Parliament Adopts Bill on the Protection of Personal Data
The bill relating to the protection of personal data shouldered by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was summoned, questioned and adopted in parliament on November 26th 2024, after its presentation before the Constitutional Law Commission of the National Assembly on November 19th 2024.

Members of parliament were briefed on the importance of personal data in modern economic development especially in an era when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fast gaining grounds. According to the report presented by the raporteur of the Constitutional Law Commission of the National Assembly, Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng projects the bill as an element that can help businesses to personalize their offers and improve the quality of their product and services. It can pave the way to new jobs particularly in fields like cybersecurity and data science. In a fast mutating digital world, it will strengthen National Sovereignty for the preservation of Cameroon’s security.
The bill comes to guarantee the rights and freedom of individuals by ensuring a fair processing of citizens’ personal data by supervising the collection, storage, processing and exploitation of personal data by the state, local authorities and private entities.
At the plenary session, after the reading of the report, the attentive members of parliament posed a series of questions related to the quality and fluidity of electronic communication in Cameroon, the abused use and exploitation of subscriber’s personal data by telecommunications operators, national connectivity, the authenticity and realistic nature of the said bill, partnership with operators, as well as the rehabilitation of vandalized electronic communication infrastructures.
In response to the preoccupations of parliamentarians amongst which were those of Hon. Joshua Osih and Hon. Njume Peter, Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng put before the members some elements that stand as stumbling blocks to the execution of some missions assigned her ministerial department and for subscribers to fully benefit from services provided by telecommunications operators.
She mentioned that the problem of national connectivity does not solely depend on telecommunications but also on other factors not within her competence such as power supply. On quality electronic communication, she partially blamed it on the poor mindset of some subscribers who opt for offers proposed by mobile operators that don’t meet their needs. Also, she reminded her audience that the contract signed with the Genie Civil of the Ministry of Defense to rehabilitate vandalized infrastructures in some parts of the country was short-lived after the withdrawal of the Telecommunications Special fund (FST) that had to finance the project.
The Minister however reassured her audience that despite these shortcomings that do not exclude CAMTEL’s difficulties who still awaits funding from the Ministry of Finance to permit her invest in what will transform them with ambition to better serve the citizens, there’s a gleam of hope with the project to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Cameroon (PATNUC), that will give a helping hand in terms of connectivity in rural areas.
She insisted on the fact that all partnership proposals must adapt to the realities of the country by respecting the regulations and standards of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) no matter how luring they may be. This explains why partnership with STARLINK is still pending.
MINPOSTEL reassured that providing quality electronic communication is a constant preoccupation of the government to get a long lasting solution. Adding to this, she emphasized that the digital sovereignty of a country is its ability to control its data. To this effect, she called on members of parliament to put minds together to vote in favor of a bill that has been crafted to fit Cameroon’s context and realities in view of protecting the citizens.
The sitting that was chaired by the Right Honorable Speaker, Cavayé Yéguié Djibril, adopted the bill for the protection of personal data in Cameroon.
Speaking to the media, the MNPOSTEL boss who was accompanied by her close collaborators, hammered on the urgent need for the bill to be ratified. “We produce data about our private life when we are connected to the internet. With the arrival of 4G and soon 5G, more information will be furnished. This law will oblige users to review their way of working because it has been proven that mindsets can be changed by the manipulation of our data. To this effect, government needs to protect them on the cyberspace. If adopted, Cameroon will move one key step forward to attract foreign investors.” she concluded.