Recreating government: Entrepreneurship and proverbs in public administration

Abstract

Corruption in the Cameroon public service is beyond any language to describe. As people gasp for speech, they use
proverbs to express the situation. Civil servants stroll in and out their offices. Work time is set by government from
7:30 am to 3:30 pm. The people set their own time as they think fit. It was observed that half the working population
start work at 9:00 am and leave offices at 2:30 pm instead of 3:30 pm. There is need for a change of work attitudes.
Entrepreneurship though intimately associated with the business world cuts across all walks of life and provides
knowledge/skills that can ameliorate shortcomings in public administration. Equally, proverbs stimulate creative
thinking. Our forefathers used them to expand knowledge and foster understanding of issues. Knowledge, wisdom
and inspirations can be drawn from proverbs and entrepreneurship to improve public administration. The aim of this
study is to investigate how entrepreneurship and proverbs can be used to improve public administration. Data was
gathered through face to face interview conducted with selected elders and administrators in Cameroon. Data is
analysed qualitatively. The study concludes that entrepreneurship and proverbs can ameliorate the poor situation in
the public administration.