The June session which opens on June 8th 2023, is devoted to the budget debate and comes at a time of spiralling prices for basic necessities, a strike by healthcare workers, the rise of hate speech on social networks and the poor quality of telecommunications services.
The March 2023 session did not allow MPs to exercise their role of overseeing government action. The senatorial election took precedence over the work. The Jiune session opening on this day will then be a continuation of what was supposed to be handled before elections.
At the hemicycle, everything is ready to welcome the nation’s elected representatives. The deputy secretary general no. 1 of the lower house of parliament went to finalise the last details last night. For the next 30 days, the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé will be the setting for intense work, in the words of one MP. On everyone’s lips, the ordinance signed by the President of the Republic on 2 June 2023, amending and supplementing the 2022 Finance Act, will be the focus of much attention. At the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (Pcrn), we want to see this clearly.
“The session that is about to open is one of many expectations for us parliamentarians. In reality, we are going to have a better understanding of the government’s approach to the ordinance signed by the Head of State. We want to understand the government’s priorities, because we can see that almost all the projects that have been started are at a standstill, and those scheduled to start this year have not yet been launched“, emphasises Rolande Ngo Issi.
The June session will be marked by an assessment of “the millions of government promises that have been fulfilled, particularly with regard to the implementation of the NDS30, as the first phase -2020 to 2050- is drawing to a close“, adds the MP. At the Union Démocratique du Cameroun (UDC), the reasons for the order issued by the President of the Republic are eagerly awaited. The government should submit the budget guidance document to MPs on time. The ordinance of 2 June makes increasing changes to the finance law.
Meanwhile , the household food basket is becoming increasingly strained. “The situation in our markets worries Cameroonians like us. Every day, the price of a product changes. I was sold a Kleenex that cost 100 CFA francs for 125 CFA francs in the Messassi district. I don’t expect anything from MPs“, says Margueritte Eloundou, a trader at the Mfoundi market in Yaoundé. Armel Nana, a teacher at a local secondary school, hopes to see a session in which the concerns of Cameroonians are taken into account, particularly the reduction in the price of oil. It’s no longer easy to get enough to eat. Even hate speech deserves special attention,” says the trainer. A critical situation that parliament needs to make amends for.
