Cameroon National Assembly legislates and oversees government activities.
Address
Yaounde, Cameroon
Tel : +237 222 22 04 84
Sittings at the National Assembly
Sittings of the National Assembly shall be made public. The National Assembly may exceptionally hold sittings in camera at the request of the President of the Republic or of an absolute majority of its members.
Plenary sittings: At the beginning of the legislative period and the first ordinary session of the year, the National Assembly holds plenary sittings essentially devoted to the installation of the Provisional Bureau, the validation of mandates and the election of its Bureau.
A plenary sitting is held when the Chairmen’s Conference so decides and for a specific agenda.
The agendas of plenary sittings are determined by the Chairmen’s Conference.
Sessions
Statutory session: At the beginning of the legislative period, the National Assembly shall meet in a statutory ordinary session on the second Tuesday following the proclamation of the parliamentary election results by the Constitutional Council.
Ordinary sessions: Each year, the National Assembly shall hold 3 (three) ordinary sessions, each lasting not more than 30 (thirty) days, in March, June and November.
Extraordinary sessions: The National Assembly may, in accordance with the Constitution, meet in extraordinary session for not more than 15 (fifteen) days on a specific agenda at the request of the President of the Republic or of one third of its members.
The extraordinary session shall wind up as soon as the agenda for which it was convened is exhausted.
Legislative Procedure
Admissibility of bills
Announcement of bills in plenary
Committee proceedings
Committee reports
Plenary sitting for adoption
Parliamentary shuttling
Signing and forwarding of bills
Enactment by the President of the Republic
Organization
The National Assembly is composed of one hundred and eighty (180) deputies elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage for a five-year term. It is made up of the following Organs:
I – The Governing Bodies
1- The Office
The National Assembly has a Bureau elected at the beginning of each legislative year. This Office is made up of:
A President
A First Vice-President
Five Vice-Presidents
Four Quaestors
Twelve Secretaries
This office is assisted by a Secretary General, an ex officio member, Legal and Parliamentary Advisor of the National Assembly.
2- The Conference of Presidents
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 27 of Law No. 73/1 of 08 June 1973 on the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the Conference of Presidents is a collegiate body comprising:
The President of the National Assembly
Members of the Bureau of the National Assembly
The members of each of the nine general commissions
The Presidents of the Groups.
A member of the Government participates in the work of this conference. The main role of the Conference of Presidents is to:
Setting the agenda for the work of the National Assembly
Decide on the admissibility of bills and proposals submitted to the National Assembly
Entrust these texts to the competent committees
Setting the date for the various plenary sessions
II- Inner Formations
The internal formations of the National Assembly are the Groups and the General Committees, the ad hoc committees, the special committees and the commissions of inquiry.
Cameroon
Cameroon is a country in Central Africa. It is known for its cultural diversity, with more than 200 ethnic groups and languages spoken in the country. It is also rich in natural resources, such as oil, gas, timber, cocoa, coffee, and minerals.
Capital City: Yaounde Area: 475 442 km2 Population: 23 739 218 hab. (2015) Currency: Franc CFA BEAC (XAF)
It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south.
Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages and English or French or both.
Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad, and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest.
Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões (Shrimp River), which became Cameroon in English. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms.
Cameroon became a German colony in 1884 known as Kamerun. After World War I, it was divided between France and the United Kingdom as League of Nations mandates.
The Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) political party advocated independence, but was outlawed by France in the 1950s, leading to the national liberation insurgency fought between French and UPC militant forces until early 1971.
In 1960, the French-administered part of Cameroon became independent, as the Republic of Cameroun, under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. The southern part of British Cameroons federated with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
The federation was abandoned in 1972. The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and back to the Republic of Cameroon in 1984 by a presidential decree by president Paul Biya.
Biya, the president, has led the country since 1982 following Ahidjo’s resignation; he previously held office as prime minister from 1975 onward. Cameroon is governed as a Unitary Presidential Republic.
