Cameroon

3, June 2016

Cameroon: Senators shower praises on defense and security forces ⁰

The world’s most barbaric terrorist group, Boko Haram, is losing steam after carrying out attacks on civilian populations and Defence and Security Forces for about two years. While opening the Second Ordinary Session of the Senate yesterday, June 2, 2016, Senate President, Marcel Niat Njifenji extended Senators’ “warmest and heartiest” congratulations to Cameroon’s Defence and Security Forces as well as the “pride and gratitude” of the Senate for their vigilance and effectiveness.

“Boko Haram has been kept out of our borders and its logistical and operational capacities have been impaired,” he told the chamber, commending President Paul Biya for sparing no effort to give the Defence and Security Forces the best resources to bravely sustain the war against terrorism. While recommending the vigilance of the entire population, President Niat Njifenji praised Cameroonians for their resilient and mature spirit as they celebrated with patriotic fervour the 44^thNational Day last May 20, 2016.

The Senate President also dwelled on the need for socio-economic development, urging government to ensure that it is enjoyed by the entire population. Senators, he promised, will stand by the Head of State for the implementation of relevant recommendations of the International Economic Conference that held in Yaounde from17th to 18th May, 2016.

The plenary sitting was attended by the President of the National Assembly, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang, the President of the Pan-African Parliament, Roger Nkodo Dang, as well as cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and other State dignitaries.

Cameroon Tribune

3, June 2016

Southern Cameroons This Time Tomorrow ⁰

Cameroon under President Biya has been an elitist and unfair society operating an imperial kind of presidency with a pattern of discrimination and systematic war against the Anglophone community.This vicious pattern of governance which was propounded by a group of Francophone Beti-Ewondo elites in politics and in the army ever since Biya came to power in 1982 has resulted in a vast ethnic and wealth disparity. And as the Biya regime shows no signs of crumbling, the spirit of peace, work and fatherland is fading away from the Anglophone communities in the country. The disparity of wealth accumulation between Francophones and Anglophones has its roots in the Beti-Ewondo imperial presidency headed by Paul Biya. Contrary to the late Ahidjo era when we had our Kilos and Nangas, in the 32 years of the Biya regime, Anglophones do not have one Cameroonian billionaire.

CPDM Cameroon is for the enrichment of the Francophones and 1 percent of CPDM South West and North West elites who spend their time and ill gotten wealth fanning the flames of North West/South West divide. The Biya regime also operates a malicious policy where the Bamilekes pretend to be “les meme gens” with our North West West brothers and help their Francophone geopolitical setting to expropriate and exploit the Anglophones. The Cameroonian society has never been fair. It was never about any Anglophone succeeding except for those who betray other Anglophones. His Royal Highness Fon Angwafor of Mankon can go around posing as National Vice President of the ruling CPDM party but even a child born in Tinta in Akwaya Sub Division in Manyu is aware that Fon Angwafor does not have access to President Biya like the Sultan of Foumban, the Lamido of Rey Bouba or the Fon of Banjoun. CPDM Cameroon has always been unfair, it will never be right if the people of the North West and South West province do not read from the same script.

Today, it is almost impossible to speak English in any government building in Southern Cameroons. Under Biya, we have had 32 years of some kind of slavery and discrimination from French speaking Cameroonians. Perhaps, I should bring myself into this editorial for this week!! Where do I really belong? In Southern Cameroons, I am a minority from the South West. In the Republic of Cameroon, I am a minority from the Anglophone community. In Europe, I am a black man, still a minority!! Where do I go from here? In both the South West and North West regions of Cameroon, Francophones have 50 times the wealth of Anglophones. For everyone Anglophone captain in the army, there are 100 Francophones. For everyone Anglophone diplomat, there are 101 Francophones and for every 2 Anglophones SDOs, there are 100s of Francophones senior divisional officers. No Anglophone can even muster the courage to seek a government contract amounting to a billion FCFA!! Who are you?

