Municipal Councilors

The forgotten lot
 By Martin Fon Yembe in Ndu
The 1996 Constitution and the 2004 Council law all constitute what can give any observer of Cameroon’s political scene the impression that it was actually drafted and crafted by human beings. Reading these laws, one is left with the impression that those who matter in the decentralization process the most are Municipal Councilors.
    They work on a daily basis. They face all the challenges on the ground at the grassroots level. They are obliged by local societal circumstances to be present at all village ceremonies and occasions, especially when it comes to development. But, what these laws forgot was to give the councilors a monthly stipend or remuneration.

    They only count on the quarterly organization of Council sessions where they can grasp some twenty or thirty thousand francs, in ratio to their Administrative Accounts. Thus, in a year, some councilors earn less then a hundred thousand francs.
As if to add pepper to injury, the MPs have slammed a 16.5% tax on this meager session allowances. They are saying nothing about the salaries of mayors and councilors who do 80% of the work on the ground. Just imagine that these MPs received the Bill on this tax and quickly and quietly voted same into law last December 2014, yet, demanding, all the while for an increment in their own allowances!  Is this not very inhumane? Let the Presidency rescue the Cameroonian Municipal Councilors now!!