The political parties themselves must reform and manage themselves in a democratic fashion so that they will be able to produce democratic, resilient, focused and patriotic leaders, who shall in turn lift this
nation beyond the moment
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| By Wilson Ngoh Attorney at Law |
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Since the dawn of
modern society, the basic responsibilities of government have been to ensure
security of lives and property of its citizens, safeguarding the country’s
territorial integrity, stability of the polity, to improve the economic and
social wellbeing of its people. With this consciousness, those who control the
levers of power and saddle with the duty of running the affairs of the country
are burden with the not-so-easy task of formulating a political system and that
of building institutions that they would consequently leverage upon in
achieving their political agenda for the people, since every government comes
to power with a clear-cut agenda. There are two operative words here for
emphasis, political systems and the people that run they political systems.
The political system is
the platform by which government formulate, articulate, convey and execute
their political agenda. It is a recognized process for allocating valuable
resources to the various sections of the country. It is the political system
that engenders the institutional framework of the country. The type, nature and
the functioning of the institutions are political sign posts of the type of
system in operation. But systems don’t operate in vacuum. You need people
(politicians) to drive the political process; the politicians form political
parties that control government. The politicians are those that animate the
political system and drive policies. For every system to work in an effective,
efficient and sustainable manner, it must be ideologically grounded and driven
by statemen who are patriotic and visionary. Both elements of political
systems, institutions and government must synchronize and work in tandem to
achieve ultimate result. The best political system will fail obviously without
the right political minds because it is great minds that build great nations. Many
others have articulated this thought before now. The right Rev Dr. Nyansako-Ni
Nku- Moderator Emeritus PCC in his FOREWORD to Nfon V.E Mukete’s “MY ODYSSEY
Cameroon Reunification Story said, “what makes societies great is the
illustrious citizens they produce who lift them up beyond the moment.” Conquered power is difficult to sustain and
maintain. Every government or system holds its success or failure to the
caliber of people driving the political agenda. History is inundated with
example of great minds making remarkable break through and lifting their
societies beyond the moment irrespective of the political system. I’m not so
much a fan of systems than the people driving it. Systems don’t make country
great, but people do.
President Mao Ste Tung,
was a principal Chinese Marxist theorist, who laid the foundational building
blocks that transformed China’s economy from an agrarian to an industrial
economy, modernizing china and building it into a world power, improving
education and health care as well as increasing life expectancy under an
autocratic authoritarian communist regime. The USA pride itself today as the
world’s leading democracy, world’s greatest economy, world’s strongest military
because of visionary leaders like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,
Roosevelt, J.F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Obama Barrack etc, etc. Ayatollah Khomeini, an Iranian cleric leader,
through theocracy was able to gather and inspire a downcast people and give
them a vision despite squeezing international sanctions that has been able to
push their technology and science to such a point that Israel feels threatened
by their growing military and might of their missiles program. Examples abound
of leadership taking their countries beyond the moment. Leadership most be
forward-looking because no matter the system the masses desire better living
conditions.
What System Does Cameroon Operate
under?
As political dynamics
is constantly changing, and political systems are contesting and contending,
one is tempted to ask the question of what type of system is operating in Cameroon?
A microscopic analysis of the political realities in Cameroon would lead one to
the conclusion that Cameroon, like many Africa countries, is in constant search
of a political system or model that would position her as a global player in
politics, economic and diplomacy. Our inability to evolve a political system
based on vision whether it is foreign-inspired or indigenously-rooted tailored
to guarantee economic and political emancipation and transform the country from
third to first world is the bane of our under development. We mimic the west in
nomenclatures; we toy with this golden word democracy but fail to apply the
concept, spirit and principles behind that system. I need to reiterate that our
brokenness or backwardness is not because of the system we operate under, but it
is because of a complete lack of leadership. For every political system to
succeed must be ideologically-grounded and driven by strong leaders (should not
to be confronted with a brute dictatorship) with vision, resilience and
conviction.
A cursory perusal of
the Cameroon constitution law No 2008/00/ of April 14, 2008 to amend and supplement
some provisions of Law No 96/6/ of January 18, 1996 leaves no one in doubt that
Cameroon is a democracy. It is stated in black and white in Article 1 sub 3
inter-alia that, ‘Cameroon is
……….secular, democratic and dedicated to social services, it shall recognize and
protect traditional values that conform to democratic principles, human rights
and the law, it shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law. It
goes without saying that Cameroon shall respect and uphold all the traditional
principles of democracy. These democratic principles are the keys to any
democracy worthy of its name. The people are paramount and sovereign, whether
it is the America Presidential system, or the French Semi-Presidential system
or the British Parliamentary system, the people are central. The principle of
separation of power operates freely and effectively and the different arms of
government functions at the same level, independent of each other guaranteeing
checks and balances. A free and independent judiciary and legislative bodies is
at the cornerstone of every democracy.
