Directing Government action

How powerful is the Prime Minister?
Major actions of the Prime Minister must have the visa of the President of the republic before they can take effect. But because president Biya is over-crowded with prerogatives, he has delegated the signature of the presidential visa to the Secretary-General of the Presidency (SGPR). Public law experts say this makes the SGPR the real Prime Minister, while the sitting Prime Minister only plays a functional or  representational role. Over the years this situation has been a source of real frustration to successive Prime Ministers.
By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Yaounde

Philemon Yang

Does the Prime Minister of Cameroon wield real powers or he is only a functional, nay representational executive? This is the question that many Cameroonians have continued to ask themselves whenever they take a keen look at the performance of the sitting Prime Minister, Philemon Yunji Yang. The question also often comes up whenever the cabinet is reshuffled with a new Prime Minister appointed.
    The Prime Minister by virtue of the Cameroon Constitution of 18 January 1996 is the head of government. Ministers are supposed to be appointed on his proposal to the president. But over the years Biya reshuffles the government without his Prime Minister’s knowledge or consent. More often than not the prime minister himself is never sure whether he would survive a cabinet shake-up or he would be given the sack by the president. In fact, in Cameroon many ministers are sure to survive a cabinet shake-up than the Prime Minister.

    That is why political analysts observe that in Cameroon the Prime Minister’s office is merely functional at best and representational at worse. Some say the Prime Minister is hardly the head of government but only the first minister in terms of protocol.
  “The fact that the Prime Minister is appointed jointly and at the same time with, or barely a few minutes before the other ministers, is proof that he does not propose the ministers as required by the constitution,” says political analyst, Eric Mathias Owona Nguini, who adds that “because the Prime Minister does not propose the ministers he cannot, as a matter of fact, effectively control their actions.”
    The constitution also gives the Prime Minister the prerogative to direct government action. But in reality the sitting PM cannot coordinate government business because the ministers owe allegiance not to him but rather, to the President of the Republic who appoints them at his express discretion.    
      It was not surprising therefore that after he was maintained in government following the last cabinet shake-up on 9 December 2011, Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said it loud on state radio that he owes allegiance and renders account only to President Biya and no one else.   
    Like Issa Tchiroma, most ministers who are appointed or maintained in government express gratitude only to President Biya. Few of them ever bother to also thank the Prime Minister for proposing their name to the president.
    “This only shows that the ministers know only too well that the Head of State never sought the Prime Minister’s opinion before appointing them,” a keen observer commented, after the 9 December 2011 cabinet reshuffle.
    It should be recalled that way back in 1983, when Bello Bouba Maigari, the first Prime Minister under president Biya, resigned from the government and went on self exile, he explained that as Prime Minister he did not understand why the President had to reshuffle the government without seeking his advice or even informing him.
    Apart from the way the Prime Minister is appointed, his functions and powers are greatly compromised by the preponderant role the Presidency plays to control his actions. For the PM to take any decision, especially a major one, he must consult the Presidency and get the visa of the President of the Republic. Quite sadly, the president has delegated the signature of the presidential visa to his Secretary-General. This makes the latter more powerful and the Prime Minister more condescending to a personality who should rather be his subordinate. This is a veritable source of frustration for the sitting Prime Minister.
    Even at the Prime Minister’s Office, it is no secret that most of the important and strategic files are handled not by the PM but the Secretary-General, Louis Paul Motaze. The Prime Minister only presides over meetings and grants audiences. It is said in most circles in Yaounde that since his coming to the star building. Paul Motaze has been functioning more as a spy on the PM than the loyal collaborator he is supposed to be.
    When the Prime Minister’s office is compared, for instance, to the office of Speaker of National Assembly (PAN), it is evident that the latter has more autonomy than the former.  The Assembly Speaker hires and fires his personnel, including directors and at times the Secretary-General of the National Assembly. He also decides his budget and even his salary, amongst other things. The Prime Minister does not enjoy such autonomy because his hands are clipped by the Presidency.