Prompt Budget Launch: Need To Capitalise!

While launching the State budget operations and other public entities, Finance Minister situated the national context underscoring the underlying spirit of the 2025 Finance Law which is to pursue economic, social and cultural development of the country as underpinned in the National Development Strategy 2020-2030. The State budget must therefore produce palpable effects on the lives of citizens in terms of qualitative and quantitative investments made by those called upon to implement the budget. It therefore goes without saying that citizens must feel the impact of the budget through the provision of basic socio-economic amenities like electricity, potable water, schools, healthcare, reduced prices of basic commodities and roads to facilitate mobility, among others.
However, for this to be realistic, actors in the budget execution chain must turn away from their old habits and take prompt actions to immediately set the ball rolling with development projects earmarked in the budget. It requires efficient implementation of the Finance law which presupposes the application of appropriate procedures clearly defined by the budget implementation circular. This time around, Regional and Local Authorities are also guided by a joint circular issued by the Minister of Finance and his counterpart of Decentralisation and Local Development. Therefore, Authorising Officers, Project Owners and Executive Project Owners who are at the starting point of budget implementation have the responsibility for the timely launching of tendering procedures. In fact, Minister Motaze during the Buea event did not mince words when he called on those responsible for the execution of projects to launch the tendering procedure this week. Authorising Officers, Project Owners and Executive Project Owners are expected to prepare consultation documents, launch and award contracts as prompt as possible. This, according to pundits, is to give economic operators ample time and opportunity to submit tenders with respect to their capacity, performance and within the deadline set and in accordance with predefined specifications.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time budgetary operations are launched at the start of the year, but actors in the implementation chain have often and in a flagrant manner disregarded the time factor. As old habits die hard, they have often pegged their inability to deliver on numerous excuses while under-development realities continue to stir us on our faces. Red tape procedures, corruption, favoritism and other vices are stacked realities that continue to mar the public procurement system especially at the level of contracts awards.
Cameroonians are fade-up with excuses year-in year-out on the low execution rate of public investment budget. Despite colossal resources the government allocates to the public investment budget which is the portion of the budget dedicated to the improvement o...