Senate works overnight as 2014 plenary session draws to its end

Less than 24 hours to the close of the 2014 session of Parliament, Cabinet Ministers have been filling past to defend their draft budgets before the Senate under the supervision of the Senate President, Marcel Niat Njifenji.

The house virtually works 24 hours a day to meet up with the 11th December 2014 closing date as provided by the constitution. Besides examining the budgets of each Ministry, the Senate also adopted the bill on private security companies.

The senators have been reacting positively to the evolution of their work. CPDM Senator, Simon Ngwuo noted some private companies were misusing the law but henceforth each private security company must have approval by the constitution.

The Ministers of Public Health, Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries and Justice, each took turns to outline the primary objectives of their respective Ministries by removing all obstacles to development.

Minister Abba Sadou of Public Contracts said, “the programming of the contracts awards process is a very important and sensitive one. We want to do this process during this month of December so that in January if possible, since the execution of the budget will be effective, it can be launched.”

For his part, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization said “we want to modernize the administration and we will continue to improve the working conditions of our people.” The Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Emmanuel Bonde talked on measuring to improve the mining sector with transformation in the pipeline.

The Minister of External Relations seeks to go beyond building the country’s image. He targets the exploitation of the potential of bilateral cooperation, multilateral cooperation and decentralized cooperation, including the management of the Diaspora. “We have a program to improve governance of our diplomatic apparatus in Cameroon,” he noted.

Members of the budget and finance commission are expected to have a long night examining finance bills of other ministries.