That Bangolan Affair: My take" Fon Isaac Chafah is a personal friend and a brother. What is the issue really: that the Fon is now a member of a born-again Christ-ian church? Did the kingmakers state at the time of anointing him Fon that: thou must not become a born-again Christian? And that thou must always be a member of the so-called mainstream lifeless religious organisations? This is truly absurd! This is a form of Boko Haramisation if not another crusade and persecuting the Fon because of his religious beliefs. The issue is not even that. The issue is that these fellows burnt the governor's car and effected other destruction in the village. I am an ardent advocate for Southern Cameroons because Southern Cameroons stands for religious tolerance and a state of law and, also, a respect of tradition so long as such tradition does not perturb public order and invents religious bigots and Boko Harams. Moreover Fon Chafah is one of our judges qua magistrates. Jail the so-called kingmakers, who must be under the influence of devilish substances, and throw away the key, I say!
We should forward our points of view not attack others please.
You May have a good point but as soon as you infringe on the rights of another, your point becomes irrelevant to the purpose you are making.
It is not expected of a fon to destroy any cultural heritage of a people because he has become born again as it is alleged.
If the fon thinks that being born again is incomparable with being a fon, he should resign and the people will look for another.
The fon has no right whatever to force born againism down the throat of the people.
Its a very good thing to be born again but a crime to force it on a people, afterall salvation is not collective, it's personal.
Mt 15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
Africans are Gentiles, except those on the fringes of lunacy, do not worship statues.
The Insanity of the Collaborator
In Response to Prof Asongany's "The People Call of Shame."
By Ntemfac Ofege
Journalist
Albeit Einstein it was who defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Einstein also said "we cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." The trouble with insanity and failure to think out of the box is that these things often manifest in, and from, quarters that we least suspect. And, often, not even on a temporal basis.
Here is a known known about the governing system in French Cameroun. Mr. Biya, the leader, is a consummate manipulator. He has been nothing but a consummate manipulator. In fact, Mr. Biya graduated with honours from the redoubtable school of another consummate manipulator – the late Ahmadou Ahidjo. I suspect that Mr. Biya has so perfected the art of political manipulation that, were the illustrious predecessor to resurrect, the fallen master-mentor could learn a thing or two from his student of yore.
Rented crowds, motions of support, trial balloon appointments leaked to the press, planted articles in local newspapers, false flag reports over the government-controlled media; deliberate anarchy, corruption and lawlessness, are just some of the tools of manipulation wielded with great savvy by the Biya regime. Election engineering is the final.
A Consummate Manipulator at Play
This is how it works. From the cozy confines of some nutcase office in Etoudi, the head honcho and his trusty lackeys craft motions of support to be distributed to heel-clicking AK47 lackeys in the administration in Yaoundé. These lackeys are then dispatched like locusts to the regions, the regional towns and even remote out backs, at the expense of the ignorant taxpayers, to commence the dance of death. Pitiable and hapless natives are commandeered; some more hard cash pillaged from the treasury doled out and signatures extracted to justify the motion of support from Etoudi. The locales are thus coerced to promote the agenda from Etoudi. At times the Yaoundé beasts of burden do not even bother showing up in the regions. Startled natives hear over the government-controlled media that they did forward a motion of support to Yaoundé supporting this or that insanity. Only those who tower among the brain dead, and there are many unfortunately, still fail to see the evil hand and genius behind these motions of support. I am truly startled that many are startled by the latest wave of motions of support. As if….
This is the nature of the Camerounese system. Mr. Biya and those in cahoots with him have done business that way since 1960 and even before. Religiously. Slavishly. Resisting all attempts to change and/or be changed. Whereas the signs were pointing to another Biya election manipulation in progress. The man reorganized all base organs of his party, and then he caused the new officials to demonstrate some presence in the annual voters' registration and now the motions of support. The surprise is that some are surprised when the CNU-CPDM regime jump-starts another motion of support whereas we all know that the motions of support is in the DNA of that permissive and pernicious cabal of lootocrats and pirates who man the Jacobin-Napoleonic contraption in French Cameroun.
