Delegates to a two-day meeting in Yaounde are reviewing documents to this effect.

Experts say the 1983 Treaty establishing the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, is grossly oudated. Documents governning the staff, financial and accounting regulations and other  mechanisms on the functioning of the institution are under examination, with delegates to the Yaounde confab, November 17-18, 2016, stating that the society has evolved, and there was need for the institution to adapt to changing times.

The stakes are high, with David Abouem à Tchoyi of the Agora Consulting firm stressing that evolutions in democracy, good governance, financial and accountable principles ignited the shift of updating ECCAS documents as well as transforming its General Secretariat into a Commission as is the case with the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

The Commission will be able to take initiatives and make proposals to the Conference of Ministers and act according to the principles of subsidiarity. This is to counter a situation whereby all proposals and decissions are handed down from the Conference of Ministers or that of Head of States and Governments slowing down decision-taking. The consulting firm has made proposals though technical, but with focus on gender, regional solidarity as well as technical issues on the recruitment of staff, the designation of representatives into the Community and how to evolve within the ECCAS as a staff.

The Deputy Secretary General in charge of Programmes, Budget, Administration and Human Resources at ECCAS, Tabu Abdallah Manarankiza, on behalf of the Secretary General of ECCAS, said it was time to forward concret proposals to the Conference of Head of States and Governments on the reformation of the Community.