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221 28 Yielding Place to a New Order N o human being is immortal. No human being is eternal. No human being is omniscient. No human being is omnipotent. No human being is infallible. All human beings are, by their very nature, weak, mortal, transient and fallible. That being the case, no human system or organisation can last for ever. And even if any could last for ever, it ought not. “The old order changeth, yielding place to new, and God fulfils himself in many ways.” Let’s not worry- about who said this or even whether s/ he has been accurately quoted. Every human society must create room and make ample allowance in its collective psyche for the old order to change and yield place to a new one. Any society which does not make room for change and renewal denies God, as it were, the opportunity to fulfil his plans, the possibility to work marvels for that society. “So that one good system may not spoil the world.” A system, no matter how good, would cause great damage if it were to be adopted and maintained as the sole, permanent and unchanging system. Just think of what would happen to the world if young human or even animals were not constantly born and grow up to take over from old ones: if crops did not mature to be harvested and fresh ones planted. That would signal the death of the entire world, as we know it. Ditto for any human system, no matter how perfect it may pretend to be. To live is to change and to even approach or approximate perfection is to have changed often. Too much of, even a good thing, is a bad thing. You may think that I am just rambling speculatively. But just take the example of, say, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Last week the people of the U.K. overwhelmingly elected the Labour Party of Tony Blair to take over from the Tories of John Major (or should it be Minor?) and to oversee their collective affairs and guide their destiny for the next five years. How do you explain the great excitement of Britons over a new regime, given that the old one 222 Road Companion to Democracy and Meritocracy was not at all bad and, in any case, nothing close to the sort of disaster that we have here? That is because a new government gives the whole system a new lease of life, a veritable breath of fresh air, even though it is not likely to be infallible. The conservatives and their Thatcher legacy must have done something right and good for the U.K. But when a regime, even a good one, stays on in power for too long, good governance is no longer its objective but rather continuous maintenance of power. That is how corruption and fowl play become its modus operandi. As far back as 1993, while on a visit to the U.K., I had noticed that the Conservative regime had lost grassroots support all over the U.K. It should have thrown in the towel then but continued on in power through stratagems and the art of make-believe. Here in Cameroon, the New Deal regime. With its Ahidjo legacy lost all popular support about a decade ago and should have thrown in the towel then, but has continued on in power through stratagems, empty rhetoric, the art of makebelieve , skilful use of violence and repression, etc. Cameroonians owe themselves the duty, in the interest of collective survival, to escort the CNU/CPDM New Deal regime out of power with alacrity, in spite of whatever putative good it might have done in the past. We should give ourselves a breath of fresh air and a new lease of life and usher in a new regime and a new order, in spite of whatever mistakes it might make in the future. But who will retain our right to criticise, to praise and applaud, to blame and condemn and, above all, to vote out any future government and regime that has outlived its usefulness or that we no longer perceive as capable of satisfying our collective interests. That is what I understand by democracy: a system that permits peaceful change of the guards and guardians of our collective interests and well-being, a smooth yielding of the old order to a new-one. Talking about voting, I must place it on record here...

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