The primary ideals of rigour and moralisation which were the ideological foundation of the new deal have these last days regained momentum. The government has undertaken to encourage transparency in the management of public affairs and to combat corruption, embezzlement, laxity and all the malfunctions existing in public life in Cameroon.

1. - ENCOURAGE TRANSPARENCY

The primary ideals of rigour and moralisation which were the ideological foundation of the new deal have these last days regained momentum. The government has undertaken to encourage transparency in the management of public affairs and to combat corruption, embezzlement, laxity and all the malfunctions existing in public life in Cameroon.

In order to make the different measures effective, the government of Cameroon, with the impetus of the head of state has taken the irreversible step of political and economic reforms in order to reassure and gain the trust of the population, development partners as well as investor (local and foreign) of sustainable human and social development.

At the economic level, economic recovery is pro­gressing. In effect, measures to improve public finances geared especially to control public spen­ding and to make the activities of these administrations charged with revenue collection more efficient, have been put in motion and the results are palpable. Equally, in addition to structural reforms, the government is firmly determined to fight corruption and to encourage good governance in key sectors such as economic, financial and social management, public service, justice, decentralisation, and the involvement of the population and civil society in the management of public affairs.

If all these measures are to contribute to the attainment of the main objectives desired, then the government must be accompanied and sup­ported on a daily bases by the institutions charged with controlling and overseeing the judicious use of public goods.

In this regard, the institute for the Control of Public Finances in Cameroon has been endowed with the legal, financial, human and material means necessary to carry out its mission which is to protect public prosperity and to sanction those managers and public book-keepers guilty of misappropriation.

The policy of state audit has therefore been put in place under the direct authority of the head of state, who is also the guarantor and the one who incarnates the unity of the state and the stability of its institutions.

The services of Supreme State Control, in this manner contribute to the modernisation of the system for the external audit of the administration and public enterprises, decentralised political entities, organisations and professional bodies benefiting from state grants. These structures within the institutional set-up perpetuate the mission of restoring the authority of the state and maintaining its sovereignty in their role of watch­dogs of good administrative, financial, accounting management and performance of state structures.

2. - ROLE OF AUDIT AND SUPPORT TO MANAGEMENT

The services of the Supreme state control are the partners of public managers in their role of advising and giving support in management. Its pre­sence is felt through verification missions carried within annual verification programmes approved by the head of state.

On the field, the members of the mobile mission team have a free hand vis-à-vis the administrations and organisations that they are called upon to audit and are invested with ail the powers of investigation. In the course of the investigation, the members of the audit team cannot be subjected to measures of detention without the consent of the President of the Republic.

These audit measures found at the highest level of public management is relayed to the technical units charged with internal audit in the various ministries and public enterprises with the inten­tion of guaranteeing good economic and social management in the country.

Many audit missions are in the pipeline for the services of the Supreme State Control from the Presidency of the Republic on the grounds that the government of Cameroon hopes to preserve its economic gains, guarantee the success of reforms undertaken, encourage new investments and create more wealth and more jobs.

Consequently, in the prospect of the putting in place the National Programme on Good Governance, sectorial audits will be carried out to enable the head of state to better readjust his economic policy in the context of globalisation and transparent public management.

With the services of the Supreme State Control, the Presidency of the Republic hopes to win a threefold battle: the moralisation of the behaviour of managers and public book-keepers, the good management of public affairs and the fight against corruption; a gangrene to public life in developing countries.