News

2, June 2016

Germany: MPs passes Armenian genocide motion ⁰

The German parliament has approved a resolution recognizing as genocide the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago, in a move which risks damaging ties between Berlin and Ankara. On Thursday, the lower house of the German legislature, Bundestag, voted overwhelmingly for the motion, which is symbolically significant and has no legal effect.

“With one vote against and one abstention, this resolution has been passed by a remarkable majority of the German Bundestag,” said Norbert Lammert, the Bundestag president. Titled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916,” the motion was put forward by the ruling left-right coalition and the opposition Greens.

The resolution uses the word “genocide” in the headline and text. It says Germany – the Ottoman Turks’ main military ally at the time – bears some guilt for doing nothing to stop the killings. It also calls on the German government to “encourage” Turkey to “deal openly with the expulsions and massacres” so as to “lay the necessary foundation stone for reconciliation with the Armenian people.”

Armenia says up to 1.5 million of its nationals were killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart, but Turkey argues that it was a collective tragedy, during which 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks lost their lives. Yerevan has long sought international recognition of the genocide, but Ankara dismisses the term. Over 20 countries, including France and Russia, have recognized the Armenian genocide.

Reactions to ‘genocide’ resolution.Yerevan praised the recognition, with Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan saying, “Armenia welcomes the adoption of the resolution by the Bundestag.” However, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus denounced the German parliament’s move as “null and void.”

He said on his official Twitter account on Thursday that the “recognition of ‘distorted and groundless’ allegations as ‘genocide’ is a historic mistake.” Kurtulmus further noted that the decision was not beneficial for friendly Ankara-Berlin relations, warning that his country “will give an appropriate response to this decision on every level.”

In addition, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Berlin for consultations over what he called a “historic error” by the German legislature. Speaking at a speech in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the premier further blamed a “racist Armenian lobby” for the move by German lawmakers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also warned that the decision “will seriously impact Turkish-German relations.” Speaking during a visit to Kenya, Erdogan said recalling the ambassador for consultations was a “first step,” adding that the Turkish government would consider further steps in response to the vote. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the German embassy in Ankara said Germany’s charge d’affaires has also been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Culled Presstv

2, June 2016

Cameroon: Minister Hamadou Moustapha calls for divine protection against Boko Haram ⁰

The Minister in charge of Special Duties at the Presidency, Hamadou Moustapha, has declared the need to pray for the country which is a victim of insurgency by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. “In spite of the bravery of our Defence Forces, bravery alone does not suffice. We absolutely need Divine protection,” he told the press after representing the Head of State at a prayer session involving over 30 Imams and Muslim dignitaries of the Centre Region on May 28, 2016, in the Essos Mosque, Yaounde.

The Imams were holding the 5^th edition of prayer session which is a tradition every year, a week before Ramadan fasting period. They prayed not only for peace in Cameroon but also for good health, wisdom and long life for President Biya, his wife and members of his family. “To support the Head of State, we instructed all imams to continue praying for each of his acts,” revealed the Principal Imam of the Essos Mosque, El Hadj Modibo Halidou Ibrahima.

For his part, the Coordinator of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon, CIDIMUC, Dr. Moussa Oumarou assured that all Muslims have been instructed to continue praying especially as faithful at the eve of the Ramadan period. The Governor of the Centre Region, Joseph Otto Wilson was also present in the prayer session during which sacred Koranic verses were read imploring God’s mercy and blessings over Cameroon.

Culled from Cameroon Tribune

2, June 2016

Cameroon: June parliamentary session begins ⁰

The 2^nd Ordinary Session of Parliament for the 2016 Legislative Year has been convened for Thursday June 2, 2016. Ahead of the opening session, preparations are intensifying at the Senate and the Ngoa-Ekelle Glass House of the National Assembly to ensure a hitch-free session. At the Conference Centre, the Senate is scheduled to hold in its traditional chamber in spite of ongoing rehabilitation works on the edifice.

When the nation’s national daily, Cameroon Tribune visited the Conference Centre yesterday May 30, 2016, the inner-chamber of one of the auditoriums of the venue where plenary sessions usually take place was being arranged to host Senate deliberations. Staff of the Congress Centre were busy packing out conference chairs in order to clean the red carpet and rearrange the hall with the usual chairs and tables adapted to the Senate setting.

