a écrit le 27 février 2006 à 16h40 At last, the government of
Cameroon
has bowed to pressure by the Commonwealth to create a new and independent body to manage the entire electoral process in the country.The government pledged to create this new body during a meeting with a team of experts from the Commonwealth (and an expert from Francophone Africa) that held in
Yaounde
from February 20 - 22.
An unequivocal communiqué about the direction of electoral reform in
Cameroon
was signed by Philemon Yang, Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, and Samuel Mutua Kivuitu, Chairman of the Kenya Electoral Commission and member of the Commonwealth team of experts.
"The meeting agreed to proceed on the basis of the vision of the President relating to the establishment of a new and independent election management body with responsibility for the entire election management process in
Cameroon
," the communiqué stated.
The communiqué did not state when the independent body would be created or how it would be called. However, it stated that the Cameroonian government "expressed its desire to pursue further consultations in a number of other countries with a view to obtaining a deeper understanding of the modalities and functioning of independent election management institutions."
This new commitment by the Cameroonian government implies that the Ministry of the Territorial Administration and Decentralisation will hands off the organisation of elections when this new independent election management body will be created.
It equally implies that the National Elections Observatory, NEO, that currently supervises elections, will be scrapped.
The Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Jean Marie Atangana Mebara, headed the Cameroonian side at the meeting, while former Canadian Prime Minister, Joe Clark, represented the Commonwealth.
President Paul Biya had earlier created a Ministerial Committee to examine modalities for the creation of an independent election management body in
Cameroon
. It is this committee that represented
Cameroon
at the meeting.
The Commonwealth delegation included senior electoral officials and experts from
Benin
,
Kenya
,
Mauritius
,
South Africa
and the
United Kingdom
.The creation of an independent election body in
Cameroon
has been a hot issue in political debate since
Cameroon
's return to multi-
Cameroon
has bowed to pressure by the Commonwealth to create a new and independent body to manage the entire electoral process in the country.The government pledged to create this new body during a meeting with a team of experts from the Commonwealth (and an expert from Francophone Africa) that held in
Yaounde
from February 20 - 22.
An unequivocal communiqué about the direction of electoral reform in
Cameroon
was signed by Philemon Yang, Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, and Samuel Mutua Kivuitu, Chairman of the Kenya Electoral Commission and member of the Commonwealth team of experts.
"The meeting agreed to proceed on the basis of the vision of the President relating to the establishment of a new and independent election management body with responsibility for the entire election management process in
Cameroon
," the communiqué stated.
The communiqué did not state when the independent body would be created or how it would be called. However, it stated that the Cameroonian government "expressed its desire to pursue further consultations in a number of other countries with a view to obtaining a deeper understanding of the modalities and functioning of independent election management institutions."
This new commitment by the Cameroonian government implies that the Ministry of the Territorial Administration and Decentralisation will hands off the organisation of elections when this new independent election management body will be created.
It equally implies that the National Elections Observatory, NEO, that currently supervises elections, will be scrapped.
The Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Jean Marie Atangana Mebara, headed the Cameroonian side at the meeting, while former Canadian Prime Minister, Joe Clark, represented the Commonwealth.
President Paul Biya had earlier created a Ministerial Committee to examine modalities for the creation of an independent election management body in
Cameroon
. It is this committee that represented
Cameroon
at the meeting.
The Commonwealth delegation included senior electoral officials and experts from
Benin
,
Kenya
,
Mauritius
,
South Africa
and the
United Kingdom
.The creation of an independent election body in
Cameroon
has been a hot issue in political debate since
Cameroon
's return to multi-
