New Public Management (NPM) emerged in the 1980s as the recognized instrument of public administration modernization. It has been introduced into African countries through National Governance Programmes (NGPs), programmes that set out to reform and improve the action of the State. It is only natural that we should study the impacts, whether concrete or planned, of their application. That is the core purpose of this document, which looks into the mutation of Cameroon's public administration from the perspective of NPM on the basis of the reform planned by the latest NGP straddling 2006—10. It also analyses the reasons that prompted Cameroon to adopt NPM, as well as its political and, in particular, administrative consequences.

Points for practitioners

The article examines the administrative reform planned by the National Governance Programme (2006—10) in Cameroon. Given that this reform can be interpreted as a consecration of New Public Management (NPM) as the principle behind the modernization of public administration in this country, it sets out to analyse the process involved. Moreover, the author also looks at the underlying causes of this reform and at its political and administrative implications. The article adopts a critical approach and raises the fundamental issue of institutional transfer from the countries of the North towards those of the South, and the consequences for African reform projects