Lest I forget, the regime also counts on the opposition's thunderous hawks to aid and abet its heist by, notably becoming Internet Napoleons; concocting savvy epistles (like Prof. Asonganyi's "A Peoples Call of Shame") in the press reproving its latest manipulative actions. Regime cynics point opposition criticisms to Western embassies located in Yaoundé as eloquent proof of a buoyant and feisty democracy a la Camerounese. Paul Biya gouverne, les opposants s'opposent and life goes on. This is business as usual in the Camerounese state.
Prof of Asonganyi is partly with me with me so far. The man writes: "In the absence of clean policy and vision, the wheels of a political party can groan on monotonously, trudging along old paths and chewing the same cud over and over again. We surely are not strangers to motions of support and "the people's call."
Except that the man may not yet see himself as an enabler with Biya as his handler. Except that the man does not see Mr. Biya's hand in the motion of support ploy. Just as some have not yet seen Mr. Biya's hand in the fraudulent appointment of a coach for the Camerounese national team even when the said coach did not meet the TOR set by that country's football federation. Who else could have pulled off the caper?
A NEC Resolution of Sorts
My angst is elsewhere. I am rather dismayed by this self-evident projection of a classic insanity in Einsteinspeak as now manifest in Prof Asonganyi, Mr-Justice Ayah Paul and Pa Atekwana. These gentlemen now join the mbaglum fest, wittingly or unwittingly, leaping and gamboling to the Biya tune; being trundled along like sheep. Along the side the threesome just fail to think out of the box whereas innovative, creative and motivated thinking is already available in the case under review. It is sad, really. It is even more pitiable when it is reasoned that the three, members of the "Anglophone" elite and intelligentsia, are already in a sorry pass as disreputable collabos. They may not see it that way but the totality of their political merchandise as Southern Cameroonian members of the opposition in French Cameroun proves the point.
Let me further explicate the what about the who of the matter. Pa Atekwana of the collabo-SDF party announces with great fanfare that he is ready to make the supreme sacrifice should Mr. Biya dare anticipate presidential elections. Really? Haven't we heard this before from the SDF? Does this not sound like the flopped Ghost Town rhetoric all over again? Did we not hear a perplexed and robbed and wronged Fru Ndi declare post the 1992 "Stolen Victory" that his hand will remain in the air when Paul Biya raises it to "I do so Swear?" The point is, people who make supreme sacrifices do not talk about their intent on free cyberspace. They just act. Remember Turgot? The ugly one in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?" Turgot said: "When it is time to shoot: shoot, shoot, don't talk." People should talk less, and ACT more, thus be judged on their actions, rather than their words.
Furthermore, Pa Atekwana hails from the so-called North West region. This is about the only part of Occupied Southern British Cameroons with more guns per square kilometre than some warzones. This is the only part where the boy child is taught to let go his Chawup before he is ten as a sign of manhood. Yet, we refuse to put our children in harm's way. You know why? It is also called responsible leadership. I am saying that the argument of force is not discussed and crowed about on the Internet.
Further to the furthermore, Pa Atekwana represents the SDF and speaks the language of the SDF. The SDF no longer stands for the issues concerning the Southern British Cameroonians community having been sold off to French Cameroun interests and agenda for less than 30 pieces of silver.
Mr.-Justice Paul Ayah has sufficiently embarrassed himself by writing that the motions of support are rather the handiwork of corrupt journalists. I need not tarry on him. However, blaming the messenger is a posture cultivated over the years by folks in white-hot denial and self-afflicted defeat. The collabo would also blame the watchdog Ayah's stance reminds me of the case of the craven coward who when confronted by a menacing bully, his age mate, turns around to slap his baby sister. Did the journalists ask Eyebe Ayissi and his 19 pilfered cars to start to Monatele Motion?
