Experts reflect on good governance as panacea for dev’t in Central Africa.

The public debate was placed under the theme: “Be it resolved: Good governance is an imperative for economic development in Central Africa”. 

It was moderated by Ayukmba Nkonghonyor, Senior Communication Manager at the Foretia Foundation. The debate had as panelists, Prof Ongo Emmanuel, Associate Professor in Economics at University of Yaounde II and Dr Owona Charles, University lecturer, consultant on issues related to governance, peace and security, decentralisation and public policy. 

During the debate, Dr Owona Charles said good governance is characterised by transparency, responsibility, accountability and respect for human rights which can enhance economic development in a country. 

“Good governance establishes and maintains redistributive policies that ensure the well-being of all citizens,” Dr Owono stated.

He added that “governance is the management of domestic burdens, managing as a good father, which is therefore a matter of responsibility”.

The varsity don also argued that in order to guarantee an ideal business climate, good governance requires governments to go beyond controlling bodies to ensuring the monitoring and evaluation of public policies.

On his part, Prof Ongo asserted that though good governance is fundamental and may be necessary, it is not a panacea that guarantees economic development in Central Africa. 

“Good governance is not the magic stick. Adam Smith believes the 'invisible hand' involves other market determinants which have nothing to do with good governance,” Prof Ongo said. 

“There is no such thing as good governance. It's a neologism, and there are other factors that explain economic development. If we assess 2 or 3 strong growth indicators, we will realise that living conditions have hardly changed since 1990 in ECCAS,” Prof Ongo Emmanuel added. 

The Associate Professor insisted Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, is still increasing in Central Africa, despite the existence of poor governance. 

“The entrepreneur, the investor, looks at his private benefits by looking at the market demand. This therefore means that good governance is not the only factor for economic growth,” he argued.  

Meanwhile, the non-resident fellow on sustainable development at Nkafu Policy Institute, Pooran Chandra, opined that governance should not be confused with government and that human being should be at the centre of public policies in order to attain economic development.  

Experts, participants in group photo of hybrid event

Objectives of forum

Going by the Senior Communication Manager of the Foretia Foundation, the objective of the Nkafu debate was to sensitise and serve as a platform for political realities or policies to discussed on and to draw the attention the governing powers to the fact that there is need for policies capable of improving the livelihoods population in Central Africa to be design.

Ayukmba then cited some indicators of bad governance such as corruption, inequality in wealth distribution and low minimum wage rate.  

“The recent report by CONAC shows that there is a drop in corruption level in Cameroon but it is still plaguing public administration and therefore it is a major threads to public administration performance. You also have issues like the inequality in the distribution of wealth in Cameroon,” he added. 

He continued that Cameroon has one of the lowest minimum wage rate in Central Africa, and that low socio-economic inclusion are slowing the pace of development in Cameroon and the central African countries.