Cameroon is a strangely-shaped country located between West and Central Africa with a coast along the Gulf of Guinea. The country is bordered with six other countries which are Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The capital city Yaoundé is spread over seven hills in the south of the country.
Featured Image: Based on OCHA map. License.
The country was originally split between numerous peoples and chiefdoms before it became a colony of the German Empire known as Kamerun or also called German Cameroon. The result of World War 1 led to the territory being divided between France and the United Kingdom. France attempted to quash the calls for independence on its side but led to a war called the Bamileke War which eventually led to the French area of Cameroon becoming independent in 1960. Southern Cameroons, the British side of Cameroon, would re-unite with the formerly French-owned and now independent side in 1961 after a UN General Assembly vote forming the country as it is today.
The French and English sides have had tensions due to the English-speaking part of the country wanting greater decentralization and even independence which has also led to some conflict in 2017.
Cameroon is a very diverse country with many ethnicities and languages. The official languages are French and English but other recognised languages are Cameroonian Pidgin English, Fula, Ewondo and Camfranglais. The largest ethnic group are the Cameroonian Highlanders followed by Equatorial Bantu, other groups making up 10% or more include Kirdi and Fulani. The largest religion is Christianity but there is also a large number of Muslims. The country’s currency is the Central African CFA franc which it uses alongside the Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Cameroon’s soaring population is estimated to reach 27,744,989 by July 2020 according to the CIA World Factbook
Government Type
Cameroon is a unitary democratic republic with a President who is both Head of State and Head of Government and a bicameral parliament made up of an upper and lower chamber that conducts legislative government. Multiple parties are allowed.
Executive Government
The President as already stated is Head of State meaning he represents the country abroad both diplomatically and through foreign affairs and he is Head of Government meaning he forms and leads the executive government. If the President’s office becomes vacant the order or precedent will have the President of the Senate act as interim President and new elections will be called. If the Senate President cannot then by precedent his Vice will. Interim government has very limited powers.
The President is Head of the Armed Forces, he appoints civil and military posts of the State. He accredits ambassadors and envoys to foreign powers. The President can refer matters to the Constitutional Council if needed. The President can pardon or grant clemency after consultation with the Higher Judicial Council. The President can dissolve the National Assembly for elections after consultation with the Government, National Assembly and Senate, the President can also request for the National Assembly to extend its term of office beyond 5-years due to serious crisis after consultation with the President of the Constitutional Council, bureau of the National Assembly and Senate. The President if needed can declare a state of emergency or siege giving him extraordinary emergency powers.
Although there is a Prime Minister who is stated as Head of Government, the position has basically no power against the President and anyone who is Prime Minister can be removed by the President at-will, the Prime Minister can be delegated chosen powers to run executive government by the President. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President normally from the largest party in the lower chamber (National Assembly) of parliament after parliamentary elections.
The President appoints members of Government and of the Council of Ministers as suggested by the Prime Minister. The President defines the duties of those appointed and can terminate them from their position, the President presides over the Council of Ministers. He can delegate some powers to ministers/government members and if temporarily unavailable to do his job the President can delegate some of his powers to the Prime Minister.
The Council of Ministers controls governing policy as determined by the President and are responsible to the National Assembly (lower chamber of parliament). The Prime Minister is tasked to direct its action and responsible for the enforcement of laws and can appoint to civil posts subject to the prerogatives of the President. The Prime Minister can also delegate some of his powers to members of Government and senior State officials.
The President can change the names of and modify the geographical boundaries of Regions and can also create other Regions.
The President assisted by the Higher Judicial Council will appoint members of the bench and legal department for national courts such as the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Councils 11 members are appointed/confirmed by the President, three including the President of the Council are specifically appointed by the President of Cameroon, three are chosen by the President of the Assembly after consultation with the chamber’s Bureau, three by the President of the Senate after consultation with the chamber’s Bureau and the final two by the Higher Judicial Council. These members serve for 6-year terms and are eventually eligible to be re-appointed. Former Presidents of Cameroon will also be made ex-officio members of the Constitutional Council for life.
The Higher Judicial Council is chaired by the President and includes the Minister of Justice, selected magistrates as well as representatives from the National Assembly, according to the CIA World Factbook.
The President can be impeached for high treason such as breaking the constitution etc. First the President must be indicted by the National Assembly and Senate deciding through an identical vote by open ballot and requiring a four-fifth majority to indict. The President’s impeachment is decided by the Court of Impeachment.
Legislative Government
The legislative government is made up of two chambers of parliament. The lower chamber which is the National Assembly and the upper chamber which is the Senate. The parliament introduces law bills, debates on them, amends them and rejects or passes them. Law bills can be introduced by the President and by members of the legislature. Bills passed by parliament will go to the President to be enacted into law, but he can choose to send it back to ask for a second reading if he disagrees with the bill or certain parts, in this case the bill will require an absolute majority instead of a simple majority to pass again if unchanged, if passed again unchanged the President must enact it, if the President still refuses to or leaves it tabled for a set-time then the President of the Assembly can enact it instead.
