taken byforestry officials against illegal activities in theshady forestry sector were ‘stopped by theintervention of someone from high-up’. 6The law has also played a role in the neopatrimonialsituation in the forestry sector.Two examples are sufficient to illustrate this:§ it is possible to make a deal with theforestry administration which isrecognized by the law; this is a greenlight to corruption. It would be preferableto force the administration to hand casesover to a judge;§ regarding the legal situation over forestryroyalties - there is no adequate protectionagainst their embezzlement by localofficials. Local people do not have thenecessary skills to bring an action againstthose responsible for themisappropriation of public funds.Transparency in the management of theforestry sector in Cameroon – an essentialcondition for the promotion of the social andecological sustainability of the forestry sector– can only be attained if the neo-patrimonialsystem is challenged. Yet, it appears that nosuch challenge is currently envisaged.