One of the workers, Jerome Bangu, observed that they had two days (yesterday and today) to prepare the hall for the Senate. The air conditioning and sound systems were also being verified to ensure they are functioning. Bangu added that they will also prepare space to serve as offices for the General Secretariat, which was relocated to the ARMP Building in the Dragages neighbourhood in Yaounde.

At the National Assembly, all is almost set as final touches are being carried out to prepare the Hemicycle and the Committee rooms for the 2rd Ordinary Session of Parliament. A preparatory meeting of the different departments of the National Assembly reportedly held on May 24, 2016 to identify pitfalls during the last session and propose corrective measures for the upcoming session. Emphasis during the meeting was laid on security, lodging, restauration and logistics, so as to ensure a smooth session.

Source: Cameroon Tribune

2, June 2016

Biya should retire happily in 2018 ⁰

The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement is already in the field campaigning for 2018. Clarion calls have been made for the 83 year old dictator to run again for president. Cameroon Intelligence Report can reveal these CPDM outdated gorilla tactics have not gone down well with the international community. As pressure continues to mount on President Biya, the French including the Americans are reportedly preparing a plan B that will see an end to the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime. Recently in Yaounde the nation’s capital, mixed reviews and opinions have been expressed by certain political scientists, sociologists, teachers and other academic experts including people on the know. The general feeling remains that anyone who likes Mr Biya can only wish him a happy retirement. We of this publication agree that at nearly 83 years of age and 34 years in power, President Biya no longer has the physical and moral capacity to manage the country. His 2035 Emergence Plan is already crumbling in front of his own watchful eyes. Nothing is happening with the roads he announced he was building, nothing is happening to the football stadiums he said will be ready before the female African Cup of Nations, nothing has improved with state pensions, the banking sector, health and the judiciary. Going beyond 2018 is not a priority for a people who do not have even basic needs.

Some have opined that President Biya should reject these calls coming from these political sycophants and cronies of his ruling CPDM claiming it represents an identity that illustrates men and women hungry for power. Cameroon Intelligence Report’s chief political editor observed that Biya should allow other Cameroonians brave like him to take control. To be sure, President Biya must withdraw to preserve his dignity as one of the greatest statesman the continent ever known.

It will be hard for President Biya at 83 to provide a genuine political solution to the major concern before the elections in 2018 which is to establish the essential devices for credible elections. Instead of calling on Mr. Biya to run in 2018 or call for earlier presidential poll, the Francophone Beti Ewondo regime needs to open a transition program, rewrite the constitution and give the country a fair and equitable electoral law as well as strengthen the civil society. Biya and his regime have too many unfinished projects in the last 34 years and everyone Cameroonian including highly placed members of the ruling elites now understand that age is telling on him and these projects will not be realized during the upcoming seven years. We call on President Paul Biya to retire happily. A word to a wise is sufficient.

2, June 2016

Angelina Jolie says humanitarian system for refugees is breaking down ⁰

Angelina Jolie Pitt, the UN refugee agency’s special envoy, has warned that the international humanitarian system for refugees is breaking down. More

2, June 2016

Kenya: Police violence sparks global outcry ⁰

A leading rights group has condemned the use of excessive force by Kenya’s police, who violently dispersed opposition protesters in four major towns, including Nairobi, Monday. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said it was “particularly dismayed by the gory More

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

Paul Biya and2014: Another Catalogue of Failures and Development Bluffs ⁰

Some hours before 8:00 p.m. when Paul Biya had to address the nation, I bought a copy of Marafa Hamidou Yaya’s recent book “Le Choix de l’Action” [Choice of Action]. Since I was very interested in the elections he organized, I quickly thumbed through the book and fell on p. 57 where a telephone exchange he had with Paul Biya related to the election of Jean Jacques Ekindi in 2007 to the National Assembly from Wouri Centre constituency, is reported. It left me upset and disappointed that indeed, the people’s will has always been manipulated from the summit of the state by the same person who always refers to the people’s will when he is asked why he is still hanging on for 32 years.

