"All Investments Relating To The Organisation of AFCON Will Be Carried Out

“Fellow Cameroonians, My dear compatriots,

The seven-year term that has just begun should be decisive for our country. It could even be one of the most defining moments of our postindependence history. Let me explain. During the past half-century that has just ended, we progressively established democratic institutions. We strove to maintain security throughout our territory. We made every effort to switch from an obsolete economic model to a more modern system that is more consistent with our national interest. Of course, this was a long haul. Some objectives, such as the establishment of democracy, were achieved. Those related to security were only partly achieved, due to serious internal and external threats. Lastly, others, the most ambitious ones which aimed to transform our society, were implemented patiently. Unforeseen difficulties compounded our task. In the 1980s, the sharp deterioration of terms of trade jeopardized our progress. Ten years later, the global economic and financial crisis put a stop to our momentum and slowed down our growth. More recently, falling oil and commodity prices had the same impact. However, we did not give up. In the face of adversity, we designed a three-phase development strategy: greater achievements, major accomplishments and great opportunities. We hope that this last phase will steer us to the threshold of emergence. It is perhaps not futile to clarify what we mean by emergence. Generally, the term refers to an improvement in a situation. As commonly understood, it means the transition from an underdeveloped to a developed country. This is our meaning of the term and that is why I instructed that it should be considered as a “national cause”. I believe that the coming years will be decisive regarding the achievement of this objective. To that end, we will have to get down to three key tasks, namely restore security, enhance our economic growth and significantly improve the living conditions of Cameroonians.

1. Considering that SECURITY is a sine qua non for civil peace and economic and social progress, it should be prioritized.

Given that the situation in the FarNorth has been stabilized and on our eastern border brought under control, I will focus on the situation in the North-West and South-West Regions. Recently, I had the opportunity to express myself regarding the issues concerning them. I stated and I reaffirm my deepest concern for the po pulations of these two regions. I am very sensitive to their worries about their safety and their aspirations for a return to calm and normal social life. If my appeal to warmongers to lay down their weapons remains unheeded, the Defence and Security Forces will be instructed to neutralize them. I am well aware of the distress these rebels are causing the populations of these regions. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. In a spirit of national harmony, I decided to set up a “National Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Committee” to avoid the use of extreme measures. The duties of this body, which is under the authority of the Prime Minister, are to organize, supervise and manage the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants of Boko Haram and armed groups in the North-West and South-West Regions willing to respond favourably to the hand of peace extended to them. I wish to emphasize that this initiative provides a dignified way out for excombatants and prospects for social reintegration, and should pave the way for a return to calm and normalcy. On the other hand, measures will be taken as soon as possible to give the local communities of our country the powers that would enable them to play a greater role in the management of local affairs. At the same time, the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism will be fasttracked. Furthermore, I intend to continue the dialogue initiated with people of good-will to bring about lasting peace. Paradoxically, one of the effects of the unfortunate events that have been affecting social life in the NorthWest and South-West Regions for months now may surprise many of us. The populations of these two regions have noticed the sincerity of the intentions of authorities concerning the new powers delegated to local communities and the solidarity of the rest of the Nation towards them. My wish is that, eventually, national unity will be strengthened.

2. It will also be necessary to accelerate the GROWTH RATE of our economy.

Earlier on, I mentioned the external factors that slowed down our economic growth. Our economy is gradually recovering thanks to the measures we have taken. However, we will have to redouble our efforts to stay on the path of emergence. Without going into details of our projects which I talked about recently, I would like to simply recall that one of our priorities should be the modernization of our agriculture by meeting its production and diversi fication targets, and providing it with the required technical resources. The broad outline of this “agricultural revolution” was defined at the Ebolowa Agricultural Show and is still relevant. The same is true for our major industrialization project which should be implemented in line with the orientations of our Master Plan. Its priority should be the processing of our agricultural commodities to give them value added and reduce our imports of goods and services. We will continue to provide our country with energy infrastructure to meet the needs of our agro-industry and various industrial sectors, as well as the demands of our people. In addition to hydroelectric dams, solar energy plants will be constructed for rural electrification. The remarkable efforts that have already been made to develop our transport infrastructure (roads, motorways, ports and airports) will be continued to boost our economy and ease the mobility of our compatriots. Furthermore, by concluding an economic and financial arrangement with the International Monetary Fund in 2017 under the “Extended Credit Facility”, we undertook to pursue the implementation of our structural reforms, maintain our fiscal balance and ensure the sustainability of our external debt. It is against this backdrop that we will have to finance our major projects. To that end, we will need to increasingly resort to financial institutions that apply more accessible concessional lending rates. It is inadmissible that our projects should take much more time to matur...