Martin A. Nkemngu
13 July 2009
The first-ever national seminar on the management of urban councils which ended in Yaounde last Friday was necessary and timely. Relations between government delegates and council mayors have been very sour. For one thing, government delegates are appointed by Presidential decree while council mayors are elected.
Since the creation of new urban councils and the appointment of fourteen government delegates on 6 February 2009, the management of these grassroot structures has experienced serious problems because of conflict of authority between the government appointees and the popularly elected mayors.
The government delegates would like to take full control of the councils but they meet with strong resistance from elected mayors who perceive the latter as intruders. Such conflicts have tended to block the functioning of the council and retarded development. The Yaounde seminar has attempted to set the records straight by streamlining the mission and areas of competence of the council officials. The clear answers are contained in the 2004 law on decentralization.
Often times there has been disagreement as to who has the competence to collect what taxes in the council. The seminar offered a sui
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