It is in that state of despair that I sat checking his past New Year messages while waiting for the griots to draw the curtains. So by the time he started speaking, I had just read what he said on December 31, 2011: “we now have a roadmap, the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper which sets the objectives for this decade…”; we are entering our “first phase of a ‘long march’ towards being an emergent country…” like the “new Asian dragons some 30 years ago”; Cameroon would be a “vast construction site in 2012”; “in the past, government action suffered from lack of entrepreneurial approach and the administration from inactivity. We must overcome this inertia which has caused us so much harm”; “corruption is an insidious and dreadful enemy”; there will be a “new impetus” …

On December 31, 2012 he promised victory over the energy “battle,” linking of regional capitals with tarred roads, the “agrarian revolution,” that “in a couple of months or a couple of years our country will be dotted with construction sites, dams, power plants, ports, factories and road,” etc. And the rhetorical questions of December 31, 2013: “Are we different from others that are succeeding in other places? What do we lack? What is the use of some follow-up commissions? Why does government action lack coherence and transparency? Why are there so many administrative bottlenecks…?”

Well, here we are at the end of 2014 or at the beginning of 2015. There is no way of having a structured examination of the message because it did not really have a structure. It is interesting how we believed these utterances even after some 30 unproductive years about vast construction sites, energy battles, road maps, agrarian revolutions, and … “emergence”! As expected, everything has become blurred just a few years after the “emergence” mantra entered our political discourse. That blurring has caused the tinkering of another buzz word: “contingency plan!”

When the regime engaged in a fast and loose game with its actions at the council of ministers’ meeting of December 9, 2014, there was no doubt that it was just a frantic effort to write the script of the end-of-year message. After all, a contingency plan was promised in the December 31, 2013 message, so with a few days left, something needed to be done! And so they engaged in another aimless search for “newness” by adding “contingency plan” to their evolving vocabulary of “development”: ambition, realization, emergence, and now …contingency plan! And who do we have to look over it? Not the government, not a group of hired multidisciplinary experts, but a group of ministers led by the prime minister! If such a small group of ministers can follow-up a “plan” that will get us out of the tunnel, why the large government the regime sustains?

Not to worry because the “plan” is just a plan. The regime is good at indulging in these types of games of misdiagnosis and partial diagnosis that give them outcomes beyond their comprehension, so they always package placebos and tote them around as cures! Nothing can be expected from a government run as several disjointed parts, manned by people who consider themselves “creations” of one man, whom they spend their time worshipping instead of working as a coordinated team to serve the interests of the nation. The regime is surely at its wits’ end!

Our abhorrence of repressive instruments, whether they are the 1962 anti-subversion ordinance or the 2014 anti-terrorism law is based on our distrust of a regime that abused the anti-subversive ordinance to create more problems for society. We remember Bebey Eyidi and others that were jailed as “subversives” for criticizing Ahidjo; we remember Yondo Black and others that were jailed by Biya as “subversives” just for thinking about multiparty politics. We remember how Ahidjo imposed his one-party regime and subverted the reunification agenda in a society cowed by the anti-subversion ordinance. Importantly, we remember how Law no 90/054 on the maintenance of law and order has been abused by administrative authorities to seriously reduce the societal space in which civil society and opposition political parties were supposed to carry out their activities.

The letter of the anti-terrorism law may not be to repress social liberties, but the above self-serving abuses inform us not to trust a regime that has orchestrated those abuses in the past. In an age when humans sentence themselves to death by acting like suicide bombers, the political and social consequences of the death sentence should always be well considered to avoidoutcomes like those that followed the execution in 1995 of leaders of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), including its founder Ken Saro-Wirwa, or the execution of Boko Haram founder Mohamed Yusuf in 2009, to name just those two cases. It is also appropriate to sound the warning again: in applying the anti-terrorism law, we should beware of McCarthyism!