Protest against financial inequality is what led to many Fulanis joining the Boko Haram Islamic sect. The Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime is speeding up developmental issues now in the Far North region. But in the Bakassi peninsular in the South West region, there is no sign of improvement. The Anglophone Diaspora should please raise their game!! We should move away from organizing ekpe, mbagalum, and bottle dance etc to more serious issues. A stitch in time saves nine

2, June 2016

Photo exhibition in honor of late Minister Peter Agbor Tabi ⁰

A photo exhibition in honour of the late Deputy Secretary General at the Presidency took place at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC). It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. The over two dozen photos exhibited in lecture hall AB2 of the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, yesterday June 1, 2016, in honour of late Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi, former Deputy Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic and the Board Chairman of the University of Yaounde II, spoke volumes of his stewardship at IRIC as Director as well as Minister of Higher Education.

The pictorial exhibition to pay tribute to the fallen university don was opened by the Secretary General in the Ministry of Higher Education, Prof. Horace Manga Ngomo, in the presence of the Rector of the University of Yaounde II, Soa, Prof. Ibrahima Adamou, staff and students of IRIC. The Director of IRIC, Pierre Emmanuel Tabi, led officials into the exhibition hall where he explained the importance of some of the photos. The pictures essentially showed his administrative life as Director of IRIC, Minister of Higher Education and Honorary Director as well as his academic life as lecturer in the institution.

Some of the pictures as Director of IRIC were taken when he received the then Higher Education Minister, Abdoulaye Babale, the then Deputy Secretary General of Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Tiendreberogo amongst others. Other pictures such as those he chaired a jury of PhD defence and dispensing lectures portrayed his academic life in IRIC. Meanwhile a condolence register has been opened at the Institute.

2, June 2016

Ambassador Mendouga: Call no man happy until he is safely in his grave ⁰

Jerome Mendouga, who boasted of his close kinship with Paul Biya could never have believed that he will end a 30 year diplomatic career in Jail, under Biya’s regime. Mendouga who has real estate property in Bangui and many other African capitals where he has served, at attempted to seek asylum in the United States and Canada to no avail.

Ironically, he spent 15 years in Washington D.C misrepresenting to the US government that in Cameroon the rule of law prevails, and that claims by asylees that they are being locked up in Kondengui are false. He had his mea culpa when he went to Yaounde, only to end up in Kondengui. When the “Washington Dipomat” (magazine) interviewed him a few years ago, he was so distraught and ashamed. He claimed that if anyone told him that he will end his thirty year service to his country in jail, he could never have believed.

Mendouga’s death in the ignominy of Kondengui, is a testament to the perfidy of the Biya dictatorship, which devours friend and foe alike. Now that Gervais Mendo Ze is in Kondengui, it would be sweet Karma if he too kicked the bucket inside his kinsman’s dungeon. In Mendo Ze’s case they will need a really big coffin.

2, June 2016

Cameroonians brace for impact, terrified by the uncertainties of a micro-managed succession ⁰

“Brace for impact!” Only few survivors of plane crashes live to tell the story of the sheer horror of those ominous words … heard through the Aircraft’s public address system, in the harrowing seconds, before the plane goes down.Yet, this is the same feeling most Cameroonians are now having, because of the sheer uncertainty of 82-year old Biya, whose succession has become another French-micro-managed scandal, like Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso. Cameroonians generals and some well-placed members of Biya’s presidential guard have shipped their families abroad and are maintaining open-ended visas, to enable them leave on short notice.

Biya who has ruled the country from a Swiss hotel, like the absentee-landlord of a criminal enterprise, is now faced with in- fighting between his most trusted accomplices. Martin Belinga Eboutou, Rene Sadi, Alain Edgar Mebe- Ngo’o and other members of his close concentric circle of flunkies, are divided on how the succession process should occur. Of course, each group is supported by its own lobby at the Elysee in Paris.

Those who argue the Biya has signed a concealed order to be release in the event of his sudden death, claim that his chose of Rene Sadi as his successor is informed by his Baboute ethnicity- a small Muslim ethic group in the Mbam and Kim division, that will allow Biya to thwart the power ambitions of the Fulani royalty of the North, who claim the leadership in Cameroon as their birth right … on the threat of civil war.

The recent French rescue of Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compoare, and his exile in Yamoussoukro – Ivory Coast, is a recent indicator of the long arm of the French in its nominally independent former colonies, which are still treated as the oversees extension of the French empire. The ultra-militarization of the country has left Cameroonians terrified and cowered by the vicissitudes of daily survival, and the need to leach on the boss who may be linked to the winning lobby.

