Emergency Plan hints of Cabinet reshuffle

President Biya’s unveiling of a three-year emergency development plan for Cameroon during last Tuesday’s Council of Ministers’ meeting is fuelling talk, once more, of an eminent cabinet reshuffle in the coming days.

A Unity Palace source told The Post that the meeting was tailored to be a harbinger of an imminent naming of a new Government.

“If the President does not change his mind, we will have a stormy cabinet reshuffle that will sweep away 17 Ministers,” said the source that asked not to be named. If things are executed as planned, over 17 Members of Government, including very prominent ones, he claimed, will lose their ministerial lives.

Going by our source, the ‘Star Building’ will have a new tenant, as the current one is most likely to be shown the door. The Post was hinted that the new occupant of the Star Building is likely to come from the Northern part of the country.

Within such a premise, the structure of power-sharing will have a new geo-political twist. Observers hold that, if such arrangements came to fruition, an Anglophone will head one of the Houses of Parliament.

At the National Assembly, the name of one of the Parliamentarians from Fako Division has continued to be mooted in speculations as the Speaker - Hon. Cavaye Yeguie’s successor - when the chips are finally down. The same situation holds sway for the Senate where another Parliamentarian from Fako Division is being tipped as a likely successor of President Niat Njifendji, when President Biya decides. It is mooted that the Northwest Region will be honoured with at least two full ministerial posts and a Secretary of State.

President Biya chaired the Council of Ministers meeting with a very meticulous look. Some observers said the President’s countenance was very unpredictable during the meeting that lasted for more than 30minutes. Such a straight face has continued to fuel discussions that many Ministers were attending the meeting for the last time. The French language daily, Mutations, quoted the President as tacitly bidding farewell to the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang.

“Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for the work you have done. I am asking you to keep yourself available for the Republic,” the newspaper quoted the President as having told Yang.

This statement has been interpreted to mean that the President was bidding farewell to Yang who was appointed Prime Minister on June 30, 2009. The Post has also been hinted by sources at the Etoudi power house that even some Ministers who claimed to be untouchable will be stripped of their Ministerial posts.

FCFA 925 Billion Emergency Plan

The main substance of the meeting was the unveiling of an emergency development plan for Cameroon. In a special statement, President Biya revealed that FCFA 925 Billion will be used to bankroll the emergency plan in all the Regions of the country.

He stressed that the primary aim of the emergency plan is to step up the national economic performance and improve the living conditions of the Cameroonian people. The President urged members of Government to ensure that the plan is implemented in a prompt and responsible manner.

Biya took strong exception to reckless spending by some Ministers who plunder resources on unnecessary missions abroad, the buying of expensive cars and the multiplication of committee meetings that do not yield much dividend.

He warned that resources allocated for the emergency plan must be used judiciously. The execution of the projects, he went on, must be done within the prescribed time frame in order to ensure profitability and optimum spinoffs for the nation’s economy.

According to a press release which the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinard Ngoh Ngoh, issued after the meeting, the emergency plan will be executed in nine priority areas including urban development, livestock and fisheries, road construction, water, energy and security.

“The special programme, evaluated at FCFA 925 billion, is financed through the mobilisation of the required resources from local and international institutions and sustainable rates,” partly reads the release.

The emergency plan that was fully read out by the Prime Minister will be implemented by the private sector through a rigorous process for the award of contracts to enterprises. Such enterprises must have the technical and financial capabilities to execute the projects with professionalism. The plan envisages the construction of two major roads in each Region, as well as low-cost houses.

Meantime, it is not known when the execution of the three-year emergency plan will be launched.