Cameroon or Cameroons

In a country where there is no future for the minorities, where their very presence is not recognised, even despised, where a machinery has been put in place to subjugate, assimilate and efface their identity, isn't it time for checks and balances?

Monday, February 13, 2012

The Controversy in MINCAM - Broken Laws

A Response to JK's Take and Others (Scroll down to find the text) Posted in the MINCAM Forum on January 3rd 2012.

JK!

A forum such as this one demands a certain freedom of thought - an open-mindedness that presupposes a latitude towards topical discourse. Whether our idiosyncrasies allow for contributions of intellectual acclamation or not is certainly not a reason to preclude any member from sharing and better still from advancing a subject for the inquiry of the forum. Great minds as these that make up MINCAM are certainly not afraid of controversies. Let's imagine for a moment that the ex-president so hated the present leadership that he "manufactured this so called controversy," your perusal of the quoted text and subsequent interpretation makes one wonder whether it is written in Greek.

JK: One moment, so that we take a look at the English in the text. The active verb in the first statement is "becomes"; the third person singular of the infinitive “to become.” Etymologically: “Middle English bicomen, from Old English becuman; see gwDescription: http://img.tfd.com/hm/GIF/amacr.gif- in Indo-European roots.” Contextually, it would mean “To grow or come to be”. Its synonyms would be: convert, develop; and if you like, some other phrasal forms like “come to be”; “turn out to be” etc.

The ongoing thread has as central theme - the creation of a new position NOT a vacancy becoming available. Board Secretary talked about the board’s decision “to change” what in the past had been number of board members so conveniently that a position was created for the outgoing chairperson who did not only come back as an unelected board member but also as its chairperson. Now, back to semantics; to create and to become are not synonymous. The question of law here is whether the Board of members can circumvent MINCAM laws with impunity. Mark you, JK, in any and all democracy, the power to make, amend, and change laws rests with the people. Probably the only difference is that ours is an “advanced democracy” - the hallmark of Biyaism, becoming a canker worm that lives within the very best of us wherever we are.

The president of MINCAM has a responsibility to serve the people and to protect the laws of the institution. It should never be said of the Office of the Presidency that favors were granted or received and/or that the laws were not rigorously followed. The solution to a breach of any covenant is not and may not be a slapdash preservation of any consensus ad idem produced as a consequence.

Kenneth Forbin is a respectable and devoted member of MINCAM. I know him and work together with him in different functions. I’m also happy to call him my friend. This, JK, is not to cloud what you see as an unabashed hypocrisy in people like Mike Fondugallah who chose to speak their minds freely as they should. Mike is my friend, so too is Robert. The office of the Chairperson of MINCAM Board of Governors, I dare say is sacrosanct and whoever achieves the trust of his peers to occupy it for a given term should not be shrouded in controversy - fabricated or not. Ken should observe the resignation he tendered before until that time that according to MINCAM's constitution, very well quoted by JK below, there becomes a vacancy.

Keep your thoughts alive! There is nothing more interesting than to know that my fellow Cameroonians take these matters seriously.

Happy New Year 2012!
Brendan Banteh
Member: MINCAM’s Communication Committee

To Read or Not To Read!

Please find below a an interesting piece of literature to reflect on as you begin this week, that is, if you care to be informed by "a read" that is both provocative and insightful. Andrew Solii's piece coming within the backdrop of the ongoing bickering in MINCAM couldn't have been better timed.

As you read, which I trust you would, because you neither fall amongst the breed of lazy African intellectuals who are the scums of the earth (a subject of a different exposee by Field Ruwe) nor the Psalmist's fool that knows it all; reflect on

1) Do I fit squarely into the ideosyncratic construct that the write up presumes to fit every Cameroonian? In other words, am I "the" Cameroonian, or "a" Cameroonian by every stretch of the definition?
2) Why have we as MINCAMers failed to resolve the ongoing problem(s) specifically the rule of law within our association? By our very "identity" described therein below, have our judgement been clouded by favors received or traded; offices bought and sold; positions yearned for and then grabbed to advance a status symbol of "Minister", not because of the wish to be the servant of the people but by an unbriddled pride that makes us think that no one but us can lead?

Happy reading,
Brendan

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: NYUYKONGE Charles
To: "shundzev@yahoogroups.com"
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 7:40 AM
Subject: Re: [shundzev] Cameroonian Identity

Short of operational action directives on how to arrest the groundward direction in which Cameroon is being run, this piece is a nobel prize document


From: Alfred Chin
To: shundzev@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, 27 January 2012, 13:50
Subject: RE: [shundzev] Cameroonian Identity


Well written.

"When people fear their Gov't there's tyranny, when the Gov't fears the people there's Liberty" Thomas Jefferson

"When people falter and love their freedom it is because they destroy themselves"

Nchiylav Chin



To: shundzev@yahoogroups.com
From: hkiven07@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:52:23 -0800
Subject: Re: [shundzev] Cameroonian Identity



Fara,

No comment!. This is well written and many thanks. This is the real Cameroonian identity. You have x-rayed us inside-out and outside-in and woo Tunis would say. I have printed a copy for my library.
...................and to all - Please this is a good stuff for the weekend. Print and read over and over and over and share, only six pages.

Have a Blessed weekend ahead.

henry

From: Andrew Solii
To: nso veri ; "NFU-EU@yahoogroups.com" ; Caccom Catholic Community
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 9:56 AM
Subject: [shundzev] Cameroonian Identity [2 Attachments]


Chers compatriotes camerounais de la diaspora,

Mesdames et messieurs,

Je voudrais tout d'abord remercier le modérateur pour son mot de bienvenue. Je voudrais aussi dire merci aux organisateurs d’avoir pensé qu’il était important que vous vous retrouviez ensemble à la fin de l’année pour poser le jalon d’une nouvelle année. Je les remercie davantage d’avoir pensé qu’il était nécessaire d’associer un membre de l'Église catholique du Cameroun pour nous aider à réfléchir sur notre être-ensemble. Étant donné que cette rencontre intervient à la fois à la fin d’une année et au début d’une autre, j’ose croire qu’elle se veut une rencontre d’évaluation, un examen de conscience et une projection d’avenir pour un mieux-être. Ceci est donc une idée louable de constater que les traces perdues dans l’oubli peuvent inspirer notre avenir. En effet, nous étudions le passer pour nourrir notre présent en vue de préparer et améliorer notre avenir. Dans cette optique, je voudrais que nous réfléchissions aujourd’hui sur notre identité camerounaise, 50 après l’indépendance.

