Participants at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum CGLF, underway in Yaounde are sharing experiences and good practices in trengthening resilience in the sector
The vision for Cameroon to become an emergent economy is hinged on the development of the national development strategy. Its materialisation requires a peaceful and stable socio-political environment for developmental projects to thrive. This explains President Paul Biya’s prescription to fast track decentralisation in Cameroon. Today, the country’s local development approach is powered by decentralisation. With local authorities managing 15 percent of the state’s revenue, their autonomy in running affairs within their areas of competence has increased thereby giving way for more citizen participation. However, the advent of social and political upheavals in some parts of the country has greatly hampered work on the ground. The CGLF will thus provide space to reflect on such setbacks find ways to adapt and mitigate them.
The three-day regional conference is holding under the theme “Building Back better: examining social and economic strategies to strengthen resilience in West and Central Africa. At the opening ceremony on 25 July 2023, Georges Olanga Obam, Minister of Decentralisation and Local Government, also Vice Chairperson of the CLGF noted that the conference was holding a little over a year since the holding of the local economic development symposium to promote inclusive economic growth at the local levels. Then, local authorities and stakeholders had charted a way for the effective implication in the provision of social amenities geared towards improving the living conditions of their population. To Minister Olanga Obam “the proceedings of this conference should provide us the opportunity to come up with concrete proposals to better the lives of our population. Local economies of our member countries in the Central and West African region should become more resilient”.
Rev. Mpho Moruakgomo, Chairperson of the CLGF lauded Cameroon’s efforts in strengthening local authorities and expressed the wish of seeing its stakeholders share some of their best practices during the upcoming CLGF General Assembly scheduled for Kigali Rwanda in November this year. His call was for local and central government to get their action together for the common good of the population.
Panel discussions during the forum will dwell on opportunities to diversify local
government resources as well as adaptation and impact of climate change in west and central Africa. Specifically there will be a major focus in revenue raising and ensuring local government has the funds and capacity to deliver for citizens. This will allow participants to exchange on own-source revenue raising, local economic development, accessing investment as well as good public finance management. Present at the proceedings are representatives ministries, local government associations, Mayors, local leaders and technical staff from Cameroon, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo.
