Another strike? Frightened, Biya calls off trip abroad

Courtesy - The Herald

True or false the persistent rumours of another strike as an expression of the public’s anger at last week’s constitutional revision have pushed the government to adopt many more security measures

By Roland Akong Wuwih in Yaounde

The public did not waste time in reacting to last Thursday’s amendment of the constitution which opens the way for Biya to continue in office beyond 2011.

Since Friday, and all throughout the weekend there have been persistent rumours of another strike, as an expression of public anger at the political development.

Until this newspaper went to press yesterday evening, the organisers of the strike remained difficult to identify.

But, true or false, the government has reacted to suggest that they were not taking the rumours lightly.

President Paul Biya, in a striking reaction to the rumours, called off at the last minute a journey that he was about to undertake abroad on Saturday. The Yaounde town centre main street was in the process of being cleared to await his passage as is usual, when directives to halt the action and free the traffic were given.

The president was taking leave at his Geneva residence (Inter-continental Hotel) after successfully getting through the constitutional amendment, which has weighed heavily on him for the last one year. He may now have to wait until the coast is clear of any storm.

In other moves, there were movements and positioning of reinforcement troops. Molyko - the university quarters - was so heavily infested with armed troops amidst persistent talk of strike with effect from today, Monday that some students began to leave.

Truckloads of troop reinforcement arrived in Bamenda on Friday evening, waiting for deployment.

Nightly arrests of youths in Yaounde and Douala were observed. Even though the organisers of the strike are not known, they are said to target when the strike begins, CPDM parliamentarians who voted the constitutional amendment bill.

Last February’s strike which was initiated by transporters’ unions who failed to come to an
agreement with the government on rates, revealed a new sense of power of the masses.

Public authorities were stunned by the whole-hearted adherence to the strike by transporters across five provinces, and the discipline with which they took instructions from their leaders in Yaounde.

The strike, once it began, offered the opportunity for the determined expression of widespread public anger at the policies of the regime, and particularly the planned amendment of the constitution.

The strike was so successful that as soon as it ended there began talks of yet another strike in preparation - sure evidence of a new sense of confidence by the people.

Power of Strike! Shaken, Paul Biya sues for peace! Yet rising people power threatens him

Courtesy - Harry Ndienla Yemti

Last month’s strike, for the first time ever in the long history of confrontation between the people and the government, revealed the balance of power in favour of the people. People power is a thing to beware of. That is why Paul Biya nervously hastened to make concession to fight rising peace; the first time he ever took a major decision to help the masses. Now unless he is willing to go all the way and work hard towards economical development and genuine democratization his regime will be doomed. He will face the wrath of the people.

Paul Biya certainly had a quieter weekend after he adopted important measures on Friday to fight a galloping inflation. The President truly deserved the applause that followed the announcement of the measures. It was the first time ever in his 25years in office that he made such a policy gesture in favour of the masses. Only a week before the president, who is by no means popular suffered more public opprobrium than anyone remembers in a long time. In a speech to the nation, Biya portrayed a shocking lack of touch with Cameroonians just when his understanding was much expected to end a strike that had sufficiently served its purpose in expressing the people’s grievances against the government. Biya’s disappointing outing only compound the damage done to the government by the strike whose success demonstrated a new sense of self-confidence among the masses.

The measures adopted on Friday were no doubt much welcome by the wide public, long resigned to economic hardships. What is interesting to note about the president’s gesture is that he acted out of fear of the ‘nightmare’ he experienced of the strike, which is why he hastened to ‘sue for peace’ The very fact that Paul Biya has never made any important concession to the masses-political, economic or social make the president’s sudden sense of weakness vis-à-vis the public something really to think about.

To face the fact, no one who observed the strike missed the new sense of self-confidence that the public demonstrated. When it ended everyone was satisfied the government had been taught a lesson. Indeed there began talk immediately that another strike was in preparation- sure evidence of this newfound power and the people’s eagerness to face the government. For the holder of absolute power that Paul Biya is, this must have been a truly worrisome development.
Not even the most predatory autocrat is comfortable about people power. In Romania in 1986, it was again the streets that seized power that crushed that country’s oppressive regime after the usually trigger-happy police for once disobey their supreme master Nicola Ceausescu. In the Philippines in 1986, it was again the streets that seized power from Ferdinand Marcos who, as incumbent, had claimed it after rigging an election as usual, all with Ronald Reagan’s approval.
Of the many factors that explain the coming rise of people power in Cameroon, two stand out, viz: the decline of the dissuasive power of the bullet and a corresponding sense of despair and a diminished self-worth among youth.