An extraordinary session can be called in either house by the President or by a request of one-third of members of the respective chamber.
The National Assembly is the lower chamber of parliament and has a set 180 elected members but of which can be modified by law. After parliamentary elections the members elect the President of the Assembly and the bureau of the National Assembly, the President of the Assembly moderates debate and makes sure house rules are followed. The National Assembly adopts the state budget, if problems arise in adoption the President can extend the last budget by one-twelth until a new one is passed.
A Chairman’s conference made up of Presidents of Parliamentary Groups, Chairmen of Committees and members of the bureau of the National Assembly will draw up the agenda of the National Assembly, a member of Government shall participate in this.
The government can put forth a motion of confidence on itself through a general policy statement for example or the National Assembly can bring forth a vote of censure against the government, requiring one-third of the members to bring forth this motion. If an absolute majority of members vote against the governments confidence such as a general policy statement then it is no-confidence in the government, censure being passed requires a two-third vote in favour, either being passed requires the Prime Minister and Government to resign. The President can reappoint the Prime Minister and ask them to form a new government.
The Senate, the upper chamber of parliament which was only created in 2013 after the 2008 constitutional amendment changing the legislative system from unicameral to bicameral, has a set 100 members which is 10 members from each region. After parliamentary elections the President of the Senate is elected from among themselves and has the same powers as the President of the Assembly in their respective chamber but the position does rank above the President of the Assembly by order of precedence. A Chairman’s conference also decides the Senates agenda in the same way as it does in the National Assembly.
As well as introduce its own law bills the Senate also scrutinizes bills passed by the National Assembly. They can amend and reject bills passed by the National Assembly. A rejection of a bill from the National Assembly requires an absolute majority vote in the Senate, an absolute majority vote to pass an unchanged bill again requires an absolute majority in the National Assembly, ping-pong can result over amendments placed on National Assembly bills by the Senate. If the National Assembly passes a bill rejected by the Senate it goes straight to the President to be enacted. If the National Assembly is unable to get an absolute majority to pass a bill rejected by the Senate then the President can create a joint-commission.
The joint-commission will represent both houses equally and attempt to come to a common formulation on the passages or texts of the bill that were rejected by the Senate. If the joint-commission is unsuccessful then the President can either request the National Assembly to make a final decision or he can declare the bill null and void.
The President can call a National Referendum on certain things such as constitutional changes, bills to organize public authorities, bills to ratify international agreements or treaties if they have particularly important consequences and certain reform bills relating to laws on persons and property. The referendum is passed by simple majority.
Electoral System
Presidential elections happen every 7-years to elect Cameroon’s president to a 7-year term. A 2008 constitutional amendment seen as authoritarian allows a single person to be elected president an unlimited number of times. The President is elected using a first-past-the-post popular vote system with no required absolute majority.
Candidates for President must be Cameroonian from birth, enjoy civic and political rights and must be at least 35-years or older.
Parliamentary elections for the National Assembly and Senate are held every 5-years. The 180 members of the National Assembly are directly elected from multi-seat constituencies using a first-past-the-post system.
There appears to be no stated age or other requirements to be a member of the National Assembly so it is assumed this is decided by legislation and so easily changed.
The 100 members of the Senate are elected from the country’s 10 regions, 10 from each, 7 of whom are elected by regional councils and 3 of whom are appointed by the President.
Candidates for the Senate must be at least 40-years-old. No further requirements are stated but citizenship is assumed.
To vote a person must be a citizen of Cameroon and be at least 20-years-old. Voting is not mandatory. This appears to not be stated in the country’s constitution and so it is assumed decided by legislation and easily changed, this information is from the CIA World Factbook.
Sources
Most of my information is from Cameroon’s 1972 constitution with amendments through to 2008 and so it should be as accurate as possible but cross-checking is important for serious usage as the possibility remains that I may have misinterpreted some parts and as well as that the constitution can change and so eventually this may become outdated.
Some information is got from the CIA World Factbook such as for cross-checking and population.
The constitution can be changed at the request of the President or by at least one-third of members of the National Assembly, passage requires an absolute majority and if the President requests a 2nd reading then a two-third majority is needed. The President can also put it up for National Referendum requiring a simple majority.
Next up will be the government system of Canada!
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler on Twitter and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at the bottom of this website. You can also use the social media buttons under each blogpost to share with your family, friends and associates. You can also subscribe to Email notifications at the right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes up (you can easily unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email notification), or alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader. Please also join my FB Group The Weekly Ramblers Readers Group where readers can more easily talk with each other and also with me whenever I am on, you can also find it in Community.