The African civil service: a crisis of cultural identity - the case of the Cameroons
By: Zambo, Benoit Ndi.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 1997Description: p.345-61.Subject(s): Civil service - Africa | Civil service
In:
International Review of Administrative SciencesSummary: Since their indigenization, African civil services have not enjoyed an honourable reputation. Whatever the Sub-Saharan country, the litany of grievances attributed to the authorities remains constant: they are corrupt, pernickety, inefficient, populist, often repressive and, invariably, impertinent. Generally, these civil services were set up on the basis of a rational, legal, bureaucratic-type model, imported from the old mother countries. Presupposing the universality of this rationality, the instigators of these services did not doubt their functionality, already proven in the particular countries of origin. Despite the continuing technical assistance in the intervening decades and the manifold reforms, the dysfunctional character of the African civil services remains. This article further proposes setting down markers. After a survey of the context, the statement of the problematic and the presentation of the approach, the article, based on the case of The Cameroons, focuses on three points: the phenomenology of the culture of the Cameroon civil service, Administration Publique Camerounaise (APC); the genetic factors and the mental context of the culture of the APC; and proposals for a reinvention of values and professionalism in the civil service in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 63, Issue no: 3 | Available | AR36878 |
Since their indigenization, African civil services have not enjoyed an honourable reputation. Whatever the Sub-Saharan country, the litany of grievances attributed to the authorities remains constant: they are corrupt, pernickety, inefficient, populist, often repressive and, invariably, impertinent. Generally, these civil services were set up on the basis of a rational, legal, bureaucratic-type model, imported from the old mother countries. Presupposing the universality of this rationality, the instigators of these services did not doubt their functionality, already proven in the particular countries of origin. Despite the continuing technical assistance in the intervening decades and the manifold reforms, the dysfunctional character of the African civil services remains. This article further proposes setting down markers. After a survey of the context, the statement of the problematic and the presentation of the approach, the article, based on the case of The Cameroons, focuses on three points: the phenomenology of the culture of the Cameroon civil service, Administration Publique Camerounaise (APC); the genetic factors and the mental context of the culture of the APC; and proposals for a reinvention of values and professionalism in the civil service in Sub-Saharan Africa
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