Qu’est-ce que l’identité ? Ceci renvoie à ce qui constitue l’essence d’une personne ou d’une chose. C’est la chose sans laquelle la personne ou l’objet n’est pas ce qu’elle est ou ce qu’il est. En lien avec notre identité camerounaise, je voudrais poser la question de cette façon :
 L’identité camerounaise telle que comprise chez et parmi les Camerounais ;
 l’identité camerounaise telle que vécue par les camerounais en diaspora et telle que expérimentée par les non camerounais en diaspora ;
 l’identité camerounaise en tant qu’elle renvoie aux « citoyens de la terre promise » ;
 et enfin l’identité camerounaise en tant qu’elle renvoie à ceux qui rêvent un Cameroun de droit et prospère.

Quand nous disons de quelqu’un qu’il est Allemand, bien de choses viennent à l’esprit. Très vite, on pense à la conscience professionnelle, au sens aigu du travail, au respect du temps, à la responsabilité, à la transparence, au respect du bien commun, au sens critique, à l'honnêteté, à la confiance. On pense à quelqu'un de strict dont sa seule référence est la loi; il prévoit et épargne pour ses vacances. Un vrai Allemand se contente du fruit de son travail et pas plus. Il fait la charité à travers des organisations sociaux et non individuellement, par refus d'auto-valorisation. Il ne voit pas comment il doit mentir son voisin, voilà pourquoi il croit tout le monde et accepte facilement ce que lui partage son frère. Il est organisé et veille à l'ordre chez lui, à son bureau et dans les milieux publiques. Un vrai Allemand est un ami de la lecture; il l'utilise pour s'instruire et se former. Il fait le rang dans les services publiques pour ne pas outrager ceux qui sont venus avant lui. Pour un Allemand, le temps est réellement de l'argent. Bref, il y a donc une manière d'être Allemand. Je voudrais donc au regard de ce que je viens de dire au sujet des Allemands, que nous réfléchissions comme camerounais sur ces valeurs que nous apprenons, ou au contact desquelles nous sommes, pour voir comment elles nous affectent et nous transforment. Il convient donc de nous poser la question de savoir si nous Camerounais vivant à l'étranger, en Allemagne, restions comme des canards sur qui passe bonnement de l'eau sans nous imprégner des valeurs des autres. Qui doit se réclamer d'être un vrai camerounais ?
WHO IS A TRUE CAMEROONIAN IN CAMEROON AND AMONG CAMEROONIANS?
Among themselves, Cameroonians know that they are people who are hardworking; people who study well and who co-operate especially during deaths and accidents among themselves or their fellow citizens. There is a certain aura of distrust among them in things like money, especially when it concerns the common fund and accountability to a group. Some Cameroonians will prefer to stay away from Cameroon-organised groups with the aim of avoiding gossips, blackmail, unhealthy material competition and mutual suspicion. Among us, those who have positions of leadership generally come late to meetings with impunity and/or a presumed feeling that it will be understood. Cameroonian parties never begin at the times stipulated in invitations. Most of the times, we find it hard to have party halls because experience shows that Cameroonians are not considerate in the way they use public facilities and always leave a mess of the environment after parties. A Cameroonian is one who believes that he can buy anything with money from position, material to even money itself.
QUI EST UN VRAI CAMEROUNAIS SELON L'EXPÉRIENCE DES NON-CAMEROUNAIS ?

Sans trop de considérations, les gens disent des camerounais qu'ils sont des gens heureux; ils boivent et conduisent volontiers. Ils discutent à haute voix sans souvent tenir compte des autres. Un camerounais célèbre la vie. Les camerounais passent aussi pour de grands travailleurs, ils aiment le travail en équipe, ils excellent dans les études et ils apprennent facilement les langues. Les camerounais sont exigeants envers les autres par rapport au respect du temps, mais moins exigeants par rapport à eux-mêmes. Les camerounais se critiquent mutuellement, ils discutent volontiers du football et de la politique. Changer de nationalité constitue un rêve et une grande réalisation pour un camerounais, et il est prêt à tout faire pour se passer de sa nationalité. Les camerounais crient haut et fort qu'ils consomment leurs produits, mais jamais ils ne sont fiers de porter par exemple des habits produits au Cameroun. Payer des dettes est une croix pour un camerounais. Nombreux se baladent et voyagent avec de faux documents et diplômes. Leurs noms changent souvent selon le lieu où ils se trouvent. Un camerounais peut facilement vendre ou sacrifier son idéal en échange de simples divertissement. Ils font la concurrence dans la possession des biens. Les camerounais préfèrent faire de grandes dépenses quand quelqu'un est mort que quand il est vivant. Le moment de deuil est un temps d'extravagance et de démonstration des forces pour les camerounais. Les camerounais aiment envoyer beaucoup d'argent à la maison pour plusieurs et différentes raisons. Ils souhaitent voir un changement, mais personne ne prêt à risquer ni à prendre des initiatives. Les camerounais connaissent bien leurs problèmes et les solutions pour mettre fin à ces problèmes. Mais personne n'est prêt à prendre le risque de les mettre en pratique, ni à payer le prix des sacrifices que cela implique. Et quelqu'un a fait remarquer que les camerounais n'aiment pas en réalité la paix, mais ils souhaitent quand même l'absence de la guerre, comme si la paix et l'absence de la guerre étaient la même chose. C'est comme qui dirait, tout le monde souhaite changer le monde, mais personne ne pense à se changer lui-même. Les gens parlent de leur pays comme s'ils étaient des observateurs déçus d'un système qui ne répond pas aux besoins de leur peuple. Bergson disait: « Exister, c'est changer; et changer, c'est grandir; et grandir, c'est se récréer continuellement sans fin ». Sommes-nous prêts à changer pour le meilleur ? Et en lien avec l'affirmation de Bergson, P. Gouthey souligne lui aussi que « les saints sont des hommes qui ont compris qu'il n'existe aucune chose dans la vie qui ne soit soumis au changement ». Cette approche héraclidienne de la vie peut être d'une grande aide pour nous camerounais.