Prof. Asonganyi makes a very interesting case study. You can even recant the genesis of Prof. Asongani's penchant to do the same thing again and again. Since he left the SDF, and found the Internet, Prof Asonganyi has served up a quasi-monthly fare of his reactionary muses on topics concerning the Biya kingdom. This is a rehash of the NEC style ineffective rhetoric. The Prof must miss his days and activities as SDF secretary general because his routine publications bear a disturbing semblance to the periodic publication of a typically SDF junk-ho called NEC Resolutions themselves the outcome a laughable exercise in futility called NEC Meetings. We know that the NEC meetings usually grant the SDF scribe the opportunity to produce reactionary toothless rubbish called NEC Resolutions which are to be classified and forgotten once they are written.
Take the example. The BBC this morning, February 23, reported that the SDF NEC held another situation comedy over the weekend and resolved as follows: That Mr. Biya should discountenance calls from his own party to precipitate the next presidential elections because the Camerounese state was at war in the North against Boko Haram. Question: Are these people from Mars? Mr. Biya is the brain behind the calls for anticipated elections and, secondly, the war against Boko Haram is rather a very good reason for Mr. Biya to anticipate elections. Not the contrary! The US exceptionally granted Franklin Delano Roosevelt three terms because of the Second World War. States do not change the commander in chief during a war. In fact, states guarantee his eternalization under such circumstances.
Designed-to-fail NEC Resolutions is insanity SDF style. This other permissive cabal of happy-go-lucky contemporary pirates has been doing the same thing year in and year out and expecting a different outcome. Asonganyi now transfers the SDF bad manners to the innocent in these egroups. Tell me then why Prof Asonganyi should not be accused of running up and down the streets of Yaoundé without his trousers as the man seems to be doing since his SDF days? I am not saying that Prof Asonganyi's writings have not been refreshingly educative, far from it. I am saying that reaction is not the posture of leadership. I will show us the how and the why soon enough.
There is insanity to the left and insanity to the right atop the Camerounese political turf with one major difference. Listen, Mr. Biya cannot be charged with insanity a la Einstein. Mr. Biya does not expect a different outcome in all his tricks and antics as a consummate manipulator. In fact, the man knows what exactly he is looking for when he summons his etat major and initiated another wave of motions of support. Like they say, Paul Biya roule pour Biya Paul. The question then is: Does Prof Asonganyi et al know what they are looking for when, as cued in by Mr. Biya, they start their insane manjong dance in reaction to the Biya latest?
I never witnessed the fulsome Camelot of Southern cum West Cameroon being born after the sixties but if the stories I have heard are accurate these gentlemen would belong to the Senior Service class. So explain this to me like I was a six year old. What are three eminent and prominent members of our community embarrassing themselves by singing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? Who cares about theme or rather who is listening? Not the francophones, I tell you that. This is where I now formally charge Prof Asonganyi et al of running up and down the streets without their trousers at the behest of Mr. Biya and the CPDM. Surely dis one na wahala. A small boy don come cause Mr. Learned Professor, Mr. Justice of the Supreme Court and Pa, the Retired Seasoned Administrator, to run up and down minus their trousers. Reason why a dey look and a dey laugh as these people careen up the hills and down the vale in Adam's suit. Prof himself in front! If this is not insanity, what is? A dey look and a dey laugh.
Failure of Leadership
The late Dr. Myles Monroe said: "Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose."
Leadership is action. Action motivated by a vision. Leadership is not reaction. Leadership is vision. The vision is the articulation of the action to get to where the people need to go. Even if it kills them. Influence is creating the want and desire in others to do what you want and desire them to do. Passion is contagious and a leader is most effective when he or she is passionate about the team, the organization, and the work that must be done. Passion is a characteristic that cannot be faked. It has to genuine and portrayed and manifested as a manifest. Leaders believe that what they do is important and purposeful. The belief is the conviction that drives the leader's actions and passion. Leaders have purpose for their actions and what they influence. Leaders seek what is best for the group and not what is best for the individual. Leaders are inherently selfless and hardworking. They are driven by their conviction and purpose and resonates the passion in their vision statements. The conviction is communicated in the vision and nearly every statement of the leader. The vision should be well defined and effectively communicated.
