General Knowledge and Current Affairs
What the paper actually tests
The general-knowledge paper (culture générale) at the ENS Buea entrance competition rewards precise, verifiable facts about Cameroon - institutions, geography, symbols, international commitments - and about the organisations it belongs to. Answers are short: multiple choice, matching, "name two", true/false. An opinion without a name, date or figure scores nothing.
Institutions
- Constitution in force: Law No. 96/06 of 18 January 1996, amended by Law No. 2008/001 of 14 April 2008. The 1996 revision created the Senate and the Constitutional Council; the 2008 amendment removed the limit on presidential re-election.
- Legislature: National Assembly (180 deputies, five-year mandate) and Senate (100 senators: 70 elected indirectly by regional councillors, 30 appointed by the President).
- Executive: President elected for seven years; Government led by a Prime Minister.
- Courts: Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, Courts of First Instance, plus the Constitutional Council; the High Court of Justice hears high-treason cases.
Territory and symbols
Ten regions since Decree No. 2008/191 (previously "provinces"): Centre–Yaoundé, Littoral–Douala, West–Bafoussam, South-West–Buea, North-West–Bamenda, South–Ebolowa, East–Bertoua, Adamawa–Ngaoundéré, North–Garoua, Far North–Maroua. Neighbours: Nigeria (west), Chad (north), Central African Republic (east), Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea (south). Motto: Paix – Travail – Patrie. English and French are both official languages.
Organisations
- CEMAC: six states (Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon); BEAC headquarters in Yaoundé; treaty of Brazzaville, 1994.
- ECCAS/CEEAC: eleven states, including DRC and Angola; headquarters Libreville.
- UN member since 1960; Commonwealth since 1995; OIF since 1991; AU in Addis Ababa; OHADA for business law, with the CCJA in Abidjan.
Worked example
Question: "Cameroon belongs to which of these - ECOWAS, SADC, CEMAC, IGAD?" Reasoning: ECOWAS groups West African states and excludes Cameroon despite the long Nigerian border; SADC is southern African; IGAD covers the Horn of Africa and the Nile valley; CEMAC is the Central African monetary community whose BEAC issues the CFA franc circulating in Cameroon. Answer: CEMAC - and a strong script adds "six member states" to show certainty rather than a guess.
Traps
- Mixing CEMAC (6 members) with ECCAS (11) - the most repeated error.
- Writing "province" or "10 provinces" where the current text says region.
- Swapping the Senate's 70 elected with the 30 appointed.
- Rotating facts (office-holders, latest summit host, current UN Security Council term): learn a checking routine rather than a stale name.