CI-NEWS

First 365 days of Dion Ngute Gov’t: The Dion Ngute Gov’t one year on: Milestones and challenges.

2020-01-08

No: 464

First 365 days of Dion Ngute Gov’t: The Dion Ngute Gov’t one year on: Milestones and challenges.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute clocked 365 days in office last Saturday, 4 January 2020. The period is time enough to assess his conduct of government business and determine the direction to which he is taking the nation on the basis of instructions handed down to him by President Paul Biya. Though Cameroon’s semi-presidential system gives the PM very little room for manoeuvre, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute has spent most of the time listening but also setting the agenda.

In terms of policy formulation, the PM has almost all his monthly cabinet meetings to hammer on transformation of agricultural products for added value and reduction of imports, while boosting local production. The ministers concerned were instructed to submit proposals to see this work in the short term. Other cabinet ministers have taken turns to deliver papers on major aspects of their action plans and received advice on the way forward. In this way, government action has by in large been seen as coordinated during the first 365 days of Dion Ngute’s tenure.

Dion Ngute also gave a major boost to the decentralization process when he signed a decree on 22 February setting the allocation of the General Decentralisation Grant for 2019 to the tune of 49 billion FCFA. By this allocation, all the 360 councils in Cameroon automatically got 100 million FCFA each as general investment allocation. With the promulgation of the bill to fast track decentralization during the extraordinary session of parliament in December 2019, this allocation for local councils and regional authorities was increased to 15 percent.

One of the most revolutionary measures taken by the PM was the service note signed by the secretary general at the PM’s Office limiting foreign travel for directors of administration, members of government and general managers of state corporations in a bid to cut spending. The measure was seen as a desperate attempt to seduce the World Bank and IMF which are putting an eye on the way government is using money lent for supporting the budget.

In another measure taken to reduce spending, the PM in one of the cabinet meeting enjoined state departments to limit spending on telephone, water and electricity.

Fixing Anglophone crisis:

For the first four months of his mandate, the PM’s Office was virtually silent on the Anglophone crisis, even though one of Dion Ngute’s principal missions was fix it. He was only remotely credited with doing some consultations toward defusing tensions on the ground. In this connection, he was seen as the hidden hand behind the Peace Movement created on 23 February to bring about a cessation of violence through consulting and negotiating with all stakeholders involved in the crisis. The group had as initiators, Hon Francis Enwe, MP for Momo East; Chief Norbert Nangiya Mbile, former MP; Dr Nick Ngwanyam, renowned medic; and Barrister Henry Ngale Monono.

Dion Ngute’s perceived inaction towards fixing the Anglophone crisis was already causing frustration within Anglophones as gun battles between the regular army and Amba boys led to several civilian casualties, burning of homes and public offices in the North West and South West Regions, and sheer collapse of the economies of both regions. But they were in for a surprise. The month of May 2019 was a turning point in the beginning of the resolution of the Anglophone crisis. Prime Minister Dion Ngute made a charm offensive to the two regions during a peace mission on the instructions of President Paul Biya. He so charmed his interlocutors with his down-to-earth style that observers started thinking he was in fact Biya’s joker in the pack for the resolution of the Anglophone crisis.

Etched in the memory of most stakeholders was his address of buyam sellams in Nkwen in Pidgin and his acceptance to have launch with SDF Chairman, John Fru Ndi. He also visited the University of Bamenda, the Fon of Mankon and met with journalists. This was quite unlike his predecessor who was accused of having an overt animosity towards the private press.

Moved by the groundbreaking visit during which the PM succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of North-westerners, H.E. Felix Mbayu, Minister for Commonwealth Affairs, declared: “The PM and Head of Government is in the region to change the dynamics.”

In the South West, it was still his charisma and down-to-earth style that caused some ex- Amba fighters to lay down their arms and join the DDR Centre in Buea. He used the peace missions to the Anglophone regions to announce that dialogue on the Anglophone crisis would soon be convened.

However, what detracted from the PM’s message was the fact that he announced that all options were open except for separation. This was interpreted as meaning that separatists would not be part of the broad-based dialogue whenever it is convened.

Long wait for dialogue

As the months went by, Cameroonians lost hope about the holding of a broad-based dialogue on the Anglophone problem. The doubts were further fuelled by an overt conflict between the PM and his minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, over the holding of the broad-based dialogue. The latter went on the foreign media to contradict the PM on his announcement of a broad-based dialogue. But as a perfect gentleman, Dion Ngute used a cabinet meeting to set the records straight. He would soon be vindicated on 10 September when President Paul Biya announced the convening of the Major National Dialogue (MND) of the Anglophone problem. After pre-dialogue consultations, Dion Ngute was on the driving seat of the MND that held in Yaounde from 31 September to 4 October 2019. Implementation of the resolutions of the MND has begun with the granting of a special status to the Anglophone regions and promulgation of a law granting equal status to both English and French.

Challenges

Prime Minister Dion Ngute may have the will to set and implement his agendas, but Cameroon’s semi-presidential system makes him bereft of such powers. He is hemmed in by a powerful secretary general at the presidency and a powerful secretary general at the PM’s Office who report directly to the president of the republic. This weakens the PM’s capacity to create and innovate and initiate government action.

On the Anglophone crisis, the PM may have scored some points in causing the defection of some ex-Amba fighters, but the majority of them still remain in the bushes, waiting for a real dialogue brokered by a third party. He appears handicapped himself because he has been unable to visit his native Ndian where separatists seem to reign supreme.

Furthermore, he is perceived as one of the hawks in the Anglophone crisis, preferring the use of force rather than a negotiated settlement with separatists. He told journalists during pre-dialogue consultations that government was determined to restore normalcy and economic activities in the Anglophone regions and so was considering using other conventional methods like airstrikes to neutralize the Amba Boys. He said instructions from hierarchy were awaited in this connection. At a time Cameroon is facing international opprobrium over human rights, the use of force will be ill-advised,

In addition, the February 9 2020 twin polls are a real political hot potato for his government. A lockdown declared by Amba Boys during that period in the North West and South West regions will likely lead to voter apathy with the inevitable corollary of the voting into office of unpopular, hand-picked people’s representatives.

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First 365 days of Dion Ngute Gov’t: The Dion Ngute Gov’t one year on: Milestones and challenges.