October 1992 — Paul Biya, who replaced President Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1982, wins the country's first multiparty presidential election. The country has been ruled by one party since 1966.
1994 — Cameroon and Nigeria fight over oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula.
November 1995 — Cameroon joins the Commonwealth.
January to May 1996 — Cameroon and Nigeria fight again for Bakassi Peninsula.
October 1996 — Administrative censorship is abolished. According to the United Nations, the removal of that preventive censorship leads to an increase in the number of cases of abuse of press freedom brought before the courts.
January 1996 — Amendments are made to the 1972 constitution. The amendments include the establishment of a 100-member Senate as part of a bicameral legislature, the creation of regional councils, and the fixing of the presidential term to seven years, renewable once (instead of unlimited five-year terms).
October 1997 — Paul Biya gets re-elected in the multiparty elections. Three major opposition parties decide to boycott the elections due to the refusal of their demand for an independent election commission.
April 1999 — The Yaounde Court of Appeals confirms the convictions of former minister of Health Titus Edzoa, who was arrested in 1997 along with his campaign manager, Michel Atangana, on corruption and embezzlement charges, after declaring his candidacy as opponent to president Biya in the 1997 election. They are sentenced to 15 years in prison.
October 1999 — Former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Monchipou Seidou, Ministry Budget Director Guillaume Yetna Hiobi and Ministry Director of Production Philip Tarkang are arrested on charges of corruption or embezzlement. Seidou and 22 coconspirators are convicted by a court in November 2003. Seven of them are sentenced to 20 years in prison and their assets are confiscated.
April 2000 — The government issues a decree allowing for the setup of private radio and television stations.
October 2000 — The Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon issues a letter saying that corruption in the country permeates all levels of the society and has become a way of life. It adds that corruption is destroying Cameroon's economy as well as people's consciences.
December 2000 — The Parliament adopts a legislation that creates National Election Observatory, a watchdog body that will be responsible with monitoring all stages of elections.
January 2002 — Police arrest and imprisons Georges Baongla, publisher of the private weekly Le Démenti, on claims that he had defrauded a Finance Ministry official of US$23,000.
June 2002 — Local and legislative elections are held. The ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement dominates legislative and municipal elections.
August 2002 — Senior referee Bernard Fokouo, who was fired by the Cameroon football association (Fédération Camerounaise de Football), claims that the country's soccer officials are being bribed and therefore they are not able to do their job fairly.
October 2002 — The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations highest judicial body, settles the dispute over Bakassi Peninsula by awarding sovereignty of the peninsula to Cameroon. The territory is transferred to Cameroon in August 2006.
April 2003 — The private newspaper Mutation is seized after publishing articles on "Life after Biya," about the succession of President Paul Biya. The newspaper's editor and several journalists are arrested and detained. Two days later, copies of the newspaper are seized from kiosks by members of the security forces in civilian clothes.
July 2003 — A unit in the Ministry of Environment and Forests is established to combat corruption. Its objectives are to promote, implement and monitor measures to fight corruption within the ministry.
December 2003 — The government signs the U.N. Convention against Corruption. The convention is ratified in February 2006.
April 2004 — Central Office for Press Relations is created in order to provide media organs with official government information.
July 2004 — The publisher of the NSO Voice, Eric Wirkwa Tayu, receives a five-month jail sentence and a US$600 fine for defaming the mayor of Kumbo, Donatus Njong Fonyuy. It is alleged that Tayu was charged as a result of publishing articles claiming that the mayor was guilty of corruption. He was released after spending eight months in jail.
September 2004 — A new code specifying rules for awarding, executing and overseeing public contracts is introduced.
October 2004 — Paul Biya is elected to a new seven-year term. Opposition parties claim that there were irregularities in the election process. International observers report doubts on the credibility of polls.
February 2005 — A new decree establishing a committee to coordinate the fight against fraud and smuggling is issued.
February 2005 — The Special Supervisory Department in the National Security Service is established to investigate the "confidentiality, state of mind, moral and loyalty" of members of the police.
March 2005 — The government installs a new computer program to detect fraud by government employees. The system shows that there are 3,000 "ghost" employees who do not exist. The system reveals that about 500 officials have either awarded themselves extra money or claimed salaries for non-existing workers. The fraud is said to date back to 1994 and cost Cameroon US$2 million in a month.
March 2005 — The government accepts the conditions of Executive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and declares its oil revenue from an international oil pipeline on prime minister's web site. The EITI supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.
April 2005 — Menouga Mevoa, a former post office manager, is sentenced to 15 years in prison by The Yaounde Superior Court for embezzling US$1.8 million in 2003.
July 2005 — Joseph Bessala Ahanda, an editor at the newspaper Le Front, is arrested by police in connection with publishing three reports on alleged embezzlement by Maurice Bayemi, the head of Cameroon Postal Services, and his associate. Ahanda is released after a delegation of journalists meets with the director of criminal affairs.
August 2005 — A private and independent investigation report led by Joseph Fru blames Cameroon's Ambassador to the United States, H.E Mendouga, of embezzling about US$27 million appropriated for renovation of the embassy building in Washington, DC, in 1999.
January 2006 — The government starts the activities of the National Agency for the Investigation of Financial Crimes, whose mission includes fighting against money laundering, enrichment from corruption and embezzlement.
February 2006 — Police arrest Emmanuel Ondo Ndong, general manager of the Special Support Fund for Local Authorities (FEICOM — Fonds Special d'Equipement et d'Intervention Intercommunale), the financial institution that funds councils. They also arrest Gilles Roger Belinga, the general manager of the Cameroon Real Estate Corporation, and Joseph Edou, the general manager of Credit Foncier, a real estate funding company. They are charged with embezzling public funds. A Cameroon Court sentences Ndong to 50 years imprisonment for embezzling US$27 million while he was general manager of FEICOM. Prosecutors say that he bought seven luxury vehicles, 12 houses, a hotel and building plots in the capital Yaounde and stashed more stolen money in foreign bank accounts.
February 2006 — Minister of Energy and Water Resources Alphonse Siyan Siwe is arrested and dismissed from his job, on corruption charges stemming from his tenure as the director of the Douala Port before he joined the government in December 2004.
March 2006 — The president signs a decree that replaces National Corruption Observatory with National Anti-Corruption Commission, which is under the president's authority and responsible for monitoring and ensuring the implementation of the government's anticorruption plan.
April 2006 — Parliament passes a law that requires state administrators to declare their assets after appointment and when they leave the office.
August 2006 — Nigeria moves its troops out of Bakassi Peninsula after the ICJ awards sovereignty to Cameroon.
November 2006 — Security forces kill at least two Buea University students during the demonstrations over alleged corruption and discrimination against English-speaking students.
December 2006 — The government establishes a body to supervise elections under the pressure of the international community to separate electoral organization from administration.
April 2007 — A court convicts former chief and Member of Parliament Doh Gah Gwanyin and nine others of involvement in the death of John Kohtem, an Social Democratic Front (SDF — Front Social-Démocratique) opposition leader beaten to death in August 2004. They are sentenced to 15 years in jail, but Gwanyin is released on bail, pending his application to appeal.
July 2007 — The president of the Confederation of Cameroon Public Service Unions, Jean-Marc Bikoko, alleges at a press conference that the prime minister, Chief Ephraim Inoni, is protecting a network of corrupt officials who are unlawfully filling their pockets.
