President Paul Biya last August 31 appointed Secretaries General in some ministries. The respective ministers, the hierarchical bosses of the Secretaries General recently rounded off commissioning them into their functions.
The appointment of a Secretary General in a ministry goes beyond the normal statutory and almost routine practice of moving one senior staff from one post of responsibility to another. Secretaries General, the ministers’ main collaborators are technocrats, invested with coordination powers. They are first of all supposed to master government policy and in particular guide the said ministries in its successful implementation of the policy.
It for this reason that at any time a Secretary General is taking up duties, the presiding minister spends most of the time informing them of the objectives, programmes and plan of actions of the ministry. This would guide Secretaries General in carrying out their statutory missions that consist of coordinating the actions of services in the central administration, external services and holding coordination meetings whose reports are submitted to the ministers.
Under the authority of the ministers, the Secretaries General supervise the actions of all services attached to the ministries as well as those of institutions under the supervision of the ministries, approve their programme of activities and receive reports of activities. As technicians, the Secretaries Generals define and codify the internal procedures in ministries. They equally oversee the permanent training of staff and under the authority of the ministers, organise seminars, capacity-building training or specialisation sessions. Secretaries General also oversee the processing of files, centralise archives and manage documentation centres in ministries.
Both the ministers and the staff of respective ministries acknowledge the weight and position of the Secretaries General as the main collaborators of the ministers empowered by presidential decree to ensure the proper implementation of government policy. The Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD), Marafa Hamidou Yaya while commissioning Pierre Essomba, the new Secretary General of MINATD last September 3 instructed him to preserve and reinforce synergy among all the departments, attached services and institutions under the supervision of the ministries. A minister and the Secretary General must not be of the same political affiliation and must not agree in every aspect but they are bound to collaborate in accordance with the provision of the law for the success of government policy. A general observation in Cameroon shows that most people are appointed Secretaries General in ministries in which they have worked for long and ministries whose missions correspond with their professional background and specialisation.
Emmanuel KENDEMEH