allAfrica.com: Cameroon: Rapid Results (Page 1 of 1)

The Council of Ministers meeting of last Friday March 7 was one in a class of its own.

For one thing, it was the first come together between the Head of State and members of government after widespread violent demonstrations that rocked the very foundations of peace and stability of Cameroon.

Second, it was the occasion at which President Paul Biya announced an unprecedented series of sweeping measures to lighten the economic burden of Cameroonians and substantially improve their standard of living. The suspension of customs duties on basic commodities whose prices had skyrocketed, drastic measures to curb unemployment, the increase of salaries of civil servants, the settlement of internal debt and the acceleration of procedures for the launching of major industrial and mining projects were part of a broad menu to turn the country around and give it a new lease of life.

Third, the President went out of his way to openly hand down firm instructions to the Prime Minister and members of government for the speedy and efficient implementation of the measures. The firmness of the directives left no one in doubt as to what would happen should they fail in their mission. "I will not tolerate any failure ", he warned.

And it was evident that the message was received with equal seriousness by the President's men. As a follow up, the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Laurent Esso went to work and immediately issued a press release highlighting the measures taken by the Head of State. On his part, Prime Minister Chief Ephraim Inoni, when he returned from State House also wasted no time in issuing a declaration to the press tracing government action in the evolution of events during the past year and announced that 14000 youths shall be integrated into the public service in the 2008 financial year.

Conscious of the fact that most ambitious government projects have in the past ended up in the drawer, President Biya "ordered the strengthening of the fight against inertia, laxity, pursuit of personal interest and corruption". For example, in September 2006, the Head of State signed an ordinance reducing custom duties on basic commodities like rice, fish, flour and salt but by the end of 2007 the prices of the commodities had climbed higher than they were before the order. The situation forced the Minister of Commerce Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana to go down to the shops in Yaounde and Douala to attempt to contain the price hikes. His lone effort failed woefully as prices of products like palm oil, soap and meat shot up to unprecedented heights. In fact, the rising prices and high cost of living were among the principal grievances of the demonstrators across the nation. It was but obvious that a problem of that magnitude could not be resolved by the action of an individual member of government.

Without attempting to give lessons to ministers on what they should do to produce results, prevailing circumstances require every one of them to put hands on deck without further delay to change Cameroon and improve the living conditions of their fellow compatriots.

It is indeed no secret that government action has often been bugged down because of inertia and procrastination. How often are we told that projects cannot be executed because everybody at his level is waiting for instructions from hierarchy. The summit of hierarchy is the President of the Republic. Now Mr Biya has come out openly to declare to Cameroonians that nothing will be held down at his level. He has called on the Prime Minister, Head of Government to take his responsibility. Nothing could be clearer. "I therefore urge the Prime Minister, Head of Government, to scrupulously carry out, with celerity and efficacy, the instructions I have just given."

With clear directives and orientations given, the Prime Minister must get his team to get down to work without further delay. Now is the time for the government team to put an end to laxity and inertia which has made our country a graveyard where development projects are quietly buried.

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