Yaoundé,
13 December 2019
Special Status for Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions: Answering 20 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Cameroon’s planned Regional tier of Government
NB: This document was released shortly before the tabling in Parliament of the Bill to institute a General Code of Regional and Local Authorities. The present document finds relevance in that it examines what Cameroon’s legal framework initially planned for its “Regions” within the constitutional ordering of the country, and so highlights some areas of improvement that are needed as a new legal framework is being crafted to govern Cameroon’s Regions.
Dear Reader:
Since the holding of the National Dialogue on the Anglophone crisis, there has been considerable interest on the issue of how the proposal to grant a Special Status to the Northwest and Southwest regions, on account of their historical specificities, could fit within Cameroon’s current institutional set-up and dispensation. Apart from Section 62 (2) of the Constitution which provides that legislation may “take into consideration the specificities of certain Regions with regard to their organization and functioning”, Cameroon’s legal framework does not shed further light on the issue.
In this Briefing Paper, entitled “Is Cameroon’s framework for establishing its regional tier of government, conducive to accommodating a Special Status for its Anglophone regions?”, we undertake a three-part analysis of the issue. First, we take a critical look at the configuration of the Regional tier of government as currently envisaged by the laws in force, in order to determine the exact nature of Regions. We inquire into whether the Regions are envisaged as autonomous entities capable of self-regulating their functioning, or as outposts of the State’s central institutions placed under the latter’s firm supervision. We also query whether Regions are envisaged as operationally functional entities endowed with their own administrative services and personnel to discharge the tasks assigned to them.
In the second section, we examine a number of functional areas in which the historical and current specificities of the Northwest and Southwest regions are the most pronounced, which would warrant attention in crafting an eventual Special Status arrangement for these two regions. These are precisely the functional domains which are prone to tensions and conflict when centrally managed, without a special dispensation for these regions. These are:
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The regulation of official language(s) use: the number of users, and the preponderance of use of each official language in the different regions of the country and especially in the two concerned regions, and the framework for the provision of State or public services, and the deployment of State personnel having regard to their mastery of the official languages;
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The dual education sub-systems in French and in English: regional trends on the preponderance of enrolment between the two educational sub-systems in the regions of the country, and especially in the two concerned regions, the role envisaged for Cameroon’s Regions in the education sector, as well as functions that have not yet been assigned to Regions that are potentially contentious (the management of educational curricula, content, and schools of the sub-system, and the management of teachers);
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The dual legal practice cultures, and equitable access to supranational legal norms: the areas of law that are not uniform (where different bodies of law apply in these 2 regions), the adequacy of structures and processes for arriving at uniform national laws, and of measures for drafting and applying legislation in consonance with both legal practice cultures, and the level of compliance with the constitutional principle of bilingualism by supranational bodies that produce legal norms applicable in Cameroon (CEMAC, OHADA).
In the third and last part, we examine comparative approaches from other States in taking into account regional specificities, such as recourse to asymmetrical devolution. We also explore the core features of Unitary States, States with Special Status Regions, and Federal States.
In going through this document, we invite the reader to appreciate the challenge that Cameroon faces. If there is substantial national consensus to take into consideration the historical specificities of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, through granting a Special Status to these 2 regions, Cameroon may in the matter of establishing Regions, have to establish the “exception” before the “rule”. The institutions that make up Cameroon’s regions, that is, “Regions” as constitutionally recognized actors and entities are not yet in place, so even the “ordinary” region is yet to be established.
However, given the crisis affecting the two above-mentioned Regions, the sequencing will at best allow Cameroon to establish the two types of regions simultaneously, or even require it to establish the “special” before the ordinary. Hence the importance of a keen understanding of the real nature of the Region as an institution planned in Cameroon, for which we herein provide some key guideposts.
You can read another publication that is closely linked to this one by following the link below:
>> Legislative Whitepaper Submission - Special Status for Cameroon's NW, SW Regions
Kind Regards,
Author: Constitutional Options Project