Regional policy in Cameroon: The case of planning without facts

Cameroon's economic development is without doubt a story of success. Since independence, the country has been favoured by internal and external advantages but, as in most African countries south of the Sahara, the results of regional development policies — in spite of an existing and sound planning structure — are disappointing. Cameroon was always well-provided with the now fashionable ‘integrated’, ‘basic need-oriented’, ‘bottom-up’ and ‘development-from-within’ regional policy programmes. In discussing such a programme and proposing elements of a modified development strategy, it can, however, be argued that even the first step of creating a basic regional development project has been far from satisfactory. Further, in spite of government rhetoric, no regional development policy as normally defined exists. What does exist are regional effects of development projects. This prompts the question of whether it may be preferable to replace the term ‘regional development policy’, and to return to a ‘regionally based, comprehensively planned, project policy’, based on facts which first have to be collected and analysed.