In Cameroon, the accountability of public funds consistently encounters a persistent lack of transparency. For the 2024 fiscal year, the Supreme Court’s Chamber of Accounts could only trace a mere 3% of all state subsidies allocated to public enterprises. This alarming figure, highlighted in its report on the execution of the finance law, underscores the significant information deficit faced by Cameroonian financial auditors in their certification duties.
Public transfers: traceability issues highlighted in report
The financial jurisdiction, tasked with judicial oversight of state accounts and public institutions, relies on supporting documents provided by authorizing officers and beneficiary entities. However, out of the total financial contributions granted to Cameroon’s public portfolio in 2024, only a small fraction could be linked to a clearly identified beneficiary and documented execution. The remaining 97% effectively fall outside the scope of verification for financial magistrates.
This statistic is far from trivial. It strikes at the heart of a fundamental governance challenge: the state’s capacity to monitor the utilization of resources transferred to its various branches. State-owned companies, administrative public establishments, and entities with majority or strategic state participation receive substantial annual allocations, presented variously as balancing subsidies, investment grants, or tariff compensations.
Cameroon’s public portfolio faces budgetary strain
Cameroon’s parastatal sector encompasses dozens of enterprises operating in crucial strategic areas, including energy, hydrocarbons, transport, telecommunications, agro-industry, and water. Many are structurally dependent on state financial support to maintain their operations or meet their obligations. Notable examples include the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH), Camair-Co, and Sonara, whose financial challenges frequently necessitate high-level government intervention.
Amidst tight public finances, compounded by the need to keep the budget deficit below thresholds agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (FMI) as part of the ongoing program, effective management of subsidy channels becomes a critical public policy imperative. The economic and financial program backed by Washington specifically emphasizes transparency in financial flows between the Treasury and public entities, a prerequisite for credible fiscal consolidation.
The findings by the Chamber of Accounts emerge even as Yaoundé has committed to public finance management reforms, including strengthening the flow of accounting information from public enterprises. The establishment in 2017 of a dedicated directorate within the Ministry of Finance to monitor the state’s portfolio was intended precisely to bolster this oversight. Yet, tangible results have been slow to materialize.
Budgetary sovereignty at stake
Beyond mere accounting practices, the inability to document the destination and actual use of nearly all public subsidies undermines several strategic initiatives. It limits the scope of parliamentary debate on budget settlement laws, curtails the Supreme Court’s vital role as an early warning system, and deprives multilateral funders, notably the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), of a reliable basis for structuring their budgetary support.
For private investors, particularly those involved in public-private partnerships or concession contracts with Cameroonian public entities, this opacity introduces an additional risk factor. The quality of a sovereign signature is also measured by the robustness of its internal control mechanisms for budgetary transfers. Nevertheless, by publishing these observations, the Chamber of Accounts fulfills its function as a financial watchdog, publicly demanding compliance and accountability.
The message conveyed to the executive branch is unequivocal: without substantial improvements in information reporting, the certification of state accounts will remain incomplete. Practically, this necessitates the widespread adoption of a standardized accounting framework for public enterprises, the enhancement of budgetary information systems, and the effective application of sanctions against non-compliant executives.