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148 gaining power at the centre, which seems more important as a starting point. And this might be a very sound strategy. We need Federalism. But we can never achieve it as long as the Biya regime continues in power. First logical thing therefore is to help boot them out power, no matter who replaces them. And if it happens that the next regime had been even secretly sympathetic to the cause, what a fortune would that be for us. There is absolutely no need to counterpose CAM and the SDF. We must learn to use different strategies and methods to achieve our aims. If Fru Ndi had followed Mukong into exile, would we already have advanced so far from our “advanced dictatorial democracy”? 5 52 Solomon Nfor Gwei’s Tribulations (Published June 10-17, 1992) When I wrote on Honourable Nfor Gwei and his Human Rights Commission (see CAMEROON POST, April 2-9, 1992) I was almost certain that I would come back to the subject sooner than later. In fact, Human Rights can be considered as the barometer by which to gauge a just, democratic and civilized society. In my former treatise, oh Solomon, I expressed sceptical doubts about the Commission of which you are Chairman and tried to point out certain gaps in your programme, as elaborated by you then. A regime which is hanging on to power and ruling by sheer physical force cannot be expected to create a Human Rights Commission. It doesn’t make sense; it is not logical. That is why, to make sense out of it, one was forced by logic to conclude that creation of the commission was simply a smoke screen to conceal Human Rights abuses. And this tactic has a precedent in the case of democracy, where Cameroonian airspace has been filled with shouts of “Democratie avancée! Democratie avancée!,” while the instruments of dictatorship and repression were being perfected and tightened. 149 Within this framework, the regime not doubt, expected that you would play ball with them perfectly because of the unquestioning loyalty with which you have served the dictatorship in the past thirty years, always ready to “tear 880” at the slightest snap of the fingers to do its bidding. They might also have calculated that you would badly want a Chieftaincy title, now that you are past the age of retirement. So that if you co-operated very well with them, the next thing we would hear is a Presidential decree appointing you the Paramount Chief of Nkambe or something like that. In all this, however, they were not considering (pagans that they are!) that spectacular religious experience that could change a Saul into a Paul. That is why, in spite of my own analyses, I still gave you personally the full benefit of my justified doubts. Listening to you recently (03/06/92) over “News Focus” as you told the pathetic story of what befell you and members of your Commission at the Gendarmerie Legion in Yaounde, I felt justified in my earlier analysis of the situation as well as in my having given you the benefit of doubt in that situation. Naivety is not a reproachable character trait. You went to the Gendarmerie armed with the Presidential decree which created your Commission and conferred it with certain powers, only to discover that the decree was not worth the paper on which it was typed. Not only were you prevented from doing your presidentially – commissioned duties, but you and members of your Commission were rough-handled and detained against your will. Do you know why they did not shave your hair with a broken bottle and ask you to roll in mud and eat soil like the unfortunate students you were seeking to see? Well, if you don’t know, I can tell you. It was simply for fear of public opinion and possible reaction. As a Churchman, you surely remember the Biblical lines: “Physician, heal thyself.” If, as the presidentially-decreed Chief of the Human Right Commission, you have no way of preventing abuse of your own rights, how are we, ordinary mortals, supposed to believe that you would help us protect ours? If you are unable to help yourself, how are you going to help us? Don’t get me wrong. These rhetorical questions are not calculated to bewilder you but simply to highlight the gravity of our common situation. In this country, those [3.145.23.123] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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