No Trifling Matter: Contributions of an Uncompromising Critic to the Democratic Process in Cameroon

43 Two Types of Cameroonians

123 Assembly, collectively have a historic mission to accomplish. They cannot afford to fail in this mission. 4 43 Two Types of Cameroonians (Published March 20-27, 1992) As a diehard optimist, I believe that the struggle for democracy, liberalism, justice and fairness in Cameroon is now irreversible. This struggle which received a momentous impetus with the launching of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) in Bamenda on May 26th , 1990, has left a long list of martyrs in is trail. At this point in the struggle, we hope that the register of martyrs can now be closed. May there be no more martyrs! Amen!! Our struggle did not begin on May 26th , 1990. That date is significant only because of the boldly defiant and public nature of the event that occurred, sending shock waves down the spine of one of the most repressive regimes in modern Africa, by its sheer daring. The struggle had been on long before 1990, and any future citation in honour of John Fru Ndi would not fail to make honourable mention of Albert Mukong, Yondo Black, Pius Njawe / Celestin Mongo, Charlie Ndi Chia, Bate Bisong, and many more like them. What all these people have in common is COURAGE, the courage to sustain their convictions, the courage of facing the inconveniences of one’s convictions. “It was by daring and by doing that the Roman Empire prospered and not by the timid policies which cowards call caution.” Cameroonians as a whole can roughly be divided into two camps: those who would rather die than be slaves and those who would rather be slaves than suffer the slightest inconvenience. The Cameroonians I have mentioned above belong to the first camp which is yet scanty but rapidly growing. The second camp includes all those who find it possible to profess what they don’t sincerely believe and those who believe what they dare not profess. In this camp are the fence-sitters, the double-dealers, the equivocators, the panel 124 beaters. All those who boldly claim that they are seeing clearly in the dark, that white is black and vice versa, all those who run with the game and also pursue with the hunters. The son of GOBATA would like to identify with the first camp, the camp of those who can neither be bullied nor lapiroed out of the straight and lonely path of their well-considered and firm convictions. NO TRIFLING MATTER has been the modest contribution of yours truly to the struggle for a more democratic, more liberal, just and stable Cameroon. Every Cameroonian convinced of the necessity for this struggle must contribute to it from his/her own resources using whatever tools are at his/her disposal. For yours truly, the main tool has been the bic biro and, since 1990, when NO TRIFLING MATTER started appearing on page 4 of CAMEROON POST, a lot of ink has flowed. Whether, as they say, the pen be mightier than the sword or not, there is no doubt that the task of waking Cameroonians from decades of dogmatic slumber and sensitizing and conscientizing them has been largely achieved. The struggle certainly continues, but I bet that no other regime will ever again take Cameroonians for a ride. The Biya regime will be remembered in our history for its attempt to destroy this beautiful triangle called Cameroon; an attempt that cannot as yet be categorically said to have failed. The regime firmly installed kleptocracy as a system of government, backed by empty rhetoric and sterile and noisy sloganeering. It inscribed tribalism with indelible ink on the national agenda. The son of Mvondo is first and foremost a tribal chieftain and I recall again Mongo Beti’s remark to the effect that left to his own endowments he would have reached the zenith of his career as the Sous-Préfet of his arrondissement. But the inscrutable vicissitudes of our political history catapulted him (with disastrous consequences alas!) to Unity Palace. There are those who do not accept this analysis and who continue chanting that the Biya regime brought democracy and unparalleled prosperity to Cameroon. Only yesterday, Minister “Zero Mort” was insisting over the mass media that Cameroon performed a miracle by conducting the March 1st legislative elections. According to him, congratulatory messages have been pouring into Cameroon from foreign nations because, for the first time in human history, a 125 peaceful and smooth transition...