Official Languages : Promotion Bill In National Assembly

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The Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril presided at the plenary sitting for the tabling of the bill in which two other bills were also adopted.

The bill on the promotion of official languages in Cameroon was tabled during a plenary sitting of the National Assembly on November 25, 2019. It is in accordance with the provisions of Article 1 (3) of the Constitution which provides that, “The official languages of the Republic of Cameroon shall be English and French, both languages having the same status. The State shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country.”

Government in the explanatory statement indicates that “it gives effect to the instructions of the President of the Republic to reinforce the bilingual nature of our country, its multiculturalism and living together.”

It applies to all public institutions in which English and French shall be the working languages without distinction, ensure the equal use of the two languages in public institutions. The bill provides for the institution of National Bilingualism Day. When adopted, it will help to bridge an existing legal gap, in order to ensure greater representation of the two linguistic communities in public institutions.

Settlement, Tourism Bills Adopted After tabling the bill, two bills earlier examined in Committees were adopted. This phase was somehow extraordinary. Extraordinary because after the reading of the general reports of the two bills, the House Speaker opened the floor for general debates but curiously no Member of the National Assembly raised his or her hand to ask questions.

Consequently the bills were adopted in their initial stage and the plenary sitting took close an hour. The first bill adopted was that to authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the amendments to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), adopted since its establishment in Mexico on 27 September 1970. The Minister of State, Minister of Tourism and Leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari was there in the presence of the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Wakata Bolvine to defend the bill.

The amendments govern the World Tourism Organization membership, composition of the General Assembly and the Executive Council, as well as the terms of the office of members of the said Council. Other amendments concern the appointment of the Secretary- General, the designation of and mechanism for information of the depositary which is in Spanish.

The Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze was also present to defend the Settlement bill of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2018 financial year though he never stood up as MPs did not ask questions. The bill showed the State budget for the 2018 financial year. It indicated that government collected the revenue amounting to FCFA 4 909 518 700 140 and expenditure that stood at FCFA 4 809 688 885 393 with the budgetary balance that stood at FCFA 99 829 814 747 representing a surplus.