Cameroonians abroad are busy burnishing their images with Washington and Paris, and presenting lofty résumés’ as to what leadership skills and erudition they possess. Due to the centralization of power in Yaoundé, the common folk in the villages are left out in this succession struggle.

Anglophones are again being naïve in thinking that the French will be out of their mind to accept one of them, as a leader in one of their strategic neo-colonies, which is the gateway to their Central African Empire. With leaders like Fru Ndi, who has accepted bribes to play by the rules of French domination, the present crop of appointees shine only through their cowering and cringing attitude to their Francophone boses like Fame Ndongo who claims that Biya is a “tin-god” with Philemon Yang, Achidi Achu, Nji Atanga, the late Agbor Tabi, Ngolle Ngolle, as his “creatures”

Anglophones, the orphaned people handed over to the British after the second world war, have been described by Pierre Mesmer (Former French Governor in Cameroon and French Prime Minister in the 60s) as a little gift of the Queen of England to General De Gaulle. Crafty aspirants to Anglophone leadership have been hitching their hopes on a lucky Francophone master who could be picked by France to rule Cameroon- their private hunting ground.

The real problem of Cameroon, that the French have refused to deal with, is again rearing its ugly head. Will Cameroon finally accept the democratic and demographic solution of one-man, one vote?. That is the question that is plaguing power brokers like Joseph Owona and Amadou Ali who see the youth bulge that constitutes the majority of the country now, as a Bamileke problem.

According to some conservative Cameroonian pundits, with approximately 250 distinct ethnic entities, the Bamilekes who live in feudal fiefdoms do not seem to stand a chance, by dint of their control of the economic, financial and demographics of Cameroon. That is why the French “pacifier” of the Bassa and Bamileke nationalist movement, referred to the “Bamilekes” as the prickly pebble in the shoe of French colonization in Cameroon.

2, June 2016

The Making of an SCNC Leader and Why It Should Change ⁰

You would be forgiven for understanding the Guardian Post editorial, under the penmanship of Ngah Chris, as an enthusiastic endorsement of Hon. Ayah as the next SCNC Chairman. Yet, the title (“How Justice Ayah Paul was Catapulted to the SCNC Chairmanship”) suggests that the election is a done deal. Welcome to making of an SCNC leader!

Upon further scrutiny, it seems a leader is yet to be elected or “selected” – the exact word used by the Guardian Post. The paper says “a reinvigorated and united SCNC executive is about to be elected”. It will be, we are told, at an upcoming “Elective General Assembly” where Hon. Ayah “will be selected [nice choice of verb] to replace the deceased Chief Ayamba”. The sales pitch for Hon. Ayah describes him as having an “unblemished profile and record… the right candidate” for the “uphill task” of “enormous complexities” at time of “sweeping allegations” of the Biya regime buying leaders over.

The editorial is partly aimed at discrediting everyone else who might threaten Hon. Ayah’s rise to the helm of the SCNC. Without verification, the paper accusations that Nfor Ngala Nfor has tried to “usurp leadership” whereas, as it claims, he is a “government agent”. The other potential troublemaker is Ambassador Fossung, who lives in exile in the USA. He is dismissively portrayed as claiming to be the “legitimate leader” but reduced to providing lame leadership via sharing tracts and videos online.

To its credit, the Guardian Post acknowledges that Hon. Ayah cannot seek to become president of “La Republique” while also fighting to restore the independence of Southern Cameroons. The paper does not go further to add that Hon. Ayah cannot fight a regime on whose Supreme Court bench he plans to take oath to defend. Reportedly “on good authority”, the paper announces Hon. Ayah’s upcoming resignation from PAP (the political party he founded) to satisfy “hawks within the SCNC” (also known as secessionists) who asked for and obtained no less of Prince Ndoki Mukete before that. Stepping down, says the Guardian Post will make Hon. Ayah “an unquestionable candidate for leadership” of the SCNC.

Democracy and Meritocracy Managed by Dictators

Even as they have clamored louder for democracy and meritocracy, Cameroonians – sadly of all political stripes – have grown increasingly complacent, comfortable – even resigned – to dictatorship dressed in this kind of rave review of politicians, steeped in intellectual dishonesty and the manipulation inherent in the spiritual vote cast by the Guardian Post in this editorial. Endorsing Hon. Ayah would make sense for a newspaper like this if at least two candidates were running for the position and the paper would endorse one, providing reasons to readers (also voters) why the paper has done so.

