Prof Njeuma picks holes in ‘obnoxious’ portions of bill on General Code on Regional and Local Authorities

Commentators say the choices of words used in drafting the bill suggest that the North West and the South West regions of Cameroon will still have a dependent status on the central government of Cameroon.To Dorothy L. Njeuma, “…the use of “may” instead of “shall be” in section 328 denies the people of the North West and South West regions the right to participate in decision making issues of fundamental importance in their existence”.To the board member of Elections Cameroon, there are different meanings of some portions of the text in English and French.Dorothy L. Njeuma says for example that section 368(4) in English reads “…he shall not be bound by professional secrecy” while in French it reads “Le secret professionnel ne lui est pas opposable”.To her, these versions have different meanings and interpretations.On the title of the bill, the seasoned educationist says it should be “Local Government” or “Local Councils” and not “Local and Regional Authorities” that is a false translation of the title in French.The bill stipulates that council boards shall recruit and manage teaching and support staff of council schools of Basic Education (section 161) while Regional Councils shall recruit and manage teaching and support staff of government secondary schools and colleges of the region. According to section 271, Dorothy Limunga Njeuma is of the opinion that the same method should be used in the domain of health at the council and regional levels.The bill she states also fails to show how to control recruitment and management of staff of youth, sports and physical education, social workers and other specialties such as agriculture and community development in councils and regions.Judging from the illegal exploitation of land by local administrative authorities in Cameroon in areas where they are posted, Dorothy Njeuma says stating clear in the bill on how land shall be manage is very important. She says strict measures should be provided to fight against land grabbing by administrators and mayors.How to collect and distribute revenue in the regions too has not been stated.To the Elecam board member, a rational and equitable revenue allocation formula to the regions should be spelt out in the bill. Besides that, regions should receive royalties for the exploitation of natural resources.Contrary to other Anglophones who think representatives of the state to oversee the activities of the regions is bad, Dorothy Njeuma thinks it is necessary to control “over scrupulous mayors most of whom are only interested in enriching themselves at the expense of the people”.Dorothy L. Njeuma concludes that the bill to an extent is comprehensive as it addresses many recommendations made in the course of the national dialogue. For her, the bill brings out some details of what many in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon expected.However, she expresses hope to see some salient irregularities corrected before the final adoption of the bill.