It was during a two-day seminar, organised with the support of the advanced program of specialisation in public finance, lodged at the Ministry of Finance.
Members of the committee on Finance and the Budget of the National Assembly play a key role in ensuring the proper use of budgeted resources. It was in this light that their knowledge in the domain was upgraded during the seminar that lasted two days. During the time allocated to lecture the MPs on the mastery of the policy framework in Cameroon, they discussed the impact of Covid-19 on the national, regional and international economic environment. Noting the devastating effects of the health crisis in the consumption of budgets, it was necessary for the men and women to gain insights on measures that would cushion the negative effects.
According to the president of the Committee Hon. Rosette Ayayi, within the framework of the trimestral meeting of the finance and budget committee, effort is made during each session to organise an information training on topical economic issues. Amongst the issues looked at was also the national development strategy – stakes and perspectives, which have an important bearing on public finance. Cameroon last December upgraded its institutions with the coming into play of regional councils. Thus, their establishment and function in the decentralisation process were also discussed by the lawmakers. It was also deemed necessary to look into the new evaluation system of public policies.
Talking about the relevance of the training, Hon. Fonge Julius Fongouk, member of the finance committee said the training would help them gain sustainable knowledge. “There are certain realities the country has to take into consideration when programming the budget, such as the impact of Covid-19 on the national economy and also how the macro aspect of things affects the micro economy” he said. He mentioned that it was equally necessary to consider the reality of decentralisation in drawing up budgets “what amount of budget and how it can be distributed to the different regions. As members of the finance committee, the training gives us leverage to be able to evaluate the expenditure of various ministries.”
The training would thus give the committee members the aptitudes to evaluate and examine expenditure and how the aforementioned aspects have affected the current budget.
Claudette CHIN