There are no known rival candidates in this case. In fact, we do not even know if Hon. Ayah is even running or is being manipulated into running. This is the old-time, one-party “Ahidjo versus Ahidjo” ballot! We get no explanation why Hon. Ayah may be better suited for attending to the Augean task of unifying fractious factions; of infusing new blood; of building a movement more capable to standing up to the expected attacks from the Biya regime.

We, as a people, will not get competent, qualified leaders of integrity until we set rigorous selection criteria and abide by them in electing – not selecting – our leaders. The process needs to become more transparent, inclusive, competitive and democratic. The health of our democracy is dependent on that. So far, though, from grassroots movements to the Top Job in the land, dictatorship is our DNA. Far too many dictators are in training at the helm of political parties and other grassroots movements like the SCNC for Cameroon to hope to enthrone democracy without a genuine reawakening.

Everyone mentioned for a position in Cameroon is almost always invariably praised as qualified for it. Yet, anyone old enough to breastfeed knows what qualifications would make a good SCNC leader, for example. The movement has a clearly defined goal. It suffers currently from a number of setbacks, not the least of which is lack of seriousness, professionalism and unity of purpose at the helm. These are problems that democracy and meritocracy can fix. However, our movements dodge democracy; shun meritocracy; continue to wallow in some Ahidjo-invented concept known as “regionalism”. Steadfast leaders will not emerge if past betrayals and the likelihood of recurrence are overlooked and if lack of support a movement and a people still qualifies the holder of the curriculum vitae to lead it.

Unlike Rome, not all roads lead to the achievement of the goals set for itself by the SCNC. As shaky leadership to, during and immediately after the Foumban Conference proved, it is easy for the regime in Yaounde and their French masters to take Anglophone leaders for a ride. Southern Cameroonians cannot afford such a misstep in the aftermath of the landmark Banjul Ruling and on the eve of the sun setting on President Biya’s current seven-year term. It may matter more now and in the near future who leads the SCNC than it has ever mattered at any time in our history. And, on that count, it is my opinion that Hon. Ayah is woefully unqualified to lead the SCNC.

Excuses, World Without End…

Apologists for Hon. Ayah, like the Guardian Post, have been scrambling to find excuses for his past and even future shortcomings, in the hope of remodeling him away from his CPDM past (and future?). They have tried to find the right words to shoehorn him into the position of SCNC Chair. Good luck with that!

The Guardian Post says of him that he was “a lone voice in the wilderness” during his two terms as Member of Parliament in Cameroon’s National Assembly. Not true! The SDF spoke louder, but never – even once – benefited from the support of his voice or vote.

The one time Hon. Ayah is credited with voting against the CPDM was when he was not there and never voted. Hon. Ayah was “no show” when parliament voted to give President Biya constitutional authority to lift presidential term limits and, not only to forgive all crimes committed by any president while in office but also to grant them immunity from prosecution once out of office. Hon. Ayah, quite honestly, cannot take credit for what he neither did nor for a vote he never cast. Significantly, he did not find it important enough to be in parliament to express his opposition at a time when hundreds of Cameroonians were being killed by security forces stamping out street protests against what MPs were approving.

Unlike Hon, Ayah, the SDF parliamentary group can take credit for walking out of parliament in protest. The five members of parliament who stayed through the deliberations and then voted against the amendment can take credit for what they did. But, Hon. Ayah…. Please!!! Hon. Ayah knows that by his absence he provided proxy to the CPDM to cast his vote alongside other dictatorship likeminded MPs of the party in power. That vote was in April 2008. Not once since then and in January 2011 when he resigned from the CPDM did he caucus with the SDF or vote along with them. Even as he complaint of “fearing for his life and of family safety” in early 2011, Hon. Ayah was acting emboldened – not frightened – going on to put up one of the most disgraceful showings on a presidential ballot ever!

