Civilian Authorities and the Maintenance of Public Order in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper examines the role of civilian authorities in maintaining public order in Cameroon. The officers charged with ensuring the state's security derive their powers and prerogatives from the legal texts adopted by various political regimes during the French colonial and post-colonial periods. The diversity of actors and the extent of the powers they exercised in the domain of public order were greatly influenced by socio-economic and political events that most often threatened the state's security. Using the qualitative case study design, data from interviews with 26 actors and experts in the field, relevant documents, and observations were integrated and analyzed, enabling the researcher to provide comprehensive and practical analyses of public order in Cameroon. The findings of this paper reveal that while political authorities principally maintained public order through policy formulation and orientation, administrative authorities who had received specific training in the domain from specialized training institutions such as the National School of Administration and Magistracy (NSAM) often found themselves caught between the difficult choice of strictly implementing the law or a highly politicized version of public order that was often void of the independence required to sustainably address grievances and restore lasting peace. Similarly, traditional authorities in Cameroon were endowed by customary law with the competence of maintaining public order in their respective chiefdoms and villages. However, the increased involvement of these hitherto neutral traditional rulers in party politics has further complicated their role in maintaining public order, as many have been accused of being stooges of particular political regimes.