WHO IS A CAMEROONIAN AS A CITIZEN IN THE LAND OF PROMISE?
When I was a college student doing geography, I remember my teacher in the eighties telling us happily that Cameroon was Africa in Miniature. If anyone visits Cameroon and goes all round, he would have visited all of Africa because Cameroon has all the natural resources and the climates that one can experience in Africa ranging from the coastal, the maritime, the Savannah, the Sahara, the forest and the mountainous resources. Cameroon also has all types of foods and food combinations that one can have in Africa. Cameroon has over 250 languages and all these work under the umbrella of one nation. Cameroon also seems to be leading Africa in many things like corruption and injustice as she has been rated the most corrupt country in the world many times. These are echoes of a land full of potentials, natural and human, full of a people with untapped resources, of a people with a future of unity in diversity. These speak of a country which could be a model of African unity in variety. Cameroonians today owe to posterity an account of what was done with these natural goodies of the nation. We owe it in charity to render an account to our followers on what happened with the natural shared values and talents of our nation. What happened to solidarity, to the sense of the common good; what happened to the sense of maintenance; what happened to truth. What happened to the promising land. As E. Stanley Jones will say, “If you are wedded to today’s trends, you will be widowed by the weekend”.
There are certain concepts which seem to have developed peculiar meanings and interpretations when it concerns Cameroon. These concepts include the concepts of justice, peace, truth, democracy, minister, leader, development etc.
Justice seem to mean for the Cameroonian society of today that which keeps in places the temporal order of the Ruling Class. In this connection, in the handling of state property or common property, the rule that guides the one at the head is the 11th commandment. We know that there are ten commandments but the Cameroon situation seems to suggest and embalm an 11th which seems to be the lex operandi “Thou shall not be caught”. So far as you are not caught, go on doing what you are doing. According to St Augustine, “Justice is that virtue that assigns to every man his due.” In the thinking of Blaise Paschal “Justice without strength is powerless, strength without justice is tyrannical... Therefore, unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong just”. This seems to be the situation in Cameroon and among Cameroonians. To share in the plight of those in the margin of our society, Plato sees that “Justice will be achieved only when those who are not injured feel as indignant as those who are.”
La paix au Cameroun semble traduire l'absence physique de la guerre et une situation où l'opposition et réduite au silence à travers des intimidations, des tortures... La paix chez les camerounais semble traduire un maintient de tension entre la criante misère des opprimés et les affres violences des oppresseurs. Il faut dire que la paix vient pas de l'absence de conflits ou de la résignation, mais de l'habilité à construire la à travers les souffrances et les sacrifices que cela implique. La paix n'est pas à concevoir comme un but à réaliser, mais un chemin à faire et à construire. Elle n'est pas relative uniquement à une période, mais la paix concerne toute la vie. La paix n'est pas une chose à imposer sur les gens. Horace W. B. Donegnan affirmes ainsi que « la paix est fondamentalement le fruit de l'amour, des sacrifices mutuels et du pardon mutuel ». la vraie paix est directement liée à la vérité. Pour cette raison, Matthieu souligne que « la paix est tellement précieuse qu'aucun trésor ne peut être offert en échange, si ce n'est la vérité ». J'ose donc affirmer avec Herbert Hoover qui croit que « la paix n'est pas une chose faite dans des conciles autour d'une table, ou dans des traités. Elle se fait dans les cœurs des hommes ». Pour cette raison, « la paix durable est une chose qu'on ne peut pas protéger uniquement avec les armes, mais elle se conserve dans les cœurs des hommes libres, dans les échanges francs des hommes qui acceptent de vivre ensemble », affirme avec raison Ronald Reagan.

Dans la société camerounaise, la vérité semble être un concept très flexible, dynamique et subjective. La vérité change ainsi de profondeur, de grandeur, de longueur, de largeur selon les intérêts de celui qui en parle. Et pourtant, comme principe de la vie, la vérité est une valeur universelle, intemporelle. Elle est un idéal inchangeable. La vérité est une, vraie, bonne et admirable. Et selon Miguel de Cervantes, la vérité jaillit de la fausseté comme le pétrole jaillit de l'eau. Clarence Darrow poursuit en disant que « la recherche de la vérité nous rend libre ». Pour cette raison, Arthur Dunn pense que « la vérité constitue l'arme la plus redoutable que l'on puisse user ».
Democracy in Cameroon seems to mean the ability to divide, manipulate and rule. Democracy has been traditionally understood to mean a government of the people, for the people and by the people. How much of the Cameroon governance falls within this understanding. In the thinking of Winston Churchill, “Democracy is the worst form of governance- except all the others”. In which case it is the least evil of all the forms of governance. Democracy void of morality, void of justice and truth is an impossible caricature. In this light Reinhold Niebuhr observes that “...Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary”.
The concept of minister seems in Cameroon to have the thesaurus equivalent meaning of a magister. The word is rooted in the Latin word for a servant but the reality of Cameroon seems to show that ministers are Lords. This can be seen from the struggle among people to become ministers or to have ministers from their areas of interests and also the reaction of people after a minister is named from among them. People sing praises to the one who appoints ministers and bring gifts to him for choosing one of them as minister. People immediately expect such a minister to do special things for his area of origin and for the people of this area either as individuals or as a collectivity. If a minister is A case in point is that of the Present Prime Minister Yang Philemon. After his nomination as prime minister in Cameroon, some traditional chiefs travelled from the North West Province to congratulate him and thank Mr Paul Biya for choosing their son as PM. Yang Philemon did not consider this as a necessary idea because, as he claimed, he was the prime minister for the whole nation and not only for the North West Region.

Normalement, un leader ou un chef est celui qui est choisi par son peuple, par sa population en vue de travailler pour le bien-être de toute la population. C'est cela que signifie être ministre comme servant de son peuple. Malheureusement, la situation au Cameroun montre que les ministres vivent dans une impunité et immunité tel qu'ils vivent au-dessus de la loi et se permettent de tous les crimes possibles et de détournement des fonds publics. Ainsi, il y a lieu d'établir une règle d'or qui régit nos dirigeants aujourd’hui au Cameroun :

(1) Un chef a toujours raison;
(2) Chaque fois que le chef semble être fautif, il faut toujours présumer qu'un chef ne peut se tromper et qu'il faille le comprendre être dans ses droits.