A Lone Political Wolf

Remarkably, he continued to be Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly – not ever once stepping so much as out of line with the ruling CPDM. Tied to the hip with the CPDM, it is not forlorn to imagine that Hon. Ayah has never been his own man. It is CPDM appointments and decrees of its Leader-President Biya that made him magistrate plenipotentiary. For all the legal heavyweight paint him to be – and he may well be – his legal prowess did not associate with other legal luminaries like Prof. Carlson Anyangwe in defending the Southern Cameroons cause before a national court (such as Bamenda or Buea) or an international tribunal (such as Banjul). As the patient legal dog, Hon. Ayah ultimately got fed one of the fattest Supreme Court bones. We are told he could use that position to advance Southern Cameroons, but for that to be aligned with his past performance how about they allowed us to read just one landmark ruling he handed down as a magistrate of the bench. Just one!

The SCNC needs a leader who connects well with the grassroots. One forumist, Bens Awaah, offered advice where the Guardian Post editorial failed. “When the Southern Zone militants assemble to elect the next SCNC Chairman”, Ben Awaah wrote, “they should elect a young, energetic and visionary man or woman, whose sole interest is to take us to independence. He/she must be a people person, able to build bridges and to bring more people from the region to the cause. Northern Zone people and Mola Njoh Litumbe have always been there, working and waiting”.

Forget many aspects of those basic qualifications! Hon. Ayah’s past suggests that he is neither the leader the SCNC deserves nor the one it has been waiting for. His role as CPDM-appointed, regime-obedient Supreme Court Justice denies him the potential to grow into that role. He is seen as a “lone political wolf”; not without some justification. For example, he announced his bid for the presidency via email and followed it up with phone conversations to media editors, even as most aspirants spoke to monstrous crowds. A Cameroonian blogger once pondered thus about him: “maybe he needs to connect more with the grassroots. The same people who are the silent majority, invisible yet always present”.

While some of the wordings used by the blogger to describe Hon. Ayah cross sacred family lines, they are worth being shared three years after they were first posted. “What is most lacking for the Hon. Ayah Paul,” the blogger wrote “is traction. He says just the right things, has the right ideas, is married to a Francophone from Douala (no fear of secession), and has the academic and professional credentials relevant for the presidency of Cameroon”. The blogpost remains unchallenged to this date by Hon. Ayah.

The Market in Illusions

There is no shame in Cameroon these days of selling illusions to the highest bidder. The Guardian Post has one on sale. It argues that the tough issues opposing “La Republique” to Southern Cameroons can be thrashed out amicably “through internal dialogue without resort to international arbitration, the consequences of which is (sic) difficult to predict for now”. The Guardian Post is also an oracle teller, predicting – we have to presume – less consequences if internal dialogue was adopted! The last time we tried that via street protests in February 2008, a few hundred civilians were shot dead and thousands more, including the now late Lapiro de Mbanga, were thrown in jail. By comparison, the proceedings before the Court in Banjul had a casualty figure of exactly “zero mort”! So, too, did Bakassi!

The Guardian Post informs us that the Biya regime spent taxpayers’ money to sponsor “some blacklegs within the movement to The Gambia and Senegal to pose as leaders” during the Banjul Hearing. If that is true, could the Biya regime be up to the same bunch of tricks with Hon. Ayah?

Admitting – without confessing to the sheer violence that the regime visits on dissident movements – the Guardian Post offers the following advice: allow SCNC members to “hold their assembly without interruption by security forces so that in the end, Yaounde will be able to know who to dialogue with for the interest of ‘national unity and integrity'” Holy smoke! If dialogue is for the interest of “national unity and integrity”, how can that dialogue be at the service of the SCNC and its followers?

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap

2, June 2016

The Special Criminal Court: President Biya’s Court ⁰

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. We call it the President’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit. An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused. A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence. A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility. It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world. This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon. There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court. Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption. True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained the late Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat. Recently Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration. Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in other to maintain him in prison.

Cameroonians want the rule of law to be the guarding principle on which justice is administered in the name of the people.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