Long years of penury and unemployment among youth erode any sense of worth, leaving instead hopelessness about life, which easily gives way to acts of desperation. It is variants of this inner condition that inspire suicide, suicide bombers, acts of terror, and the willingness by economic migrants to undertake perilous sea voyages. And to that sense of despair the ready recourse to naked coercive force by the Biya regime.

Death resulting from gun-fire has become commonplace in Cameroon such that it is fast losing its sting. How else does one explain the fact that every successive ant-government demonstrated draws a bigger attendance when that of the previous week claimed lives- friends, colleagues and even relation? It is this new generation of youths who have nothing to live for and who don’t care about Biya’s bullets, that is at the base of the rising confidence of street power. With them taking the bullets, any anti-government movement will work. That is the new power that Paul Biya must reckon with. It was respect for it that the president hastened to make the anti-inflationary concessions of last weekend.

If the president will deal successfully with this new threatening power he will have to reverse much of these policies of the last twenty-five years that have been remarkably anti- people and elitist. It will be helpful for Biya not to wait until the people start demanding what they believe is their right. People power is not only potent, it is also unpredicted. The more he takes the public into confidence in dealing with them the more he will find it easy to control people power.
The history of decolonization in Africa which involved long years of struggling between the indigenous/ nationalist elite and their colonial rulers offers a useful lesson here. Each time the colonial rulers granted a concession, considering it something great, that only prepared the way for the nationalist fighters to demand more. That in turn only lengthened the struggle that often got really bitter and murderous.

The accounts of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana or of Nigerian nationalists as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolow or of Herbert Macauley etc or of Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia, all teach the same broad lesson. At the height of economic measures in favour of the masses will be job creation hot by expanding the public sector but by the infusion of credit, for small and micro businesses. The goal should be to lift millions out of poverty and generate prosperity in as short a time as possible.

If Biya sincerely wants to turn public policy towards poverty alleviation much that is visible must happen to convince the public. Much money can be saved for that purpose from a considerable reduction in the size of the government and also of Cameroon’s sprawling diplomatic apparatus.

The daily operation of the government is also scandalously wasteful. Government processes are too much of a labyrinth and time consuming to support the implementation of the coming reforms. All good leadership is by example. Paul Biya’s lifestyle does not at all reflect the government’s flagship policy of poverty alleviation.

With more than three quarters of Cameroonians living on a dollar a day it is irreconcilable to know that Biya travels by a hired inter-continental jumbo jet at about one billion fcfa per journey at the taxpayer’s expense. In their powerlessness people say nothing until their opportunity comes. It is politics that will pose a much greater problem because of ego Investment. Paul Biya must drop his mischievous intention to continue in office beyond 2011 and prepare the nation for a free and fair election whereby Cameroonians will choose their next president.

If he is pro-active and takes leadership in enacting these reforms he will be surprised how easily he is forgiven his otherwise unpardonable political sins. In that way, unless Paul Biya willingly returns to the people what he has withheld from them for so long, i.e. genuine institutionalized democracy and a solid foundation for economic growth, he will face people power. That is better imagined than described.Courtecy, The Herald

Elections Cameroon: Paul Biya prepares another NEO-by another route

Editorial Comment by The Herald Newspaper

Paul Biya has hidden the outcome of an adhoc committee he appointed since July for 45 days to set up Elecam. Last week he proceeded on to another maneuver intended to cover up his list of appointees for Elecam membership. In the end the new election management organ will be just as it suits him; no more, no less. What do you call that? Absolute power at work.

A bracadabra. The more you look is the less you see, chants the magician. In a well-practiced gesture of continuous hand-contortion, the conjurer mesmerises his audience – and behold, gets his result. Guess who the magician is? What is he conjuring? Paul Biya, is not only head of state, he is also an accomplished political magician. He makes the most unlikely, even impossible, things happen.