Par conséquent, par rapport au développement du pays, nous devons nous interroger pour savoir quel niveau de développement avons-nous atteint comme nation. Prenons simplement le fleuve Rhin. Ce fleuve a plus de dix ponts. Mais notre fleuve Wouri qui sert et pourtant d'une de grandes ressources économiques du Cameroun n'a qu'un, d'ailleurs déjà défectueux et peut s'écrouler à tout moment. Qu'est ce qui constitue l'économie d'un pays sinon des choses comme celles-ci ? Dans les années 60 et 70, il y avait des compagnies aériennes camerounaises, mais où sont-elles parties aujourd’hui ? Actuellement, la seule voie ferroviaire que nous avons au pays date des années 10, rappelant ainsi le temps des Allemands.
Un évêque était invité à prêcher à l'occasion d'une célébration jubilaire de la fondation d'une paroisse. Voici comment il avait commencé son homélie : « il y a cinquante ans qu'est mort le fondateur de cette paroisse, et voici cinquante ans que les paroissiennes et les paroissiens de cette Église se sont écartés de l'idéal du fondateur ». Il y a plus de cent ans que les Allemands avaient initié le développement au Cameroun, mais aujourd’hui sommes-nous vraiment restés dans ce chemin de développement hérité ? Ou pour parler comme cet évêque, il y a plus de cent ans que nous sommes éloignés du chemin du développement. C'est donc avec raison que John Steinbeck note le fait que « c'est dans la nature de l'homme, qu'au fur et à mesure qu'il vieillit, de protester contre le changement, surtout contre le changement pour le meilleur... ». Mais la pensée d'Alexander de Seversky peut nous aider à voir clair et à nous situer positivement vis-à-vis du changement. Il affirme que nous devons plutôt « souhaiter la bienvenue au changement comme un ami; nous devons plutôt chercher à rendre visibles les nouvelles possibilités et accueillir les bénédictions que ce changement est susceptible de nous apporter. Il ne faut jamais arrêter d'apprendre ni de grandir, parce que cela constitue la clé à une riche et fascinante vie ». Mais au Cameroun, on se contente de dire simplement et abusivement que « lorsque Youande respire, le Cameroun vit, peu importe la misère dans laquelle le reste du Cameroun croupit. Ainsi, au Cameroun, la mesure du développement, c'est uniquement Yaounde, le reste n'a pas d'importance.
WHAT ARE WE AS CAMEROONIANS HANDING ON TO POSTERITY?
As a country at the age of fifty, the question I ask myself is: What legacy and heritage are we leaving for posterity. One Cameroonian of integrity makes those without integrity less by one. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything” (George Bernard Shaw). Theodore Roosevelt ones stated “...We wish peace; but we wish the peace of Justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right, and not because we are afraid”. In this light, “Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of faith, strength, energy, will, sympathy, justice, imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism. Passivity and quietism are invitations to war”( Dorothy Thompson). Nature will question us about how we have used the potentials above. With initiatives like yours today;
I begin to dream of a Cameroon where the goods of the nation will be used for the good of the nation and especially for the less privileged;
I dream of a Cameroon where hard work will be encouraged and rewarded;
I dream of a Cameroon where what is said will be more important than who has said it.
I dream of a Cameroonian where justice will be accessible to all and sundry;
I dream of a Cameroon where handwork in school will be made by the pupils and marks accorded accordingly and not where handwork is bought from the market or paid for in kind or cash and marks got from the teacher.
I dream of a Cameroon where politics will really be an exercise of truth in charity and charity in truth. Where promises will be made and realised. Where votes will not be bought with money and where genuine elections will be planned, conducted and executed and results come after the pools.

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où les promesses seront effectivement réalisées et ne resteront pas lettres mortes;

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où les élections seront vraiment planifiées, exécutées et conduites dans la vérité; un Cameroun où les votes ne seront pas achetés et où les résultats des urnes ne seront pas falsifiés;

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où la loi sera faite pour protéger les biens communs des individus;

 Je rêve d'un pays où tous les camerounais seront égaux devant la loi et où les ressources seront disponibles à tous et acquises uniquement par les mérites et le travail;

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où l'amour du travail pour la nation sera une priorité par rapport au travail et intérêts personnels.

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où les employés et fonctionnaires de l'État feront leur travail avec amour et se contenteront de leur solde.

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où les gens seront recrutés et engagés sur base de leurs mérités et compétences plutôt que sur base des affinités, familiales, régionales ou amicales.

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où les gens recevront ce qu'ils méritent et méritent ce qu'ils recevront;

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où les acquisitions personnelles seront proportionnelles aux revenues;

 Je rêve d'un Cameroun où la transparence sera une réalité de la base à la présidence;
 Je rêve d'un pays où les Camerounais seront ouverts au monde et accueillis;


I dream of a Cameroon where all will be able to speak the truth in love and express the love in truth for themselves, for each other, for the nation and for the Creator. I dream of a Cameroon where taxes will be sincerely paid, declared and judiciously used for the common good. Where the import and export prices of things will be clear in the law. Where people will import things and receive them intact without theft. I dream of a Cameroon where the natural and human resources will be tapped and used for the good of the nation as a whole. I dream of a Cameroon where we shall sing and mean it from North to South and East to West when we sing “Land of Promise, Land of Glory...”

Kushu-Solii Ngah (Sacerdos simplex).
Doktorand der Sytematischen Theologie
Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen,
Offenbacher Landstr 244
60599, F/M Deutschland.

31st December 2011. On the occasion of the end of Year Party of Cameroonians in Offenbach.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Cameroon election: SDF accuse Paul Biya's CPDM of fraud

Cameroon election: SDF accuse Paul Biya's CPDM of fraud

Many people said they were unable to find their voting cards

The main opposition party in Cameroon has accused the ruling party of fraud in Sunday's election, as President Paul Biya seeks to remain in power.

Mr Biya, 78, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, faced 22 challengers.

An official of John Fru Ndi's Social Democratic Front (SDF) said people had been caught voting more than once, while some complained that they were unable to cast their ballots.

Mr Biya and his officials have denied the claims of fraud.

"The world is not a perfect place, but let's be positive, for there has been no intention of fraud. We're for transparency and free elections," he said as he cast his ballot in the capital, Yaounde.

The election was generally peaceful although the authorities say two gendarmes were killed after unknown gunmen opened fire at a polling station in the oil-rich Bakassi peninsular, which Nigeria recently handed to Cameroon after an international court ruling.

Turnout is said to have been low, with many people believing Mr Biya's victory is a foregone conclusion, especially with the opposition failing to agree on a single challenger.

Votes are now being collated and counted, with final results due within two weeks.

"We actually caught some people voting three times," said SDF secretary general Elizabeth Tamanjong. "How could such a thing happen?" she asked.


Paul Biya is expected to win another seven years in office
Mr Fru Ndi said there had been "disorder" and "intimidation" at some polling stations.