2, June 2016

Dark Friday April 6th, Our Right Royal President lives on ⁰

On the night of the 5th and 6th of April 1984, gun shots were heard around the presidency of the republic. On the 6th of April, a message was read over state radio which Cameroonians were later on told was limited only to the residents of Yaounde the nation’s capital by a brave technician. The message indeed had confirmed that a coup had been staged and the Biya regime was now a thing of the past. Forces loyal to the regime came to the fore and on April the 7th, President Biya Biya was back in action. He took the floor and addressed the Cameroonian people informing them that he had survived a coup fomented by troops still loyal to his predecessor, the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Following these “sad” events, the remnants of the Ahidjo men in the presidential guard were executed and ever since the attempted 1984 coup, the 83 years old dictator now approaching his 34th year in power is still holding firmly the helm of the Cameroon ship. He has resisted every form of opposition. He survived the civil disobedience campaign in March and April of 1991. He successfully neutralized Ni John Fru Ndi and the Social Democratic Front. Biya was victorious after the ghost town operations. Since 1984, the Cameroonian strongman has organized 4 presidential elections. In 1992 he declared himself winner and placed his main challenger , John Fru Ndi under house arrest. He says he genuinely won the presidential elections of 1997, 2004 and 2011. In April 2008, he changed the constitution of the nation and made himself head of state forever and ever.

Whatever Biya wants, Biya gets!! He launched the so called anti corruption campaign known as “Operation Sparrowhawk”, ostensibly to clean up the malpractices in the management of public affairs. When age started telling on him, he carriedout his own version of “A Hundred Flower Campaign” when he dished out news that he had passed on in a Swiss hospital. His agents identified those within his ruling council who celebrated when the news was made public and immediately he made a dramatic u turn and transformed Operation Sparrowhawk into a reckoning tool and eventually eliminated potential dolphins for the post of president of the republic. Since then several barons of the regime have been imprisoned, ostensibly for “embezzlement” of public funds. Now he wants another constitutional amendment to enable him hold early presidential elections. Our Right Royal President lives on

2, June 2016

Subversion of Due Process: The Presidency and “Epervier” ⁰

The news of recent has been the condemnation of Yves Michel Fotso to life imprisonment for alleged embezzlement of public funds. The news was being distilled to us at the same time that newspapers like “Mutations” (No. 4132 of April 25, 2016) were questioning why barons of the regime like Paul Atanga Nji, Jean Tabi Manga, Max Ayina Ohandja, Roger Moise Eyene Nlom, Marc Samatana and many others, whom reports of “commissions of enquiry” have since presented as suspects to face trial for embezzlement of public funds, have never been charged with embezzlement.

Further, a group called “REA-Mouvement Réaliste” said to be composed of grassroots militants of the CPDM (Génération Libre No. 221 of April 27, 2016), in a 10-year analysis of “Epervier” launched in Y2006, has concluded that the whole process seems to have been improvised because it was launched without adequate preparation and a clear intention to really fight against corruption.

The group named G11 that seems to have suffered the most from the operation has since had presumed members publishing books from their prison abodes. The books have been unanimous in claiming that “Epervier” is a politico-judicial exercise to eliminate the perceived political rivals of the man of November 6, 1982.

Many have criticized them for writing about the woes of Cameroon only when there was a divorce between them and the regime. To such criticism one can say that there is always a time and a reason for writing – to praise, admonish, propose, or some other – all of which are valid. In the end, we can only read the mind of characters like the taciturn and introverted man of November 6, through windows opened by those who worked closely with him – like Marafa, Olanguena, Edzoa, Mebara, and others – who write for any reason at all.

Invariably, “rebels” always assume the posture of attack to alter psychological situation of their adversaries to force them to lose their sense of security. The windows they have opened by doing this seem to be comforting the suspicion that indeed, “Epervier” is a political gimmick, and what is euphemistically called “Tcs” – or the Scc if you like – seems to be a kangaroo court to put icing on the cake of “Epervier. Those who use the tired argument of sour grapes as an excuse to avoid reading the books of the “rebel” writers as attentively as they deserve, miss facing the challenge of the comprehension that each of the books represents.

It is obviously interesting that when “Epervier” came to being, article 66 of the constitution of 1996 meant to protect public funds and resources from embezzlers was a dead letter, and is still a dead letter today! “Epervier” was launched when all press condemnations of the corruption of regime barons were met with calls for evidence – “où sont les preuves?”

It was therefore interesting to read a report titled: “Presidency rubbishes supreme state audit report implicating CAMTEL GM” (Guardian Post No. 0907, 13/04/16). The report says that allegations of misappropriation, mismanagement and outright embezzlement of the general manager covering the period 2010-2015, and the recommendation of special proceedings against him by the Special criminal court (SCC) were “rubbished” by the presidency because: CAMTEL is not yet using OHADA rules and cannot be judged by those standard; that much work of restructuring was carried out before the GM’s tenure; and that CONSUPE was rather hard when it reviewed the human, material and health resources management – consequently there was a bias in the way the review was done by CONSUPE!

