In Memoriam: Nicholas Ade Ngwa
"Years ago, at the SDF Secretariat, Pa, gave me the following notes (in his own beautiful handwriting) and asked me to look for the best format to publish them. I make them public for the very first time. I had thought to dedicate a full chapter in the book "Long Walk to Freedom Land," which I am working on, to the issues that Old Nicholas Ade Ngwa raised. May I be worthy to complete that book...in loving memories of this grand old man, who personally told me that he knew my father and then he took up the issues for which my father died...even confronting Fru Ndi and Sama Francis on those issues...just as if I am one of his very own children. Strangely, William "Jaggers" Ngwa is my classmate in Sacred Heart College. "
Here goes:
Retired administrator, Nicholas Ade Ngwa in an unpublished mimeograph makes out that despite its apparent 'poor state' the holistic development of the State of the Southern Cameroons was not an afterthought. Even before 'developpement equilibre' (Balanced Development) and 'liberalisme planifie (Planned Liberalism) became the war song of the Ahidjo regime, the then West Cameroun government had made these items concrete realities.
'The Southern Cameroons administration ran a government that carried out uniform development throughout the regions. To ensure this equitable development, the government drew up Five-Year Development Plans, which were developed at the grassroots, from the sub-divisions to the top. Each area set out its priorities; the state examined them and came out with a National Plan. One development plan was religiously executed before the next."
Nicholas Ade Ngwa writes:
"To ensure proper control and accountability, there was the Office of the Auditor General. Every department of government, including the Office of the Head of Government was audited. Auditors came to the office unannounced. They collected the safe keys and accounts documents. Any extra funds in the safe had to be accounted for. Shortages were noted and sanctioned. Officials received jail sentences for up to twenty years for shortages of small sums. Today, Cameroun needs proofs that millions have been pilfered. To make matters worse auditors announce their visits and bribes are 'negotiated'. Some officers are even declared out of bounds to auditors. At the end of the financial year, the Auditor General puts out a report on State income and expenditure which report was placed before parliament for debate and adoption. In short it was not a case where parliamentarians accepted bribes to pass the budgets of various ministries."
Nicholas Ade Ngwa continues:
"Road construction and maintenance was of great importance and a lot of emphasis was laid on agriculture. To assist farmers, seedlings of both cash and food crops were available at affordable prices. There were heavy machines and even hand-dug roads were maintained. Public Works Department (PWD) camps for road maintenance were established at strategic points along the major highways. Thus, it was possible to go from Bamenda to Kumba to Mamfe in one day!
The Mamfe-Bamenda Road, because of its narrow nature, was used on alternate days: one day up to Bamenda and the next day down to Mamfe. One could go from Bamenda to Jos in Nigeria in one day. Similarly one went from Bamenda to Wum in a few hours and did the reverse journey in the afternoons."
Between 1960 and 1980, the various Five Year Development Plans and their attendant Agricultural Shows, were, more or less, used as the road map for development in the Cameroons. The records show that the North-West province was about the last beneficiary of this formula for the provision of infrastructure to, at least, the provincial headquarters. The regime has, perhaps, because of John Niba Ngu's 'pluie torrential,' abandoned the Five Year Development Plans and the Agricultural Shows. Recall that while he was Minister of Agriculture, Mr. John Niba Ngu said the projected Agricultural Show in Ebolowa was postponed and eventually cancelled because of "une pluie torrentielle" - strong rainfall in Ebolowa. The GOC has never returned to the Agric Shows since then. However, in spite of its seemingly meager revenues, the government of the Southern Cameroons took care of its development programmes.
Nicholas Ade Ngwa writes:
"The Ring Road was pliable at all seasons. We know the situation today. The roads are horrendous despite the abundance of heavy road equipment not to mention the state budgets that increase every year in billions. To facilitate traveling, West Cameroon set up the Cameroon Air Transport, this connected all accessible parts of the state. Communications is essential for any development. Today, whenever the roads exist, unnecessary roadblocks impede traveling. One would have thought that these checks were to ensure the roadworthiness of vehicles. We know that these roadblocks are for the police to take bribes."
That these institutions worked is an irrefragable confutation of every unphilosophical catachresis any malefactor can offer in vindication of the skewed argument that Africans cannot rise above corruption.
Moved by his racist mindset the former president of France, Jacques Chirac, with the debonair arrogance of a halfwit said democracy is a luxury for Africans. That Africans should rather aspire to portable water and food, instead of the pie-in-the sky, that democracy is. Untoward and presumptuous as the Chirac pronouncement might seem yet another pronouncement by the same Chirac elucidated his cited comment.
With the outcome of France's rapacious pillage in francophone Africa in mind, the stirrer Jacques Chirac said:
'After robbing them of their culture, we then stole their resources, their raw materials using local labor. We swiped everything they had and we told them repeatedly that they are worthless. Now, we're at the final stage: we make-off with their intelligentsia by handing our scholarships to them, and we continue telling all those left behind: these Negros are decidedly good for nothing'.
The point, however, is democracy worked and worked inordinately well in a place in Africa and this before 1960. That place was Southern Cameroons. The stellar democratic institutions also imbued Southern Cameroonians with the democratic locus standi to speak up and challenge bad governance and Pollyanna corruption in very high places. Naturally, this right always earned them retribution from the majority francophone system.
https://www.facebook.com/CAYMCameroon
--
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ambasbay" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ambasbay+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
0 comments:
Post a Comment