- Young People and Decision Making, Civil Participation &Good Governance:
It no secret that decision making in Cameroon is void of youth involvement in all facets. This is quite visible for there is no youth who is a parliamentarian; that is a member of the national assembly (which is the only legislative organ of the state for now since Cameroon legislative organ is bi-cameral). The situation becomes worst without any hope for the youths as we can also see that, the Senate which is soon to be set up already segregates/discriminates against the youths from the constitutional provisions laying it down, Article 7(3) of the Cameroonian Constitution states that “Candidates for the post of Senator and personalities appointed to the post of senator by the President of the Republic must have attained the age of 40(forty) by the date of the election or appointment”. The context disfavours youths as decision making is concerned. In fact youths are completely left out and are biased as decision making in the legislative organ of the state is concerned.
Sir/Madam, I will also like to draw your attention to the fact that, in a government where the President and the Prime Minister are not youths, there is still no youth appointed in the government having over thirty cabinet ministers (made up of Ministers of State, Ministers, and Secretaries of states and even the Secretary Generals in various ministries). These personalities do possess a lot of power and can take very strategic decisions as Cameroon is practicing the Presidentialist regime (where the Executive controls a lot of power over the other organs of the state; the Judiciary and the Legislative). Worst still at the decentralized level of the executive power there is no youth in position of power; We can visibly see that there is no youth appointed as a Governor in any of the 10 regions and as a Senior Divisional Officer in any of the 58 Divisions (note that the law provides that these personalities are direct representatives of the President of the Republic in their areas of jurisdictions with massive supervisory and cohesive powers accorded to them) etc.
Still in this light, Sir/Madam, to the best of our knowledge at AC-YA there is no youth who is a Regional or Divisional Delegate (who are direct representatives of the over 20 Cabinet Ministers with a lot powers as well). There is also no youth who appointed as Director or Board Chairman for any state owned corporation and para-statal. This still depicts a very sad picture for the youths as the Executive organ of the state is concerned, where they are not just under represented but they are completely or almost left out of the scene.
Worst still, the third and last organ of the state which is judiciary still kicks youths out of the field of play. As there is no youth appointed at the level of the Supreme Court, or as a Supreme Magistrate, or as a Procureur General (Attorney General), or is heading the court of appeals at the regional level and high court at the divisional level etc. In fact, there is no youth occupying a decisive position in terms of decision making is concerned with the Cameroonian judiciary.
In the light of local governance, youths are also absent in over 185 municipalities there is no youth who is a Mayor, or appointed as a Government Delegate to any of the City councils. Very few youths are councilors in their various local government areas. It has also been discovered that youths do not participate in tracking budgets of the elected officials (mayors, parliamentarians).
It is believed by most young people that with this persistence exclusion of youths from the daily and strategic affairs of the state have instilled the spirit of voter’s apathy and unpatriotic amongst youths (ACYA baseline survey on the identification of problems and needs of young people in Cameroon 2006 and as reported by VOA article Published 2007-04-05 09:09 (KST) titled “Low Turnout and Fraud Mar Cameroon Elections” in Cameroon).