Veteran lawyer and anti-corruption crusader Akere Tabeng Muna has used his 2026 New Year speech to issue a sweeping call for moral renewal in Cameroon, warning that the country cannot aspire to credible elections or national unity while tolerating corruption, impunity, and injustice in public life.
Addressing “Cameroonians and friends at home and abroad,” Barrister Akere Muna opened with a message of hope and solidarity, wishing citizens peace, health, and renewed confidence as the country turns the page on a turbulent year. However, his message quickly shifted beyond seasonal pleasantries to a hard-hitting diagnosis of what he described as a profound governance crisis.
“The past year tested us,” he said, noting that while expectations for change were raised, the nation remains stuck in a painful impasse. Rather than revisiting recent political disputes, he urged Cameroonians to reflect on what the moment reveals about their collective values and future direction.
A Culture of Impunity
Barrister Akere Muna, a former President of the Cameroon Bar Council and long-time advocate for transparency, lamented what he called the “slow erosion of integrity in public life.” He cited repeated scandals involving public works, procurement, and admissions into elite schools, as well as the spread of nepotism and tribalism in hiring, promotions, and the award of public contracts.
He also pointed to strategic sectors such as oil, energy, and mining, capacity, he argued, has fostered impunity and deepened poverty. International warnings about rising public debt, money laundering, and the high cost of secrecy, he said, have gone largely unheeded.
Nearly 30 years after asset declaration requirements were enshrined in Cameroon’s constitution, the 2025 Presidential candidate noted, the country still lacks a legal framework to enforce them. “We have slowly put in place a system in which the rich and powerful cannot be held accountable,” he said, adding that public servants too often appear to work for themselves rather than for citizens.
Elections as a Mirror of Society
A central theme of the address was the link between everyday governance failures and electoral crises. Akere Muna rejected the idea that credible elections can exist in isolation from broader societal practices.
“We cannot have clean elections in a culture that tolerates dirty habits,” he warned. “The ballot is a mirror; it reflects the values we practice every day.”
According to him, public outrage over flawed electoral processes often ignores the deeper tolerance of corruption and shortcuts in other areas of national life. Without a broader ethical transformation, he argued, political reforms alone will fall short.
A Call for Moral Rearmament
Looking ahead, the refined and distinguished legal mind proposed 2026 as a “year of moral rearmament,” describing it as a non-partisan national awakening grounded in conscience, truth, fairness, and the common good. He stressed that this effort should not be used as a political weapon but as a unifying project across regions, languages, religions, genders, and ethnic groups.
Reflecting on his own recent political choices, Barrister Akere Muna said he had opted for unity over personal ambition, convinced that the country needed a single voice to channel the desire for change. After nearly three decades of anti-corruption work, he pledged to continue the fight “with humility, with perseverance,” despite the personal risks involved. “Our diversity is not our weakness,” he said. “Our silence in the face of wrongdoing is.”
Call for Reconciliation and Releases
In one of the most politically charged passages of the speech, he called for a clear act of national reconciliation, the release of all individuals arrested in connection with the October elections. He extended this appeal to all citizens detained, prosecuted, or convicted for politically related offences, including those whose release has been recommended by United Nations institutions.
“Justice and public order are not weakened by mercy guided by law,” he argued. “They are strengthened when the State shows that it can heal, listen, and turn the page with fairness and dignity for all.”
“The Year We Begin Again”
Concluding his address on a reflective and spiritual note, he urged Cameroonians to place the most vulnerable at the center of national decision-making and to ask what kind of country they are leaving for future generations. If they do so, he said, the nation can reclaim its “moral compass,” regardless of political headlines.
He ended with a prayer for the nation, asking God to protect Cameroon, comfort the grieving, uplift the poor, and bless the work of its people. “May 2026 be the year we begin again together,” Akere Tabeng Muna declared.
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