If men be good, government cannot be bad.
-WILLIAM PENN (1644-1718) Fruits of Solitude
The marvel of history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their government. The commonwealth’s goal of promoting Good Governance, have been a major challenge especially in Africa.(dictatorship and megalomania)
Good Governance is the exercise of political power to manage a nation’s affairs. Good governance guides the country along a course leading to the desired goal, which is development. In this case, equity, social justice and the effective execution of basic human right come into play. The World Bank defines good governance in technical terms i.e. ‘a public service that is efficient, a judicial system that is reliable and an administration that is accountable to the public’; western donors have increasingly given the term political dimension or conditionality.
The French President Francois Mitterand was the first western leader to enunciate the political conditionality of aid to democracy at La Baule on 21 June 1990 when he told his mainly African audience that ‘…. traditional aid will be more lukewarm towards regimes which behave in an authoritarian manner without accepting the evolution towards democracy.’
British foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd intimated that his country’s assistance would favour countries ‘tending towards pluralism, public accountability, respect for the rule of law, human rights and market principles’. For the Canadian Prime Minister, ‘Canada will not subsidize repression and shifting of democracy’. Madam Lynda Chalker – British Minister for overseas Development, quoted in the Sunday Times of September 18, 1991 defined Good Governance as;
- A public service that is efficient and neutral of party politics
- A judicial system that is manifestly independent and reliable.
- A political administration that is accountable to its public
- A concerted effort to rent corruption, nepotism and discrimination based on sex, ethnic origin, religion affiliation, and social or economic status.
- A vibrant press
- Free political participation, empowering of women and the poor, and a guarantee of peaceful change of personnel in ruling position.
Cameroon’s situation on good governance can be trace back 1998 where the government set up national committee on good governance. It has sectoral committees on public administration, decentralization, economic and social management, justice, and civil society in he management of public affairs. Their report was submitted to the Prime Minister on May 25 1999. Their report had far reaching consequences, which were unpalatable to government. The commission was asked to water down its report, which was finally submitted. The final report said that, there would be an end to government delegates; there would be an independent judiciary and the granting of regional autonomy…
SIGNIFICANCE
The significances in the promotion of a good governance program in Cameroon will give a visible result of development in the following ways;
- Sets up an efficient, citizen-friendly public administration at the service of development
- Enhance growth and sustainable development
- Alleviates poverty
- Capacity-building of development actors (state, private sector, civil society, NGOs, media, local authorities)
- Promotes public sector/private sector/civil society partnership
- Reinforces the state of law and reforms the justice system
- Promotes a genuine culture of accountability in the management of public affairs
- Reinforces the transparency of the state machinery and strongly fighting against corruption.
- Improvement of resource allocation to social sector
- Helps in the consolidating of participatory economic and social management through a better structuring and capacity-building of the civil society
- The development of basic infrastructure; its strengthen the role of the private sector in the creation of wealth and jobs
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