Baromètre

The time-tested saying that “too many cooks spoil the broth” still holds grounds, at least to a certain extent. Literally, this means that when too many actors are involved in trying to do the same thing, the final result will likely not be good. In Cameroon, the outcome of the execution of some projects in the past has proven this saying to hold true, whereas it is strongly believed in Africa that many hands make work easier.

It has been very common with the execution of projects on the public investment budget. Several stakeholders are involved – the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Ministry of Public Contracts, Ministry of Public Works, Divisional Tenders’ Boards, administrative officers, amongst others.

For other State-sponsored projects, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of State Property, Survey and Land Tenure, and the list seems endless, are involved. And without proper coordination and synergy, it makes project execution unnecessarily bogus, time-consuming and inefficient. This is one of the essential factors which have been impeding optimal performance in project execution in the country. 

This is why it is remarkable that the Ministry of State Property, Survey and Land Tenure, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development are holding an inter-ministerial concertation for cross-cutting projects which involved both ministries. Their principal objective is to ameliorate and accelerate the execution of projects that can contribute to sustainable development. Good enough!

In previous cases involving cross-cutting projects where concertations have been absent, resources have been set aside by different structures for the same projects. This can only result to waste of time and conflict of authority, while the project much-need by the population remains in limbo. There is a big need for synergy amongst the different actors to be strengthened. This will save money and time and project execution will be speedy and more efficient.