Whether Losing, Whether Winning. Essays in Political Realism: Essays in Political Realism

5. The Social Liberal Congress: genesis and growth

[40] 5 The Social Liberal Congress: genesis and growth nother thing I said in my letter to the National President of the Liberal Democratic Alliance was that I was going to invest my energy in a more meaningful enterprise. The confluence of energy and enterprise amounted to a grand design which I spent the next one year mapping out. Although I officially resigned from the LDA in 1999, I had in actual fact called it quits with that Party as far back as 1996 when it became clear to me that the leadership struggle at its helm would ineluctably destroy it. During the ensuing four years, between 1996 and 2000, I spent time with some close friends dissecting Cameroon. One such friend was Albert Azeyeh, Professor of French at the University of Buea. He and I would sit for long hours in El Dorado, a bar on Molyko’s busy street, absorbing lively gulps of the Cameroonian quagmire. Either because of the metaphoric charm of its name or on account of its handiness, El Dorado held for us a fascination whose power lay beyond alcohol. Beer was a pretext, politics the pursuit. We discussed Cameroon, its economy, its democratic experience, its place on the world scene; above all, we sought insights into the steady decline in moral values and how this decline told on our collective destiny. As an indication of the decayed state of things, Cameroon had been rated the world’s most corrupt country for two years running, from 1998 to 99. This was more shame than most Cameroonians could take, but embarrassingly enough, the state itself was unremorseful. One expected to see the regime clutch its face in shame. Instead, one was treated to a surrealistic spectacle of official protests and even threats against the authors of the ratings. The fact that Cameroon A [41] was corrupt did not seem to be anything to worry about, only the glamour of its rating. In fact when the country moved from top to sixth place two years later, the matter was celebrated with thorough frenzy, as if to say at least we could now point up above at five bigger ruffians than us! As our nightly meetings at El Dorado multiplied, it became clearer to us that a collective therapy was required for the country. Each of us had his own idea of what such a therapy would be. My friend saw it in an NGO with an educative thrust; I, in political revival. Cameroon could yet get back its lost dignity if a new political roadmap was designed for it. That was the project I embarked upon and which culminated in the founding of the Social Liberal Congress and its legalization on 13 June 2000. I invited Professor Azeyeh to join me in the venture as Secretary General and was pleased when he accepted the invitation. He is an intelligent man with an astounding power of analysis. Other friends joined the pioneer team, namely Zachary Nsutebu as Political Secretary, Ngu Peter Mbavuwa as Treasurer, and Yuh Francis as Organising Secretary. All these persons were my friends and each one joined my political venture out of belief in that friendship. Whereas I could trace and control the path of this friendship with most of them, when it came to Ngu Peter Mbavuwa a certain urgency overwhelmed the relationship. My meetings with him were always attended by a sense of foreboding, of a faint bell tolling. He died on 13 March 2004 of prostate cancer. I continue to be thankful to him for having offered his elegant Toyota Land Cruiser to convey me to the launching of the Party on 1 December 2000. The alternative would have been to trek to the rally grounds or then alight from my crumbling 504 if ever it survived the 2kilometre journey from my Upper Bonduma residence to the Molyko Stadium. But the legacy for which the Party will forever remain indebted to Ni Peter is belief in our purpose. As I said in my tribute to him, “You had faith in your people and conviction [42] in their ability to lift themselves out of suffering. You have taken leave, but I know you are closer to us now than ever before, for you are by Him who causes all things to happen, in the first instance. Your transition is a symbol of things to come. In your death we see the...