Hikes in fuel prices will cripple decentralisation - Nintcheu

The SDF Member of Parliament for Wouri East Constituency, Jean Michel Nintcheu, has described the decision by Government to increase fuel prices and the 50 percent reduction in the tax applicable to the population with low income commonly known by its French appellation, ‘Impot libératoire’, and the reduction of parking tax by 50 percent as anti-decentralisation.

Nintcheu said such measures will not only reduce the revenues of all the 360 municipal councils in Cameroon, but will equally crippled the process of decentralisation.

These reductions, the MP said, will cause a huge drop in the revenue of councils, and will likely force the different councils to scale down projects and services provided to the population. Coincidentally, this situation is coming at time when Government is talking about decentralisation.

Speaking to The Post on July 12, the Deputy Mayor of Douala II Council, Jean Robert Wafo, said ‘Impot libératoire’ is one of the major sources of revenue for councils. According to him, the tax is the biggest source of revenue for many councils in the country. Wafo asserted that the 50 percent reduction in the tax will adversely affect the coffers of most councils. He said worse still, the parking tax which is another source of revenue to councils has also been reduced by 50 percent.

Wafo decried that the state has taken the decision to reduce these taxes midway into the 2014 financial year, when all the councils in the country have adopted their financial budgets for the year. He added that there is no doubt that all the councils adopted their different budgets, taking into consideration the projected revenues from the two taxes.

Wafo accused Government of being reckless by reducing the amount of money to be paid on these taxes by half. Asked why councils are silent on the decision, Wafo said the silence is both intriguing and unfortunate. According to him, there is a union of councils in Cameroon and it is only the union that can condemn such decisions, not individual councils. But he said since the leadership of the union is CPDM, it is likely that they are afraid to talk.

Budget On Decentralisation Asked what councils can do to remedy the imminent drop in revenue, Wafo said there is noting councils can do on their own. “A council cannot unilaterally create a new tax, but there are two possible things that can be done to cushion the effects of the revenue reduction on a few councils, while there is only one thing that can be done to reduce the effects in the short or medium term.”

Wafo proposed that in places like Douala, Limbe, Bafoussam, Kumba, Bamenda and other towns with city councils, the municipal councils can press on the city councils with vast sources of revenues to increase the amounts of its annual financial allocations and make it available for the running of the councils. But he said such a possibility depends much on the willingness of the Government Delegates to make such increase.

As for the possibility that can be helpful to all the councils, Wafo said, this can be achieved by Government doubling or even tripling the annual budget for decentralisation, so as to increase the annual subventions to councils.

Effects Of Tax Reductions Wafo said there is no doubt that small economic operators and all other persons who pay the tax applicable to the population with low income, as well as transporters who pay the parking tax, will all be happy with the reduction of the taxes by 50 percent. But he lashed out at Government for trying to give a false impression to the impoverished Cameroonians.

Wafo argued that, like the controversial hike in the prices of fuel and cooking gas, the two so-called accompanying measures that will seriously reduce council revenues, have been designed by Government to deceive the people.

No Concern For The Common Man Wafo insisted that the CPDM regime does not care about the situation of the common man. According to him, if Government had concern for the plight of the impoverished Cameroonian masses, it wouldn’t have taken the decision to increase the prices of petroleum products. Wafo said there were several appropriate options that the Government could have adopted to cut down on state expenditures, without hurting the impoverished masses.

He regretted that the CPDM regime decided to preserve the huge luxuries enjoyed by its members and their families, and instead adopted the cruel decision to worsen the plight of the suffering masses, by cutting down State subvention to SONARA.

As for the hike in fuel prices, Wafo said Ministers do not buy fuel even for their private vehicles back in their villages and will not suffer from the effects of the hike.