I Spit on their Graves: Testimony Relevant to the Democratization Struggle in Cameroon

The CRTV Versus the People

33 The CRTV Versus the People O fficially, democratic rhetoric has been going on in this country now for over a decade. This rhetoric is epitomized in Communal Liberalism: two hundred pages of empty theorizing which, as has now been confirmed, were composed (in good faith) by François Sengat Kuo and signed (in bad faith) by you know whom. For over a decade, we have been deafened with catchy phrases and sweet slogans: Democratization and Liberalization, Rigour and Moralization, New Deal etc. But, outside the verbal and conceptual realm, there has been very little change, except in the direction of degradation, degeneration and retrogression. One accurate index of this sad state of affairs is the Cameroon Radio and Television alias C.R.T.V. When democratization and liberalization shall cross the deep chasm separating theory and practice, the first effects shall be immediately noticed over the C.R.T.V. Until then, the C.R.T.V. evidently is, has been, and continues to be, a powerful weapon in the hands of a totalitarian monolithic Regime. Any careful observer needs only to watch the C.R.T.V. to accurately monitor the democratization process in Cameroon. Today, there is hardly any regular programme in English on Radio or Television that is worth listening to or watching. Before the Reunification and after, up to the 1972 Referendum, Radio Buea had some very interesting programmes to which people listened almost compulsively. Recall such programmes as “Radio Titbits,” “Where are 34 Godfrey B. Tangwa (Rotcod Gobata) We?,” “Request Time,” “Meet the Patients” etc. The spirit and professional expertise behind such programmes later animated their larger equivalents in Yaounde: “Cameroon Report,” “Cameroon Calling,” “Minute by Minute,” “Luncheon Date” etc. These were programmes that virtually everybody listened to or watched. And when that happens to any programme, you can be sure that there is something of value in it. These were fascinating programmes that you hated to miss. Today all these programmes have simply been banned and the very fine journalists who conceived and produced them sacked, scattered or gagged. I cannot remember when last I deliberately tuned on radio Cameroon or sat down to watch Cameroon Television. Occasionally, I only stumble on them. And whenever I stumble on them, I am more often than not, nauseated by what I hear or see. The C.R.T.V. has developed into a shameless propaganda device for the regime in power. The C.R.T.V. is today very accurately personified in its overall boss: Minister (of state) for Communications, His Excellency, Augustin Kontchou Kouomegni, alias Zero Mort, who will surely be remembered in human history as the first person to raise official lying to the status of a fine art. I don’t know whether contemporary historians and chroniclers are taking note of these things. Before May 1990, Cameroon Radio and Television had some semblance, of credibility. In May 1990, it lost all credibility. On that occasion, the Cameroon armed forces cold-bloodedly killed six innocent non-combatants in Bamenda and the C.R.T.V. came out with a bag full of carefully fabricated lies to cover up the crime. They shamelessly and repeatedly announced that the Bamenda six were trampled to death by the crowd of which they were a part; that thousands of Nigerians took part in the rally during which the Social Democratic Front (SDF) was launched at Ntarikon Park; that the leader of the SDF, Ni 35 I Spit on their Graves: Testimony Relevant to the Democratization Struggle John Fru Ndi, had escaped to Nigeria; that students at the University of Yaounde sang the Nigerian National Anthem the same day the SDF was launched etc, etc. Since then, the C.R.T.V. has continued in its propagandistic mendacity until today when it has hit real rock bottom. Nearly every Cameroonian knew that Ms. Frances Cook took a special invitation to Chairman Fru Ndi in Bamenda, while he was still under house arrest within the state of emergency, to attend the inaugural ceremonies of Bill Clinton. C.R.T.V. went to the market with the story that no Cameroonian had been invited to the Clinton ceremonies. Later, this disclaimer was modified to “officially invited.” Then a whole crowd, including the presidential majority, seemed to have been invited. The C.R.T.V. quickly assembled a powerful team, lead by the incomparable Charles Ndongo and the forked...