"We won't tolerate this rigging this time in Cameroon. I urge Cameroonians to vote and secure their votes, but this doesn't mean that I'm preaching violence," he told AP after casting his ballot in the main north-western town of Bamenda.

He also said that supposedly indelible ink designed to stop people voting more than once was easily washed off.

Several people said that when they went to vote, they were told that someone had already cast ballots on their behalf.

The BBC's Randy Joe Sa'ah in Yaounde says it was common to see piles of unclaimed voter cards at polling stations.

The opposition also complained that its campaigns were restricted by a lack of funding and media airtime.

Dozens of people were killed in 2008 during protests after Mr Biya controversially amended the constitution, scrapping the limit to presidential terms.

The candidate of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) has been president since 1982

In the last election in 2004, Mr Biya scored more than 70% and Mr Fru Ndi took just 17%.

President Biya has promised to turn the country into a huge construction site - spending money on improving the roads, electricity supply and rail service.

Cameroon is rich in oil, minerals and timber but most of its people live in poverty.

(Curled From the BBC)

Friday, September 02, 2011

Mr Biya and Motions of Support

From: "P.Foleng, SD"
To: shundzev@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 10:58 AM
Subject: Re: [shundzev] Fw: Breaking News: Cameroon Presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 9 - No more speculation


I will be the last to believe that Biya does not know that these motions of support are only cooked around Yaounde.


A Rejoinder:

You give Mr Biya much credit to intimate that "he knows!" What does Mr Biya really know about anything related to Cameroon and the geo-economic and political landscape of the country. His patriotism started and ended with his Buea pledge that he'll live and die as a Cameroonian. What he meant to say back then was ..... henceforth, he was going to live and die as "the" Cameroon Head of state. Like many despots surrounded by sycophants and political midgets, he knows not what to think, or rather he thinks not, lest the very effort furrow his well kept brow and sing to the world that know ye all, here am I - the docile septuagenarian, the man of vigor and moralization! Yes! He knows not where the motions of support are forged, that is, if he knows they exist at all. If you want to believe in anything at all about Mr Biya, believe this - Biya just like Gaddafi 'genuinely knows' that he is the savior of the nation, the one and only Lion man Cameroonian are lucky to have as their president (mark you, not leader!). You may yet be right, "he knows" they know not what they want until He opines for them. It is their duty to sing His praises with a resounding gusto from the greenery of the south to the dunes of the north.

Yes Rev! He knows indeed!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

2011 MINCAM Elections: As I see them

For any aspiring political scientist, the ongoing fight for supremacy at the helm of MINCAM makes for an interesting study. There is no gainsaying that beneath most leadership aspirations there lurks a debilitating virus of the moral fiber: pride. For the ancient Greeks it is hubris. Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with having that self assurance that you do something for your fellow men and women by aiming to be the very least amongst them: the servant. The question then is: are the present candidates aiming to serve or to lead? Those who aim to serve do so in the humble belief that if given the opportunity, they’ll give the people nothing short of the very best without waiting to be praised. While it is true that many strive to lead at all cost, it is also true that they may sometimes even with audacity do so with the best of intentions. So should the fight for the presidency of MINCAM be anything but vitriolic? Yes, it certainly can be if this association is really out to make a difference in the community - the Minnesota community where niceness is the defining character of the people. Why then do Cameroonians, most Cameroonians, and other immigrant populations find it difficult to be part of, continue to remain outsiders to this emblematic culture of civility, and demonstrate at nearly all instances that no matter the number years they have lived here or been educated here they harbor a nearly irredeemable uncouthness; a complete lack of savoir faire that not even exorcism can remove. You only need to read the email exchanges and find therein that what emerges is a character portrait of a people that is “atypical” of Cameroonians! Not that we should be anything else but haven’t we learnt anything from our travels? Haven’t we achieved anything from the intellectual peregrination that brought most of us here about from the titles that we are wont to yearn and still cling to, longingly?

Yes, what is emerging is a character portrait that has once been ingeniously attributed to Cameroonians by the disreputable former Central African dictator Jean Felix Patasse. As the political empire he once built cascaded into an abyss and he receded into oblivion, his death wish was that were he to be born again it should be as a Cameroonian! The people to him were/are hospital, loved food, good food; then drinks and more drinks; epicurean true disciples who were too full of good humor to bother the lives of despots.

Can Cameroonians as a people be summed up by their love of abdominal politics? Is it a love to serve the Cameroon community in Minnesota, the zeal to create a difference, to divulge themselves of the self for the good of others that is driving these political aspirants? Or is it just sheer ambition driven by pride that is embryonic of this surge to do good for and by MINCAM? Maybe yes or maybe no! Let’s take a look at the two main candidates of the upcoming MINCAM elections: Robert and Mike. What do we know of them? As the elections draw “dangerously” nearer, this is how I see them.

Robert is a well educated middle age man, a well meaning Minnesota Cameroonian who is planning to take MINCAM into a new phase. He has a manifesto to boost his intentions. This is his debut on the MINCAM stage as he was very busy with school, and work to actively volunteer and/or take a noticeable part in MINCAM past community events. What with an engaging career as a pharmacist and an uncontrollable posting out of town. His employers have planned to promote and relocate him to the Cities and as such he can carve out sometime to be an active member of MINCAM or should I say her president.

Mike is also a well educated middle age man who is a well meaning Minnesota Cameroonian who is not only planning to bring MINCAM to heights yet to be seen. He is the very reason that MINCAM is what it is today. For recent settlers like me, MINCAM is synonymous to Mike. He is one of the foremost brains in the founding of MINCAM. At the verge of launching Robert wanted questioned the rationale behind the timing and call for a postponement; other elders presently pushing for his candidacy skeptically threw scornful satirical jabs at the very idea of Cameroonians coming together for a common good and loudly purported that such an exercise would end in ignominy. They questioned how anyone could dare to call for Cameroonians to come together when the community was grieving; the community is grieving now and the campaigns are more heated than ever.

