Cacophony of Gov’t Communication & Action:

PM Puts Order in the House, Calls Ministers to Order
-A letter signed by the SG of the PM’s Office and addressed to government ministers, minister delegates and secretaries of state, exhorts them to obtain prior administrative visa before signing any official texts relating to government policy. The PM also warned ministers to henceforth respect all relevant presidential texts relating to government communication and government solidarity.
By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Yaounde

PM Chief Dr. Dion Ngute

“The attention of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, has on many occasions been drawn to the multiplication of personal and solitary initiatives by some government ministers in the exercise of their official duties, in disregard for the cardinal principles of collaboration, solidarity and the respect of regulatory guidelines on procedures of government action, as stipulated in the general instructions No 002 of 04 June 1998 and 1st October 2002.”
    This is how the SG of the PM’s Office, Seraphin Magloire Fouda, opened the letter, calling ministers, minister delegates and secretaries of state, to order.
    Captioned: ‘Recalling Certain Principles relating to the organization of government action,’ the SG of the PM’s Office told the ministers that his boss, the PM, has charged him to remind them of the obligation to submit all regulatory texts to the PM’s Office for prior validation and visa before such texts are signed by the ministers this, in accordance with the presidential circular No 004/CAB/PR of 20 August 1991 relating to administrative visas.
    Harping notably on the implementation of government’s response measures to the covid-19 which is rapidly spreading in Cameroon, the PM reminded all stakeholder administrations of the obligation to henceforth solicit and obtain his prior and formal authorization, before taking any general measures this, to avoid the cacophony that is observed in government’s communication since the unset of coronavirus.
    Literally pulling the ears of the ministers and minister delegates, the PM exhorted them to exercise restraint and prudence in their oral and written communications, especially on matters with a bearing on government policy in general, and the covid-19 in particular.
    The PM warned the ministers that any defaulters on these prescriptions would just be violating and disrespecting the instructions of the head of state, in his circular no 009/CAB/PR of 31 December 1985 relating to public declarations by government functionaries, and the circular no 005/CAB/PR of 25 June 1989 relating to government communication. He warned further that any defaulters will have themselves to blame.
    He enjoined Ministers to henceforth associate the minister of Communication in all their communication initiatives.
    The PM impressed on the ministers the primordial importance and obligation of solidarity and collaboration in all government actions, as defined by the presidential circular no 002/CAB/PR of 27 April 2001 relating to the obligation of government solidarity.
    Chief Dr Dion Ngute exhorts ministers, minister delegates and secretaries of state to exercise a spirit of openness, frank collaboration, cohesion and synergy in the excercise of their duties. He noted that government departments are not islands, and government action is “transversal and inter-ministerial.”

    Though no particular cases of digression by government ministers were cited, it is understood that the PM’s call to order might have been informed by the recent outing by the ministers of basic and secondary education, Prof. Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa and Prof. Nalova Lyonga, who jointly issued a decision reviewing the school calendar, without the prior visa of the PM or the Head of State.
    Even though the ministers hurriedly withdrew, nay, disowned, the document, perhaps, after some scolding from hierarchy, the document had already been broadcast on state radio, and had already gone viral on social media, even before the disclaimer by the alleged authors.
    The joint decision by the ministers of basic and secondary education, no matter how salutary and well-intentioned, was an embarrassment to the PM, and especially the head of state, under whose auspices the school calendar was suspended, it is understood.
    Apart from the gaffe by the education ministers, there is the ridiculous and embarrassing outing of the minister of scientific research, Dr Magdalene Tchuente, in a recent interview with freelance journalist, Jean Bruno Tagne.             Speaking on the incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cameroon and measures by government to roll-back its spread, the pharmacist-cum politician demonstrated a very poor mastery of the subject as to sound ridiculous. If anything, she left her hearers and viewers wondering if ever she had any notion of science or if she ever did her homework before accepting to take questions from the journalist.
    Such cases of cacophonous, and more often, ridiculous government communication, have been recurrent in the recent past. Reason commentators have hailed the bold intervention of the PM in calling the ministers to order.
    It however remains to be seen how the ministers will respect the PM’s instructions, giving that some of them have, many at times, claimed that they owe allegiance but to the head of state, who appointed them, and not to the PM, upon whose proposal they were supposed to be appointed by the head of state.