On top of these worries, when an instrument meant for the protection of citizens and their properties is used to breach the rights of citizens to their individuality, the emergence of citizen responsibility is blocked. In the absence of such responsibility, there can be no solidarity. And in the absence of solidarity in society, no force can fight against the monster of modern terrorism. Citizen responsibility is like the responsibility of a family member for the behavior of other family members. From past experience, we fear that the spirit of the anti-terrorism law may endanger citizen responsibility because it seems to be more about the safety of the Biya regime which most Cameroonians no longer want, than about the security of the nation which all Cameroonians want and are anxious to support.

On December 31, 2013 Paul Biya said that the constitutional council would be put in place in “un délai raisonnable” [a reasonable time]. There must be some mystery about the Constitutional Council, not the simple putting together of people from different structures in the manner prescribed up to 19 years ago by the Constitution of January 18, 1996. If the regime agonizes over a simple matter like this, more difficult actions needed to unleash the nation’s potential in manufacturing, in services, and indeed in all sectors will take it a very long time – if ever! This toying with simple actions is indeed a metaphor for the laxity that we keep hearing about from its champion.

The problem of Cameroon today does not seem to be the lack of budgetary allocations because each year, annual budgets are under-spent, and much of the budgeted money is embezzled. The problem is therefore not about cutting costs and charging more taxes or spending scarce resources on the fight against terrorism. The problem is government systems and procedures that do not just work. The problem is the way we have done things during 30-some years which cannot produce different results. The problem is an environment bounded by repressive laws that inhibit the free flow of ideas, obstruct interactions between people with different perspectives, and lock up citizen potentials. The problem cannot really be said to be the absence of “peace” because we cannot convincingly say that our achievements during the last 30 year of “peace” – before Boko Haram et al. – can be described as “positive.”

The problem of our society is roads that are built without a maintenance infrastructure (periodic, routine or rehabilitation) so they become weak and dilapidated with age like we witness all over the country. The problem is that we are unable to appropriately streamline our investment projects along our two seasons of rain and sunshine. The problem is the absence of a transparent and efficient anti-corruption program which is not itself mired in corruption. The problem is that too many decisions in the country are in the hands of too few and too same people. The problem is that those at the summit of the state still have a one-party mindset, and treat those who criticize or differ with state authorities like enemies.
A government must have an overall strategy of service delivery to society. Government departments should be run by people who consider themselves business leaders, capable of continuous innovative and strategic thinking and action. Such strategies and innovations should be discussed, evaluated and fine-tuned in regular ministerial council meetings. Ministerial council meetings are not supposed to be a monologue. The president who constitutionally presides over the meetings should use the forum to draw from the collective expertise of each participant, not for staging the shows that give the impression of a haughty master in a kindergarten classroom.
It is amusing after reading the exchanges between Marafa Hamidou Yaya and Paul Biya as indicated above, to hear him say that our democracy is “working well!” There is obviously a serious disconnect between the people and the regime of Paul Biya. At the end of the day, development is a human product. However many “plans” or much money is thrown into the process, when the people are not in the right mood, only the same results of failure and end-of-year rhetorical questions will keep repeating themselves.

The fact that the outcomes of government actions do not produce desired services for so long a time is an indication that government is stuck in an unproductive routine. Perhaps the some university dons or other experts need to carry out some human-sciences-based analyses on both government and the society it serves to find insights that can be translated to productive initiatives, different from the decorative “plans” that always end up in failure and the enrichment of regime barons through corruption and embezzlement. But such insights may be beyond the comprehension of a gerontocracy. That is precisely why the need for change in Cameroon is so urgent.

Tazoacha Asonganyi

Yaounde.

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

Laquintinie Hospital Saga: Where is our collective conscience ⁰

The Laquintinie Hospital incident has not only shocked the entire nation, it has indeed thrown up many questions about healthcare in a country where elections focus more on individuals rather than on issues and policies that can enable the country address those issues that have blighted the people’s lives. The pictures of a woman slaughtering her own sister within a certified medical facility just to save her sister’s twins is an indication that the country’s healthcare system is suffering from serious issues. This is a job that was supposed to have been done by health officials of that medical facility, but since money has replaced humanity in our own country, lots of people, including medical doctors, have simply walked away from the theory of being there for their fellow citizens for a philosophy wherein money is the be-all-and-end-all of life. There is nothing else that can really beat this gross display of inhumanity by Laquintinie hospital officials. And this case is simply the tip of the iceberg.

