The money is mostly devolved to City and Local Councils that constitute the heart beat of the country’s development.
The decentralisation process in Cameroon enshrined in the 1996 Constitution has since the beginning of the ongoing 2010 moved from theory to effective implementation. The Sub director of Assistance to Local Governments in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD), Jean-Pierre Kuate in a recent seminar to build the capacities of journalists in the decentralisation process disclosed that by the end of 2010, the government must have disbursed FCFA 50, 266,363,000 to ensure the effective implementation of decentralisation.
Nine ministries have devolved some of their competence and the corresponding appropriate resources amounting to FCFA 23,072,363,000 to the 14 City Councils and 360 Councils in Cameroon. The transfer which reliable sources at MINATD say is effective since the beginning of this year, is within the framework of the first generation of transfer of competence to local councils. The finances which correspond to the projects each ministry had to carry out in the council areas, is already in the respective Council’s bank accounts for the executives to incorporate in the budgets and use in executing the assigned projects, MINATD sources said. The projects as spelt out in regulatory texts are in the domains of economic, sanitation, health, social, educational, sports and cultural development. The Ministry of Basic Education for instance, has the lion’s share of the money amounting to FCFA 15, 448,404,000 to be used in building, equipping and maintaining nursery and primary schools, acquiring and furnishing school materials as well as for recruiting and paying additional staff.
Cameroon’s City, Subdivision and Local Councils have within the framework of government’s determination to put in place the decentralisation process benefited FCFA 6,004,000,000 from the General Endowment of Decentralisation. The total amount disbursed as general endowment of decentralisation in 2010 is FCFA 9,694,000,000. Reliable sources in MINATD explain that FCFA 3 billion of the amount will be used as salaries of council officials and another FCFA 3.004 billion as investments. The remaining money, the sources indicate, will be used to finance the functioning of decentralisation follow up structures such as the National Decentralisation Council, Local Services Inter-ministerial Committee and other structures that go to strengthen the decentralisation process. Besides the General Endowment of Decentralisation, the government in 2010 has also transferred taxes and duties to Councils totalling FCFA 17.5 billion.
The ball is now certainly in the court of the City and Local Council executives who need to properly understand the legislation governing the management of the transferred competence and appropriate corresponding resources to bring about the desired development. This explains the series of ongoing nationwide training seminars organised by MINATD to sharpen the skills and ensure the effective contribution of all actors in the decentralisation process.
Emmanuel KENDEMEH
