04 December 2019
Observations on the Bill on Promotion of Official Languages in Cameroon
Dear Reader:
We are pleased to present some observations on the Bill on the Promotion of Official Languages in Cameroon, tabled before Parliament. In these observations, we raise a number of challenges with and potentially problematic provisions of, the said Bill. These include: (i) its failure to take into account the existing patterns of use of Cameroon’s two official languages across its regions and agglomerations, (ii) how the Bill interfaces with the potential Special Status dispensation for the Northwest and Southwest Regions, and (iii) the Bill’s limitation to texts, instruments, and proceedings within Cameroon’s institutions, whereas through regional integration and other inter-State groupings, Cameroon is often receiving laws, texts and procedures that may not conform to its constitutional bilingualism requirement.
Sincere Regards.
Author: Constitutional Options Project