Catholic University Institute of

P.O. Box 536, Buea

South West Region Buea Tel: (237) 33322829
Fax: (237) 33 32 2829
Republic of
E- Mail: [email protected]
Cameroon,
Central Africa (CUI B) Website: www.cuib-cameroon.org

FIRST SEMESTER 2015/ 2016 ACADEMIC YEAR

COURSE TITLE: INTRO TO CAMEROON GOV’T & POLITICS
COURSE STATUS: C
CREDIT VALUE: 2
COURSE MASTER: NSO DICKSON ESQ.

Survey of Cameroon political History

The name Cameroon is derived from the Portuguese word Rio dos
Cameroes, meaning river of prawns (shrimps). It was in 1470 when Portuguese
explorers led by Ferdinand Dopo baptized the wouri River on whose estuary
stands the coastal territory around the modern city of Douala. Rio dos Cameroes,
after the large pink prawns there; from this came the country’s present name:
Cameroon.

After its discovery by European explorers and merchants, Cameroon

underwent a triple colonial experience i.e German, English and French
domination. On 12th July 1884, Gustav Nactigal, Bismarck’s envoy, signed a treaty
with two Cameroonian kings(king Bell and Akwa) on behalf of the German
government. Two days later, on the 14th July 1884, the German protectorate of
Cameroon was officially proclaimed and baptized with a new spelling Kamerun.
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 At the Berlin West African Conference, Britain and France recognized
German’s annexation of Kamerun. Germany then demarcated the western
boundary with French Equatorial Africa. By 1887, German sovereignty over
Kamerun had been firmly established. For some 32 years thereafter, until
February 1916, Kamerun was a German colony, subject to Imperial German Law.
Due to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, British and French troops
attacked the Germans in Kamerun.

The Germans were defeated during the First World War by the British and
French forces in Cameroon in 1916. On the 4th March 1916, the victorious powers
divided Cameroon into two portions which were confirmed by the Treaty of
Versaille in 1919. France took 4/5 of the territory and called it French Cameroun
while Britain took 1/5 and adopted her own spelling Cameroon. Great Britain
administered the portion of her territory lying to the West and France, that lying
to the east of the frontier line fixed by a joined declaration signed in London on
10 July 1919(The Franco-British declaration) the recommended mandates were
confirmed by the League of Nations, the terms of which were defined by Acts of
London on 20 July 1922. The terms of the mandate’s agreement were identical.
Act 9 stipulated that:

“The mandatory shall have full powers of administration and legislation in the
area subject to the mandate. This area shall be administered in accordance with
the laws of the mandatory as an integral part of his territory… The mandate shall
therefore be at liberty to apply his laws to the territory subject to his mandate,
with such modifications as may be required by local conditions…”

This article provides the basis, and officially marks the duality of western
legal systems which the people of Cameroon have since experienced and to which
they remain subject till this day.

Great Britain further divided her part of Cameroon into two territories;
Northern and Southern Cameroon, both of which she administered as an integral
part of her neighboring colony of Nigeria through which the institutions and
practices of English justice were transplanted into British Cameroon and adopted

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the policy of Indirect Rule; ruling the natives through their local leaders. It is in
this connection that it will be seen how English laws were received in Cameroon.

France on her part administered her own portion of Cameroon together

with her colonies in French Equatorial Africa. They adopted the policy of
Assimilation. On 1 January 1960, Eastern Cameroon which had been administered
by the French gained independence from France and adopted the name La
Republique du Cameroun with Amadou Ahidjo as first president. In the same year,
on 1 October 1960, Nigeria became independent. However, following agitations
from Southern Cameroon and the Eastern regional crisis in Enugu, the said matter
was taken to the UN to be addressed on the fate of Southern Cameroon. The UN
organized a plebiscite on 11 February 1961. Northern Cameroon joined Nigeria
while Southern Cameroon joined La Republique du Cameroon on October 1st 1961
and adopted the name The Federal Republic of Cameroon. Within the federation,
the former British territory (Southern Cameroon) became the state of West
Cameroon and the former French territory, the state of east Cameroon. The
federation was transitional as it was subsequently, by a referendum on the 20th
May 1972 , abolished and the United Republic of Cameroon came into being.

