Emmanuel Kendemeh
1 April 2008
The Finance and Budget Committee will today examine the bill governing deposits and guarantees.
Members of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly, will this morning begin scrutinising the bill governing deposits and guarantees, which at moment pose organisation and management problems. Deposits and guarantees, following the explanatory statement of the bill, "are public or private holdings currently kept in the treasury, banking establishments or entrusted to private individuals, pending their use as prescribed by a statutory or regulatory provision, or by a legal ruling or an administrative decision".
By their nature, deposits and guarantees must be available and judiciously managed. The efficient management of deposits and guarantees in Cameroon, have however been hampered by the single account principle applicable to all funds deposited in the treasury, which does not always guarantee the availability of sums deposited or guaranteed in a timely manner. The second problem is the personalised management of funds entrusted to private individuals, or in commercial banks and other credit institutions, which do not often ensure safe and transparent management of the said funds. "The bill stems from the modification of the allocation of deposits concerned, which has until now, been subject, inter alia to the General Tax Code, to instruments governing the opening and operation of court registry accounts, as well as those governing guarantees paid by clients of enterprises providing water, electricity, telephone and housing", government has said in the explanatory statement.
The Members of the Finance and Budget Committee will be examining government's proposal to set up the Deposit and Guarantee Fund whose "mission is to manage deposits and guarantees such that they remain always available". The activities of the deposits and guarantees as a public service , as defined by the government, "mainly involve the preservation, management and release of funds and securities deposited by private individuals, government services and officers of the court on behalf of their clients".
The funds targeted by the bill include among others: fines, guarantees, bail, deposits by public accountants, trusteeship funds, court registry funds, sundry deposits. Government believes that the implementation of the reform will rationalise the management of funds thus deposited by ensuring their availability, improve governance in the treasury management system and support the economic development action of Cameroon.
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