At opening of March session: Eldest MP weeps for Cameroon!.

She has decried the failure of the State in the provision of most basic amenities to its citizens already living in misery due to a steep hike in prices of commodities. 

The vocal lawmaker of the ruling CPDM party catalogued the disturbing socio-economic situation in a hairsplitting speech she delivered at the National Assembly yesterday. 

This was at the start of the First Ordinary Session of the National Assembly for the 2024 legislative year. 

Hon Koa Mfegue was speaking in her capacity as head of the Provisional Bureau of the National Assembly. She was assisted at the session by the two youngest MPs. 

The opening session was attended by members of government, led by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, other national dignitaries, members of the diplomatic corps and others. 

Decries shortage in provision of basic amenities 

In her address, the CDPM lawmaker decried the arching corruption in public service, broken health system, intermittent power supply and dry taps, stinking garbage heaps in major cities and deplorable road network.

“…our cities continue to be littered with heaps of household refuse. Roads in our cities and in rural areas have become death traps. Corruption continues to plague the public service. Power outages are recurrent due to acute power shortage problems,” she stated. 

Inadequate water supply in major towns and communities, Hon Koa Mfegue stated, has made water-borne diseases to increasingly become the order of the day in the country.

Diverting to the country’s health system, the MP was unequivocal that the situation remains dire. 

“…a majority of our health centres are still in dire need of adequate health personnel, medicines and state-of-the-art medical equipment,” she bemoaned.

Education system sinking 

She described the present state of the country’s education system, which has been mired in drug abuse, on campus violence and indiscipline, as a sinking ship.

“Secondary education, for example, is like a sinking ship,” she stated categorically. The eldest MP blamed the disturbing situation on the phenomenon of teachers “deserting classrooms” and “increasingly roaming the streets”.

Violence and drug abuse, the MP further regretted, “have become a way of life in the school milieu”. 

She said university campuses at the moment “are virtually devoid of rigour, assiduousness and discipline amid general laxity”. 

All these ills eating up the country’s education system, she detailed, are within the context of demands made by teachers, most of which, she stated, have not been satisfied despite firm instructions from the Head of State. 

Strikes peers over wayward behavior 

Turning back to the other lawmakers, the eldest MP strongly condemned the wayward behavior of some of the people’s representatives. 

“As Members of the National Assembly, we habitually call the attention of others to issues, but we have never taken time to do a self-introspection or look at our track records,” she said. 

While noting that not all lawmakers are to blame for the unruly behaviour, the eldest MP regretted that some MPs are caught in cases of inertia and indulge in unhealthy practices.

She mentioned among others the habit of some “MPs demeaning others out of envy, slandering through social media platforms, power tussle, seeking for personal gain and frantically searching for money”. 

Hon Koa Mfegue also lamented the conspicuous absence of MPs during proceedings in plenary.  “Yes, absenteeism was glaring! It was with a lot of difficulty that the required quorum was sometimes reached during our sittings,” she lamented. 

Regrets rising rate of brain drain 

Hon Koa Mfegue also regretted the sharp rise in the rate of brain drain in the country. 

“Many of our youths leave the country at their own risk and peril to seek for greener pastures in the Western world and to other choice destinations nowadays. Frankly speaking, we do not have what it takes to arrest the situation,” she said. 

Blames peers for failing to control gov’t action 

The eldest MP also lambasted her peers for failing to raise worries over the past 48 months on the aforementioned ills, which she said affects the daily lives of their constituents.

She then rhetorically questioned if they as lawmakers have “really served to satisfy the aspirations of our constituents, the very aspirations we are expected to articulate in this House Chamber? Did we actually go the extra mile to contact appropriate public authorities to have the aspirations of our constituents satisfied?”.

She then charged her peers to use the remaining 12 months of their mandate to see how to right their wrongs, restore the good reputation of the House Chamber and live up to the expectations of citizens. 

“I urge you to achieve that feat, so that by the end of the day, those of the 10th legislature who would not continue to serve during the 11th Legislative Period and those who will win, old and new, would be driven by the same patriotic spirit and pride themselves for having bequeathed or for serving a viable, stable, solid and reputable institution,” she said.

She called for collaboration among MPs and staff of the National Assembly for a viable parliamentary institution.  

The lawmaker urged all and sundry to show proof of greater restraint, efficiency, discipline, abnegation, professionalism and moral probity in public service in the interest of the nation.

Hails gov’t efforts to cushion inflation 

The MP, however, saluted efforts made by government, through the Ministry of Trade, to cushion the effects of inflation and reduce the cost of living and food shortages.

Hon Koa Mfegue regretted that despite such efforts, “the purchasing power of households is continually being eroded”. 

The eldest MP also seized the opportunity to strongly condemn the February 11 ‘bomb’ blast in Nkambe, which killed a student and injured over 50 other students and cross section of the population during Youth Day celebration.