Mr. Biya can never be accused of having any of the above leadership traits simply because the man never had a vision of being president of French Cameroun. The thing landed on him on a golden platter and since then the man has made brave efforts to manage his inheritance. Mr. Biya is a manager. Managers are not leaders. Manipulation sets in where there is zero leadership. And, Mr. Biya is a consummate manipulator.
Once more, leadership is never reaction. Leadership is not the issuance of a NEC Resolution in its original or in the current Asonganyi form. This is reaction. Reaction is the posture of the craven follower – the ngong dog. Those who perennially react (as opposed to those who continually act) are associated with illiberal, bigoted and reactionary forces. They are called reactionaries. Reactionaries are not agenda setters. They have no agenda to set. Reactionaries are not leaders either. It is pure insanity to adopt the posture of a consummate reactionary and then to expect a different outcome. A perennial reactionary also fits into Einstein's definition of the mentally unstable because they expect a different outcome from/by their everlasting critique. Any manipulator (Again, Mr. Biya is a consummate manipulator) can use reactionary forces to promote his evil agenda. Except, and this is a very serious charge, the said reactionary is a hired gun for the forces of inertia now earning his keep at the expense of a people.
Friends, reactionaries systematically ground their nuisance on a hackneyed word called "Hope." So much so that in the later stage of their madness they become prisoners of hope. Whereas Hope is not a policy.
The Sorry Plight of the Collabo
There is a very good reason why some so-called leaders tend to be reactionaries in a political context as obtains in the Cameroons today. It is called the inauthenticity of the collaborator in a turf where a group of subjects have made themselves objects; beggars aspiring to the group from which they are excluded, people with a mindset that one must go down on all fours in front of the occupying-colonizing king and kingdom to survive. Fanon says that "the colonial subject is not only denied his or her freedom and reduced to an object; he or she is unable to be fully human at an individual level: colonial oppression works at the level of psychology as well as in material form."
It is so but it needs not be so. JP Sartre spells it out: "the choice of freedom and assuming the responsibility of {returning to} authenticity requires considerable courage." Not accepting defeat, not living in the craven state of a reactionary dog and a sub-human; perennially and periodically writing reactionary nonsense on the Internet. My man, Fela Anipulaku Kuti would call it "Colo-mentality." Camerounese would say "Kollo-Mentality." I would say: "dis pipi dem don kollo." Einstein says "insanity." The inauthenticity of insanity. The plight of the 'Collabo."
The Alternate Approach
We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Here, let me tell us a story. Sometime in November 1997, the opposition SDF party found itself at a crossroads. The CPDM had rigged the National Assembly elections and awarded the SDF 43 seats in the Camerounese NA. The SDF had to decide whether or not to join the NA under the circumstances. Prof. Asonganyi was secretary general of the SDF at the time. At about 9pm on the night before the NEC meeting to make the momentous decision, your humble servant had deliberately marched into Mr. Fru Ndi's private secretariat with his personal contribution to the raging debate - to go or not to go to the National Assembly. Several elderly SDF members were present. Fru Ndi was umpire, this scribe and two other Young Turks (whose names I do not have their permission to mention) were on the not-to-go camp. The elders argued for the motion. The group for going said things like "the SDF will cause an upheaval at the National Assembly; the SDF will be given airtime at CRTV to criticize the gvt, etc, etc). Our argument on the against side was simple. The Camerounese system was a lawless corrupt dictatorship, mined from within and runned by a ruthless dictator who could change the law; buy the 43 SDF parliamentarians over to minimize the impact of the SDF at the National Assembly. Most importantly, how exactly did the SDF hope to resolve the Anglophone Question by sending 43 people, half of them Anglophones to Yaoundé? The SDF did not have the numbers to make any impact whatsoever at the National Assembly. The debate raged until about midnight. It was clear to us that the umpire was not as neutral as he claimed to be for, it seems, Mr. Fru Ndi's mind was made up about the issue even before we started. I recall vividly that I suggested a compromise at the end of the debate: Let us move the NEC Meeting to decide whether or not to go to the National Assembly to Buea. Mr. Biya would undertand the message, behave himself and proceed with some compromise. My argument was simple: politics deals with power and power relates to power. Politics is the art of the possible; politics is about power and power play. Power relates to power. Power recognizes power. Power deals with power, not reactionary riff raffs talking nonsense on the Internet. My argument was that the SDF could blackmail Mr. Biya into proceeding with then the much-needed truly independent electoral commission by making those demands from Buea.
