19, May 2025
A Suit Is Not Leadership: On the Love of Nation 0
In a truly patriotic nation, leadership is measured by service, not by status. But in Cameroon today, the reality is heartbreaking.
Walk into many government offices—grand from the outside, but rotting within. You’ll find cracked walls, broken chairs, dusty files piled high, and toilets that haven’t worked in years. The buildings themselves are a metaphor for the state of governance: neglected, mismanaged, abandoned.
And yet, the men and women who inhabit these spaces wear the finest suits and drive the latest luxury vehicles. They are surrounded by aides and convoys, protected by tinted windows and distance. They wear the uniform of power, but not the spirit of leadership.
This is not love for country. This is love for comfort. Love for self.
True love for nation means putting the people first. It means walking into that same office and asking: What do my people need today? It means sacrificing privilege for progress. It means fixing the broken chair before buying the next luxury car. It means listening more than commanding.
Our leaders were not elected or appointed to decorate themselves. They were called to serve. When that service turns into self-enrichment—when public duty becomes private profit—then what we witness is not governance. It is betrayal.
Cameroon is rich in resources and even richer in people. What we lack is not talent, nor capacity. What we lack is leadership rooted in love.
And so we raise our voices—not out of hate, but out of hope. Because to speak out against injustice, decay, and indifference is the greatest form of patriotism. It is because we love this country that we demand better. It is because we believe in her future that we hold her leaders accountable.
A true leader wears the weight of the people before they wear a suit. A true patriot walks with the nation, not above it.
Cameroon deserves no less.
Barrister Agbor Balla
19, May 2025
European Union sees Cameroon as a central partner in Africa 0
This month, the European Union marked 50 years of its delegation in Cameroon with a new book. Brussels calls Cameroon “a key player in European cooperation in Africa.” The statement highlights Yaoundé’s role in 1963, when it hosted the first free trade convention between the European Economic Community (EEC)-the EU’s predecessor–and 18 African states.
Walter Hallstein, the first President of the European Commission, praised this choice at the time. He said, “The fact that our friends from the Associated States have chosen Yaoundé is of symbolic value. In this city with its fraternal welcome, for which we too are deeply grateful, we understand and feel the difficult but peaceful and confident effort of an entire people to melt into the crucible of unity so many different races, religions and historical heritages – a fine symbol and fine example indeed for the whole of Africa”.
Hallstein’s words carry weight. Cameroon’s colonial past is complex. It was once a German protectorate and later governed by France and Great Britain. The country is often called “Africa in miniature” because it features all the continent’s geographical zones. It also hosts hundreds of tribes.
Beyond symbolism, Cameroon holds a strategic location. It sits at Africa’s center and the heart of the Gulf of Guinea. The book “50 years of the European Union delegation in Cameroon, a strategic partnership with Cameroon” explains: “Just independent since 1960, Cameroon was becoming a hub for trade and development in the region. Its location made it a natural link for cooperation between Europe and Africa.”
Source: Business in Cameroon