10 - Autorités traditionnelles, multipartisme et gouvernance démocratique au Cameroun

DOI: 10.4314/ad.v30i4.22247

Abstract

This study is based on the principle that traditional chieftainships constitute the natural framework for the mobilisation of the population for local development. It examines the political activism of chiefs (notably the support which they pro vide to the ruling party during periods of multiparty elections in Cameroon), and their involvement in the electoral arenas. The paper concludes that this opportunism only leads to the weakening of the position of chiefs, a dysfunctioning of chieftainships and the criminalisation of politics. It advocates as a safeguard to good governance, the political neutrality of chiefs even within a framework of political participation so as to ensure the dignity and cohesion of reinforced chieftainships. With such a moral caution, the chiefs shall constitute a vector of mobilisation rather than division. In so doing, they will instil in their chieftainships a form of development dynamism in their status as rural administrators.