National Assembly has not paid its bills for 5 years

MPs had a meeting to deliberate ways they can pay the debts of the National Assembly (AN) to the different supplier firms of the Cameroonian parliament, at Ngoa Ekelle on Monday, August 17, 2015.

The meeting was also to develop a management plan and careful use of resources made by their provisions.

The Quaestor of the National Assembly, Honourable Kamsouloum Abba Kabir, was the member responsible for leading the project to clean up unwanted and inappropriate use of electricity, water, telephone and Internet at National Assembly. He spoke at length on the microphone of the national radio, CRTV.

According to the Honourable, "As part of the National Governance Programme (NGP) in the National Assembly of Cameroon, it is given to us to see that there is an overuse of the phone and the Net over ratios ordinary that we can accept. Invoices that are presented to the National Assembly are increasingly important. The technical services of the National Assembly have made a preliminary diagnosis, we realized that indeed there were anarchic connections and some telephone numbers that are made on behalf of the National Assembly are not effectively available to the National Assembly. It was therefore a question to the leaders of different directions and the heads of the secretariats of individual firms of officers gathered here to agree to work together so that electricity consumption surveys, water, phone and net are carried through to completion and that resolution and adequate measures are taken to ensure that wastes in this area are minimized.”

“For now, we have already been able to identify all computers that are connected and we gave a period of two to three days for technicians to identify all phones that do exist. We learned the different structures that leaders must ensure that phones are no longer used haphazardly for private needs, and are strictly for the needs of the National Assembly. We await the results of thorough investigations to be conducted," he added.

Should we emphasize the anarchic use of water resources, electricity and communication as well as the insolvency of the National Assembly vis-à-vis its suppliers is revealed each year, each member receives a whopping FCFA 8 million within the parliamentary micro projects to be implemented in their jurisdiction.

While it should be noted that this sum has repeatedly been found to be insignificant, some MPs wished the amount should be increased to FCFA 20 million, like the senators that should apply to everyone the tidy sum of FCFA 100 million per year (if these proposals are adopted by the Government of the State).

It should also be noted that 99% of MPs are business women and men who scan through various business administrations and public administrative institutions in search for business opportunities. The 4/9 are permitted precisely because of the fact that the law allows it.