These are most obviously supposed to be judicial decisions, not decisions of “the presidency”!The decisions leave the perception that they are for entirely partisan, if not personal reasons, and call into question the institutions on which “Epervier” depends.The man of November 6 wants to keep power by all means, so the presidency is seen as a partisan structure, and should not have the final say on issues of corruption.

The “rubbishing” of the report by “the presidency” is wrong for several reasons. First, one would think that the government of Cameroon has what the government of West Cameroon had – “General Orders” and “Financial Instructions”- that guide governance activities and the work of commissions of enquiry.

Second, in Africa, – especially in Cameroon – all power is secured and preserved through opacities and duplicities; indeed, power or the seeking of power is always the cause of corruption. Political power always trumps and stifles justice, development and even commonsense.

Third, the courts have a technical way of playing idea-games with concepts related to questions of fact and questions of law, to reach the verdict of “guilty” or “not guilty”. In the process, some people are declared “guilty,” even though they did nothing; and others “not guilty” even though they committed the act! Each case depends on the ability to “prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” It is wrong for the presidency to allow the courts to do this for some people, while protecting other people from facing the challenge.

Fourth, corruption always starts with the subversion of due process allegedly for the greater good. It is this power to “rubbish” reports of duly constituted commissions or to “doctor” them, that CPDM militants in prison are describing as politico-judicial manipulations. It is this exercise of power at the presidency that feeds the suspicion that the fight against corruption is a fight for the preservation of power. Subverting due process is tantamount to subverting the authority of the judiciary.

It is the people – all the people – that prosecute all successful fights against corruption. In this, the executive arm of government should be the facilitator, not a constitutive power. The executive should see to it that the fight is well prosecuted, not prosecute it itself!

The fight against corruption as presently prosecuted by the presidency leaves the impression that it is more concerned with “prevention” rather than “cure”. The evidence gathered during the last 10 years of “Epervier” permits a serious government to pursue curative measures, rather than “rubbish” findings in their pretentious effort to “cure” corruption.

Tazoacha Asonganyi

Yaounde.

2, June 2016

Deployment of US forces in Cameroon: End of the absentee commander-in-chief beacon ⁰

With the notable exception of Cameroonians, the announced deployment of American soldiers to Cameroon to combat Boko Haram terrorists should not come as a surprise to keen observers. First the Americans have been around for a while under supposedly different circumstances. There can be no gainsaying that the United States stated policy has always been to protect American economic and strategic interests where ever they are located or threatened. The Chad-Cameroon pipeline project and the Pecten Cameroon offshore oil exploitation and others fall within this category. Additionally US strategic interests in the sub-region, particularly in the oil rich Gulf of Guinea, in Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe and the Great Lakes region warrant an American security presence.

There is no doubt that terrorist groups like Boko Haram which has publicly declared its allegiance to ISIS and others like Al Qaeda in the Maghreb and other criminal gangs in Africa Sahel have publicly declared and have the capacity to strike US interests in the sub-region or from basis in the sub-region. The US decision to deploy its soldiers in Cameroon to enable it participate in the ongoing war against Boko Haram is the clearest evidence that either terrorist groups have set up basis in Cameroon warranting US direction intervention. Also, the US might have found sufficient factors and indicia of reliability that Cameroon is or potentially a sanctuary of internal and international terrorism. To this extent, there is no reason to blame the US for taking measures to protect its regional and global strategic interests. The United States policy in this regard is well known and should therefore not surprise anyone.

The problem however lies with Cameroon. There is no gainsaying that Boko Haram and the threats of international terrorism posed grave danger requiring appropriate response. The response included urgent remedial tactical and strategic military action. However the declaration of war from a foreign capital by President Paul Biya was an unprecedented violation of the constitution he swore to defend and an assault on the sovereignty of Cameroon. To this extent, both the Boko Haram that the President declared war against from a foreign capital to combat and the President can be said of being culpable of crimes against the sovereignty of the nation.