Needless to say, my group did not obtain a transfer of that NEC Meeting to Buea. We all know what happened after that. The NEC meeting to go to the National Assembly took place at the Fru Ndi building. Even while the session was in progress, Mr. Biya sent some Alpha Jets to roar over the building. Some of the francophones who attended that session came in wired directly to ghost sources of the regime, etc. SDF security had to remove bugs from some of them, etc. Last year, I think, Fru Ndi himself finally acknowledged that going to the NA was a mistake for the SDF had failed in parliament. Woefully. In a truly democratic culture, one would have expected Mr. John and his Merry Men to pay the price of their blunder i.e. table their collective resignation from the institutions they blundered into, organize general elections and then get the hell out of the SDF for peace to reign. Do you see these other Republicans respecting the law of the land? Hell no. They continue their infamy and dance of death.
Fortunately, history has a way of repeating itself in ways and means strange unto us mortals. History now places before the Southern British Cameroons community another shot at redemption. Prof Asonganyi, Mr.-Justice Paul Ayah and Pa Atekwana are members of this community. The concerns of that community are known. In 1990, members of that community came together to create a political party to address those concerns. In 2015, Mola Njoh Litumbe moved that all Southern Cameroonian political leaders and civil society groups join him in a confab to address the vexing issue of Anglophone colonization by the Francophone regime in Yaoundé. In 2016, Nhon Mukete moved hat his fratas conjurati, the fons, join him to address the same issue. In 2016, SWELA has re-addressed a microcosm of those concerns as succinctly as possible. I say this: rather than singing these songs of misery, slavery and inauthenticity on the Internet could we show leadership? Could we gather? Could we address this small matter of survival – the survival of a people, their history and their culture? Is this too much to ask?
The SDF did not take my 1997 cue and we are where we are today. And, the given is the same. A major drawback in all opposition groups as well as groups crusading for the actualization of the independence of the British Cameroons is that they do not muster enough power to challenge/threaten the Biya regime. The rapport des forces will be different once both groups constitute a real threat to Mr. Biya's position.
SWELA has shown leadership by acting. Where are the NOCUDAS, the NOWELAS, the Fons, etc, all graffi-invented groupings? Could we be witnessing a recant of the proverbial Foncha qua Bamendrous two-timing and hypocrisy? Someone Bamendrous gave me this ghoulishly euphoric answer when I inquired about the fons: "We have the Prime Minister," he said "no need rocking the boat." Allah? Allah. Methinks the genealogy, the content, the context and the intent of the Bamendrous could merit my attention. In due season.
FINAL COMMUNIQUE FROM SWELA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Secretariat of the South West Elite Association, SWELA, held an urgent meeting of the Association in Kumba, the Association's Headquarters on Monday, 25th January 2016. The Meeting, chaired by the Secretary General, was attended by members of the General Secretariat, Divisional Presidents and Special Invitees.
After frank and in-depth deliberations on current issues affecting the South West Region in particular and the Anglophones at large, SWELA resolved and issued the following public communiqué.
- SHABBY TREATMENT TOWARDS SENATOR NFON V.E. MUKETE
That we the South West Elite Association and all Anglophones of goodwill vehemently condemn the poor treatment our Patriarch Senator NFON V.E. MUKETE has of recent been receiving from Government for being vocal against Anglophone marginalization in this Country especially the cause for genuine Bilingualism.
