The Protection of Service Users from the Maladministration of Local Council Authorities in Cameroon: A Legal Appraisal

Abstract

This paper sets out to examine the protection of service users from the maladministration of municipal council authorities in Cameroon. Notwithstanding the legal and institutional framework put in place to ensure that council authorities respect their ethical obligations, a lot of them still fail to do so. The consequence has been dissatisfaction from service users, causing a floodgate of litigations. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the mechanisms for the protection of service users in Cameroon from the poor administration of council authorities. In order to attain this objective, we employed the doctrinal research methodology which makes use of both primary and secondary data sources. Legal instruments related to the topic served as primary data sources while books, articles and reports related to the field of study were credible enough to constitute our secondary sources. Our findings reveal that, in spite of the measures aimed at preventing violation of the rights and freedoms of users by the council administrations in Cameroon, these abuses still persist. We however recommend that, the oversight role of the Ministry of Decentralization and the representatives of the state should be strengthened to improve accountability, transparency and the respect of ethical obligations by council authorities in Cameroon.