Opportunity For Adjustments

The November 2020 ordinary session of Parliament that begins today is vital in the life of the nation as Members of the National Assembly and Senators will scrutinise and adopt bills  whose implementation will shape the future.
The session,  one of whose main missions would be to examine and adopt the State budget for the 2021 financial year, would serve as an opportunity to make pertinent adjustments in the budget taking into account  the health, economic, political and security context of Cameroon.  President Paul Biya in the circular of July 10, 2020 relating to the preparation of the State budget for the 2021 financial year said it was being prepared in a context of great uncertainties regarding global supply and demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was also within the context of the collapse of crude oil prices, volatile financial market and deteriorating terms of trade being shocks that may likely lead to economic recession in many countries.  As such, the budget policy objective for the 2021 financial year is to initiate the reduction of overall budget deficit in order to progressively reduce a sustainable level in the medium term after its degradation in 2020 due to the COVID-19 shock.
As the State budget for the 2021 financial year and other bills will be tabled before the two Houses of  Parliament, the lawmakers would have to ensure that  they conform  with the public action for the 2021-2023 period. They have to make sure that government proposals would go to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuous implementation of the recommendations of the Major National Dialogue, specifically, the reconstruction of the security crisis affected North West and South West Regions.  Considering that the  first-ever election of Regional Councillors will take place during the parliamentary session, the lawmakers will have to take the opportunity to see  that government’s actions go to accelerate the decentralisation process by making the Regi...