Senate ordered to vacate Palais des Congrès within 48 hours

The Senate, which is the upper house of the Cameroonian Parliament at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé, has been ordered to vacate the premises within 48 hours, according to the Mutations newspaper on Friday, August 21, 2015.

According to the newspaper, electricity will be completely cut off on the second floor of the six-storey building of Palais des Congrès. The Senate has therefore begun renovation on the Economic and Social Council office building, which is already under construction at the Dragage neighbourhood.

Mutations further reported that, the November 2015 session to pass the 2016 finance law, will take place in these premises. However, the General Secretariat, headed by Me Meva'a Eboutou, and the president of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njifenji, will not be affected by the changes.

The makeover of Palais des Congrès does not mean the Senate are being sacked. According to Christophe Mine Zok, the Director of the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé, who was quoted by the Mutations newspaper; "The rehabilitation of the entire premises of the Palais des Congrès will be for a twenty-month period. We are not evacuating the Senate for nonpayment of rent. Moreover, we do not have a lease issue with them. The work on the block is based on a decision by the head of state."

“The convention center will have a new look in 20 months, which is to say from the first quarter of 2017. The rehabilitation of this building should ideally start in forty-eight hours,” stated Mutations.

Thus, it is necessary for the occupants to vacate the premises. They are the Conac and the Senate. Part of the cost of rehabilitation is included in the investment budget for this year set at 256.3 million FCFA, of which 83 million FCFA is intended to improve the reception and quality of service.