Cameroon’s internationally revered lawyer, good governance champion and anti-corruption genius of immutable standing, Akere Muna, has been raised to the Pan-African honour roll of the Economic Social and Cultural Council, ECOSOCC, of the African Union, AU.
Akere Muna, a respectable household name on the global stage of cleaning the world of the cancer of corruption, received the honour, Wednesday night in Accra, Ghana. This was on the sidelines of the African Union Citizens Forum.
The meeting also marked the twentieth Anniversary Celebrations held in Accra, Ghana of the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union.
Among those who handed the recognition to Akere Muna was the Chairperson of the African Union, AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat. The AU Commission Chairperson hailed Akere Muna’s distinct contribution to Africa’s emancipation.
Moussa Mara, former Prime Minister of Mali and Member of the Club of Madrid, also saluted Akere Muna’s undeniable footprints across the globe.
“We can only celebrate you for all you are doing for the continent,” Mara said.
Khalid Boudali, Chairperson of the AU ECOSOCC, also used occasion to heap deserved praises on Akere Muna for his work as pioneer Presiding Officer of the Permanent Assembly of the AU-ECOSOCC.
In his usual selfless nature, Akere Muna dedicated the outstanding recognition to the people of Cameroon.
He declared that: “I feel personally honored. It seemed so far away when we launched ECOSOCC. It is now truly the civil society’s Parliament. There is no honour more humbling than one given by your peers”.
Akere Muna further observed that: “The voice of citizens is being heard all over,” precising that: “I dedicate this award to the people of Cameroon as they enter the most delicate phase of their history. I know they will overcome”.
The multiple international award-winning lawyer took part in the meeting, where he made huge contributions to Africa’s response to Illicit Financial flows, corruption and natural resource management.
Batonnier Akere Muna is also member of the African Union High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows out of Africa, and Goodwill Ambassador of the African Legal Services Facility.
To note that in October last year, Akere Muna was given the honour of being pioneer Presiding Officer of ECOSOCC’s Annual Citizens Forum on Democracy and Digital Governance in Africa.
The international gathering took place in Nairobi-Kenya. The gathering was organised in partnership with the All-Africa Conference of Churches, AACC, the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, CoDA, and the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercult. Barrister Akere Muna is among the few compatriots who have marketed Cameroon positively on the global stage.
His legal in-routes in crusading good governance, peace and transparency, have made waves in years past.
Akere Muna is former President of the Cameroon Bar Association and former boss of the Pan African Lawyers’ Union, PALU.
His commitment to the upholding of justice and the rule of law is incontestable. He is a former Member of the Eminent Persons Panel for the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM. He is a founding Member of Transparency International-Cameroon.
Akere Muna, known as Cameroon’s Mr Clean, has since 2018 taken the fight against corruption a notch higher through the creation of the Now Movement. His activism in seeking the divulging of Cameroonians involved in the Glencore scandal has won him acclaim, bur also created him enemies. Governance issues would definitely constitute an important platform when campaigns for the 2025 presidential elections begin. His mastery of such issues would stand him in good stead should he be endorsed as the single opposition candidate or Anglophone candidate.
Adapted from The Voice
