Local governance: FEICOM DG counts strides to visiting Commonwealth officials.

The team was at FEICOM’s Head Office in Yaounde yesterday. FEICOM Director General, Camille Akoa briefed the team on the reforms that FEICOM has undergone, highlighting results that have accrued, thanks to such moves in enhancing local governance and development.

Since Cameroon accentuated its decentralisation process, the FEICOM boss said, his institution remains a key player in accompanying councils in development.

 FEICOM, he told the officials, has been executing population-targeted projects in councils all over the country. The team visited the Obala Modern Market and bus station. The DG told his guests that what they saw in Obala was just a tip of the iceberg, given FEICOM’s impact in local development nationwide.

 He also talked of FEICOM-sponsored projects in the domains of health, education, water supply, construction of rural roads and environmental protection as being key areas of intervention.

Thanks to such people-centered projects, Camille Akoa told the visiting team, that FEICOM won the International Standards Organisation, ISO Certifications in 2015 and 2019.

In the current context, FEICOM, he said, has also carried out research to buttress the development of councils. Such, he reiterated, is being done taking into consideration the past, present and the future. 

Having the visiting Commonwealth Local Government Forum around, the FEICOM boss said, is an opportunity to share experiences.

CLGF concerns

For Rev Mpho Woruakgomo, the Chair of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, the implication of the Commonwealth in the development of councils is rooted in its determination to see development evenly and equitably distributed in all member countries.

An inclination which, he opined, could have been the attraction that compelled former French colonies like Gabon and Congo Brazzaville to join the Commonwealth. 

Social cohesion, he said, is increasingly becoming a concern within the Commonwealth. On the one hand, he said some councils are extremely large in terms of population and are able to mobilise sufficient resources for their development. 

On the other hand, there are extremely poor councils that are scantily populated and are unable to raise revenue through taxation to meet their development aspirations. 

Therefore, the CLGF and government policy implementing institutions like FEICOM are saddled with the task of equalising revenue allocation among councils in their different countries so that no part of the nation and no sector of the population is left behind. 

This, observers say, is the cardinal objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

Failure to maintain this development equilibrium, the Chair added, could ignite civil unrest and jeopardise social cohesion.  He said they visited FEICOM to see what the institution and the government are doing in terms of mobilising financial resources to boost local development and sharing revenues equitably.

The CLGF Chair was accompanied to FEICOM by his Secretary General, Lucy Black and representatives from West and Central African countries who are members of the Commonwealth.