ABSTRACT

The existence of the State is greatly owed to necessary means of attaining missions which it puts in place in view of satisfying needs of general interest. Public finances, guaranteed by the Finance law are principal among these different means since the existence of the State cannot be envisaged without financial resources aimed at the activities of public service. The Constitution gives the Parliament the prerogative to control government actions including public finances in order to ensure transparency and accountability. Despite this constitutional development, the legislative function of ensuring effective accountability and transparency in public finances in Cameroon has generally been less significant. This is as a result of the predominance of the executive within the electoral system and parliament itself. The study thus seeks to examine the effectiveness of the parliament in ensuring accountability and transparency in public finances. In order to attain this objective, the study adopts the doctrinal research method wherein both primary and secondary sources of material will be employed to realize the study. In the course of the study, we discovered that the parliament is not an effective tool in controlling public finances in Cameroon due to the political nature of the state. It is for this reason that we recommend that, other state organs like the courts should be given more powers to ensure accountability and transparency in public finances.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

0.1 Background to the study

To begin, the existence of the State (territory, population and government) is greatly owed to necessary means of attaining missions which it puts in place in view of satisfying needs of general interest. Public finances are principal among these different means since the existence of the State cannot be envisaged without financial resources aimed at the activities of public service. It is from this perspective that the birth of public finances is considered the starting point of a modern State.

Furthermore, after World War I in 1916[1], the State had to intervene more and more in the economic and industrial sectors to support production and to reorganize the country[2]. It subsequently conserved such interventionist attitude extending the latter from the economic to the social domain. A new approach of public finances was therefore necessary[3]. Henceforth, incomes and expenditures were used to orient the activities of the country like fighting against inflation, fight against unemployment through great works. Before every financial decision was taken, its economic and social impact was assessed. Tax was not therefore the only financial resource of the State as the latter made recourse to non-tax revenue notably operating incomes of its public establishments, estate income, loaning and many others. However, this conception appeared to be inefficient after sometime for the economy, thus giving rise to the actual approach.

Again, after having pruned policies of structural adjustment (State withdrawal from the economy, privatization and regulation) for a long time, today, public finances respond to a conciliating logic with the slogan “good governance”[4], which commands a necessary partnership between the public and private, State de-monopolization of the economic sector in order to permit effective growth and regulation from the background[5].

Therefore, one of the main tenets of public finances lies in the frame over the time of the State’s financial operations. This requirement is rooted in the principle of legality which authorizes the parliament to legislate in financial matters according to the Article 26 (2d) of the Constitution of Cameroon[6]; and accordingly to authorize all operations related to. This is the explanation for the rationale behind the budgetary authorization of the parliament. The requirement of the frame over the time of financial operations is echoed in the principle of budgetary annuality, which rely itself on the principle of the free consent to taxation provided by the Article 14 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens of 26^th August 1789[7]. This latter fixed for a year the duration of a budgetary period. It means the budgetary authorization given by the finance law shall be valid only for one year. In other words, authorization of expenditures granted by the finance law to the government covers only a year[8]. 

In addition, the principle of budgetary annuality which is the rule governing every Finance law has been enshrined for three main reasons: the anteriority that requires the finance law to be voted before the budgetary year, authorizations granted by the parliament are only valid for a year and provisions of the finance law shall be enforced between January 1^st and December 31^st of the budgetary year. The Public Finance law of Cameroon rules the principle of budgetary annuality within Article 4 Paragraph 2 of the Law n° 2018/012 of the 11^th July 2018 relating to Fiscal Regime of the State and other Public Entities[9]. According to this provision: “The finance law shall, each year, provide for and authorize all State revenue and expenditure,”. The Article 4 Paragraph 1 indicates that: “The budget shall outline State revenue and expenditure authorized under the finance law within the context of a financial year”[10]. Paragraph 2 of the same Article[11] adds that: “The financial year shall cover calendar year”. This rule means that the budgetary authorization provided in the Finance law is given for a year and its execution covers duration of twelve (12) months from January 1^st to the 31^st of December.

