Cameroon:The Ache the CPDM Party has brought to the Nation and why the Party needs Rebranding

There is ‘probably’ a rationale to see whites dish out inhumane treatment to blacks in a country like America because they do not have the same skin color; but for blacks mistreating their fellow blacks in Cameroon is not only pitiful but it is unconscionable, unimaginable and shameful. Jackson Nanje

On issues as egregious as the Anglophone problem which has the potential of rupturing our make-shift or fragile democracy, CPDM USA and many other diaspora sections are incapable (nomenclatures of the party) of making policy statements that would give advice and consent to the party on the best way forward in resolving the quagmire the country is confronted with, now. Jackson Nanje

 

By Jackson Nanje

    In the face of an Anglophone problem which has the potential of dividing Cameroon into East and West and brothers against sisters who may not yet understand that the real enemy is not each other but the government of Cameroon and the CPDM party; a government and a party that have remained defiant and steadfast in embracing a badly needed change---that is, a complete overhaul of government) which is coming by way of the Anglophone problem. So much has been written thus far about the body politics of Cameroon but a defiant Chairman and surrogates of the CPDM party are only willing to wrap bandages on these problems and are applying temporary desperate measures rather than lasting solutions to solve these ailing problems. In a nutshell, the CPDM party loyalists are unwilling to admit that these problems exist because many are afraid of political reprisal if they spoke out. But a political party can never achieve prominence if its members are afraid to speak truth to power or if they are mere myrmidons (blind followers) of their master. This is the party the CPDM has become; and change, is a must-embrace for party transformation to take place.

     As Communication and Education Officer for CPDM USA since the Section’s inception in 2007, it has been my duty to educate the militants… on party activities and on how power emanates from the basic unit of the party, the Cell to the Central Committee and the Political Bureau. In the United States, however, CPDM USA’s power emanates from the branch, which is the lowest organ (accommodation permitted by the Central Committee) of the party. The Section does not have powers to make suggestions to the bigwigs in Yaoundé because decisions that are deemed pertinent in the running of the party are made by the Central Committee and Political Bureau. On issues as egregious as the Anglophone problem which has the potential of rupturing our make-shift or fragile democracy, CPDM USA and many other diaspora sections are incapable (nomenclatures of the party) of making policy statements that would give advice and consent to the party on the best way forward in resolving the quagmire the country is confronted with, now. This is because of an institutional policy that does not give room for criticism from bottom up. For the party to grow, it must create avenues to seek for useful suggestions from other segments of the party other than the Central Committee and Political Bureau. The older party militants who constitute the Central Committee and Political Bureau do not evaluate things the same way as the young and brightest do. Additionally, the party must have the communication department deal with issues as they come. Ignoring citizens’ demands and concerns have never been an effective way of resolving conflicts especially in this digital age; ignoring them only agitates the population and this has been standard practice of the party----to ignore the concerns of citizens with the hope that their lack of response will cause the problems to disappear. In the United States of America where I live for example, my simple $20,00 contribution to the Democrat Party qualifies me to receive weekly letters from the party and even from President Barack Obama, informing me about the development and changes the party is making to suit the needs of citizens. Further, the Democrat party have regular town hall meetings which enables party militants to provide inputs to grow the party. This is democracy at best, which I strongly suggest the CPDM party should adopt, in order to encourage Cameroonians to see the party as the best choice for them. In today’s digital age, where majority of Cameroonians are connected to the internet, the party must use this modern tool to communicate with every Cameroonian and vice versa. No Cameroonian should have to wait for more than a week for the government to redress his/her grievance. It is unacceptable that the government received letters from Anglophone lawyers asking for a redress of their grievances but they (government) ignored them for more than a year?! This is inconsequential! This happy-go-lucky attitude has constituted the immediate cause of what is brewing as the Cameroon Revolution or coined, “The Anglophone Problem.” What is this Anglophone Problem which is at the verge of causing a revolution in Cameroon?

     When people have a legitimate cause, it is important for their government to listen to them and address their grievances, promptly. After all, we are a government for, by, and of the people. That is the role of each government. Intimidation cannot for a good government make. The current political upheaval started with a written demand from the lawyers to their government, asking of them to address the inequalities they are presently witnessing in the Anglophone Judicial System (Common Law) in which the Francophone Judicial System (Civil Law) has completely bastardized their courts. The Francophone judicial system is diametrically different from the Anglophone judicial system and its importation over to the Anglophone courts cannot render better justice to Anglophone citizens even as the language of dispatch is incomprehensible from the giver (Francophone magistrates) to the taker (Anglophone citizens).

     In addition to the current judicial inequality in the country, the distribution of political power is another serious cause for concern. The Francophones managed almost every branch in government even though there are numerous well trained and capable Anglophone managers in each category where Francophones have been employed around the country who can do even better. Faced with these grotesque injustices, the Anglophone Cameroonian have justifiable reasons to protest the government for a redress of these injustices.

