Alphonse Siyam Siwe

Alphonse Siyam Siwe (born August 4, 1953[1][2]) is a Cameroonian politician who served as Minister of Energy and Water from 2004 to 2006 and was previously the Director-General of the Autonomous Port of Douala. In 2007, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for corruption.

Life and career

Born in Douala,[2] Siwe was Deputy Director of Labogenie from 1981 to 1984[1] and Director of Labogenie from 1984 to 1990.[1][3] He was appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidency on September 7, 1990,[1] serving in that position until 1992. He subsequently became Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Works in 1995 before being elected to the National Assembly from Haut-Nkam constituency in the 1997 parliamentary election.[2] He became Director-General of the Autonomous Port of Douala in April 1998 and remained in that post until February 2005.[4]

In the 2002 parliamentary election, Siwe was re-elected to the National Assembly from Haut-Nkam constituency,[3][5] where his list, that of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, received 49.58 percent of the vote and won two of the three available seats.[5] Siwe also served as Mayor of Bafang.[2][3]

Siwe was appointed as Minister of Energy and Water in the government named on December 8, 2004.[3][6] He served in that post for a little over a year; on February 24, 2006, he was dismissed from the government and arrested[7] for allegedly participating in the theft of about 38 billion CFA francs in public funds during his stint as Director-General of the Autonomous Port of Douala. This was widely believed to be a witch hunt and an attempt by those in power at preventing his rise in popularity; which they saw as a threat.[8] He was tried along with 12 other defendants[9] in December 2007. On December 13, 2007, verdicts in the trial were announced; Siwe received the most severe sentence, 30 years in prison.[8][9] He was convicted on six charges and acquitted on ten. Three of the other 12 defendants were also found guilty,[9] including Edouard Nathanaël Etondè Ekotto and François Marie Siéwé Nitcheu, who respectively received 15- and 25-year sentences.[8][9]

References
  1. Profile on Siwe at government website (in French).
  2. "Fiche sur les nouveaux minitres [sic] (2)", Cameroon Tribune, December 10, 2004 (in French).
  3. "Gouvernement: Qui sont-ils ?" Archived 2009-01-22 at the Wayback Machine, Mutations, December 10, 2004 (in French).
  4. "Après plus d’un mois de détention: Début de l’interrogatoire de Siyam Siwé" Archived 2007-08-08 at the Wayback Machine, Le Messager, April 13, 2006 (in French).
  5. 2002 election results Archived 2005-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, spm.gov.cm (in French).
  6. "List of members of the government of Cameroon". Archived from the original on 2005-09-09. Retrieved 2005-09-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), presse-francophone.org (in French).
  7. "Rétrospective de l'année 2006", Cameroon-info.net, December 31, 2006 (in French).
  8. "Corruption jails ex-Cameroon minister", AFP, December 13, 2007.
  9. "Détournements au Pad: 30 ans pour Siyam, 15 ans pour Etondè Ekotto" Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine, Le Messager, December 13, 2007 (in French).
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