That we solidly stand behind the Respectable Patriarch, and totally adhere to his ideas.- TRANSFORMATION OF CDC
That the Nationalization of CDC, just like the National Produce Marketing Board which collapsed and liberalization came and left the farmers with mushroom conservative societies without personnel and follow up. CDC operations like Pamol are based on the Common Law System. That a decree already signed by the President of the Republic stipulating the implementation of the OHADA Law which indeed is an off-shoot of the Civil Law System and the possible movement of the Headquarters to any part of the Country by the General Assembly leaves SWELA completely opposed to the move. CDC remains the only legacy to the South Westerners and Anglophones at large, SWELA orders that CDC should be left in her OLD STATUS.- THE ANGLO-SAXON SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
That SWELA recognizes the efforts made by CATTU and TAC concerning the preservation of the English-Speaking Sub-System of Education,
Mindful of Section 15(1), Chapter I of Part III of the Education Law No. 98/004 of 14 April 1998, the idea of harmonization of two cultures which are virtually parallel is not feasible, and therefore this is a show of alienating the Anglophones, defrauding them of their cultural heritage; hence making them strangers in their own homeland.Thus, SWELA calls on Government not to continue with the dismantling of the English-Speaking Sub System of Education (Anglo-Saxon System). We also note with regrets the alienation we are going through in HTTTC of the Universities of Bamenda and Buea which show a bias in the student enrolments, teaching staff and the syllabus disorientation. SWELA calls on Government to respect the Law No. 98/004 of 14/4/1998 including the Higher Institutions of learning for Culture and Education are interwoven. SWELA notes that the identity of a people is known through their cultures, and if this is denied them, they become alienated and defrauded in their own system. Anglo-Saxon Education speaks of "Vice Chancellor" while the French-Speaking Education System speaks of "Rector", and therefore let everything be done decently.
- THE COMMON LAW JUDICIAL SYSTEM
That SWELA reiterates that the Bi-Jural system of the Judiciary in the Country should be respected. We call on Government to respect the Common Law and allow it to be practiced wholly in the North West and South West Regions unpolluted.- LIMBE DEEP SEA PORT
That SWELA laments on the non-commencement of construction of the Limbe Deep Sea Port, promised since September 1991, SWELA calls on Government to include this in the list of Emergency Project to boost the realization of Vision 2035.- 1996 CONSTITUTION
That SWELA regrets the inability of the Government to create the Regional Councils and implement Article 66 of the Constitution. Therefore SWELA calls on Government to specially put these structures in place.- DIVISIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLIES
That Divisional General Assemblies shall be held in all the six Divisions of the Region before the Silver Jubilee Celebrations slated for October 2016. Each of the Divisional Assemblies shall be spiced with an Empowerment Summit.- VIGILANCE
That SWELA calls on all Anglophones within and in the Diaspora to note and be vigilant on these marginalization and assimilation policies being tactfully pursued by the powers that be.DONE IN KUMBA, Monday January 25, 2016
MOKI JOSEPH ETUKENI
PresidentSouth West Elite Association
On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 3:05 PM, Tazoacha Asonganyi <asontaz4919@gmail.com> wrote:--"The People's Call" of Shame!
In the absence of clean policy and vision, the wheels of a political party can groan on monotonously, trudging along old paths and chewing the same cud over and over again. We surely are not strangers to motions of support and "the people's call." But the timing of this other bandwagon of "calls" to which many CPDM structures and barons are desperately trying to jump on, and take it over, is strange! The "calls" seem to be a calculated indiscretion meant to give out a little but important message to the rest of us.
The CPDM has been in a state of mental turmoil for quite some time now, aggravated by the fear of the unknown. It has been teetering on the edge of crisis, trying to keep up appearances, with no confident vision of the future in front of it. What we are witnessing now is just a symptom of alarm in the party, and of its God-sent leader. Only this can explain this other disingenuous manner of expressing what seems to be a long-laid devilish plan.
True, what appears as the same action, performed by several individuals in different places, may have a variety of different psychodynamic reasons and explanations. The "callers"may not necessarily be all willing follower; and some of the "calls" are talking of 2018, while others are talking of "the next" presidential election. Our take is that this is all about "the next" presidential election that may happen in 2018, or sooner.
