CAMEROON: THE WARS WITHIN

Dear readers,

I found the posting below from Professor Femi Osofisan relevant to the situation I have witten previously: The senseless slaughter on our public roads. 

It is now common knowledge that the war for the sinful soul of Cameroun has been on since it became a  serf  and victim of neo-colonial aggression which deprived it of genuine independence. The trauma and mental slavery imposed on this criminal neo-colonial serfdom has beclouded the essential realities of the tasks that need to be done to bring about genuine independence, end concolonialism over Southern Cameroons, negotiate through genuine dialogue the legal foundation of statehood and parametres of the free exercise of self determination, an erga omnes right available to all peoples under the sun.

Because  Cameroun is not free, the good people of this country are confronted with a plethora of wars imposed on them without a genuine leadership endowed with the political will to provide appropriate solutions. Here are some only of the wars:

1) The historic contention and the ghosts of the criminal colonial aggression.

2) The Boko Haram war. I will comment briefly on this war. As the prosecution of this war proceeds, I want to salute the commitment of the ordinary people who are the victims of this senseless war to defeat the culture of criminality that informs the slaughter of armless civilians.  I also salute the sacrifices of the men and women in the armed forces and others contributing to the war effort for putting their lives in harm's way so that we may be saved. However, and this is regrettable, this war seems to some politicians to be a blessing so long as they can use it as a rationale to enrich themselves, justify the imposition of dictatorial policies aimed at shrinking the democratic space, enforced annexation, etra-judicial and targeted assassinations of real or percieved enemies and a sesame to justify the eternalisation of political power. This may be the reason that Boko Haram to some may be a curse but also a blessing. This category of individuals purport to love and have Boko Haram in equal measure. What an aberration!

3) The road carnage in Cameroun:  The cause of death through road accidents in Cameroun, I have written several times in the past, is competing with Boko Haram in terms of the death toll it is inflicting on a helpless citizenry. And what is  the supposed goverment's response? Is there a government policy on how to curb the death toll on public roads? Will there ever be any?  Has the " politiques des grandes chantiers" grandes ambitions" grandes realisations" led to the construction of major roads to stem the tide of this senseless slaughter on public highways?  Thirty three years of the sloganeering of political expression has brought but hopelessness to the citizinry.

The situation painted by Professor Osofisan in the posting below informs me that this problem may not be an entirely Camerounese problem but an African problem. However, unlike Cameroun under neocolonial rule, the functional governments in some African states may be making some efforts to redress the dire situation of public roads and transportation which are pillars of development.

The time has come for all to join the war against the twin brother of Boko Haram that road carnage has become in Cameroun and potentially elsewhere in Africa.

 Chief C.Taku

 

FOLUKE OGUNLEYE, OR THE RITUAL OF STUPIDITY IN YORUBALAND - By Prof. Femi Osofisan

In Yorubaland, as in other parts of the country, stupidity has become a routine ritual, and we all partake of it gleefully, unconscionably, like accomplished zombies.
Will it be different tonight, I wonder? The question gnaws at mind now as we arrive on the street.
It is the cars that tell us we have reached the right address. Parked on the pavement on both sides of the narrow road, they sit h...

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