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

70 Under the Magnetic Spell of the Bookseller

198 7 70 Under the Magnetic Spell of the Bookseller (Published October 23-30, 1992) The followership behind the “illiterate” bookseller of Bamenda, as at the present moment, is simply mind-boggling, even for people like yours truly who were converts from inception. Recall the parable of the mustard seed. From little acorns mighty oaks do indeed grow. I remember one of the Chairman’s mammoth campaign rallies. A commotion ensued, after the uncovering of a hired assassin, who was surreptitiously taking an appropriate position for carrying out his diabolic mission. A stampede was about to begin when the Chairman raised his hands and called for calm. Everything stood still including the wind. He motioned the crowds to sit down. And we all sat down there in the dust. Around me I could see University lecturers and professors, medical doctors, business tycoons, writers, journalists, technocrats and high-society ladies, civil servants, hawkers, taxi drivers, jobless people, men, women, the young, the old, the not-soyoung and the not-so-old. In all honesty, I have never before been part of a crowd of that magnitude. I left there knowing, yes I say knowing, fully well that Ni John Fru Ndi had won the presidential elections, no matter what the regime might subsequently declare. Faced with this reality, it is quite understandable that the regime should panic quite visibly. In their secret high-powered meeting they would exclaim: Qu’est-ce que ce phénomène de Fru Ndi? To which question none of them seems to know the answer which is clearly blowing in the wind. So using the mass media under their exclusive monopoly, they decided to inundate everybody with the “revelations” that Fru Ndi is an ordinary bookseller, an illiterate with no experience in high matters of state, which should be left to doctors, an Anglophone secessionist, an incarnation of Adolf Hitler, etc. But why the crowds should desert the doctors and professors with their bagfuls of stolen money and follow this mendicant is what they could never understand. Just like in the days of the Messiah, the Christ. The learned Scribes and Pharisees, the Priests and Sadducees, the Doctors 199 of Law, could not understand how an apprentice carpenter and son of a carpenter could be the messiah. Well, let us tell it again as it is. Leadership has got nothing to do with academic qualification (or any other type of qualification for that matter) nor has it got anything to do with experience. The only requirement for good leadership is moral integrity (which breaks down into such simple virtues as honesty, courage, fairness, sympathy, charity, truthfulness, reliability, humility etc.) backed by good old common sense. I would prefer a stark illiterate farmer as Prime Minister or Minister of Information and Culture to a professor who boldly tells incredible lies publicly to the nation without blinking. Just recall Dr. Biya’s address to the nation, before the October 11th Presidential elections, and contrast that with John Fru Ndi’s own address shortly before, under the programme “Expression Directe.” In a gist, what Dr. Biya was telling us was that he was the most suitable candidate because he was clever and experienced. He said some of his competitors know nothing about matters of state while others had been in the administration before but had shown their “limits.” The way he sounded, one had to be grateful that he was willing to lead us to paradise, where only he could lead us. By contrast, John Fru Ndi said: “I am an ordinary Cameroonian like all of you. Some people say I am an ordinary bookseller. So be it. But I have a magnificent dream for this country, which we can realize together, if you cast your lot with me.” You could immediately see a statesman. He won many hearts that night. As we face a most precarious and uncertain future, I keep wondering why Dr. Biya ever thought it wise to engage in democratic rhetoric. As far back as June last year, (see CAMEROON POST, June 20-27, 1991), I had stated: “If Dr. Biya had continued with the dictatorship that he inherited from Mr Ahidjo, we should be living in peace, even if such peace is closer to that of the grave yard. But by dishonestly toying with the idea of democracy and at the same time tightening his grip on the instruments of dictatorship, he has brought our security and collective existence seriously into jeopardy.” No one...