Incisive Journalism in Cameroon: The Best of ��Cameroon Report�� (1978 � 1986)

24. Cameroon Report 01/1/1985, Chasing Files: A Product of Centralisation

85 24 Cameroon Report 01/1/1985, Chasing Files: A Product of Centralisation Introduction: Over the week, there were a series of ceremonies organised to present New Year wishes to members of government by the staff of various ministries. Most remarkable among the statements made by the Ministers, were those by Trade and Industry Minister, and that of Planning and Regional Development Messrs NOMO ONGOLO and YOUSSOUFA DAOUDA who called on officials to delegate powers where necessary so as to speedup the processing of files. This meant resurrecting the issue of “chasing files”. News commentator, SAM- NUVALA FONKEM terms it a dead issue but says its solution could only be found in real decentralisation: Responding to New Year wishes presented by officials of their respective departments, the Trade and Industry Minister and the Minister of Planning and Regional Development resurrected a seemingly dead issue, the eradication of which was emphatically stated in President BIYA’S Bamenda declaration in February 1983 to put an end to the question of chasing files. The costly business of “chasing files” may be termed a dead issue since, as it would appear, nothing can be done about it. The public has come to accept it as a necessary evil and condoned its inconveniences and wastefulness as a standard feature of our underdevelopment. The practice of chasing files has even become a touristic vocation for some 86 and a pilgrimage for others, all depending on your frame of mind. The attractions of file-chasing have become so pervasive that like an insatiable gambler, civil servants are not even deterred by the prospects of spending 100.000 francs to undertake a bureaucratic pilgrimage to Yaounde for the purpose of chasing emoluments hardly worth 10.000 francs. Of course, the civil servant has a right to protect his interest, but alas, at what cost? It would be quite a useful study for experts to work out government losses in man power and output resulting from time lost in the wild-goose chase. Government and the people believe and agreed that the solution to the problem is decentralisation and measures to achieve this goal have notably been applied in the Public Service Ministry. This structural expansion which entails a willingness to delegate powers has truly been inculcated in the system. What could be the level of willingness among those who have vested interest in the file-chasing enterprise? It should not be surprising to describe the practice as an enterprise, as one cynic noted, adding perspicaciously that decentralising the administration would also mean decentralising the bribe-taking syndicate, a factor that may partially explain the reluctance to share any kind of position or power that fetches illegal gains. Apart from vested interest, the practice of centralisation as a feature of emerging nation states concerned with nationalistic ambitions of total mobilisation has unfortunately produced a certain power jealousy and drunkenness that has blinded its actors against the very principles of a civil service. The Civil Service is first of all a service to the public and secondly it has got to be civil. What one observes, however, is 87 that some people have given it the stamp of discourtesy and disservice. In trying to reform the apparently irredeemable bureaucratic system, we would have to rely a great deal on the policy of moralisation and define its implications with regard to administrative inefficiency and indiscipline. What, for example, should be done if an administrator is shown to have been sitting on somebody’s file or conjured it into thin air? For how long must a file be sat upon before it lays an egg? Do the various government departments have a standard flow chart for processing files and is there a checking system to detect obstacles along the chain process? Government departments particularly the Public Service, Finance and Education which deal with large numbers of people should produce manuals on the salient features of their activities and what the public ought to know about their functioning. Government departments have to get out of their habitual lethargy and join the information campaign being waged in other sectors of national life. The price of ignorance is too high and the education of the public should be taken more seriously than ever before. The best of our decentralisation process lies in the amount of power we are willing to delegate to provincial and local authorities and the establishment of an efficient communications...