Before our very eyes, Elecam, the new elections management organ, much expected to point the way to transparent election, will be out and certified to be what the public asked for. Yet in reality it will be anything but just that. It may even turn out to be just as unhelpful or even harmful as its predecessor, the National Elections Observatory. Such is the way in which the master-magician uses his inordinate powers. The state for the coming political drama was set a long time ago.

To calm the public over persistent calls for more credible elections, Biya smartly announced he would create an independent election organ. Instantly he got an overly enthusiastic commonwealth secretariat on board to lend the idea credibility. Malborough House in London showered Yaoundé with time, people and their expertise, and funds. The nation was
mobilized in a farce to offer their views. Then came Biya’s moment, Abracadabra, said the
magician. The more you look the less you see, and behold it is Elecam that emerged. A whittling down of the nation’s expectations.

Yet the process has only begun. Nothing has since been heard of a government ad hoc committee appointed in July for 45 days to draft the Elecam law and dispositions.
Instead what the public got last week was a series of consultations towards appointing Elecam members. When the ad hoc committee was appointed it was believed that its draft would be rendered public for criticism and suggestions from the wide public. As it is everything is happening quietly in the secret chambers of the magician’s alchemy. In time the public will be informed of the final state of Elecam.

Paul Biya plans again to stand at the presidential elections of 2011, and, if not, he will sponsor a
hand-picked successor. It is anyone’s guess that Elecam is the tool that should make life easy for
him-not harder.

So there should be no surprise when both the provisions and members of Elecam are tailored for the purpose which they are to serve. Appointees are supposed to be non-partisan. This can
be ruled out in Cameroon. Even people who show a semblance of integrity at the beginning gradually get compromised. The very clause of renewing their lucrative jobs is weakening.

In Cameroon the in-expansiveness of the economy which limits possibilities in the private works in favour of state power. Not seeing or knowing what to do in the private sector, people have developed the habit of looking up, almost helplessly, to the public sector.

Elecam should also have offered the opportunity of ironing out the exaggerated unevenness of legislative constituencies. Since 1992 the criterion of population was set aside for an arbitrary allocation. The south province with a population of fewer than 400.000, for instance, was allocated 11 parliamentary constituencies against three for Mezam division in the
North West province with a slightly higher population.

On voter registration which remains a sticking point, the simpler answer is for Elecam to work with the national identity card service of the police and fill up their registers.
Yes, all of this would be fine but for master – magician who mesmerizes Cameroonians. For the more you look or ask of Elecam, the less you’ll see or get.
A-b-r-a-c-a-d-a-b-r-a

National Assembly Session: Constitutional revision not on tentative programme Bill on decentralization high on agenda.

Courtesy: The Herald

Is President Paul Biya up to his usual tricks by disguising his intention until the last minute? or he
is yielding to widespread opposition at home and abroad over his intention to modify the constitution?
A programme of next month’s session of the National Assembly that has been leaked to The Herald, by dependable intelligence source, does not include a bill on the controversial revision of the constitution.

But our informants who usually know the programme of the house in advance said that if the bill will show up at all during the March session, then it would be brought in only at the last minute to avoid a leak. On the contrary, it is a bill on decentralization and one other bill that our source did not name that are on the tentative agenda Our informants did not give us any details on the
content of these two bills. But it is believe that the decentralization bill is to render operational the
work government plans to devolve power to urban and local councils.
On the proposed constitutional revision, Paul Biya is unpredictable. If he will table a bill in that regard, he would most probably have to keep it until the eve of the date of tabling.
And given the overwhelming majority of the CPDM in the house the bill could be passed in the twinkle of an eye by acclamation.
That could be on the last day of the session. Meanwhile, it has emerged that Paul Biya showered the bureau of the National Assembly with money during last
November’s session.

It is believed that he did this to create a conducive atmosphere within the assembly in preparation for the eventual passage of the bill on the controversial revision of the constitution to facilitate his stay in office beyond 2011.
For no other evident reason, he gave free car allowances ranging from 8 million to 60 million FCFA. Money which is free and non reimbursable.