However, by a constitution amendment of January 1984, the epithet

“united” was dropped out and the country henceforth became known simply as
Republic of Cameroon.

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 CHAPTER TWO

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN CAMEROON SINCE

RE-UNIFICATION

Constitutionally, the reunification of Cameroon led to the birth of the

marginalization of formal west Cameroon. This was due to the absence of full
decentralization of power by the then President Amadou Ahidjo who was in favour of a
strong centralized government. The name Southern Cameroon was changed to west
Cameroon following its reunification on the 1st OCT 1961. Amadou Ahijo decreed the
establishment of the federal Administrative System. Most government administrative
units in West Cameroon like the P&T, Arm force, customs, health and social services
where directly placed under the supervision of the Federal Ministers in Yaounde. In
1962, the Gendarmarie which was a French force was introduced in West Cameroon.
This brought panic and fear to west Cameroonian natives who were been molested.

West Cameroon continuous losing its constitutional status quo e.g. in 1961
out of the 16 Federal ministers only one was from west Cameroon, thus signify an
unequal political and administrative status. In 1965, John Ngu Foncha resigned as
prime minister of west Cameroon and became the Vice president of the Federal
Republic of Cameroon. He was later succeeded by A.N Jua who was dismissed
three years later by Ahijo in favour of S.T. Muna. In 1979, Muna obtained the post
of Prime minister of West Cameroon together with that of the Federal Vice
president. This was a major weakness of the Federal constitution. In 1966, west
Cameroon parliamentary democracy disappeared and a single party system was
introduced i.e. KNDP, CPNC, KPP etc, were all dissolved and joined the Union

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Cameroonaise from East Cameroon to form Cameroon National Union with
Amadou Ahidjo as chair person.

Buea lost its importance as formal capital of west Cameroon (next important
town after Yaounde) to just a provincial capital. The west Cameroon house of
chiefs and house of Assembly became defunct in favour of a single national
assembly.

The federation was later established in 20th May 1972 in favour of a unitary
system of government which gave birth to new administrative units. West
Cameroon ceased to exist as a separate administrative unit as it was divided into
provinces i.e. North West & South West provinces.

WHAT IS A CONSTITUTION?

It refers to a document that carries official roles, laws under which a state is
governed. It limits the powers of the government and protects the rights of
individuals. There are two types i.e. written and unwritten.

SOURCES OF CONSTITUTION

- The law voted by parliament

- International conventions’ and treaties
- Judgments handed down by Judges. (Judge made laws)

TYPE/S OF CONSTITUION

1) Written Constitution

This is one in which principles, rules, customs on which the government

operates are been clearly spelled out in a specific document e.g. the Cameroon
Constitution.

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Merits of Written Constitution

- It is a document that can be read easily by citizens of a nation.

- It can easily be amended.
- It is recommended to states with political instability.

Demerits of written constitution

- It is rigid and makes changes and amendments difficult.

- It can never solve disputes completely.
- If badly drafted, it can lead to complete chaos.
2) Unwritten Constitution

This comprises of some form of roles, customs and principles on which the
government operate. The said roles are not spelled out in any specific document. In
some cases, some of these roles are only partly spelled out.

Demerits of unwritten Constitution

- It can be abused since the laws are not clearly defined.

- It easily leads to dictatorship if one organ of the government takes too much
power.
- It is not suitable for a state with numerous languages.

THE HISTORICAL REVIEW OF CAMEROON CONSTITUTION

Cameroon is not only bilingual country but also a bijurial country. This
means that it has two judicial systems i.e. French and English systems. Before
1922, Cameroon was under the control of Germany. Cameroon was administered
as a mandatory territory till 1946. After the WWII, Cameroon was administered as

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a trust territory. Britain used the following constitutions in their sphere of
Cameroon.

1. The Clifords constitution 1922

2. The Richards constitution 1947
3. The Mcpherson constitution 1954
4. The Litteton constitution 1956

Cameroon was ruled by Germany from 1884 to 1916 following German laws.
Then, by Britain and France 1919 to 1960.

The 1960 constitution mark the independence of formal East Cameroon (La
Republique du Cameroon) which was the first constitution of Cameroon.

