The question on every lip is certainly why things are changing so slowly since the Cameroon Business Forum (CBF) was created to take over from the Inter-ministerial Committee Extended to the Private Sector. In effect, when the CBF was created with the objective of enhancing public-private sector dialogue, many people wanted to know what direction things that remained unchanged under the previous structure will take.

The forum enters its seventh edition today in the commercial capital of Douala still with the atmosphere heavily charged with uncertainly to a certain degree. This is surely a disturbing situation especially as the urge towards cleansing the business environment keeps rising. The interesting thing about the CBF is the convergence of views during each forum that translates a semblance of dialogue.

But once the confab is over, many of the reforms agreed upon seem to be pushed under the carpet. Christopher Eken, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Craft confirmed inter alia during the sixth forum that there is dialogue in Cameroon between the public and private sectors. To go by his declaration, there have been over 300 recommendations since the CBF was instituted and 150 of them have been implemented. This surely is a big leap if one were to look at things from the political angle but a bit disappointing from the business point of view.

Last year’s forum emerged with ten recommendations, some of which concern; company creation, tax payment, litigations, trans-border trade, access to property, building permit, investment promotion, access to financing and loans, and governance. A careful look at these reforms puts the administration at the centre of action. The World Bank’s Doing Business reports have been on Cameroon’s throat putting her in very disadvantaged positions.

Among the factors that have so far hindered smooth business activity in the country are; the high rate of corruption, administrative bottlenecks, insecurity, fiscal pressure and the legal framework. All these have often featured prominently on the list of hurdles of business people pointing at them as being responsible for slow business growth in Cameroon.

The challenge of the seventh edition of the Cameroon Business Forum is not only to assess the milestone covered in connection with last year’s resolutions, but to make a detail review of the achievements of the CBF because many decisions still appear to be in the drawers of the various ministries.