Teams from the Office of the Public Independent Conciliator begin Bench Marking Visit On the organization and Functioning of Councils

The Public Independent Conciliator of the North West Region in law No.2019/024 of 24 December 2019 instituting the General Code of regional and local authorities and the presidential Decree No.2020/773 of December 2020 laying down the conditions for the discharge of the duties of the Public Independent Conciliator of the North West and South West Regions, has among others the following missions;

• Examining and amicably settling disputes between users and regional and council administrations;
• Defending and protecting rights and freedoms in the relationship between citizens and the region or the councils in the Region;
• Designing and implementing measures to prevent and combat any direct or indirect discrimination against users of regional or council services;
• Ensuring that persons serving in the regional and council administration fulfill their ethical obligations;
• Conducting any investigation on the functioning of regional and council services at the request of 05 (Five) regional councilors or 05 (Five) parliamentarians;
• Preparing an annual report on the state of relations between citizens and regional and council services;
• Improving the quality of regional and Council services by proposing statutory and regulatory amendments to the President of the Republic.

With the aim of complying to these obligations the Public Independent Conciliator continued with its policy of capacity building of staff for the better understanding of Council organization and functioning so as to increase staff performance had as principal objective to strengthen the capacity of the staff of the Office of the Public Independent Conciliator to understand how council services practically operate on the ground.

The first team went on mission from the 14^th to the 20^th of April 2024 in the Sub-Divisional Council of Yaoundé VI.  The Team comprised of Research Officer n0. 2 – Barrister Yang Francis, Research Officer n0. 3 – Dr. Atia Tilarious, Executive Officer n0. 1 – Mr. Ngodji Rais and Executive Officer n0. 2 – Waidim Mbu Claudia, guided by specific objectives to;

• Enable staff to know how council services are organized and their practical field operations or functioning;
• Understand the relevant procedures and practical modalities regulating service delivery in councils so as to prevent direct and indirect discrimination;
• Equip staff to enforce ethical standards and compliance in councils by knowing exactly what happens at the operational level of council services and
• Empower the staff to better report on the functioning of council services.

The 6 (six) days mission executed in the Yaoundé VI Council took place at Etougebe in their former building due to the fire disaster that ravaged their newly constructed building at Akasia. The team made an appraisal of their mission to Yaounde. Some of which were;

• The structure of the Council was perceived to be a non-inclusive building;
• The constituted majority of personnel is made up of youths;
• Almost all the services of the council were receptive and kind;
• The good organization and functioning of services with well spelt out job descriptions;
• Fluent collaboration among services and workers and
• Good rapport between the Mayor and his collaborators.

The team from the Office of the Public Independent Conciliator North-West Region also had difficulties and challenges, amongst others like the inability of some service head to properly communicate in English, diluted the conversation. Besides these challenges, the team also believed in some lessons learnt in the process;

• The Yaoundé VI Council has a well constituted cop of municipal police agents working within the municipality.
• Councils cannot collect all the taxes stated in the 2009 law governing local taxation in Cameroon since the recovery of every tax depends on its social realities.

Some recommendations from the mission earmarked that;

• Councils should be included in the protection and management of state land;
• The City Council should be dissolved since it prevents sub-divisional councils to effectively carry out their duties.

The Yaoundé VI council is a typical reflection of sub-divisional councils and like any other sub-divisional council in Cameroon, the Council is guided by the 2019 law governing regional and local authorities. The Council shares common attributes with others and may differ from others because of the creation of some services that are not found in other councils and also because of the specific methods used in addressing its challenges.