What experience/contributions have both men garnered with MINCAM or generally within the community? Robert takes his membership within his Nkwen Cultural association seriously and is generally available to sacrifice his time for the good of his association when work and other engagements are not in the way. Even though the Nkwen Cultural association is yet to take part in MINCAM organized events, he is committed to making sure that this is a reality. After all, doesn’t charity begin at home? As for contributions towards MINCAM, he may not have been a relatively active member in the past (school, work, family etc.) but since his decision to become president, he has personally financed the membership of scores of Cameroonians. This hitherto, dormant members of our community will NOT follow his example and wait until they want to become president before they become active members but rather share in his vision of how to reform MINCAM so that occasions are put on the calendar with accuracy and rapidity while at the same time ensuring that not two occasions fall on the same weekend. He has yet undisclosed means by which he’ll build a community center. Even though he has no experience on what it has taken to bring MINCAM up her present state, he is a quick study. After all, was Obama not only a community organizer and is now the president of the US? Robert plans to learn what it means to be a community organizer at the same time learning what it means to lead a vibrant and diverse community. He is counting on the Cameroon community in Minnesota to gamble with MINCAM leadership. It may be a sure bet for history abounds with example of successful leaders who have appeared like interns on the outset and gone forward to do great things. Even though many of his ardent supporters are using highly odious and divisive language, it would be saddening to imagine that that reflects what Robert stands for. It doesn’t!

While Robert brings hope of a better MINCAM to the table, Mike represents what is already good about MINCAM. He is an embodiment of aspiration made real. Three or four years ago, he and others thought of making the presence of Cameroonians felt in the Twin Cities. The idea of forming an association was received with askance in many quarters and rightfully so for by our very nature we take solace in the status quo remaining unchanged. With an unflinching believe in the righteousness of this endeavor, (call it sanctimony for good effect) he embarked on an Obama-style community organizing and together with other founding fathers, invited heads of associations to sell this idea. He talked to people wherever and whenever about importance of MINCAM. The singularity of the message of solidarity, of togetherness and neighborliness, and above all his persistent if not aggressive call for Cameroonians to converge as a family – a kind of modern day Julius Nyerere's Ujamaa, began to take root and blossom. He drafted the articles of association, worked with the founding fathers of MINCAM to create every facet of MINCAM as we know it today. His uncanny ability to glean instructive information from multiple sources, sensitize the community on current and upcoming events soon earned him the title of Town Crier. That MINCAM has reached an epoch in her short history at which the campaign for her leaders is nearly viral is a testament not to a lack of success of the incumbent president and its EXCO but on how far their leadership has brought organization. So what does Mike bring to the table? Simple: MINCAM, her past, present, and undoubted vision of a more solid, a more united, a more diverse association that will continue to “make a difference in our society.”With an up and running website, a yahoo mailing group, up and functioning discussion charts, reform is not only being promised, it is already here. If the president airs, correct him/her in real time. Events, not on the calendar, call for them to put up in real time. Engaging debates on issues, even if there is no consensus ad idem, the process itself becomes part of our body polity – that a people can co-exist despite ideological incompatibilities. Mike has demonstrated over the years that he can balance his job (without a boss breathing down his neck), a supportive family (a wife who like him is present in nearly all MINCAM and community functions) and at active participation in his Lebialem group, Bui Family Union, the Cameroon Choir. His experience includes but not limited to the fact he is the former president of SOBA America and president of LECDA MN, Current president of LECUDEM USA, Vice President & Secretary of Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce, Member of ALANA, Member of OneMinnesota, Board Member Cameroon Professional Society (That recently gave an award to Melissa Nambangi) amongst others. He is an undoubted man of the people whose energy resources have been tested by time.

What personality/leadership traits have these men been known to portray? Robert has a charming unassuming personality. He is the kind of guy that is so approachable that when you get to talk to, you feel like you can trust him with your secrets. Robert is presidential. If some distinguished persons with flowing titles have termed his political opponent a dictator it could be taken to mean that Robert is either timid or meek. This is not to suggest weakness or effeteness. After all, Christ the meek Lamb of God resorted to violence of necessity to drive people out of the temple. Yes, if Mike is a dictator then Robert must be the true egalitarian. His leadership would be that in which all decisions are reached by consensus at all times because for the president to decide for the people is anathema. It portends therefore, that to be a president is only to have a presidential personage and not to exert the powers that come with the office. Never! Not even for the good of those one has been privileged to lead. That would be dictatorship! Such an acclaimed genteel personality that is portrayed as a foil to Mike fearfully borders on effeminacy.

Mike is a dictator! Aha! Who is a dictator? A man with absolute powers who is tyrannical and abusive with impunity…. No! To term Mike a dictator is not only a misnomer, but outrageous and sickeningly repugnant. While others who have poised Robert on the winning pedestal and showcased him around B. Park circles can unashamedly go to such lengths to paint such an unrecognizable caricature of a distinguished member of our community in order to win an election, let me just state that this is unpardonable. What character does Mike portray? A critical inquiry into Mike’s sojourn with MINCAM can be summed up in one word: unyielding. Pushed away, shunned, even scorned by prophets of doomed, he never yielded. To bring the idea of MINCAM to fruition he demonstrated what can be termed a force of character so great that it pushed many including myself from our individual existence, sometimes but not always in tribal and regional groups into a new dispensation; the very beginnings of a collective, more like the founding of a new nation. It is true that for men and women whose love for political advantage is defined by their love also for demagogy, Mike must have been the undying and unrelenting midget and not the poetic gadfly that he is. Whether he used icy water to wake people out of their infinite shade of slumber into a state of unmitigated ‘awakeness’ and awareness of their place in the community they now call home can be seen in steady grow of MINCAM. As is always the case, the very people that have been saved from sinking into political and social obscurantism are libeling Mike’s dynamism as dictatorship. As a full registered member of MINCAM I find this offensive. To admit this of Mike is to equally admit that MINCAM members either from sheer terror or unquestionable ignorance have been cowed into docility by Mike. What Mike has demonstrated in his quest to promote the Cameroon brand and bring our people together is laudable. I may shy away from the Biya controlled Cameroon, but I don’t shy away from MINCAM under his charge. Without turning this posting into neither a panegyric nor an encomium, Mike portraiture as a leader fits squarely in the construct best described by Frederick Forsyth, the renowned writer of the The Day of the Jackal, Dogs of War, The Fist of God etc., in his biography of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. According to Forsyth a true leader should possess compassion without sentimentality, intelligence without pedantry and courage without priggishness. Apart from these he should possess even something more, an indescribable quality that makes people want to follow him. Mike may neither be Ben Gurion nor Winston Churchill, but what he has been able to achieve, is worth of praise worthy and deserving of the following he has generated.

