Why should Cameroon emerge 15 years after Ghana, others?

When Ivoirians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, Angolans and even nouveau riche countries like Equatorial Guinea, shall be celebrating their emergence in 2020, Cameroonians shall have to wait for another 15 years or more to attain emergence.

The other day I heard, with a lot of amazement, that Ivory Coast will, for the next five or six years, be investing a whooping FCFA 500 billion yearly for the construction of roads and the rehabilitation of others in their country.

And for a country that is still smarting from the throes of war to be taking such a courageous action to turn its economy around was, to say the least, astounding.

This announcement was, however, just a chip from a wholesome package of a mega economic development plan which President Alassane Outarra intends to put in place in a drive, destined to cushion the pains of war and stagnation and give a new lease of life to his citizens.

Since the demise of the Late Ivorian leader, Houphouet Boigny, Ivorians have gone through a torturous pass, characterised by political wrangling, war and destruction. Loucoumane Coulibaly, a Reuters Reporter, in a July 20, 2012 report quoted the Ivorian Planning Minister, Albert Toikeusse Mabri, to have told the Ivorian Parliament:

“Ivory Coast plans to spend over FCFA 11 trillion in 2015 on a sweeping development programme aimed at boosting growth and reversing a decade of economic decline. An economic revival is now underway with growth of eight percent expected this year following a 2011 contraction of 4.7 percent.”

Coulibaly further stated that; “the country, led by President Alassane Ouattara, a former top International Monetary Fund official, has set a goal of becoming a leading emerging economy by 2020.

"The objective is to fulfil the minimum conditions for Ivory Coast's emergence by 2020, notably; to achieve strong growth ... and build for Ivorians a middle class, capable of supporting that growth through consumption."

Ivory Coast’s drive to turn into a middle class economy by 2020 follows in line with the agendas of other pro-active economies in Africa such as Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Angola and others that have underlined 2020 as the deadline for their respective emergence.

This is the dream year when all their citizens shall be entitled to, at least, three square meals a day, adequate medical care, comfortable lodging, tarred roads, free or affordable access to potable water, education and other basic utilities plus a clean and healthy environment.

These points that make for a comfortable livelihood is what President Ouatarra, as well as his counterparts in Ghana, Equatorial Guinea among others, have not only promised, but are practically sweating daily just to ensure that by 2020, the economic pendulums of their respective countries must, as a necessity, swing up from the current poverty mark to the prosperity echelon.

But when you come to Cameroon, the Land of Promise, the whiff of bad omen that stuns you is the misfortune that we are compelled to wait till 2035, if not longer, before we shall ever measure up to the level of Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana or the other countries that have learned to march words with action and not promises.

Yes, Cameroon, after having emerged in 2006 from their unenviable status as one of the world’s most heavily indebted poor country, the Head of State, Paul Biya, took the laudable step, so to speak, to marshal the country out of the trenches of poverty, corruption, inertia and walk it to prosperity; even if only in a distant 2035.

In 2010, the country, from the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, came up with what was considered as a new and bolder roadmap to the country’s march to emergence that was christened the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper, GESP. This GESP or Cameroon’s Emergence Compass was further termed: “Reference Framework for Government Action over the period 2010-2020.”

The document detailed, inch after inch, what the Government planned to give Cameroonians anew lease of life after years of misery in poverty and economic crisis.

By every reckoning, this document termed, “Reference Framework” was supposed to be like a daily, if not monthly or yearly, checklist to whether or not Government was meeting its self-assigned tasks in its promised plan to walk the rest of Cameroonians out of the cesspool of poverty and deprivation.

But today, it is almost five years since this roadmap was gloriously set. And from every indication, very little, in some areas, and almost nothing in others, has been achieved.

For instance, Section 3.1.2.3 of the GESP dubbed; Building and Public Works; point 161-Rehabilitation of the road network, states:

“Taking into account the advanced state of degradation of tarred roads (48 percent are in poor or bad condition … essential resources will have to be mobilised during the 2010 – 2020 period in order to rehabilitate an average of 200km of tarred roads per annum.”

Going by the above, Government has not lived up to expectation or to its promise if you consider, for instance, the poor state of the Bafoussam - Bamenda stretch of road at the moment.

The GESP, interestingly, was duly prefaced by Prime Minister of the Republic, Philemon Yang, who is one of the main overseers of the Emergence projects. In point 165 of the GESP under, “Tarring of the road network,” our Emergence planners set up to “tar an average of 350km of roads per annum.”

And has Cameroon succeeded to tar even 1,000km of roads since 2010? No! Except for the Ayos-Abong-Mbang road, the Bamenda-Mamfe-Ekok stretch, Yaounde to Olama road, Garoua Boulai, the Government has not gone anywhere. The Bamenda Ring Road is still being done piece meal.

Though there are other road projects that have been announced or have started off such as the Kumba -Mamfe road, by every reckoning, Government has not been able to meet its 200km road tarring target per annum.

Going at this snail pace, Cameroon, even by 2035, would not have reached even mid way on its path to Emergence. For as at 2010, it was estimated that Cameroon had some 50,000km of roads in the entire road network and only 10 percent of the 50,000 was tarred; that is about 5,000km. What a whooping difference between the tarred and the un-tarred.

Thus, Cameroon, if it has to arrive, as Ivory Coast, Ghana, and others are grappling hard to do, it must obligatorily: increase the total amount of money being allocated for these projects; make the fight against corruption more meaningful by recovering the billions already looted and starched in safe financial havens abroad.

Biya must, as a matter of exigency, cut down on his long and expensive foreign trips and stays abroad and, among other things, proceeds from Cameroon’s oil wealth must not be made to constitute a big part of the financing for the Emergence drive.

Above all, a considerable percentage of the Public Investment Budget should be dedicated to handling the 2035 drive, just as Ivory Coast has committed four percent of its annual budget just to finance road projects in the country for the next five to six years.