Added to this, his prosecution of the war betrays a despicable lack of leadership and respect for the victims of the war and the sacrifices in life and limb of our valiant men and women in combat for the defense of the fatherland. Worse, President Paul Biya rushed through the National Assembly a liberticidal law against terrorism whose purport is to support his perpetuation of eternal power through the suppression of civil liberties and fundamental freedoms. This law places the country under emergency rule and gives tacit blessings to the very culture of fear that Boko Haram hoped to instill in the citizenry. Inviting the USA into the war as he did the French before without informing his people and seeking a mandate to do so from the National Assembly is proof of a potential treasonable violation of the constitution and disregard for sovereign will of the people.

The Americans are thus deploying in a war and war zone of potential distinct strategic interests. Observers have not lost sight of the fact that the war in both the US and France forces are deployed or are deploying was in part fueled by arms indiscriminately dropped by France under Sarkozy to criminal gangs in the Libya and African Sahel. These were intended, according to that Sarkozy, to combat the forces of Muammar Ghadafi. There can therefore be no doubt that by the participation of the US and NATO in the war for regime change in Libya the US and France raised the profile of terrorists in parts of Africa, Boko Haram being one of the most visible.

In Libya and elsewhere as we see in Syria, the US , France and Great Britain have characterized terrorist groups into good terrorists and bad terrorists, although the difference between both categories can easily be conflated or even tenuous to ascertain. The transmutation from good rebels to bad rebels indeed is hard to ascertain as the US, NATO in the world has come to learn in Libya where the criminal gangs they left in place after Khadafy have invited ISIS to take control of the state and opened a floodgate of unprecedented migration to Europe. So far thousands are dying in the Mediterranean on the watch of the supposed moral guarantors of the supposed civilized world.

Coming back to the US intended deployment to Cameroon, there is no doubt that the mission as announced is genuine but the signals it sends are obvious. Regarding these signals, we must first consider the cacophony of actors in the field. There are a recently constituted regional forces with Head Quarters in Ndjamena, French supposedly reconnaissance Units a euphemism for a French military presence and now the US. Only a person with jaundiced eyes will doubt the fact that French colonial military and economic pact with Cameroon makes the polity under potential French military control. The US military deployment will alter the balance of power and influence in Cameroon and the sub-region.

One obvious fact which must be stated is that with this deployment, the US will remain in Cameroon for a long time to come. Inviting the US to deploy its forces seemed easy for Mr Paul Biya but asking them to park and go home may be problematic in the future. Rather than put a time frame for it to execute and end its mandate, it will be re-enforced and given a more robust mandate with time.

The deployment also may be construed as a rare signal that President Biya’s more than three decades of personal power may be coming to an end. If this deployment and other international and internal dynamics do not end it, the French will conclude that he no longer serves their interest and kick him out from power.

There are emerging signs that the end of President Paul Biya may plunge the country into a potential blood bath due to a paucity of a viable constitutional arrangement for a smooth transition. Overtime Paul Biya and the international community by neglect and insufficient attention have allowed the Southern Cameroons problem to snowball into a potential time bomb that may explode drawing in communities in neighbouring Nigeria and international involvement. The complexity of the Southern Cameroons problem makes France an unlikely country to intervene once it explodes. The presence of the US forces may be construed as a potential stabilization force that may caution the potential fallout and obviate a needless bloodletting.

Many Cameroonians fear that the presence of American soldiers will invite American enemies far and wide worldwide to the Cameroon warfront. Cameroonians are however divided whether the deployment will attenuate or put brakes to the vampirism of French colonial and neocolonial policies that plunged the sub-region in the bloodletting that is ongoing. No matter from which perspective one may see it, this deployment marks the beginning of a potential new era and the end of one. None echoes the independence that most Cameroonians and African crave for. But both put the spotlight on those who profess to effectively rule Cameroon. It is from this perspective that we should anxiously consider this significant development. Let the truth which President lacks the courage to admit to inform his country men and women be told, this deployment by the greatest superpower on earth marks a significant development worth noting.

Lest we forget, Cameroon is at war, an international armed conflict. That fact and the deployment place its sovereignty and destiny in the hands of foreign powers. There is need therefore for a change of guard at the helm of the state to manage this and other developments. The time for the Cameroon Army to be tele-commanded from foreign holiday resorts and hotels may be coming to end. The deployment of US forces carries symbolic weight. One thing that this deployment may beacon is that the time of directing the war effort while foreign forces and those from the super power are on the ground may soon be over.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai and Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap