E-Government : Cameroon digitizes its Archives to build a smart State 🖥️

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Cameroon enters a new digital era. And it’s not through flashy showcases that this transformation begins, but through the archives. On April 2, 2025, in Yaoundé, the government officially launched its e-governance project to redesign the State through its data.

Digitizing to better structure🗂️

This project is not just a matter of scanning old documents. It aims to digitize, index, secure, and interconnect millions of administrative records. The goal is to integrate them into an intelligent system that can be used by all public services.

The technical coordination has been entrusted to Esther Olembe, Director of the National Archives. The plan involves integrating smart capture tools, optical character recognition (OCR), and electronic document management systems (EDMS) that comply with international standards.

Toward a sovereign digital memory 🔐

This initiative falls within a logic of digital sovereignty. The government wants all sensitive data — such as official acts, political decisions, and administrative documents — to be hosted locally on secure, interoperable infrastructures.

Documents will be accessible through certified online platforms. A traceability system ensures the authenticity and integrity of each file. The State aims to retrieve, verify, and transmit any piece of information in just a few clicks.

Interoperability, sovereign cloud, and cybersecurity ☁️

The E-Government project involves around thirty ministries working toward a coherent digital ecosystem. This initiative includes several key aspects:

• Harmonizing data formats to allow platforms from different administrations to « communicate » with one another;
• Creating a Cameroonian sovereign cloud capable of reliably storing terabytes of critical documents;
• Implementing firewalls, encryption algorithms, and smart alerts to counter cyber threats.

This is a deep reform that requires rethinking the entire chain — from data creation, classification, and access, to sharing and destruction.

A digital foundation for a smart State🧠

According to Minette Libom Li Likeng, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, this project is a strategic prerequisite for modernizing all public services — including healthcare, justice, taxation, law enforcement, and education — because a digital State relies on reliable, centralized, and controlled information.

Cameroon is not just aiming to modernize. It wants to build a national public data platform capable of supporting evidence-based policymaking. The initiative also aims to make information more accessible to citizens and to strengthen transparency in State governance.

What Do You Think?
Do you believe this digitization of archives can truly transform Cameroon’s public administration? Share your thoughts in the comments 😊