The Problem with Cameroon Democracy
For all intent and
purpose, it is extremely hard to ascertain the form of system that Cameroon
operates under. The power that be saved every known democratic form into one in
a bid to confuse the populace. Our democracy has the semblance of the American Presidential
System, only that the presidential ticket is not a joint with the Vice President.
Then it has some element of the French Presidential System just that in this
case, the President appoints the Prime Minister and all the ministers (the
appellation head of government attributed to the Prime Minister) is only on
paper with absolutely no power. The Prime Minister is like a penguin, a bird with
wings which cannot be used to fly. We practice democracy superficially but in
substance and reality it is a bottom line dictatorship. This is easy to
dissent. For democracy to thrive there are critical elements that must come to
play. There is no perfect democracy as enunciated by William Churchill, “no one
pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise; indeed, it has been said that
democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that
have been tried.” Certainly, we can have a thriving and healthy democracy; but
for this to happen, there must exist within that democratic system the following:
1.
Democrats
2.
Democratic institutions and
3.
Democratic parties in the real meaning
of the word.
It
is my belief that these three critical elements are missing in our body polity.
Lack of Democrats.
This
is not a blanket statement to wrap all Cameroonians into one undesirable and undemocratic
robe. This writer knows that within Cameroon there are people who fit the
description of true democrats, but equally this assertion is true to the extent
that it seeks to put the government or ruling class in focus. There can be no
democracy without democratic minds. Leadership is at best when it lives by
example. If it practices what it preaches? The leaders must be patriotic enough
to believe in the system and institutions they project. Fidel Castro was a
typical example of a leader who believed in the system he fought and died for.
As a fervent Marxist, coming from a wealthy background, his father was a
sugarcane plantation owner. During the Cuban revolution Castro was the first to
seize his family land and redistributed it to the landless peasants.
Democracy calls for respect for due process,
rule of law, human rights, and equality before the law. Democratic leaders
should be more than be prepared to respect and uphold these principles.
Democracy is not just a concept but a way of life-once a leader is elected, he
must go above and beyond, to provide quality leadership to all citizens
irrespective of their political preferences. A democrat must be close to the
people and have listening ears all over his/her governing territory. A democrat
must not confiscate power and must freely give up the reins of power once his
ideas and policies no longer resonate with the people. A democrat must learn to
‘debate not debase, convince not connive, persuade not perverse’ according to
Colonel Ojukwe Odumegwe in his book titled, Because
I’m Involved. It is easy to question whether our beloved President, Paul
Biya, upholds these qualities. The answer is blowing in the wind. We have a
president purportedly a democrat but with the reflexes and instincts of a
dictator. He does not show sympathy and
empathy to the masses, the national disasters of Lake Nyos, Nsan fire and the
Eseka train are marked testimonies of his lack of leadership. These national
disasters offered him the opportunity to show solidarity, love, connect and
share the people’s pain but he blew it up. He did not pay a single courtesy
visit to the victims of these disasters and lack of empathy defiles common
sense even to the vilest dictator. A Democrat must always communicate in the
most decent and inspiring manner with the people. Dialogue must be initiated
and pursued to diffuse national crisis. Conversely, our government officials oftentimes
communicate badly, provocatively, and they fail to understand that effective
communication requires skills and practice, it takes everything in to account,
your dressing your tone, mannerism and facial expression or body language at
the time of making that communication.
Lack of Democratic Institutions.
Nothing
underpins democracy than democratic institutions. President Biya is a product
of a One-Party State with inherited institutions that were undemocratic. When
Biya made his camouflage transition from dictatorship to democracy, the
repressive and undemocratic institutions prevalent at the time were maintained
and even those that needed to be reformed and upgraded to conform with new
democratic dispensations were never transformed. It becomes a matter of putting
new wine in an old wine bottle. It is important to comparatively look at how some
key institutions operated under President Ahidjo and how they operate under
President Biya now.
During
President Ahidjo’s reign, the BMM acted as a repressive force to entrap political
opponents of the regime real or imagine maintaining Ahidjo’s grip on power
through fear, intimidation, killings, false charges and imprisonment. There is
no or little different to SED under president Biya
The
prisons are still Chambers of Torture instead of reformation or correctional
centers. These facilities are meant to break down political opponents’ will and
morals. In a good democracy, like that depicted by John Howard in 1777 in which
he said, “prisons are not meant for imprisonment alone, rehabilitation of the
convict should be considered the primary function.” To better understand torturous
Ahidjo or Biya’s prisons are, I urge readers to read “Prisoner without a Crime”
by Albert Mukong and Prison Graduate co-authored by Boh Harbent and Ntem-Fa-O
fege. Both books paint gory pictures of prison experience in Cameroon. The
former under President Ahidjo and the later under President Biya who claims to
have embraced the principles of democracy.