The 2nd constitution was that of the Federal Republic of 1961. This
constitution created the Federal state of East and West Cameroon. It gave
Cameroon two official languages i.e. French and English. Because of this, the flag
of the Republic Of Cameroon had two stars on it symbolizing East and West
Cameroon.

The 1972 2nd of June constitution replaced the 1961 which instituted a
Republic one and indivisible state known as “The United Republic of Cameroon”.
This constitution spells out that;

- Liberties of citizens should be guaranteed.

- The rights and duties of the people should be held in high esteem.

The 1996 constitution created new constitution in the republic which spell out the
following terms;

- It created a senate of 100 members.

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 - The reorganization of the constitutional counsel
- It gave the Supreme Court the right to employ state law.
- It ensures the independence of the judiciary
- It made Cameroon a decentralized unitary state.

The April 2008 constitutional amendment, removed the 7years term of office
renewable once, allowing the president to run for the presidential election.

Differences between the Federal and Unitary Constitution

1. In a federal constitution, the legislative function of government are shared

between the Federal government and the federated state i.e the legislative is
bicameral (i.e. one for the federal government and one for the federal state).
2. A unitary state has a unitary constitution while a federal state has a federal
constitution.
3. A unitary state has a central government and a common constitution while in
a federal republic; each state has laws which are peculiar to the state.

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 SOME MAJOR INNOVATIONS IN THE CONSTITUTION SINCE 1996

1. Cameroon was made a decentralized unitary state (in theory).

2. The mandate of the head of state was extended from 5 years to 7 years.
3. Mass multipartism was encouraged.
4. The legislative was now made up of the National Assembly and the senate.
5. Provinces were changed into regions
6. The prime minister became Head of government
7. Parliament is to seat three times a year i.e. March, June and November.
8. The parliament is to control government action (but the scope of such
control was not mentioned).
9. The constitutional counsel comprising of 11 members was created for a non-
renewable period of 9 years. Formal head of states are made members for
life. The counsel rollings shall be within 15 days based on majority votes of
its members.

Domain 1972 Constitution 1996 Constitution

1. The state Centralized Unitary state Decentralized Unitary
state
2. Party System One Party System Multi-party system
3. Legislature Single House of Two houses i.e. House
parliament with 120 of parliament with 180
members members and senate with
100 members.
4. Vacancy of the The prime minister was The president of senate

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 presidency interim was interim who could
not be a presidential
candidate.
5. Term of office for Five years renewable Seven years renewable
president once.
N.B. it allowed the
president to run for 2011
prersidentail election

CONCLUSION

Since independence and the reunification of the former British Cameroon

and the French Cameroon, the country can be said to have had at least three
different constitutions and numerous constitutional amendments. What can be
considered to be the first constitution was in reality the constitution under which
French Cameroon became independent on 1st JAN 1960.

The 2nd constitution was in reality simply an amendment of the 1960

constitution of the French Cameroon in 1961, when the British and French
administered parts of the country were reunited and was styled as the constitution
of the Federal Republic of Cameroon, which ushered in a highly centralized federal
system. On 2nd June 1972, after a referendum, a new unitary constitution was
adopted and the name of the country was changed to the “United Republic of
Cameroon”

In 1984, the appellation “United Republic” was replaced with “Republic”

what is currently in force is that this 1972 constitution although it was sustainably
amended in a rather controversial manner in 1996 with a new text of 30 articles,
and the amendments in April 2008 and 2011.

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 THE CONCEPT OF SEPARATION OF POWER

It is the division, delegation and empowerment of authorities and responsibilities to

the 3 arms of government i.e.

- Legislative
- Executive
- Judiciary, such that each arm possesses the legal rights to operate
independently without influence from the others.

The concept of separation of power was first propounded by a French

philosopher and writer Montesquieu. According to him, the doctrine means that the
3 arms of government must exist and act separately in separate domains. His
doctrine contained that these 3 arms are different in nature and for the purpose of
good governance, they ought to be separated. In this way members of the executive
arm should never be judicial or legislative members. In other words, to avoid
tyranny and oppressions, the law makers should not be those who interpret the law
and punish defaulters. The executive should be different from the judiciary and
these two arms should be separated from the legislative. The essential stand point
of the separation of power is that once three arms of government act separately in
their various domains, transparency and development would be found in the state
thus avoiding mismanagement of state funds.

STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

The government is usually made up of three distinct important organs

namely: Legislative, - Executive and Judiciary

Each organ has specific functions to perform in other to ensure the

Smooth running of the government.

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1. LEGISLATIVE ARM

This arm is assigned with the responsibilities of making rules and regulations
that impact (improve) on the general welfare of the society. Laws therefore have
their origin from the legislature. Besides enacting laws, the legislature equally
performs the following functions;

- They act as checks on the excesses of the executives. Here, the legislature
ensures that the executive arm conforms to the constitutions and in some cases,
approves the appointment of personalities into higher governmental offices.
- They act as consultative and approval organs to the executive. The approval
of the legislature is sought by the executive arm before a country declares war on
another country, or the declaration of a state of emergency.
- The legislative controls the execution of the state budget to avoid
mismanagement of state funds by executives.
- The legislative arm represents specific interest and opinion. They therefore
act as intermediaries between the government and the people, since the people’s
aspirations, wishes and grievances are channeled to the government through the
legislature.

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 TYPES OF LEGISLATURE

There exist basically two types namely; Uni-Cameralism and Bi-

Cameralism.

With the Uni-Cameralism, there exist only one chamber, the parliament (the
National Assembly) which has only one house with every parliamentarian having
equal status, whether in the opposition or in the ruling party.

In the case of Bicameralism, there are two houses i.e. an upper and lower
house. This can be designated as the house of senate and the House of
Representative. Bicameralism parliaments are very common with federations
although they could still be identified with some unitary states.

It is worth noting that Cameroon has both houses i.e. the Upper House
(Senate) and the Lower House (parliament). However, the president appoints 30
members out of the 100 members in the senate.

2. EXECUTIVE ARM

While the legislature is charged with law making, the executive arm assures
the role and responsibilities of implementing these laws and roles enacted by
legislature. It is often seen as a symbol of politics in any political system. There are
two major types of executives i.e. the presidential and parliamentary.

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TYPES OF EXECUTIVE SYSTEM

In the presidential executive system, the president of the republic is the

commander in chief of the arm forces and has the authority to appoint any citizen
to high governmental positions like minister with the approval of the legislature.

In the case of the parliamentary executive, the prime minister is the most
influential and he appoints his ministers to assist him in running the state affairs.
The prime minister heads the government while the king or Queen assume a
ceremonial position e.g Great Britain

N.B. Note that Cameroon operates using the presidential executive arm.

FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE

Ironically, in most countries today the government cumulatively acts using

the 3 arms i.e. executive, Judiciary and Legislative positions and functions.

- It perform legislative functions in that it initiates bills and also enjoy

delegated legislative powers to enact laws in the form of decrees and government
order.
- In the Judiciary domain, the executive also play the role by granting
presidential pardon, amnesty and clemency to criminals and political prisoners.
- In relation to administrative, the executive arm is responsible for the day to
day running of the country. They control the army, Gendarmerie, police force and
represent the state in international relations.
- More so, it is the responsibility of the executive arm to delegate authorities,
to implementing the laws enacted by the legislature right to the grass root level.

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 3. THE JUDICIARY ARM

This is ad-judicative organ of the government. It interprets the laws passed by the
legislative and punishes the law breakers and settles disputes.

FUNCTIONS OF THE JUDICIARY ARM

- It acts as the custodian of the constitution and interprets the constitution.

- They adjudicate in cases between citizens versus citizens and between
citizens versus states.
- They protect individual civil rights
- They advise the executive organ in cases of state of emergency.

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 POLITICAL PARTIES AND PRESSURE GROUPS

A) POLITICAL PARTIES

Political parties can be defined as any organized group of people seeking to

elect government office holders under a given level. Implicitly, the different
political parties portrays some degree of organization, linking leaders and
followers to a stated and fixed program or a set of applied content in a manifesto or
otherwise an ideology for selecting candidate and organizing political campaigns.

The political aim of political parties is to capture and use political power.
Thus by political parties, we refer to those organization and institutions commonly
involved in interest aggregation as the most important of the input function.

TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Several types of political parties exist and their classification is mostly based
on their ideologies and relationship to the political system.