The Campaigns! Robert is pretty good at this game. After what appears like the bestowing of confidence by the king makers that be, he quickly propounded his manifesto and threw a good barbecue party. This ability to tap into the very essence of Cameroonian politics- abdominal gratification should be taken in no light manner by any aspiring political scientist. They remain in us Cameroonians, the unchecked tendency to welcome free food and booze and then praise the hand that giveth. There is therefore no doubt that Robert is a savvy politician who understands what would get some of his supporters shouting that he is the man! The tactic of financing the registration of members who had no time for MINCAM before now, and who will come, vote for him, and then sink into oblivion until the next election cycle when someone affluent enough can provide them chicken, beer and 10 bucks to register and become “bona fide” members of MINCAM is commendable. If rumbling rumors are anything to go by, he has slated another barbecue for Thursday! Is it that Cameroonians cannot afford good barbecue or is it that the idea of free food is so entrenched in our psyche that whosever offers it becomes to us the master and we the dogs who cannot but follow the one who deigns to feed us this well?

Where are Mike’s campaign slogan, flyers and barbecues being organized? Is that because he has never organized a far-flung campaign in the past and therefore knows not how to organize it now? No! I think he relies on his achievement, his drive to raise MINCAM from the doldrums to this state of unchecked frenzy. I’m nearly certain he is knocking on doors or not knocking at doors at all and hoping that the Cameroon community in Minnesota can vote by the power of their intellectual dictates and not by how well the food tasted and/or how chilled the beer was. If I were his campaign consultant I’ll advise him against embarking on abdominal or should I say barbecue politics. I’m by no means saying that he should throw a party once in a while to shake things up and get people together. For those who have not been active in MINCAM, a question and answer session may be a useful tool but they also need to look at, in addition, the website, the mature and illuminating emails that decry the tone and insinuations of the campaigns to tell how low people are willing to sink. Yes, the absence of an organized campaign is neither a sign of the foreboding times nor a capitulation. It is the sign of a humble trust that the people within this community will rise above petty mindedness and unbridled complacency and vote according to their gut instincts. Mike also need to take responsibility of all the past shortcomings of his EXCO and make a solemn promise to the people that we’re he to win their confidence once more; he’ll oversee all operations and guarantee that they are hitch-free. He has to be careful here lest he again gets termed as a dictator!

So, this is how I see them. When things are not yet going very well, disassociation is a safe policy; when there is success in the air, bystanders are apt to find fault and without ceremony hang those who dared to work for the success of the coveted object. The elections will come to pass but will MINCAM die with them, become a shell of its present self or remain untouched by the political excesses of our time? What I do see, however, is that it’ll be a stupendous task for Robert and his click, having either launched albeit inadvertently a divisive modus operandi to achieve hegemony, to bring the numerous active members together. I also trust that neither Robert nor Mike will take offence in the ramblings of an amateur blogger like me. After all, are politicians not known to have tortoise-shell like exteriors? I’m certain they will remain cool (kind of like Obama) and rethink their visions for MINCAM before casting their own votes. As for everyone else, it is okay if you vote for the person who helped register you, fed you and made you whole in body and spirit with food and beer. It is also okay for you to view such tactics as weird and even though on the face of things they appear innocuous, question what this investment all mean to the investor? It is also true that our people sometimes are sensible enough to see through chatter and make informed decisions. May the change we seek to bring to MINCAM be synonymous to that which we can and must bring to the Cameroons.

Disclaimer: I belong to no click and I’m yet to attend a barbecue at any of the presidential candidates. If you like you can curse me for writing this and break up any such social engagements you think I may no longer qualify to enjoy through your help.

May God continue to bless MINCAM and bring her to heights yet unknown.

Good luck Robert; good luck Mike. My prayers are with you both.

Brendan

Sunday, March 20, 2011

LIES FROM OPPOSITION : COUNTER CPDM? LIARS LIARS LIARS!!!!!


A Rejoinder first posted on shundzev@yahoogroups.com



I have read with interest the postings on this forum, most of them very informative and educative and a few of them vaguely entertaining to say the least. The practice of free expression presupposes the existence of a fundamental quality of our humanity: a conscience, but when we have a posting of the like below it becomes clear why sometimes some people value their time with their pets to some forms of human interaction.

That Lady Kate Njeuma can state that "CPDM represents the truth" begets the question of what truth she is claiming to expound. What would Nietzsche have said here: "Not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, does the enlightened man dislike to wade into its waters."

We are really lost if our politics continues to be governed by immediate gratification; even in the diaspora where some form of enlightenment should have affected our psyches by sheer proximity to the democratic processes in counties where we happen to find ourselves, it becomes really "vaguely entertaining" to have someone passionately support a party and by default its leader who some of us are so horrified to identify as the president of our beloved country.

Freedom of expression is protected by the First Amendment in this country (USA) so when political aspirants want to advance their careers whether at home or abroad and choose to further their course within the Wirfoon forum, please don't insult the intelligence of the members by calling the CPDM the party of truth. Employ any business or political tactic - the scratch back thing seems to come in handy.

God help us all.

Brendan

From: Shey Wiysonge <wiysonge@yahoo.com>
To: wiysonge@yahoo.com
Sent: Sat, March 19, 2011 8:05:57 PM
Subject: [shundzev] Fw: LIES FROM OPPOSITION : COUNTER CPDM? LIARS LIARS LIARS


oppos.JPG

This is the leader of the opposition movement who claim they countered CPDM.
Here he is shockingly watching CPDM DISPLAY ON WISCONSIN AVE OUTSIDE THE EMBASSY

opposants.JPG


These are the gobsmacked Opposants who came to counter CPDM USA
Well looks like they are enjoying the chanting and jubilation on the other side of the river.

Liars Liars Liars don't claim false victory because CPDM represents the truth.
Show us your manifestations because this is all you got.

Lady Kate Njeuma
Project Committee Chair
CPDM USA




Friday, February 22, 2008

What a Shame!

It's been a while since I posted anything on my blog. Let's consider this a come back. I had to anyways. What with the never-ending news of the politics of shame at home. I'm back with a very touching article by The Post newspaper of a government minister threatening to ban a radio program because it is too critical! At what age are we living? When is this ever going to stop? Slaves in ancient Athens had freedom! Cameroonians in the 21st century don't! Read for yourself:

Communication Minister Threatens Ban On 'Morning Safari'

The Post (Buea)

NEWS
21 February 2008
Posted to the web 21 February 2008

By Kini Nsom
Buea

The Minister of Communication, Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam, has warned that he would ban CRTV's talk show programme, "Morning Safari" if CRTV management does not take hard measures to douse its critical spirit.