Many Cameroonians have lost their lives just because of inhumanity and carelessness in our hospitals. When you visit some of our hospitals, you end up shedding tears when you see how fellow citizens are treated. Not only are these hospitals not equipped, they have, at best, been reduced to consultation clinics and, at worst, funeral homes. Our hospitals are now places where people pay their transport fare to spend their last days. The type of things that happen in Cameroon’s hospitals could kill a patient even before they get to meet the medical doctors who themselves have become businesspeople. Nowhere else in the world, except in Cameroon, is someone charged for being on the premises of a medical facility. In most hospitals around the country, access– not to the medical officials – is paid. Laquintinie is very much notorious for that. This underscores the point that even emergencies are not considered as emergencies, if the patient or their loved ones accompanying them do not have money to pay for access. This even gets worse if you have to meet with the medical doctors themselves. If you do not have money to deposit, then yours is the kingdom of pain and death. Nobody will attend to you and many hardworking, but unfortunate Cameroonians, have lost their lives just because of this type of mentality that is very much countenanced by a government that is more elitist than populist.

Of course, the Laquintinie incident seems to be a wake-up call. Even members of the ruling party are calling for disciplinary measures against officials of the hospital. But it is not the hospital that is the problem. Laquintinie is just a symptom of a disease that has affected the entire nation. Moral decadence and inhumanity have become the cancers of our country. This is a country where crooks are hailed as strong men, thieves are revered and con-men have become models to our children. Punishing Laquintinie hospital officials will be a welcome measure, but such a measure will not address the issues facing the entire nation. You do not eradicate a disease by striking at the branches instead of the roots. Cameroon is gone down the drain. Morals have disappeared from the country. The community spirit and strong sense of citizenship that characterized the country in the 70s, 80s and, maybe, the 90s have simply migrated to other parts of the world. Go to most schools in the country, and you will be shocked beyond expression at the attitude of the teachers. If levels of healthcare and education have taken a nosedive in Cameroon, it is surely not in error or by accident. It is the way the government has run the system.

The notion of Garbage in, Garbage out (GIGO) also applies to human systems and not only to the computer. Take a look at the way teachers are recruited and you understand why standards of education have suffered over the last two decades. Most Cameroonian teachers are simply a bunch of people who are fleeing unemployment. They are not driven by the passion we saw in our teachers in the 60s and 70s. Teachers were the makers of men and they exuded knowledge wherever they were. Compare them to what we have today, and your mind will bleed for a country that is already on life support. For the medical field, the story is grimmer. Many of our medical doctors have simply transformed the Oath of Hippocrates into an Oath of Hypocrisy. For sure, these doctors were pushed into our faculties of medicine by some invisible hand and even when they cannot perform properly in school, they cannot be dismissed. That should explain why we have lots of butchers in our hospitals wielding long, sharp knives. They are always prepared to operate or to exaggerate the extent of the patient’s illness just to make a quick buck. Cameroon needs a new vision, a vision that will place the citizens of that country at the heart of every action.

One would think that after the colourful celebrations of the International Women’s Day in Cameroon, Cameroonian women will be treated like queens every day. But the nasty and unpardonable incident that took place at the Laquintinie Hospital in Douala underscores that the nation and its leaders are simply paying lip-service to the whole notion of women and their rights. Worse of all, is the public’s indifference; indifference that has pushed me into questioning the whole notion of a collective conscience in our country. While the hospital officials have gone mute since the incident took place, government officials, for their part, have been struggling to provide explanations, some of which have been at best annoying. How could a country endowed with some of the finest human resources on the continent be going through this for so many decades. Why should we be losing our women at a time when technology has simplified delivery across the world? And where is our collective conscience. Our silence in the face of this disaster is tantamount to acquiescence. While we may have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in our country, let’s not forget that our silence is being considered as approval of what is happening to some of us. If this can happen to Mr. A, then it will one day happen to Mr. B. This has nothing to do with tribe or region. Our leaders should be held accountable and this is one moment that can enable our leaders understand that we cannot always be taken for a ride. Silence cannot always be golden, not when human life is involved.