Inoni : The Task Ahead

By Pegue Manga

When the euphoria of appointment must have died
down, Cameroon’s new Prime Minister, Chief
Ephraim Inoni, will, maybe, begin to understand the litany of hurdles he would have to grapple with in the business of government.

This 57-year-old ENAM-trained administrator has inherited a government that seems doomed to stagnate in mediocrity, with a giddy economy and a mercurial President, whose new mantra of grandes ambitions can be interpreted to mean inflation of ministerial portfolios.

The very broad nature of the new government is a problem in itself. 65 people might mean increase in government expenditure, with an attendant increase in corruption.

Inoni, a holder of a Msc. Business and Finance from a US university, should rhetorically ask himself why President Paul Biya appointed him. Was it because of his long experience in government? – he has been there since 1994 -

Is the appointment a compensation for the “victory” the CPDM scored in Inoni’s Fako constituency? Was the appointment an indication of role change? Or was it political expediency?

Economic Snag

The new Prime Minister and his team will have to work tirelessly to shore up Cameroon’s putrefying economy. His predecessor, Peter Mafany Musonge, had focussed his efforts towards achieving economic growth.

The upshot was a much touted five percent growth whose feel good effects did not trickle down to the man in the street. Despite his efforts, Cameroon remains astonishingly corrupt and the country’s infrastructure is crumbling.

Unemployment has remained intractable and Cameroon’s squiffy police have been squirming with embarrassment in the face of crime upsurge. Even the punctilious Musonge could not cure this malady.
The country also failed to reach the Completion Point of the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative, HIPC.

This would have resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of billions of Cameroon’s external debts. The debts are still there.
From the face of it, the tasks ahead of Inoni are tremendous.

The size of his cabinet is outlandish and the presence of some stroppy old guards might be a formidable bulwark to bold action. For one thing, though the Prime Minister is head of government he commands little influence.

Real power lies with the President who appoints people that he has never met to head ministerial posts. This makes it difficult to ensure governmental control.

Inoni will, once in a while, use chutzpah to make things work, even if it means stepping on the toes of some old guards to get things done. He must work hard to curb graft and stem business shenanigans that have stalled economic progress in the country.

Complexities

Emphasis should be on small and medium size enterprises; luckily there is a separate Ministry in charge of that. But the new Prime Minister will face serious problems with the cornucopia of ministries.

There are five different ministries, which normally should have been merged into one – the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training, created less than two years ago, has been scrapped.

So what happens to its structures dotted around the country?
The Ministry of Forestry and the Environment has also been split into the Ministry of Forest and Fauna, and Ministry of Environment and Protection of Nature.

There is also a Ministry of Youth and a Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Elementary Education and Ministry of Secondary Education. These duplications might put the various ministries on a collision course, resulting in anarchy and mediocre output and angst.

The Tribal Jinx

Ephraim Inoni was born in Bakingili in the West Coast of Limbe. Just like his predecessor, Inoni is a Bakweri man. Bakweri revivalism is more of a trend than an accident. They have become alert and will second-guess anyone who places an obstacle to their legitimate aspirations.

Does the appointment of Inoni to replace Musonge bode well for the Bakweris? Charles Mbella Moki, Mayor of Buea Council, sees him as a likeable person, very humane, articulate and courageous.

He comes in at a time the nation is looking up to Fako for leadership; leadership that should meet the need and urgency of the moment.
Inoni, Mbella says, has contributed enormously to fashion the modern picture of the socio-economic situation of the Southwest Province and Cameroon as a whole.

“He regularly reminded us of the strategic and significant location of the Southwest Province in the politics of Cameroon,” Mbella, who has worked closely with Inoni for over ten years, said.

Some, like Monono Nammeh, Buea YCPDM Treasurer, thinks he would do better. To Monono, Inoni is chummy, modest and very hospitable.  He is described as a jovial man with a penchant for grandiose gestures. He believes that Bakweris of all walks of life will easily gain access to Inoni.

But the Prime Minister will be confronted with the Bakweri claim over their ancestral land, championed by the Bakweri Land Claims Committee, BLCC. 

The matter is now before the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights in Banjul, The Gambia.
Musonge had tried to solve this problem mainly through outsourcing. It was thanks to this approach that the Fako High Court recently handed down a judgement banning the BLCC.

This, however, did not forestall the African Commission’s decision to entertain the BLCC.
Also, the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, is before the same African Commission with the government of Cameroon, too. Should the SCNC obtain a ruling in her favour, Inoni will be put on the defensive.

The Post has also gathered that the Bakossis, natives of Kupe Muanenguba Division, where Inoni’s wife hails from, have started lobbying for the post of Director of Civil Cabinet, hitherto occupied by Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, now Minister of Communication.

A delegation of Bakossi elite left for Yaounde on Saturday, December 11, to canvass for the job.

But The Post gathered that Churchill Ewunbue Monono, a Bakweri elite, is likely to get the job. The Bakweris point out that though they maintain the post of  Prime Minister, there is only one Bakweri member of government.

Inoni heads a government dominated by northerners and Southerners, this makes his tasks much more difficult. Only boldness and undermining of angst can ensure success in the new dispensation. The grumpy clutch of old guards must be tamed.

Comments

[Mbako Aloysius]

This is a prety well written analysis of the task the PM will face in the future. I know him as a likeable, hardworking man who has never lost the common touch. His open-door policy may help him get first-hand impressions of the running of affairs in many Departments of his Government, as well as in public. His predecessor might have been competent but not as acquainted to the problems of the common man. Particularly, there seemed a deliberate intention to overlook corruption which in his time alone saw Cameroon topping the league twice. Chief Inoni must know that noises alone of stopping corruption, are not enough. There must be a considerable and sustained effort invested in curbing corruption especially among the members of the law-enforcing sector and the Judiciary. This is, in many people's opinion, is where the emphasis has to be placed. Economic activities would never thrive in this present atmosphere.