In Cameroon, the process of public accountability continues to grapple with persistent opacity. For the 2024 fiscal year, the Supreme Court’s Audit Chamber managed to trace merely 3% of the total subsidies disbursed by the state to public enterprises. This stark figure, detailed in its report on the execution of the finance law, underscores the significant information deficit hindering Cameroonian financial judges in their certification duties.
Report highlights critical issues in public transfer traceability
The financial jurisdiction, tasked with the judicial oversight of state and public institution accounts, relies heavily on supporting documentation submitted by authorizing officers and beneficiary entities. However, regarding the total financial assistance granted to Cameroon’s public sector in 2024, only a minuscule portion could be definitively linked to an 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 core of a structural governance challenge: the state’s capacity to monitor the utilization of resources transferred to its various branches. State-owned companies, public administrative bodies, and entities with majority or strategic state participation annually receive substantial allocations, presented variously as balancing subsidies, investment grants, or tariff compensations.
Public sector portfolio under fiscal strain
Cameroon’s parapublic sector encompasses dozens of enterprises operating in crucial strategic sectors such as energy, hydrocarbons, transport, telecommunications, agro-industry, and water. Many are structurally dependent on state financial backing to sustain their daily operations or meet their obligations. Prominent examples include the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH), Camair-Co, and Sonara, whose financial struggles frequently necessitate high-level state arbitration.
Amidst tight public finances, compounded by the imperative to keep the budget deficit below thresholds agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (FMI) under the ongoing program, effective control over the subsidy channel becomes a critical public policy requirement. The economic and financial program supported by Washington specifically emphasizes the transparency of financial flows between the Treasury and public entities, deeming it essential for credible consolidation management.
The Audit Chamber’s findings emerge even as Yaoundé has committed to enhancing the flow of accounting information from public enterprises as part of its public finance management reforms. The establishment of a dedicated directorate for monitoring the state’s portfolio within the Ministry of Finance in 2017 was specifically intended to bolster this oversight. Yet, concrete results have been slow to materialize.
A crucial matter of budgetary sovereignty
Beyond mere accounting exercises, the inability to document the actual destination and use of nearly all public subsidies undermines several strategic initiatives. It limits the scope of parliamentary debate on the budget settlement law, diminishes the Supreme Court’s vital alert function, and deprives multilateral funders, notably the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), of a reliable basis for sizing their budgetary support.
For private investors, particularly those involved in public-private partnerships or concession contracts with Cameroonian public entities, this pervasive opacity introduces an additional risk factor. The quality of sovereign credit also hinges on the robustness of internal controls over budgetary transfers. By publishing these observations, the Audit Chamber asserts its role as a watchdog, publicly demanding compliance and greater accountability.
The message conveyed to the executive is unambiguous: without substantial improvements in information reporting, state account certification will remain a partial exercise. Practically, this necessitates the widespread adoption of a consistent accounting framework for public enterprises, the enhancement of budgetary information systems, and the effective enforcement of sanctions against defaulting managers.