CAMEROON: SEPARATION OF POWERS
King Akwa of the Duala of Cameroon: many Cameroonians do not understand the concept of the separation of powers, given their firm belief in their traditional Kings, Fons, Emirs, Ardos, Ukpams, Nfors, and Ntunfam.
constitutions, as in the day-to-day life of these states, the political power is centralized in the hands of the Executive regardless of how the constitution has allocated it in order to check governmental authority. In such cases, the Executive is
not only very powerful, but it also carries out little checks, thus in the absence of legislative or judicial checks, the only organized group capable of exercising any real checks on Chief Executives tends to be the military, that is, if it’s itself not in power given the high tendency by the military to stage coups d’états in third world countries. Being a third- world country that has experienced the same crisis of governance like most other developing states,
Cameroon presents a good example for any discussion on the challenges and prospects of the concept of separation of powers.
The Cameroon experience The development of the doctrine of the separation of powers is alien to the original Cameroonian understanding of how political power was to be managed in order to have effective governance. Cameroon subscribed to the traditional methods of governance by which political power in communities was centered on an all-powerful personality who was also the chief priest of the people. They served as a link between God and man. With colonialism, Cameroon was exposed to the policies of indirect
18 | The Parliamentarian | 2014: Issue Three - Cameroon
rule by which the local chiefs wielded political power but by the end of colonialism, Cameroon was left to figure out what best way to govern itself. Cameroon adopted its earliest constitution upon independence from France in 1960. It was a hurried draft based closely on French precedents. In 1961, British Southern Cameroon gained its independence and voted to join its French counterpart. Delegates framed a new constitution, making Cameroon a federation of two states under a single powerful president. In 1972, President Ahmadou
Ahidjo pushed through a new document that abolished the federal system, renamed the country the United Republic of Cameroon, and granted the president greater powers.
After assuming the presidency, H.E Paul Biya pushed through a revised constitution in 1984. The document changed the country’s name to the Republic of Cameroon, redrew the lines of the provinces, and redefined the line of succession to the presidency. The current constitution was adopted in 1996 with emphasis on the three arms of government being separate and independent of one another. This constitution also established a Senate as the upper house to the National Assembly. Although the constitution of
Cameroon adheres to the doctrine of the separation of powers, it should be recalled that a strict separation of powers does not operate anywhere in the world not even in advanced
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