Necessary Alignment

In a typical democratic State like Cameroon, participatory development is prioritised. This means the project benefactors and beneficiaries have similar objectives. In order to harmonise development, enhance competiveness amongst Councils and produce efficient results, government came up with the programme budget approach which is a bottom-top performance-based concept. Directives are handed down by the Ministers of Finance, and Decentralisation and Local Development on the preparation of budgets by President of Regional Councils, Presidents of Regional Executive Councils, City Mayors and Mayors of municipalities. This implies regional and local authorities have a great say in the overall State budget of the country as the aspirations of grassroots need to be reflected in the various projects and programmes. As a result, it is of utmost importance for these authorities to have themselves aligned to the necessary requirements of the programme budget. 
These elected officials need to acquaint themselves with the legal dispositions of the General Code on Regional and Local Authorities as well as the programme budget requirements. The technical know-how of experts should be sought after, capacity building workshops organised and staff sent on in-service training courses at the National School of Local Administration in Buea, South West Region. Two training programmes known as “Managing Regions” and “Supporting Regions” have been developed and are taught to elected officials and staff working in Regional, City and municipal Councils. In principle, the programme budget concept is a springboard ...