0.2 Definition of terms

POLITICAL CONTROL

The political control of public finance is mainly exercised by parliament. Parliamentary control intervenes during or after the execution of the budget.

Public Finance

To define the expression “public finances”, it is important to prior understand constitutive terms. From its etymological origin, the term “finances” comes from the old French word “finer” which signifies the end of a contractual transaction generally concretized through the payment of a price. Finances are therefore assimilated to the assembly of activities realized thanks to the movement of pecuniary resources. Resources are as such the means of an activity called “finances”.

Public finance rules have been announced in internal, international and community norms.  Internally, public finances find their source within the constitution, laws and regulations. Illustratively speaking, the constitution inscribes in its article 26, patrimonial and financial questions in the domain of the law; article 16(2-b) precise that the parliament votes the budget before the end of the budgetary exercise and sets the conditions of admissibility of bills from a financial perspective; article 36 creates an audit bench etc. The main law regulating public finances in Cameroon is law no 2018/012 of 11^th July 2018 laying down the financial regime of the State and other public entities with the said law abrogating law no 2007/006 of 26^th December 2007 laying down the financial regime of the State. Like its predecessors, this law retrieves the program-budget and asset accounting in the management of public administrations. It is usefully completed by other laws such as law no 2003/005 of 21^st April 2003 laying down the attributions, the organization and functioning of the audit bench of the Supreme Court, law no 2003/011 of 10^th July 2009 laying down the financial regime of regional and local authorities

0.3 Statement of the problem

The legislative function of ensuring effective accountability and transparency in public finances in Cameroon has generally been less significant. This is as a result of the predominance of the executive within the electoral system and parliament itself. With this entrenched structural inhibits, legislative power cannot be meaningfully exercised. To compound the structural problems, there are social issues such as the political culture which is suffused with clientelism. The combined effect is a parliament which finds itself incapable of influencing executive policy, performing oversight of the executive or representing the popular will despite its apparently wide ranging constitutional powers.

0.4 Research Questions

The study is made up of the main research question and specific research questions

Main research question

How effective is the Cameroonian parliament ensuring accountability and transparency of public finances in Cameroon?

Specific Research questions

What are the means at the disposer of parliament to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of public finances in Cameroon?

How is the parliament structured to engage the responsibility of public authorities?

What are the limits to the powers of the parliament to ensure accountability and transparency in public finances in Cameroon?

0.5 Objectives of the study

It is made up of the main objective and specific objectives

Main objective

The main objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the parliament in controlling public finances in Cameroon

Specific Objectives

As specific objective, the research sets out to;

Examine the measures at the disposer of the parliament to control the management of public finances in Cameroon

Identify the challenges and limits to the powers of the parliament in controlling public finances in Cameroon

[1] Brittain, H. ‘The British Budgetary System, London,  George Allen & Unwin, 1959, 320 p. ; CHUBB (B.), The control of public expenditure, Oxford, Clarendon Press,  (1952), P,3

[2] Ibid,

[3] Ibid,

[4] Guery, A. « Les finances de la monarchie française sous l’Ancien Régime », Annales. Histoires, Sciences Sociales, n°2, 33e année, mars-avril, (1978), Pp,216-217

[5] De Lichtervelde L.  Les méthodes budgétaires d’une démocratie, Étude sur le budget suisse, Bruxelles, Vve Ferdinand Larcier, (1912), P, 177

[6] Article 26(d) of law No 96/06 of 18^th January 1996 relating to the Cameroon constitution as amended by Law N0 2008/01 of 14^th April 2008

[7] The French Declaration on the rights of man and citizens of 1789

[8] The Principle of Budgetary annuality

[9] See Article 4(2) of the Law n° 2018/012 of the 11^th July 2018 relating to Fiscal Regime of the State and other Public Entities

[10] Ibid, Article 4(1)

[11] Ibid, Article 4(2)