The Role of MAETUR and Local Councils in the Transformation of Urban and Rural Communities in Cameroon Toward a Modern African Nation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63671/ijsesr.v2i3.158Keywords:
MAETUR, local councils, decentralisation, urban planning, rural development, Cameroon, governance, juris political analysis, territorial development, modern African stateAbstract
This article examines the institutional roles of the Mission d'Aménagement et d'Equipement des Terrains Urbains et Ruraux (MAETUR) and decentralised local councils in Cameroon's socio-spatial transformation. Employing a jurispolitical framework that integrates public law theory with political economy and development studies, the study analyses how MAETUR, since its creation in 1977, has functioned as a para-public vehicle for organised urban land development, while local councils, reinvigorated by the 1996 Constitution and the 2004 decentralisation laws now the 2019 law on regional and local authorities, have progressively assumed co-responsible roles in territorial planning and community development. The article argues that the complementarity between MAETUR's technical and regulatory capacities and the democratic legitimacy of local councils represents a potentially transformative but underexploited governance architecture. Drawing on documentary analysis, comparative political science, and field-level data from Cameroonian municipalities, the study identifies persistent challenges including institutional fragmentation, fiscal inadequacy, elite capture, and weak intergovernmental coordination that inhibit effective community transformation. The article concludes by proposing a convergent governance model that repositions MAETUR as a strategic partner of empowered local councils in the pursuit of a modern, inclusive, and spatially just Cameroon.
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