1. Liberal Parties
These are parties concerned with or allowing a lot of political and economic
freedom and supporting gradual social, political and religion change e.g Peoples
Action Party (P.A.P).

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 2. Radical Political Parties

They are concern with a overall and rapid changes in the political system.
E.g. C.P.C. they demanded for immediate Independence and reunification.

3. Conservative Parties

Contrary to the liberal and Radical parties, the conservatives are concern
with maintaining the existing order of status. They reject and prevent any changes
in the political system e.g. C.P.D.M. and conservative party in UK.

4. Reactionary Parties:

These are extreme variant from the conservative parties. They differ in
ideology, manifesto and believe with the conservative parties’ e.g S.D.F.

OTHER TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES

1. Mass Party:

It is a party that rallies all types of people in the society without

discrimination of tribes, gender and social status e.g C.P.D.M, S.D.F, P.A.P etc

2. Elitist Party:

It is a party that constitutes a committee of highly educated people, notables,

industrialist, highly prestigious and morally respectable persons. They sponsor

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political campaigns e.g. conservative party in UK and the Republican Party in the
U.S.A.

3. Slack Party:

It is a party that is poorly structured. If they happen to be represented at the

parliament, the representative does not stick to party identity but votes in relation
to his personal conscience. E.g. the conservative party is Britain.

FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES

1. They unit, stabilize and simplify the political process.

2. They serve as intermediaries between the government and the people.
3. They aggregate all the interest of the people.
4. They present concrete issues to the government electorate as ideologies
during campaigns.
5. They serve as recounting and changing platform for personnel to man and
provide leadership to the government.

HOW POLITICAL PARTIES GENERATE INCOME

1. By selling of party cards to members

2. By the sales of party gadgets, uniforms, newspapers and banners.
3. By government grants to parties represented in the parliaments.
4. Financial assistance from international bodies and donors or sponsors.

HOW CAN ONE BECOME A MEMBER OF A POLITICAL PARTY IN

CAMEROON

1. Be a Cameroonian male or female by birth or naturalization.

2. Be registered in a branch and obtain a party card.
3. Pay your membership dues as the party demands and attend party meetings.

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 SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL PARTIES

There are three systems of political parties i.e. monopartism and multipartism.

1. MONOPARTISM

This is a system whereby only one party is allowed to function in a nation. It is

a form of dictatorship. Cameroon has been a one party state before the 1990s.

MERITS OF MONOPARTISM

- There is no waste of resources. Resources used by others for campaigns

during elections will be saved.
- It promotes unity in the state since there is no opposition to divide the minds
of citizens against each other.

DEMERITS OF MONOPARTISM

- It leads to dictatorship since no party exists to oppose the decisions of the

ruling party.
- There is massive embezzlement of public funds.
- There is lack of democracy since all decisions are taken by the lone party.
- There is a low rate of competition thus slowing the rate of development.

2. BIPARTISM (TWO PARTY SYSTEM)

This is a party system whereby only two parties are allowed to function in
the state. After elections, the party that does not win automatically becomes the
opposition party. Bipartism is practiced in Britain where we have the labour and
the conservative parties. Also in the U.S.A. we have the Democrat and the
Republican parties.

MERITS OF BIPARTISM

- There is a room for opposition

- There is less wastage of resources as compared to multipartism.
- There is little or no dictatorship in the governance of the nation.
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DEMERITS OF BIPARTISM

- There exist a high level of debate and opposition leading to division of

opinions.
- Some citizens with different political ideologies are been subjected.

MULTIPARTISM (Many Party Systems)

This is a system whereby more than two political parties are allowed to
operate in a country. Since 1996, Cameroon has adopted the multiparty system of
government with more than 100 political parties in existence.

MERITS OF MULTIPARTISM

- There is democracy with the freedom of choice and press been allowed
- There is an increase in development because of party competition.
- It promoted freedom of speech.
-

DEMERITS OF M ULTIPARTISM

- There is a high rate of wastage of resources before, during and after

elections.
- There is lack of unity thanks to the divided minds of the political leaders.
- There is a lot of regional differences due to the greed of the party leaders.
- There is an increase in the mismanagement of public funds.

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