Akere Muna

Akere Tabeng Muna (born 18 August 1952) is a Cameroonian lawyer who is currently a member of the African Union High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, chaired by H.E. Thabo Mbeki, and Co-Chair of the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR).

He was formerly the Chairman of the International Anti-Corruption Conference Council and Sanctions Commissioner of the African Development Bank Group.

He has also served as the Vice-Chair of Transparency International and presided over the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union, the Pan African Lawyers Union and the Cameroon Bar Association.

For most of his career, Barrister Muna denied having any political aspirations in Cameroon, and stated that his interest remains in his work as a lawyer and with civil society organizations.

However, Jeune Afrique, a leading African weekly, described him as both a credible and the possible successor to President Paul Biya, given his prominence in Cameroon and his accomplishments on the international stage, especially in the areas of anti-corruption and good governance.

Akere Muna was born in Ngyen-Mbo, a village in the North-West region of Cameroon.

He completed his primary and secondary education in his native country before heading to the School of International Service (SIS) at American University in Washington, D.C., United States, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations in 1975.

He then moved to England, where he joined the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.

He was called to the Bar in England in 1978.

That same year, he returned to Cameroon to practice law.

Upon returning to Cameroon, Akere Muna joined the legal practice of his brother, Bernard Muna.

In 1984, the legal practice was converted into a law firm called Muna, Muna & Associates.

Muna, Muna & Associates is one of the oldest law firms in Cameroon, with experience in the bi-jural (common law and civil law) legal system of Cameroon.

Although Akere Muna has continued to work as a lawyer at the firm, he has held several positions in civil society within Cameroon and internationally.

In 1997, Akere Muna ran for president of the Cameroon Bar Association and won in a landslide.

In that election, Akere formed a coalition (the Rainbow Coalition) for membership of the Bar Council that represented all the regions of Cameroon.

All subsequent presidents of the Cameroon Bar Association have come from that initial Rainbow Coalition.

This has led some to criticize that Akere Muna's efforts led to the creation of an elitist group with excessive influence in the bar election process.

In 2000, Akere Muna founded the Cameroon chapter of the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International.

In the two previous years, Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) had listed Cameroon as the most corrupt of the countries surveyed.

Many therefore thought it was risky for Akere Muna to head an organization that challenged the status quo.

The Cameroon government strongly challenged TI's assessment, and even considered suing TI.

Muna, Muna & Associates lost many clients during this period, as many of those clients wanted to avoid the government's ire as a result of any association with the firm.

Eventually, the government formed an ad hoc committee, presided over by the Prime Minister, to combat corruption.

Akere Muna, was a member of that committee, in his capacity as president of the Cameroon Bar.

In 2004, Akere Muna was elected to the Board of Directors of TI.

That same year, the African Chapters of TI designated him as Coordinator of the Coalition of African Chapters of TI.

As Coordinator, he was involved in the TI working group that helped draft the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, and authored a guide to the convention.

In 2005, he was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of TI, for a three-year term.

In July 2005, Akere Muna was unanimously elected president of PALU by the heads of the various African bar associations.

As president, he launched a program, funded by African Development Bank, to train African lawyers in sophisticated commercial transactions in all the five regions of Africa.

He served as president from 2005 to 2014.

In 2005, The Pan African Lawyers Union became a member of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union (AU), an advisory body created to promote civil society involvement within the AU institutions and decision-making processes.

In September 2008, Akere Muna was unanimously elected president of ECOSOCC, replacing Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya.

He subsequently was reelected twice to that position, and stepped down in 2014, after serving the maximum number of terms.

As Akere Muna's mandate as Vice Chair of Transparency International came to an end in 2014, the Board of Directors of TI appointed him Chair of the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) Council.

The IACC is a forum that brings together civil society, heads of state and the private sector to tackle challenges posed by corruption.

The IACC takes place every two years in a different region of the world, and attracts up to 1500 participants from over 135 countries.

Akere Muna was appointed for a six-year term.

Akere Muna was a founding member of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), the umbrella association of African lawyers and lawyers' associations, tasked with working towards the development of the law and legal profession, the rule of law, human rights and socio-economic development of the African continent, as well as promoting African regional integration.