Browsing by Author "Tangang, Tangang Andrew"
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- ItemDecentralisation and the practice of intergovernmental relations in Mezam Division, Northwest region of Cameroon(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Tangang, Tangang Andrew; Uys, Frederik, 1957-; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.ENGLISH SUMMARY : After over three decades of centralisation, Cameroon, like many African countries, introduced decentralisation reforms in the 1990s partly as a means of empowering democratically elected lower levels of government as agents of development. However, the lack of clarity on decentralised authority and deconcentrated functions, coupled with local councils’ perception of central government oversight as interference, are major challenges to intergovernmental relations in Cameroon. This study examines the extent to which decentralisation has influenced intergovernmental relations in Mezam Division, an administrative unit within the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The study uses semi-structured interviews with purposefully selected local council executives and central government officials in Mezam Division. According to the findings of the study, there exist intergovernmental institutions in Mezam such as the Mezam Divisional Committee on Local Finance, the Technical Committee for the Recovery of Global Taxes in Bamenda, and the sub-committee of the Bamenda Local Tax Committee. These intergovernmental relations institutions however deal exclusively with financial issues, and central government still plays a dominant role because certain key decisions are made at the central government level without consulting the central government representatives and the local councils in Mezam Division. To improve intergovernmental relations in Mezam Division and Cameroon, central government should adopt a policy on intergovernmental relations contained in a Framework document specifying the modalities for relations between the central government, regional councils and local councils in Cameroon, more authority should be transferred to the local councils, more emphasis on local-intergovernmental relationships (between central government representatives and local council executives), and collaboration between and amongst central government representatives and local council executives in Mezam Division should be improved on through the setting up of institutions like the Mezam Local Development Forum (MELODEF) and the Bamenda City Consultative Forum (BACCOF).