First Challenging Year Of Dion Ngute led-Government

President Paul Biya during the Council of Minister’s Meeting of January 16, 2019 gave the major orientations which the government he formed on January 4, 2019 led by Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute had to implement. The Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh in a press release stated the President’s instructions. The government of “Great Opportunities” has been at work for exactly one year and had made some strides in implementing President Biya’s guidelines and orientations in the political, economic and social domains.

Political Domain

-Removing Security Constraints: By the time the government was formed, socio-political and security crises in the English-speaking North West and South West Regions was a teething problem. The Dion Ngute-led government has been working tooth and nail to address the crisis. Prime Minister Dion Ngute personally led peace-seeking missions to the two regions from May 10 to 16, 2019 where he discussed with the different strata of the society on ways of resolving the crisis. Then came the Major National Dialogue of September 30 to October 4, 2019 the Head of State summoned and Prime Minister Dion Ngute chaired. The recommendations of the Major National Dialogue are being implemented with one being the Law to Institute the General Code of Regional and Local Authorities one of whose major innovations is the special status granted to the North West and South West Regions. Peace is gradually returning to the North West and South West Regions, and secessionist fighters laying down their arms and coming to the National Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Centres.

Consolidating Peace, National Unity and Cohabitation

Government for the past one year has devoted much efforts in working for peace, national unity and cohabitation. One of the ways is through the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism which are the bedrocks of living together, peace and national unity.  Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute embarked on the campaign against hate speech and the actions to promote multiculturalism and living together. To ensure that the values become permanent, government tabled bills during the November 2019 ordinary session of parliament that have been promulgated into law. One of them is the law on the Promotion of official languages in Cameroon which are English and French having equal status with obligation to be used in public entities. There is also the Law N° 2019/020 to amend and supplement some provisions of Law N° 2016/7 of 12 July 2016 relating to the Penal Code. This law sets out to fight against tribalism as it has provisions for sanctions in case of contempt of race or religion, as well as  tribe or ethnic group.

Economic Domain

In this domain, government has been working to implement President Paul Biya’s guidelines which include industrialisation and second generation agriculture, modernising the economy, reviving growth and creating jobs.

-Cabinet meetings: Prime Minister Joseph Dion in the successive cabinet meetings he chaired has given priority to the economic growth with an innovation that in each cabinet meeting a report on the implementation of the previous one is made. The first cabinet meeting of the January 4, 2019 government held on January 31, 2019 focused on the impact of imports of goods and services in balance of payment and also the strategy to promote locally-made products to reduce imports. Discussions in the cabinet meeting of March 28, 2019 were on the levers for the industrial transformation of local agricultural products and involvement of national Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the creation of value chain to reduce importation of good and services. That of April 25, 2019 centred on strategies to enhance the competitiveness of Cameroonian companies.

-Attracting Investors: President Biya urged government to better welcome investors to the country and to grant them the appropriate facilities. This guideline was translated into concrete action through the new orientations given to the Cameroon Business Forum in Douala. The Prime Minister also took a leading position in encouraging the private investors when on April 26, 2019, he chai...