Ordinary parliamentarians received 8 Million France each, bureau secretaries 30 million, questors 40 million, vice presidents 45 million, Senior-Vice president 50 million and the president 60 million FCFA.
New bureau members received at least 2 million FCFA home furnishing allowance.
This reporter also learned that in addition to these generous allowances, some parliamentarians were appealing to the president to reimburse all payments that they had made on their car loans.
Furthermore there has been a movement within the assembly pressing the government to increase the monthly salary of MPs and the micro-finance yearly allowance of 8 million FCFA.

If Biya has no regard for the supreme law of the State, then citizens have no legal or moral obligation to obey him" (An open letter to Paul Biya)

Dear Mr President,

The Constitution is the supreme law of the State. The Constitution is an all embracing, permanent, immutable body of rules which regulates the government of the State and guarantees the rights, freedoms, and duties of citizens. Its provisions have the force of law and are binding on all institutions of government, the President, parliament, Judiciary, and all citizens of the country. In fact, the Constitution as the supreme law of the State, is at one and the same time a legal document, which judges interpret, the blue print of a machine which warring parties may draw their texts, and a shrine where resides most, if not all, of the political values which the nation cherishes.

When the President is sworn into power, he swears to uphold and defend the Constitution.

When soldiers make a coup d’etat, the first thing they do is to abolish the constitution, they abolish the presidency, (in many cases they kill the president) they abolish parliament, the judiciary, and rule by marshal law. Under marshal law, all rights and freedoms of citizens are suspended.

Civilian Dictators and tyrants act in the same way as military dictators, the only difference is that civilian dictators, who eventually become life presidents, do so in a more subtle manner.

The colonial masters left their colonies with a multiple political system of government, but shortly after independence, the new native presidents, abolished political parties and adopted the one party system, following the communist system. The one-party system then bred the life presidents, who were re-elected with monotonous regularity.

With the fall of the Communist Soviet Union and the gradual introduction of Democracy globally by the United States of America and Europe, the one –party State disappeared and with it, most of the life president despots.

In Cameroon, Ahidjo left Biya with the one-party state- the CNU and Biya continued it under the new name –CPDM.

Even though, Biya had all power because there was no opposition party in the country, he was forced by the Cameroon people aided by the International Community, to allow multi-party politics in Cameroon. Biya devised a crafty means of staying in power even with a multi-party situation. He made sure that he was never defeated in any election by conducting the elections himself through his appointed Minister of Territorial Administration.

By refusing to appoint an Independent Electoral Commission, Biya has always been declared winner in all elections. In this way, Biya was sure to be a life President in Cameroon.

But then pressure was mounted on him from the International Community and from honest patriotic Cameroonians, for transparency and democracy.

Biya went to the Cameroon Constitution to give himself legitimacy to stay in power for another 14 years. He was certain that he would not last more than 14 years, so he amended the constitution to say that the President can only be elected for two terms of 7 years each, thereafter, he cannot stand for election again.

In 2007, Biya suddenly realized that he had made a serious error, to restrict his tenor of office to 2011, he called for parliamentary elections, to be conducted by his appointed Minister of Territorial Administration. He refused to appoint an Independent Electoral Commission to conduct the election, and massively rigged the election to give his Party more than 85% of the parliamentary seats.

Biya now wants to use this rigged majority, to amend the constitution again, by scrapping Article 6.2 of the constitution.

President Paul Biya, must be told in unmistakable words that he cannot be allowed to destroy the Constitution of Cameroon, and make it a tool in his hands. a thing which he can change at will, a thing he can manipulate at his convenience using his handclapping Parliamentarians

If Biya destroys the Constitution by ignoring it, abusing it or disrespecting it, then Biya has no legal or moral right to invoke the Constitution for his powers.

Biya can as well rule as a military dictator.

If Biya is allowed to amend the constitution at his convenience, then he is no more bound by the constitution.

Cameroonians will get up one day to find that their rights, duties and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution have been amended and abolished.

Even Religious bodies will be shocked to see amendments to the Constitution, banning them. Biya could amend the Constitution and legalize corruption and other abominations.

What will Biya not be capable of doing? He could amend the Constitution and abolish parliament and the Judiciary or any other organ of the government which is not conducive to him. Eventually he could abolish the Constitution itself.

