Alphonse Siyam Siwe

Alphonse Siyam Siwe (born August 4, 1953 ) 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, He was appointed as Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidency on September 7, 1990,

In the 2002 parliamentary election, Siwe was re-elected to the National Assembly from Haut-Nkam constituency, 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. He served in that post for a little over a year; on February 24, 2006, he was dismissed from the government and arrested 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. He was tried along with 12 other defendants in December 2007. On December 13, 2007, verdicts in the trial were announced; Siwe received the most severe sentence, 30 years in prison. He was convicted on six charges and acquitted on ten. Three of the other 12 defendants were also found guilty, including Edouard Nathanaël Etondè Ekotto and François Marie Siéwé Nitcheu, who respectively received 15- and 25-year sentences.