Our
police force and gendarmerie have not changed much in terms of investigating
and maintaining peace and order. They still use the primitive method to brutalize
and intimidate citizens as instructed by presidents who ought to have embraced
democratic principles. Their training and formation as far as the respect of
individual and human right leaves much to be desired. And as if this were not
enough, in 2015 the police as well as the judiciary were indicted as the most
corrupt institutions in Cameroon by Transparency International.
The
SDOs and DOs and Government Delegates are another example of undemocratic failed
institutions that we must get rid of, urgently. They are a burden and act as a
drain on the economy. They have no place in modern democracy.
The
National Assembly was used to rubber-stamp all what President Ahidjo sent to
the house and the same is obtainable under President Biya who is supposed to be
an enlightened democrat. The most democratic of all the institutions, the
assembly, is to be closer to the people, articulate the people’s grievances,
check and curtail the excesses of the executive. Rather, the House of Debate
has become the House for the Deaf and Dumb. Our parliamentarians are shockingly
deaf to the cries and aspirations of the people and dumb to voice out the pains
of the people. They swallow, and pass bills sent by the executive in wanton
disregard. Something unheard of in a democracy. Not much different in the days
of President Ahidjo.
The
judiciary that is supposed to be the last hope for the common man is in dire
need of hope itself. The judiciary is tied to the apron strings of the executive
and are only willing to do the bidding of the executive. The inability of the
judiciary to dispense justice on the bases of fairness, equity, and to break
loose from the executive branch of government, is a call for grave concern. To
end, I will like to cite a dropping statement made by justice Ayah Paul in one
of his many interviews. ‘The judges have failed to embrace the Principle of Separation
of Power.” It is a simple but powerful statement, which underlines the corrupt
nature of our judiciary.
The Lack of Internal
Democracy
The practice of internal democracy within the
political parties themselves act as a lubricant to the democratic machinery. Unfortunately,
this is far from being the case in our country. The process of producing party
officers and candidates for elective positions are highly doctored and
controlled by party hierarchy, who at the end trample and abuse the democratic
rights of militants of the party. In a thriving democracy the people own the
process and decide who is voted in or out of power on a level plain ground. Candidates
can test their popularity in a free and fair contest. But in the Cameroon ‘Democratic’
System the major political parties are organized and run like personal
organizations of their founders. A simple fact to note is that their founders
are at the same time chairmen and always presidential candidates. This is
something unheard of and it does not argue well for vibrant democracy, which
must encourage fair competition of ideas to produce the best leaders to run the
affairs of the party or the nation. The CPDM and SDF are good case studies to
elucidate the will analysis.
The
C.P.D.M party stands out as a glaring example of an undemocratic party running a
supposed democracy. To fully postulate this point, one does not need to go
further than to look at the executives of the party. The Secretary General, Treasurer,
Publicity Secretary, Educational Secretary, Members of Central Committee and Political
Bureau Members are all appointed. Elections are only a mirage to give some
democratic legitimacy. President Biya is the undisputable Chairman of the CPDM.
That position is not up for contest, nothing can depict the undemocratic nature
of CPDM like the statement often use by party stewards, that the president is
the Natural Candidates of the party consequently, the CPDM is controlled and
managed by people who are handpicked by authority, people who have never been
tested or proven by the ballot box to be good leaders, people who were not
known by the rank and file militants prior to their appointments to those high positions.
These are the people, who will unfortunately end up bossing militants’ choice. What
a mockery! The organs of the party are often mysterious to the ordinary
militants.
The
SDF, arguable the leading opposition party in Cameroon, still headed by the
fire-brand leader Ni John Fru from inception, is also guilty of imposing
candidates on militants and thereby exhibiting a dictatorial tendency. It has
been opined by many that article 8.2 of the constitution of the party is meant
to axe opponents of Chairman Ni John Fru, discouraging criticism of him and it helps
to maintain the Chairman’s grip of the party in perpetuity. The fact that
within a space of twenty years more than four Secretary Generals have resigned
citing threats, intimidations and dictatorial tendencies of the chairman speaks
volume of the lack of internal democracy.
In conclusion, I have been able to show that
the elements of democracy, of democratic institutions and internal democracy
are primordial in advancing our budding democratic journey. For us to make
progress in our democratic journey, we must look inward and ask the tough
questions and make tough decisions. We must start reforming our institutions to
meet democratic standards. The political parties themselves must reform and
manage themselves in a democratic fashion so that they will be able to produce democratic,
resilient, focused and patriotic leaders, who shall in turn lift this nation beyond
the moment. If not, they will continue to wander like clueless and pointless leaders
sailing ships which could be blown away by the rising tides, undetected.
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