If Biya has no regard for the supreme law of the State, then citizens have no legal or moral obligation to obey him. They will not have to pay taxes or perform their civic duties. The president will have to resort to force. He will be forced to rely on the army and security forces to rule, and eventually these forces too will overthrow him in a coup and rule by marshal law.

Cameroonians whether in the government party or in the opposition parties, must realize that this is a national issue and not a party issue.

The Constitution is above party politics, it is a question of our future and the future of our children and the future of our country.

We cannot allow President Biya to destroy this country. By 2011, Biya would have done nearly 30 years in ruling Cameroon. Our life style has grown from bad to worse. Our country is getting poorer and poorer every day. Our future is at stake. Enough is enough.

Biya must go in 2011.

If President Paul Biya is blinded by his inordinate ambition to die as life president of Cameroon, then he will find Cameroon ungovernable in his last days.

Cameroonians challenge Paul Biya, to call for a referendum to amend the Constitution. A referendum to be conducted by an Independent Body.

Mr. President please note that Cameroonians will not allow you to become life president. You must go on or before 2011.

The day that Biya sends a Bill to Parliament to amend the Constitution, so that he can continue to rule after 2011, the CDP will join all Cameroonians, (in CPDM and opposition parties), to make Cameroon ungovernable for Biya

Mr. President, the whole country will rise up against you.

May God save Cameroon.

By A.S Ngwana.

Chairman, CDP

Constitutional amendment sparks debate in Cameroon

Cameroon's President Paul Biya has been in power for 25 years, but he still has other
intentions - to change the law so that he can continue in office indefinitely after his mandate ends in 2011. Consequently, the president’s particular interest is on article 6.2 of the country’s constitution, which reads; “the president shall be elected for a seven year term renewable once”. But a good segment of the population is angrily against such intention by president Biya described as “a constitutional Coup d’etat”. Consequently, Bishops of the Catholic Church,
Cameroon’s largest religious body through their Episcopal conference have condemned in strong terms any attempt by the head of state to temper with the country’s constitution and has thus called on all Christians to stand against such manipulation.

Interestingly, the head of state and the prime minister are all Catholics. “Constitutional amendment is not a priority now”, reads the caption on an endorsement form designed by the justice and peace commission of the national Episcopal conference of Cameroon. “By my signature I hereby endorse the protest against any constitutional amendment in Cameroon as contained in the memo”, reads the form which is being signed by catholic Christians.
Furthermore In most churches on Sundays, Christians are being cautioned by priests through their sermon to stand as God’s children against the constitutional amendment which is now a topical issue in the country. Conscious of the fact that some Christians especially civil-servants are afraid of signing the form for the simplest reason of being victimized, they are being
told by the men of God to put all fears aside and stand firm in their believe.

The Catholic Church has been joined by the civil society as well. On this score over 40 civil society Organizations under the umbrella of Cameroon Alliance of Voluntary Organizations for Development (CAVOD) meet in Bamenda northwest province of Cameroon to say
no to any constitutional change in the country. CAVOD which is in a nation wide tour to press her claims is aimed with a mission statement as stated below;

• In a bid to contribute to the ongoing debate sparked by calls for the amendment of Cameroon’s Constitution;

• Noting that President Biya, in his end-of-year address on December 31, 2007, formally endorsed these calls with particular reference to Article 6(2) which he described as “undemocratic”,

We, members of the Civil Society network known as the Cameroon Alliance of Voluntary Organisations for Development (CAVOD), met in extraordinary session in Bamenda on Saturday January 12, 2007, and after an exhaustive examination of the subject, came out with the following preliminary statement:

1 That the present constitution does indeed warrant revisiting by reason of the following serious shortcomings among others:
a. It gives the head of State sweeping powers including the power to appoint members to elected bodies. For instance it empowers him to appoint 30% of the Senate, to sit with 70% elected members, thus undermining the regulatory power of this body over the functioning of the Executive;
b. It makes no provision for independent candidates for Presidential elections, or for the participation of the Civil Society in policy formulation and implementation, thus making public policy a monopoly of political parties;
c. It lends itself to manipulation, notably with regard to Article 66 which provides for the
declaration of assets, but whose text of application makes such declarations a private matter);
d. It leaves the appointment of members of government to the president’s unqualified discretion whereas elsewhere these appointments are made from amongst elected legislators;

2 The above shortcomings have, over the years, informed wide-ranging calls for the present
Constitution to be revisited, but the President has ignored them, only to spring into action now because a tiny fragment of his own party seeks the amendment of one article to favour his own ambition.

