“Corruption is destroying our country,” Archbishop Andre Wouking of Yaounde said, reading from the letter to a news briefing. “It is destroying our economy, it is destroying our social fabric, it is destroying above all our consciences.” The bishops said corruption had permeated all levels of society, with people at the lower levels of society emulating the behavior of those who are higher.

“What was once done secretly is now done openly. Corruption has become a way of life. Sometimes it seems as if it is officially tolerated, as if it has been institutionalized,” the letter said. Archbishop Wouking also admitted that corruption had extended even to the clergy.

Business watchdog group Transparency International named Cameroon as one of the most corrupt countries in 1998 and 1999, although it improved in 2000. The archbishop said it was not enough to arrest and prosecute a few ministers or senior officials as scapegoats and that the government needed to do more to stamp out the problem.