The Social Democratic Front party (SDF) says it intends to end medical evacuations abroad for government officials if the tax payers is the one footing the bill.
When this point was announced during the party’s extraordinary convention in Yaounde on March 1, attendees received it with a wide applause.
That is because President Paul Biya’s regime has spent billions of CFA francs to treat top officials abroad at the detriment of the Cameroonian taxpayers.
If elected Head of State, the SDF’s flag bearer, Joshua Osih, says any member of government wishing to go abroad for medical treatment would have to provide the finances, not the state.
Aside from just stopping the taxpayer-funded medical evacuation, SDF Joshua Osih has other enticing programs.
He said he will start handling these programs from his first day at the presidency.
SDF to Enforce Declaration of Assets
One aspect of his manifesto is the immediate enforcement of Article 66 of the Cameroon Constitution on asset declaration.
This has been in the Constitution since 1996 but the government never enforced it. Some Cameroonians believe that rampant corruption, embezzlement and mismanagement of state resources is partly because officials do not declare their assets before assuming office.
There is a tendency in Cameroon that administrators in ministries, the presidency, regional and local councils, and parastatals do not differentiate state coffers from their personal coffers.
The SDF plans to end that on day one if they are elected.
Downsizing the Government
Another thing Joshua Osih plans to immediately do is cut down costs.
He believes that the current regime is overstaffed, and if he takes power, he would only operate with just a few ministries.
Currently, Cameroon has over 30 ministries with close to 50 ministers and Minister delegates.
The SDF believes some of their functions are redundant. They view the creation of many ministries as President Biya’s strategy to satisfy political friends.
That is why Osih said he would “reduce the size of the government and eliminate unnecessary
expenses.”
He has also promised to eliminate no-bid contracts while prioritising local content.
The SDF party believes in equal opportunities, which is giving everyone a fair chance.
Under Joshua Osih, he plans to remove ethnic or regional references in social documents.
He would also ban motions of support and personality cults and ensure that there is access to the university irrespective of age.
“After giving birth, you can still go to school till the level of your PhD,” the SDF manifesto reads.
Free ID Cards, Birth Certificates
To obtain an ID Card in Cameroon, one must spend at least FCFA 10,000. Despite this expenditure, many still go for over several years without receiving their IDs due to corruption and bureaucracy.
But under the SDF, as Joshua Osih promised, the government would issue IDs at zero cost.
Aside from issuing the ID Cards for free, he plans to do the same with the birth certificates. Though current issuance is free, some councils are still taking money for that.
But one thing he would do differently is extend the deadline children to obtain birth certificates from three months to five years.
According to UNESCO, there are over 7 million children in Cameroon without birth certificates. This is due to the painstaking, multistep process involved in obtaining the document. The financial cost is too high for some citizens, and the uneven distribution of registration centres, especially in rural or remote areas, adds to the problem.
The SDF says they will ensure that there is free childbirth and healthcare for children up to two years old.
Free Education Till Secondary School
On the aspect of education, Joshua Osih said he will prioritise free public education until the end of the first cycle of secondary school.
During a press conference in Yaoundé, Osih said the municipal council should handle primary and secondary education, while regional councils handle university education.
The central government should determine the curriculum of schools, while decentralised management and recruitment of teachers should take place.
Still under his educational program, he plans to abolish the probatoire exam popular in the Francophone subsystem of education.
Other reforms Joshua Osih intends to carryout include abolishing fixed road regulating landlord/tenant relations by banning advance rent payment, a phenomenon common in urban areas.
He also plans to strictly enforce bilingualism in Cameroon.