3 Those calls, it is to be noted, emanated from a small, negligible caucus that is demonstrably
unpopular even in its own base and, considering the low voter turnout at the last legislative elections, the nation runs the risk of seeing them validated with the support of less than 30% of the electorate.

4 Allowing this to happen would deny the vast majority of Cameroonians the right to participate in the making of a major decision with far-reaching consequences. It is thus at variance with the government’s avowed commitment to the letter and spirit of international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Fundamental Human Rights in its Article 21(3)

5 The present Constitution is the 1996 revision of the 1972 constitution, and even with the above flaws, basic logic demands its full implementation before another amendment is considered.

6 Even in the event of any such amendment, we deem a review of Article 6(2) unwarranted, especially as applied to the incumbent who has been in power for over a quarter century.

7 Just as the selective implementation of the present Constitution, notably the by-passing of the Constitutional Council, is tantamount to a constitutional Coup d’Etat, its selective amendment to suit the designs of the incumbent would amount to unacceptable tinkering with the fundamental law of the land.

8 The President, by allowing or being party to these violations of the institutions of State of which he is the sworn guarantor, can be deemed to have exposed himself to impeachment.

9 In the face of the current threats to the fundamental instrument of our existence as a State, it
behooves the people of Cameroon, in whose hands lay the sovereignty and destiny of the Nation, to make their voices heard through every lawful means.

10 We count on all friends in the international community to throw their full weight behind the
restoration of sovereignty to the Cameroonian masses.

Done at Bamenda, January 12, 2008

Paul Biya at twenty-five: A lost for opportunity for Cameroon’s development

It used to be a delicate task to make an assessment of the government short of praise-singing. The regime and its partisans would quickly dismiss the effort as the work of ill-willed partisan sycophants. Now that task is enthusiastically done by international watchdogs. Those who want to know about the standing of the Biya regime over the last twenty-five years only need to call up the regular reports of Transparency International, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Amnesty International, World Bank, UNDP, etc. With soberness the government has learnt to accept reports of its mediocrity in key respects. But on this 25th anniversary of the regime Paul Biya and his men may rightly celebrate “the peace that reigns in Cameroon” – and some other note-worthy achievements of the distant past

Paul Biya was given only twelve hours to answer a rather strange and wholly unexpected question put to him by his political overlord, Ahmadou Ahijo. “Would you be interested to assume the functions of Head of State and take over from me?”

More suspicious than excited, Biya, then Prime Minister, remained unbelieving as he watched a scene of political drama suddenly begin and unfold within the next few days with the rapidity and surrealism of a motion picture. It took the grandiose ceremony of 6 November 1982 when Ahidjo actually handed him the reins of power on a platter of gold for the mild-mannered and unassuming Biya to believe his infinite luck and immeasurable good fortune.

Today makes the 25th anniversary of Biya’s accession to power. In activities that already began at the week-end state media and organs of the ruling CPDM are highlighting the achievements of the regime over a quarter century.Incredible inheritance. The celebrations have only provoked debate. What has Paul Biya done with his incredible inheritance over so long a period?

Going by the universally accepted understanding that socioeconomic development and general prosperity are among the more important and urgent tasks of governments, the regime’s score-card is definitely somber, Far more so than the enthusiasm of partisans would have us believe. Yet the beginning was promising. The mood of the nation was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Cameroonians had become dead weary of the same president for twenty-two years without much to show for it.

It was this popular enthusiasm for change that the new president cashed in on. He preached change; change especially in public morality and social justice. Now, twenty-five years later, the story is very different, to say the least. Cameroon is in a crisis of modernization. The economy has instead shrunken; political institutions are archaic and awfully in want of reform. Social justice and basic administrative efficiency are all major problem areas. All the same the picture is all bleak. The Biya cloud has its silver lining. Under Biya Cameroon has so far avoided the armed conflicts that have ruined many other African countries. Only recently, OXFAM the British NGO, published a report which estimated that more than 300 billion dollars was the cost of wars in African countries in the last fifteen years.