One of the central purposes of spin-doctoring is to form public opinion before the act. Many politicians usually blame the press not only for its partiality, but also for its not checking and cross-checking information dished out to form public opinion. This is obviously the reason for the strong condemnation of journalists by Paul Ayah in a write-up he titled "journalist sans pareil" [a strange type of journalist]. All because, judging by the gesticulation of the CPDM and its hero, some journalists concluded that the signs are that the presidential election will be anticipated.
Ayah reminded them that the fundamental law of the land (the constitution) provides for anticipated presidential election only when the incumbent president dies, or steps down, or is declared by the constitutional council to be no longer capable of exercising his duties. He charged that since none of these was the case, the journalists were living in a dreamland. Fair enough: I think all of this would be true if we have an agreed basis for democracy in our country. But we do not.
Macky Sall, the Senegalese president, has committed himself to organizing a referendum in May 2016 to ask the Senegalese people to decide on his proposal to reduce the presidential term from 7 to 5 years. He says "if they (the people) say yes, the presidential election will take place in 2017 instead of 2019."
This may have given Paul Biya an idea on how to "anticipate" the presidential election in Cameroon, especially because of the ease with which he removed the term-limit clause from the constitution in 2008. He must be reasoning that if he could so easily carry out such an operation that most of his peers are finding difficult to carry out, he can easily amend the constitution any time he wants, to reduce the presidential term in Cameroon from 7 to 5 years too (renewable once). His griots will easily argue that since it was the decision of the Tripartite Conference of the '90s, it is the wish of all Cameroonians. When it is done, he can then call a snap presidential election for October 2016 (instead of the October 2018 we are all focusing on).
Those trying to unfold this plan are arguing that he needs more time to finish "his" development projects. This is like taking all of us for the fools they have always wanted us to be. They forget that development is the perpetual struggle of humans to live a better life. A development project can never be finished to the extent that further development would no longer be necessary. As the philosopher would put it, the new is a question or problem; it is at once a result and a catalyst for step-by-step amelioration. The ludicrous deification of leadership given expression by the CNU/CPDM regimes for over half a century is a frightful aspect of human bondage that reduces human choices by freezing human ingenuity and passion.
In Cameroon, the governing system has been so screwed up that we regularly vote, but we do not elect. Abdoulaye Babale's declaration that ELECAM's role is to protect national institutions by blocking any transition at the summit of the state, only confirms what all of us have been saying!
This voting without electing has caused the people to slowly lose their pride, dignity, and self-belief. It has affected the nurturing of attitudes, behaviors and feelings of solidarity, and the cooperation and attachment to society that the election of leaders is supposed to nurture. It has blocked the development and practice of civic, social and emotional skills needed to make informed decisions in society. Indeed, it has subverted the use of elections to cultivate the soft skills of human capital needed to produce engaged, responsible citizens and their capacity to be, to know, to do, and to live together, as some would say. And so the pent up anger, and the explosion of violence that is slowly engulfing all of us!
Sycophants in the entourage of a leader can give him ideas, but since the leader is human like me and you, they always selects from a maze of ideas only those that assuage their ego and boost opinions that were already in their minds. This is true of Paul Biya. Like a Jacobin with trust in "le peuple" as the generic source of his actions, he knows fully well that he has been there for 30-some years because "le people" vote, but his regime elects him. He will go in for "another term" without the slightest fear of being humiliated at the polls like some of his peers. Abdoulaye Babale, there is no need to worry!
And so, as Paul Biya prepares to go in for another term chanting the slogan of "emergence," he should remember that for the magic word to have relevance, it must be hinged on an implacable logic and an imperative of efficiency that can neither surrender to the "calls" of "le people," nor to electoral favours, or bribery, or the arbitrariness of a political party incapable of looking reality in the face and taking the hard decisions that are necessary.
Those "opposition" people that will jump into the arena to give this other "call" of shame some respectability, or those that will claim that they will call its bluff, will no longer be a subject of bewilderment and ridicule. They all know that the regime can only be stopped through the streets, not the ballot box!
TazoachaAsonganyi
Yaounde.
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The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
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The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
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