    The Anglophone Teachers too have also decried the infiltration of Francophone-trained teachers who have been deployed in most English-speaking areas who can barely speak a word in English. It is not that the Francophone teachers do not mastered the material; they do so in the French language and conveying this material in a language unfamiliar to them, is a very serious task that put the Anglophone students at a disadvantage.  This is assimilation at worse and it shouldn’t be a surprise to the CPDM-led government to see Anglophone citizens finally defying the odds, by standing up against the brutal axe of the government which lacks proprietary interest of its Anglophone citizens that join the union in good faith through a plebiscite and referendum to become one and indivisible Cameroon. There is ‘probably’ a rationale to see whites dish out inhumane treatment to blacks in countries like America because they do not have the same skin color; but for blacks  mistreating their fellow blacks in Cameroon is not only pitiful but it is unconscionable, unimaginable and shameful.

     Cameroonians alike, were very hopeful when the Cameroon National Union party under President Ahmadou Ahidjo was rebranded as Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement under President Paul Bartholomew Biya in 1985. The leadership of President Ahmadou Ahidjo of the CNU party, even though some may consider it better when compared to the CPDM of President Biya, it was a constant nightmare and Cameroonians were so pleased to have a new transformational leader; at least, that is the impression Cameroonians had of him when he took over the ruins of the CNU. The people of Cameroon, East and West had so much trust, hope, and expectations that the CPDM party was going to change their economic and political woes. However hopeful and expectant they were over the span of 32years, that hope and expectation have been dashed by an ineffective leader. One can capture the desultory picture of how my people of Ndian division who have voted 100% for the CPDM in past elections, a division which produces 89.5% of Cameroon’s oil have been manhandled by the leadership of the CPDM party. The level of desperation and miserableness the party has brought to the people of Ndian is dreadful and brutal.

     The government of Cameroon started extracting oil from Ndian division in the early 1960s unbeknown even to the Ndian people. And for over 50years of oil extraction, not even a penny has been ploughed back to the division as subvention, royalties, or revenue sharing. The division cannot boast of electricity, a single Petrol or Gas station, lack of adequately equipped schools with resources other than that provided by Parents Teachers’ Association, no hospital, pupils as young as 6years old in the remote areas of Ndian trek about 2hours to attend school in the nearby village because of the absence of roads and schools in their respective villages, no pipe borne water except that which has been gotten through community interventions etc. Annoyingly, while the population of other divisions have grown exponentially, the population of Ndian division has stagnated at 130,000 people since 1975. The census bureau estimates that population increases 3.56% annually. If this is the case, then Ndian division should have a population of about 526,000 inhabitants. Why the population has not changed since 1975 is due to the dark arm of the government whose interest lie in their resources and not of the people. This enslavement must stop! The low population is a justification for the government not to provide any amenities on grounds of sparsely populated division Again, the division is not sparsely populated; the government has never truly provided accurate count of Ndian division's population over the ensuing censors since 1975. Many have blamed the docility of the Ndian people which they say is the reason for their underdevelopment. On the contrary, the Ndian people have petitioned the government severally over the span of 50years but nothing has come of it. Because of the neglect, the Ndian people, not our belly-hungry Ndian politicians, solemnly stands in solidarity with the teachers and lawyers, to demand for reforms and for federated states as the only solution to address age-old neglect.

     The people of Cameroon will understand and shall be glad to bid farewell to the CPDM party Chairman and Cameroon’s President, His Excellency Paul Biya because, it is undoubtable that he and many of his CPDM surrogates have unquestionably ran out of ideas on how to best run the country. These gerontocrats have been exposed by demands of the technological age and as Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote in “Idylls of the King,” on the passing of King Arthur, “the old order changeth, yielding place to new.” The analog way of governance is outdated, outmoded and insipid and can no longer compete with the new digital way of governance. Therefore, for our country to meet up with demands of the 21^st Century, the old guards (gerontocrats) must step aside for new digital performers to move the country forward and they should equally do everything possible to avoid plunging the country into war.

     For Cameroon as a nation to move towards the path of development, the CPDM party must not second guess the intentions of Cameroonians who are genuinely requesting to partner with them to achieve prosperity for our nation. The gerontocrats must add new technologically-inspired youths to propel the party and they must constantly liaise with Cameroonians everywhere for ideas to move the country ahead. The infusion of youths in decision making helps as a learning opportunity from the old to the new and it will help to stabilize the country economically and politically. And as the politicians ponder which political path would be best for the country, I want to shed more light on the issue of federalism or federal form of government that both parties are gravitating towards now than ever before. Majority of Francophone Cameroonians think that when Cameroon adopts the federal form of governance the resource which are found in various Regions are retained by those Regions. Not true! The resources are federally bound and retained by the national government that shares the proceeds to each Region to carry out their development projects. Each Region make their laws but the federal constitution, which all Regions must participate in crafting must be the law of the land. Each Region shall elect their representatives in both Regional and Federal house. The Regions shall also hire and train their police officers who shall be answerable to their Regional governors and mayors. They can also be fired from duty if they violate the laws of the Regions. In short, every citizen shall respect Regional and Federal laws. This is how a civil society functions and my hope is that, the CPDM party should lead this dialogue with the different leaders of the civil societies to move our beloved country forward.

     All these problems sum up the aches of the CPDM party but nonetheless aches they can resolve if they have the interest of Cameroonians at heart. And the ability to resolve these problems amicably could start a new rebranding pathway and prominence for the party.