That was money that could otherwise have been invested in development. Another bright spot of the Biya regime is freedom of speech and of the press. With the return to the multiparty politics in 1990, the government freed the newspapers. The audio-visual media has also been progressively liberalized. Movement in and out of Cameroon was also freed thanks to the easy obtainment of a Cameroonian passport which was previously near impossible to get. General amnesty The state of emergency under all of Ahijo’s twenty two years was lifted and a general amnesty granted, thus permitting Cameroonian exiles abroad to return home.

These measures were widely acclaimed as harbingers of political change and socioeconomic development. But alas the much-awaited change did not come, and now looks ever more unlikely to come before 2011 when Biya leaves office? The promise of democratization especially failed woefully even when it had the most favorable conditions of success. After a three year effort by the government, partly fighting strong forces at home that opposed it, Cameroon obtained membership of the commonwealth on condition of key democratic reforms that it willingly pledged.

It was widely believed and openly said at commonwealth chancelleries in Yaounde that membership would play the trick by bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Yaounde authorities. Probably the most disappointing aspect of democratic failure is the long history of flawed and acrimonious elections. The failure of democratization could somehow have been made up for by impressive economic growth just like the authoritarian regimes of South-East Asian countries generated miracle socioeconomic development.

Not so with the Biya concept of power whereby there is a strong nexus between politics and economics. Almost all of the Biya tenure has been mired in an economic slump. After a long decade of recession the economy has not been given the necessary bold incentives to bush it back up. All possible gains of the present 3.5% growth rate are instantly swallowed up by the negative effects of recession.

Education, health and roads due to long years of investment neglect are in their worst possible condition. The government has also been neglectful over the yearly rise in prices of essential commodities. Far from generating prosperity and pulling the masses out of poverty through economic expansion, the Biya regime has instead in its twenty-five years visited unemployment, penury disease and crime at an unprecedented scale upon Cameroonians.

For a government that has as its flag-ship policy poverty reduction (officially called “the fight against poverty”) this pronounced anti-social behavior makes it a contradiction in terms. The recent boost in public finances, thanks to debt relief, has yet to trickle down to the masses if and when the government concedes to some important social spending. Until then the money remains in the indelicate hands of corrupt bureaucrats who swindle it with impunity.

Like poverty, disease, crime and other endemic ills of the Biya regime, corruption has grown so huge that fighting it threatens the regime itself. Biya is still using the escapist argument of wanting to take his time for tangible proofs. In analyzing the mediocre performance of the Biya regime, a few factors do not work in his favour. Cameroon, for instance, is not a poor country by any means. For its population of 17 million its natural resources of oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and banana could have been a great boon in its development. Critics hold this failure to poor management.

There is clear evidence that Paul Biya lacks the will to change Cameroon for the better. The government’s failed relationship with the commonwealth as indicated earlier is evidence enough. Furthermore the government’s indifference to the yearly assessment of credible watchdogs does not help to believe the president’s speeches to the country.

The third factor that wipes off any pretence by Biya to being a democrat is his obscurity over the issue of succession. No democrat would want to be in office for twenty-nine years and still nurse ambitions to continue. And to seek a life presidency by crook (no hook about that)! Understandably, partisans of the regime view its failures forgiving; some even want to ignore them. Also Cameroonian critics of the government are very often dismissed as partisan trouble-makers.

But it is doubtful that even the most enthusiastic supporters of the regime would ignore the very un-cheerful assessment of the Biya performance by international watchdogs and multilateral institutions. Who wants to ague with Transparency International on corruption; the World Bank on the economy and business climate; the UNDP on human development; Amnesty International on human rights or the Mo Ibrahim Foundation on governance?Courtesy The Herald CameroonIn Buea where most government offices were closed for the whole day, anniversary celebrations took place at the independence (Mbongo’s) square. Is there reason to celebrate?

Yemti Harry Ndienla Esq