As the October 12, 2025 presidential election draws closer, the national conversation is turning not just to candidates, but to the bold ideas shaping the race. Among the most conspicuous is the proposal for fédéralisme communautaire meaning community-based federalism championed by presidential hopeful Hon. Cabral Libii. One of the most forceful endorsements of this vision comes from none other than the theologian and civic thinker, Bishop Dr Nector Kid Motaze.
Hon. Cabral Libii and Bishop Dr Nector Kid Motaze
In a compelling public opinion piece titled “J’approuve le projet de société relatif au fédéralisme communautaire”, Bishop Nector Motaze calls the proposal “an illumination of Territorial justice” as a moment of moral reckoning, economic pragmatism, and national repair.
“It is no longer enough to reform timidly. That would be complicity. Cameroon has arrived at a threshold. What is needed is a territorial refoundation.”
Bishop Nector Motaze paints a sobering portrait of the country’s current administrative framework as a model inherited from colonial rule, where centralisation in Yaoundé has led to chronic underdevelopment in even the richest regions.
He points to a national paradox: billions in gold from the East, iron from Mbalam, timber from Yokadouma, and cocoa from Sangmélima are extracted annually, yet the producing communities remain mired in poverty, disconnected by bad roads, lacking basic health services, and deprived of water.
This, he asserts, is not just economic mismanagement, but “a cartographed injustice... a silent violence.”
The core of Libii’s federalism proposal involves devolving 30% of locally generated revenue back to the regions. For Bishop Motaze, this is justice.
“The East should pave its roads with its gold. The South should build its hospitals with its cocoa. This is not a favour: it is a rehabilitation.”
Such redistribution would reverse the haemorrhaging of local wealth and stimulate region-specific development strategies grounded in each area’s unique potential.
Bishop Dr Nector Motaze bolsters his argument with startling geological data indicating that over 1.5 billion tonnes of iron in Kribi, 99 million tonnes of bauxite in Minim-Martap, and over 1,800 kilograms of gold already mined in Colomine. Yet, the regions remain plagued by blackouts, derelict infrastructure, and zero local industry.
In his words, “The paradox is an anomaly. The federal model would realign logic: produce here, develop here.”
The prelate’s analysis goes further. He laments the state of local agriculture, where ancient knowledge and natural abundance are sacrificed to an export-only economy. Cotton in the North, cocoa in the Centre and South, and maize in the West are shipped out raw stripped of value.
Community federalism, he suggests, would allow for:
- Agro-processing industries rooted in communities;
- Context-specific agricultural training;
- And long-term employment for disillusioned youth.
Notably, Bishop Dr Nector Motaze links the federal vision to both biblical and African traditions. In the Book of Joshua, he reminds readers, every tribe was given land to govern. Likewise, precolonial African kingdoms managed their resources with autonomy and vision.
He notes: “Federalism, properly conceived, is not division but organisation. Not fragmentation, but coordination. Not weakness, but strength.”
He cites successful federal models in Switzerland, Germany, India, and Canada, arguing that diversity in administration can produce unity in national purpose.
Looking outward, Bishop Dr Nector Motaze insists the proposal is more than ideological. He says it is urgent. He cites the World Bank’s 2025 report showing an 11% per capita wealth decline in Cameroon between 1995 and 2020, blaming low value-added transformation.
Without fiscal autonomy, diasporic Cameroonians hesitate to invest locally. Without regional control, competitiveness lags. Without transformation, sovereignty erodes.
“Fédéralisme communautaire is a national relaunch tool, a pathway to regional competitiveness and continental integration.” he writes
The Bishop describes the federalism vision as “une illumination nationale” being a covenant to reconnect the people to their soil and rewrite the national contract.
“Let the cocoa of the South build the South’s schools. Let the gold of the East power the East’s hospitals. Let the timber of the Adamaoua build Adamaoua’s factories,” he declares.
“Cameroon must become a country that no longer just extracts, but builds, transforms, and uplifts its people where they have sown.”
As debate on national structure intensifies ahead of the election, Bishop Motaze’s endorsement gives moral and intellectual weight to a growing movement for change, one that seeks not just to redistribute power, but to restore dignity, equity, and vision across all corners of Cameroon.
By Asheri Lovelyne
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