DECENTRALIZATION AND UNION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN CAMEROON: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
DECENTRALIZATION AND UNION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN CAMEROON: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Summary/Abstract: In Cameroon, decentralization has enabled the establishment of local authorities which are administrative structures which, unlike the State, do not act in the name of the general interest, but in the name of the interests of the population of a specific territory. Intercommunality being an emanation of decentralization embraces many issues including local democracy, local development, and good governance at the local level. Thus, the management of public services, spatial planning and economic development are all issues at the center of intermunicipal collaboration, which is based on optimal satisfaction of the vital needs of populations despite the limited resources of a single municipality. The aim of this article is to provide, from a historical perspective, an analytical grid on the contribution of intercommunality, in this case the union of communes, to the development of populations. The central argument developed in this text is that the syndicates of communes which were born in Cameroon following decentralization (law of 2004), participated greatly in the development of the localities covered by the latter, but certain structural brakes, institutional and financial constraints have reduced the development impetus driven by this form of intermunicipal cooperation. Through a descriptive and analytical method, we show that the commitment of municipal unions, although bearing fruit for local populations in terms of water and sanitation, remains insufficient because it is littered with several obstacles.

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