Members of the National Assembly during general discussions on April 7, 2020 adopted the bill governing Postal Activity in Cameroon that will make the sector a veritable pillar of economic growth and sustainable development when it shall be enacted into law and implemented. The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril chaired the plenary sitting that took place in the presence of the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Bolvine Wakata.

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng   defended the bill. It emerged that the postal sector  is a cross-cutting domain covering all activities regarding production, distribution and consumption of goods and services related to postal activities and their modern meaning, in relation to information and communication technologies (ICTs)  and their use. The sector is a pillar of economic growth and sustainable development     and the reform  as envisaged in the bill is expected to contribute significantly towards achieving Cameroon’s objective of attaining emergence within the framework of the Vision 2035 Plan. 

Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng  assured the MPs that the government was ready to implement the provisions of the bill through putting in place of a regulatory institution. She also said that postal services will be upgraded as well as  the capacities of staff in conformity with international norms and  following the prescriptions of the Contract Plan  between CAMPOST, Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development and the Ministry of Finance.

The postal sector had hitherto been hit by major difficulties such the loopholes in   Law No. 2006/19 of 29  December 2006 governing the postal activity in Cameroon. Other difficulties diagnosed include : the non-definition of a universal postal service pricing criterion  and non-observance by private operators of the reserved monopoly ; inadequate ownership  and maintenance of ICTs ; absence of the provisions relating to conditions for access to and exercise of a postal activity and to postal addressing in the codification process ; a public postal operator that remains marked by great inefficiency and poor service quality. There are also difficulties such as the proliferation of operators carrying out postal value-added activities that are not governed by the regulations in force, such as courier, e-mail and  parcel services ; public postal operator’s low level of penetration of Key Client accounts which tend to use their own distribution networks and /or those of other operators ; and finally extreme disorganisation, with numerous informal private operators.  The postal sector is non-regulated , hence, the universal postal service costs are structurally in deficit as the State has not been able to capture the share of the related finances, arising from the changes to be levied on private operators.