In a meeting with CRTV management recently, the Minister reportedly complained that Morning Safari was too critical of government and public authorities.

A CRTV source told The Post that each time the journalists handle a critical topic on Morning Safari, the Minister would call the audio-visual house management to complain. As a result, management has continued to intimidate and threaten Morning Safari journalists with dismissal from CRTV.

The Post learned that the Director of Programme at the CRTV radio, Celestin Boten, has been chairing a series of meetings, attempting to cow the critical journalists into submission.

In one of such meetings last week, Boten said by producing programmes that were critical of government, the journalists were putting the hierarchy in serious problems.

"We will rather cut off your heads first before the powers that be cut ours," he reportedly said.Matters reportedly came to a head when one of the Morning Safari teams led by senior journalist, David Chuye Bunyui, rebroadcast a programme on the ongoing manoeuvres by the ruling CPDM party to amend article 6.2 of the Constitution. Guests on the programme and callers launched vituperative attacks on the constitutional amendment bid

In reaction, the Director of Programmes issued a service note on February 12, accusing Morning Safari journalists of treating a critical topic in an amateurish and irresponsible manner. The service note No.003/CRTV/DP-R that was pasted at the entrance to the broadcasting house, claims that the Morning Safari journalists were very contemptuous of public authorities in their programmes.

The service note also accuses the journalists of reading SMS messages in the programme (some of which have nothing to do with the topic of the day) without control. The journalists were equally charged with threatening peace and national unity, by taking telephone calls in the programme that are very critical of government.

"Even their choice of music on the programme is hazardous and provoking to certain people," partly reads the note. Consequently, the reading of direct SMS messages on the programme has been banned. The journalists on the programme now have to write out SMS messages and submit them to hierarchy before they are read out.

By that same token, the journalists would have to identity callers to the programme, record their reactions and edit them before broadcast. The service note states that the editorial policy of the public media must be respected at all costs, insisting that the choice of invited guests to participate "live" on the programme must be approved by the hierarchy.

According to the Director of Programmes, the choice of music on the programme must be in tandem with social peace, unity, love and progress. He warned that the Morning Safari coordinators and members of the team must bow to the above prescriptions or face the music.

Journalists of the programme wondered what crime they have committed because each time they are handling a critical topic, they invite a guest to defend government position as well as people with contrary views.

Since the appointment of Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam, whom many describe as a conservative, censorship seems to have fully returned to CRTV. The Post learned that the Editors-In-Chief of TV now have been compelled to always brief the Minister as to what they have in the news before it goes on air.

Meanwhile, many journalists are said to be still suffering from the malaise of the last appointments. Journalists of the Northwest origin are said to be screaming against marginalisation. Of the ten managers of CRTV Provincial Stations appointed recently, none of them is a Northwesterner. No Northwesterner was appointed Director with a budget.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Open Letter to the International Monetary Fund

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm particularly concerned with the recent admission of Cameroon to the completion point of HIPC. I am a Cameroonian and a graduate student at Bemidji State University in Minnesota. My fear here is that your institution has been misled into believing that the Biya's regime in Cameroon has satisfied the conditions for debt relief. It's hard to think that students are being killed, raped and tortured in the University of Buea, the only Anglo-Saxon university in the country and no one has been formally charged. Last year, the forces of law and order used excessive force on students who were on strike because the results of the competitive exam into the newly created school of medicine were falsified. The chairman of the commission of inquiry was appointed into a government office before he could publicize the findings of his report thus compromising the veracity of such a report if it will ever be made. Of course, no reports of military excesses in Cameroon are ever made public.

The crisis plaguing our universities and the government reaction to them has become worrisome because of the consecutive brutality of the police and the gendarmes with impunity since 2005. When peaceful demonstrations are organized in Buea tear gas bombs, water canons and life-bullets are used and in the other universities, well, it is a different story. A case in point here was at the University of Douala where the student leaders were expelled and barred from all state university for organizing demonstrations to mourn the slain students in the University of Buea on November 29th 2006 as well as demand the release of students who were arrested arbitrarily. As if this was not enough, Professor Cornelius Lambi, the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea was given a verbal lashing by the Minister of Higher Education on national radio and television for telling the truth and then sacked from a position he had only held for a couple of months.

What did the president say about all these happenings? Nothing! He did not as much as mention it in his end of year address. One can infer from such a silence that he ordered and supervised the events. After all, with such a centralized system as that which exists in Cameroon is there anything that happens without the authorization of the head of state? It could also be that he does not know what happened in Buea since the events took place in Anglophone Cameroon and probably the echoes came to him in English which he does not understand or care about. It's worth noting that he has never addressed the nation in English and early this month a government minister banned the use of English during an official press conference.

I actually wonder at the reports that were submitted by government officials to make Cameroon qualify for an especially economic slap on the face as a heavily indebted poor country when the president for his more than two decades in power does not know what is wrong with Cameroon economically. Hear him during his end of year address: "How come our country, which is well endowed by nature and the climate, which has acknowledged human resources and which enjoys peace and stability, is yet to achieve its economic take-off?" What reforms have been carried out by this guy who appears to be so dumb about the affairs that should concern him most?

I wish to remind you that the freedom of association is still to be practiced in Cameroon. There exists at the moment a volatile situation caused by first the failure of the government to acknowledge the presence of an Anglophone problem and second the excessive use of force by the military in subjugating Cameroonians of English expressive, effacing their identity and destroying in totality the Southern Cameroons National Congress (SCNC) with lethal force. An example of such acts of terrorism by Mr Biya is the arrest of Nfor Ngala and Mbinglo Benjamin, leaders of SCNC and forty others during a press conference on the 20th of January, 2007.

I am strongly of the opinion that you’ve been misled by the reports that put Cameroon in her present point with the HIPC initiative. I am ready to work with you in having a clean slate about Cameroon before Mr Biya gets away with the debts he accumulated over the years, without even anything to show for them in terms of development. I wonder how you can do business with this guy! What was done with the initial loans? God! There is no accountability and no structures for that with the present dispensation.

There is no doubt that the Cameroonian people need the intervention of the IMF and World Bank to recover from the recession that has plunged the country into untold misery, hopelessness and shame. I think Cameroonians of good will appreciate a factual account of what is going on before you consummate your present marriage with Mr Biya for it is with him and him alone that you are taking vows and not with the Cameroonian people who lack the peace of mind to enjoy a night’s sleep and must drink to do so.

Sincerely,

Brendan.