Emperor Biya's End of Year Address

It took me a while to take a look at what the Emperor had this time for those who had time to listen to him and when I did today, it was painfully unbearable.

I still don't know what to make of that address but a few things caught my attention. One of them is what Biya set about to achieve by his analysis or commentary. The question I find myself asking is whether the speech was meant to be used for a mock presentation at one of the World Bank - IMF sessions that is yielding fruits in national shame or pride (depending on how u look at it), of Cameroon as poorest of the poor heavily indebted countries of the world. What deception of the international community! That Cameroon is not poor is found in Biya's own words: "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?"

Well, as for existence of peace in Cameroon, that is a different question. If peace is the absence of war then when people are at war with themselves as intimated by that speech is there peace? When many go to bed hungry, see their children driven from school for lack of fees, uniforms and exercise books, are they at peace with themselves? Many die for want of basic drugs, experience the heart rending disasters of seeing wives die enroute to maternities for deliveries because of the terrible conditions of roads (a situation deliberately left out by Biya's speech writer). Is there peace in Cameroon? The Anglophone question is yet to be openly discussed while in the meantime the people fighting for the correction of the smeared history of this region are quietly persecuted and exterminated just like the identity of this region is gradually being erased. Yes, there is Peace. After all, Biya let stage-managed elections go on to confirm himself as the president for life. What he calls fondly "Elections Cameroon" (the body he himself has created to run elections in the country) is what according to the leader of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) will trigger a civil war in Cameroon. With the proliferation of parties, most of them funded by him, there is freedom and democracy! What a ludicrous scenario!

Another interesting thing about the speech is that it shamelessly portrays a head of state who has no grasp of where he has taken a country to for the past 24yrs. Is it not absolutely ridiculous that he dares to compare Cameroon with South Asian states 40yrs ago? At the wake of his 25th year in power Biya says: "I am well aware that these efforts are far from adequate. But this is just the beginning." For 25yrs he describes his efforts as inadequate and is still to begin the development of Cameroon!

Where does the Southern Cameroons stand in this lamentable spectacle? Biya proves the point of the subjugation of this region when he talks of the need to build more dams for increase of power in the country. Anyhow, there is no problem with that declaration since he means La Republique du Cameroun and not the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Didn't he shut down the Yoke dam that provided energy in the Southern Cameroons and left the installation to lay in ruins like the other economic sectors in this part of the country? What has become of the Menchoum Falls that if harnessed could generate hydro electricity in all of West Africa? These of course are in the Southern Cameroons and it is incumbent on the citizens of this country to see to the develop of their territory and not on the Emperor who comes around only to rape it of its rich natural resources.

When I call Biya 'Emperor', some may wonder at such an epithet but hear him in his speech: "I have instructed the government"! Who but an Emperor of autocratic leanings will instruct the government on what to do? He claims that "With a few exceptions, political party activities are being conducted smoothly and freely." If we have to delve into the truthfulness he has surprisingly expressed here, that is, looking at the "few exceptions" then the size of the wolf that made the statement would be so fearfully disturbing. Added to this, the fact that he has tolerated limited party activities is something he wants the people to clap and sing alleluia to him as usual: "l'homme lion", "l'homme president", "Doctor of Agriculture", etc. Hear him: "Believe me, this is an exceptional situation. It is quite a rare privilege in our continent. We should, I think, give it due recognition."

One thing however, stand out clearly for all Cameroonians be there Southern Cameroonians or Cameroonians West of the Mungo and it is that they should continue to hope that God in his own time will provide the solution when he finds it in his merciful heart to strike their persecutor. They should remember that His ways are not the ways of men and that he gives evil men long lives so that they may have the chance to repent and repair their ways. Another difficult year is ahead of them and they should take solace in the fact that Cameroon like the Emperor says, is blessed with especially food. They should continue to eat, to stay strong and bid their time because soon, very soon, the trumpet will sound for them to shake off the shackles that have held them for so long. While the Southern Cameroonians will sing gloriously to the rise of a new sun, the Francophones will be dancing to the freshness of a new person to lead their own country although this will mean that their source of oil will be blocked and they will buy this in the open market.

May God bless us all in 2007.