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The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for improving the interaction between horizontal and social accountability mechanisms for enhanced accountability outcomes.

This is a conceptual paper drawing on six published anti-corruption cases in the Asian region and in theory to develop a framework for understanding and improving the interaction between horizontal and social accountability mechanisms.

The paper proposes that to have more improved interactions between horizontal and social accountability mechanisms, any or all of the following eight conditions must be met. These include, independence and capacity of horizontal accountability agencies; legal backing for horizontal and social accountability interaction; vibrant and independent media; strong partnership of civil society with the media for information dissemination; organisation of civil society into groups; credibility of horizontal and social accountability mechanisms; capacity of civil society (including human and financial capacity); horizontal accountability mechanisms to support and motivate social mechanism to “blow the alarm”.

The conceptual framework developed in this paper makes a significant contribution to the accountability literature. In terms of policy, this framework can serve as a tool for governments, especially in Asia, seeking good governance through enhanced accountability outcomes.

In total, 10 years since the establishment of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in Cameroon to deal with a specific kind of corruption, one may wonder whether any achievements have been made so far in fulfilling its mandate and also assuaging the tense and toxic perception that the Court was established as an arsenal to witch-hunt political opponents. This study aims to look into the work done so far in this regard, and makes an assessment as to whether any accomplishments have been made in the first decade of its establishment.

This paper takes an evidence-based approach in seeking answers to what accomplishments, if any, have been made by the Court, explores the notion of corruption within Cameroon’s legislative and institutional landscape prior to the establishment of the Court and looks into the profiles of those who have been indicted by the SCC for that crime; the amounts that were misappropriated and for which they were convicted; the sentences imposed. It identifies some outstanding cases: where the amounts misappropriated exceeded a threshold and asks the question of what made it possible for these individuals to misappropriate such huge sums of money?

The inconsistencies and irrationality in the sentencing are a few findings made. Added to those is the timing of the establishment of the Court which, as most have perceived, is a political witch-hunting aimed at bringing credibility to a failed regime, as well as deal with a few political “irresponsibles” who were once the president’s buddies.

This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.

The establishment of the SCC is commendable. However, as it deals with but a particular kind of corruption, it might be necessary to rethink the need of additional institutional mechanisms that have specialized jurisdiction to deal with the different kinds of corruption in Cameroon.

The paper highlights the entrenched nature of corruption in the social fabrics of Cameroonian society, and exposes the need for a much holistic approach in dealing with corruption, as the SCC offers but one institutional mechanism toward that direction.

This paper, given the issues discussed therein, and considering the dearth of literature on the topic, advances the literature on the SCC in particular and the problem of endemic corruption in Cameroon in general.

The paper aims to examine fall armyworm's (FAW) effect on Ghana's farming households' income and food security status.

A sample of 225 farmers, including FAW-infested households and non-FAW-infested households, were interviewed. Gross margin (GM) analysis was used to estimate farmers' farm revenues, and the Household Food Insecurity Access Scores (HFIAS) was employed to measure the food security status of the households. The seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) was adopted to investigate the effect of FAW infestation on gross income and food security.

From the study, FAW attack is predominant during the vegetative stage of the maize plant. The empirical results revealed that FAW-infested farms incur loss, whereas non-FAW-infested farmers gained profit. Also, FAW-infested households were mildly food insecure, while non-FAW-infested households were food secured. The results of SUR analysis reveal that FAW infestation decreased farmers' income from maize production and rendered them food insecure.

One limitation of this study is that it largely depended on a survey; however, future studies can combine both survey and experimental data from the farmers' fields during minor and major growing seasons of maize.

Given the negative consequences of FAW, studies have been conducted across Africa and globally. However, most of these studies concentrated on using geographic information system (GIS) and descriptive statistics without necessarily quantifying the effect of FAW on food security and the profit margins of farming households. Therefore, this study adds to the little literature on the effect of FAW on food security and GM from maize production, which has received less attention in Ghana to the authors' best knowledge.