In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

104 3 35 Meritocracy Continued (Published January 15-22, 1992) Today, I am constrained to continue with the theme of meritocracy for two reasons: (1) the issue is extremely important in our context, (2) I am not yet satisfied that I have demonstrated it sufficiently convincingly. The last time I identified formal education as the most important criterion of merit in the modern world. But I was careful enough to qualify it as a prima facie criterion. Education, whether formal or not, is not enough. It only gives good grounds for certain expectations. In this case, it is like a promise. Some promises are simply false while others, in spite of being genuine, fall short of fulfilment for several putative reasons. Thus, education, as such, must be combined with other criteria of assessment in any meritocratic system. Among such criteria are: performance and character or general moral integrity. All education involves the teaching and acquisition of certain skills, whether these be manual (physical), mental or spiritual. Proof of education is therefore not to be found only in certificates and diplomas but on what their possessor can do. Recall the award of false certificates at the University of Yaounde which Prof. Jacob Ngu was attempting to investigate when his office was burnt and he (ironically) lost his job as Vice-Chancellor, probably so that the issue might be swept under the carpet - as it has - thereby protecting the sacred cows who have institutionalised the practice. This type of fraudulent practice has flourished because our system depends solely on certificates for employment. No one cares about performance thereafter. If performance were to be taken into consideration, the advantages of a forged certificate would be very short-lived indeed. Because, from the moment the possessor of such a fake document shows that s/he does not possess the skills which the certificate claims s/he possesses, that should be the end of road for him/her. But, as I have asserted before, our system is one big fraud and the future of this country is very bleak indeed if we do not, sooner than 105 later, get down to the task of uncovering the numerous frauds, the quick sands, on which we have laid the foundation of our future. Just consider an institution like our Centre for Health Sciences (CUSS). Medicine may be rightly considered as a very special, almost sacred, profession because of its close connection with life, health and death. But our CUSS has not been spared the general fraud that reigns in the country in its selecting and training of doctors and other paramedicals. The entrance examination into our CUSS is one of the most fiercely competitive. The reason is not (unfortunately) that hundreds of young Cameroonians are attracted to the ideal of service as medical practitioners, but simply that the prospects of a secure and lucrative job are most assured. Well, you may not know that wellconnected candidates who fail to make it through the needle’s eye into CUSS are usually permitted to “audit” courses freely and to participate in all tests and exams “as a formality.” After a few terms of such free auditing, they are invariably smuggled in and the grades they received “as a formality” are quietly attributed to them substantively. In this way, they gain through the back door access into the same house whose front door had been firmly barred against them. The training which medical students receive in CUSS is thoroughly suffused with the same type of trickery and chicanery at all levels. Is it not a great tragedy for our country? Well, answer that yourself. But, to get back to my main theme, I was saying that, while qualification is very important criterion of merit, it is not enough. Qualification must be combined with performance. Indeed, we should say that qualification can only be proved through performance. But that is not the end of the story. A person may be highly qualified and very efficient in his/her performance; but, if s/he is a crook, such knowledge and efficiency could be very dangerous. In fact, we should go as far as saying that knowledge and efficiency in an immoral person are much worse than if such a person were ignorant because such knowledge and efficiency are invariably used for immoral, egoistical and personal ends. Hence, I say that character or moral integrity must be added to education or qualification and performance as indispensable criteria of a meritocratic system. In other...

Share