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I was able to go through the 40-page pdf document in French to bring out this summary for you all. I was not able to do a critical review of it as Tino did for Kamto yesterday. I tried to be brief as much as I could and at the same time highlight the main points of his programme. I'll leave the interpretation to all you PoiseSocial readers. You can read the programme in its entirety by downloading from his campaign website.
*ON THE STATE*
The high point here is perhaps the form of the state. He proposes a system of “regionalism’ as the form of government where more power will be given to regions such as in creating schools and recruiting teachers to teach in said schools. He cites Rwanda as an example.
Cabral proposes to take us out of the “captivity” of the English/French divide by promoting our local languages. He proposes to create 3 language institutes which will be responsible for pedagogic questions relative to the teaching of local language in our schools. He also proposes to end the debate on dual nationality by allowing Cameroonians who so desire to have two nationalities
He also proposes to install a presidential regime with a mono-cameral system of government where the position of prime minister will be scraped and a Vice-president instituted. A mono-cameral system will mean that the Senate will be scrapped as well while in its place a consultative Chamber of patriarchs will be instituted; an act which will help save 12 billion annually.
He also proposes a state where the laws in place will be respected via the revision of the statutes governing magistracy and the ‘humanisation’ of the judiciary and the prison systems. Freedom of press and association (trade-unionism) will be assured.
On the topic of the electoral process, he promises to bring the presidential mandate to 5 years renewable once and elections will be “a deux tours.” i.e the candidates who come in first and second during the first round will go head-to-head in the second round of elections.
*ON PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURAL INVESTMENT.*
Cabral promises to provide 500MW of additional electricity production annually (i.e. the equivalent of 10 Lagdo dams). This will be achieved via the construction of many mini-electric plants such that production and distribution can be achieved faster. This would not cost the state much money as this will be done via Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and Build Owner and Transfer partnerships (BOT) (please Google those to learn more). The government will also subsidise the renewable energy sector such that off-grid areas can have steady electricity.
He promises to leverage the production of 500,000 m3 of water per year. This will be achieved by the construction of a mega water plant per region. The state will provide 100 billion for this while the rest will be don’t via PPP and BOT
He promises to tar 1000Km of roads every year against the current rate of 200Km. of this 1000km, 250 will be allocated for maintenance and rehabilitation works on the current network. The objective is to connect every subdivision to the national road grid in order to give a boost to agriculture and industrial production. Also, every division will have a pavement blocks production plant. In addition 3500Km of railway will be constructed between Kousseri and Kribi.
Agro-industrial buildings such as warehouses, cold storage rooms, and modern-slaughter houses will be built. He promises part of the budget for the ministry of agriculture will go towards these.
*ON HEALTH*
He promises to put into practice the current law instituting health insurance fund for all Cameroonians by creating the equivalent of the CNPS but geared towards health. This will mean every Cameroonian will have a health insurance card. On top of that 400 billion CFA will be invested into the health sector every year, a code of conduct and bioethics for public health will be instituted, 300 nurses and para-medical staff will be recruited over the next 5 years and 200 specialists will be formed (25 for highly specialised medical practices such as neurosurgery, open heart surgery, and plastic surgery.)
A huge chunk of the health budget will go towards health infrastructure (construction, maintenance, purchase of equipment etc. Notably, the building of 1 hospital per region to take care of cardiovascular emergencies. Also he plans to look into the problem of traditional medicine sector by not only incorporating it into our health system but also by regulating the sector and by promoting ethical research in that domain.
*ON THE CIVIL SERVICE.*
The major reform he proposes here would be to digitalise the civil service system via an e-administration which is going to reduce paperwork and bottlenecks considerably. He plans to balance the budget with 5500Billion allocated to the state. 45% for investment, 40% for salaries and administration and 15% towards investment. The investment budget itself will be to the tune of 2400 billion.
He plans to fill the deficit gap in the human resource are of our public health sector by teaching and recruiting 8000 health personnel every year. As far as national security goes, he plans to recruit 5,000 more people into the different security corps (police, gendarme etc). He also plans to recruit 5000 personnel in the justice department in order to ‘bring administration closer to the people.”
Finally, he intends to increase the human resource in education by recruiting 22,000 education personnel every year across the three tiers of our education system. . *ON AGRICULTURE*
He plans to create an agro-industrial system in every subdivision such as SOSUCAM in Mbandjock. He intends to put into use 20,000 hectares of unused land annually. He plans to diversify our present stock of animals and plans via investment in underused sectors like pisciculture and horticulture. Also, he plans to bring initiatives that will boost exports of our products to foreign markets, as well as those that will encourage foreign direct investment into our agriculture.
*ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP*
He plans to bring order to the informal sector by regulating the sector an enacting a number of rules that will benefit the informal sector directly. This starts with injecting 2000 billion CFA into the bank for medium and small enterprises. He says the state is directly going to ‘hold the hands’ of at least 100 business startups every year via the injection of capital, counseling, and expertise. The aim is to make sure after five years, they should all have been able to create 10,000 direct jobs.
*ON SOCIAL INCLUSION*
He promises to build 50,000 social housings every year against 500 currently as well be reducing the burden to have access to such housing via hire purchase agreements that can go up to 9 years for a repayment period. He also promises to renovate a lot of our failing urban social structures like community centers and parks as well as putting measures in place to stamp out dirt, bad architecture, promiscuity, and other societal ills.
He also proposes that retirement age be 62 years and that he is going to introduce measures that favour handicapped persons; such as free professional training and a 2% obligatory quota for handicapped persons in all public exams.
*ON DIPLOMACY.*
His plans are to accelerate the sub-regional integration process, increase military cooperation and create inter-varsity cooperation. He also plans to work towards the creation of a monetary system that involves all African countries. This will help Cameroon, he says, to leave the CFA within 10 years. He also wants to help put in place a common agriculture policy, is interested in Pan-African Research centers, and aims to get us out of the negative spiral of debt owed to the IMF.
*ON CULTURE*
As mentioned earlier, he plans to create 3 language institutes. In addition to this, he plans to build cultural centers in all towns and cities with a dense population. He plans to erect statues of fallen national heroes all over the country and use art as a promotional tool for our country via cultural and literary festivals.
He intends to make the sector undergo a vast reform by first bringing some measure of regulation to the sector as well as erecting music conservatories to help young people learn music; and at the local council levels, have the councils build arenas and halls. He also plans to have the state finance festivals such as the Ngondo and the Nguon.
- Wandji Wilfred