With increasing pressure from the Breton woods and other international donor organizations for African states to move towards good governance, some of these countries including Cameroon are gradually attempting to institute reforms towards the attainment of these goals. Apart from instituting reforms that will grant free political participation, the government of Cameroon has also come up with the policy of regional balance that is intended to ensure a kind of equality in the distribution of what is commonly referred to as the National Cake. It is important to note that Cameroon is very diverse in terms of Ethnic nationalities and there is a gross disparity amongst these nationalities in terms of the natural distribution of resources. Some of the regions are naturally richer than others in terms of natural potentials and the government in her quest for good governance has come up with the theory of regional balance to guarantee fairness in the distribution of these resources. The paper is aimed at examining the perception of good governance in Cameroon and whether these perceptions actually match the practical implementation of this concept. The study equally looks at the instruments of good governance and the progress that has been attained since the introduction of the concept of good governance. The tenets of good governance, its features and the major obstacles to its application constitute the main trust of this research work. With regards to methodology, this study adopts a kind of inter-disciplinary design given that the study cuts across issues of geography, resource allocation and management, state policy and balanced development put in historical perspective. A qualitative instrument of analysis was adopted to give a critical insight to issues of governance in the society under study. In doing this a serious dichotomy is drawn between the perception of this policy and its practical application on ground.
Keywords: Balance Development, Cameroon, Good Governance, Management, Politics, Resource Allocation, State Policy
