The Task of Today and Other Seminal Essays

Part V. The Task of Today

129 Part V The Task of Today 130 131 The Task of Today Forward ever, Backward-never! (Kwame Nkrumah) The Moral Side The New Day Dawns The political chiefs, who, for fifteen years or so, have shared in shaping West Cameroon, and, who, over the issue of Reunification, split into two tendencies, have decided, at last, to come together once again, to form a new government, and to work together as from hence. I was a personal witness of all that passed, before this point was reached, and I can testify that it was; move notable for the lucidness that was evident throughout the course of it, notable for its deep and genuine spirit of mutual brotherhood, and notable for the statesmanship and the restraint that was shown on either side. There was no haggling as between men, mean in mind and heart, and bent on gaining an advantage, there was no digging up of old grudges, no exaction of humiliating conditions; in this achievement, there is no winner, no loser; or rather, I should say, all arc winners. It was the coming together of men who had awoke, at last, to the fact that they were no longer divided on any essential issue, that the good of the state imposed upon them the duty to work as a team; it was the reconciliation and the reunion of old friends and brothers, It is a point worthy of note that, however much they disagreed, whatever they hurled against each other from the soap-box or across the floor of the House, whatever wrong-headed wrangling raged below, between their rank and file, the leaders of the two political tendencies in West Cameroon kept on fairly good terms, for the most part, and never indulged in that personal abuse and bitterness which would have rendered their estrangement complete and ultimate reconciliation impossible. The parliamentary 132 opposition, eschewing that rancour that festers from loss of office, forged for itself a new role noteworthy for its dignity; and the government, for its part, never attempted to withdraw from this opposition the legal recognition that was its due. Thanks to this situation, West Cameroon has won for itself the prestige of being the one place in West Africa (if not in all Africa) where democracy, in the British style, has lasted longest in its genuine form. Yet it was gradually borne in upon thinking West Cameroonians that, in the absence of any fundamental ideological differences between the two sides, teaming up, for the good of the country, had become imperative; there was no sense in preserving the appearance of this British heritage, if you could discard the form of it and yet preserve intact its content and essence. Thus, when the Right Honourable Augustine Jua, in his inaugural address, on taking office, made his famous appeal to the opposition within and without the House, for good-will and cooperation, the pace of the movement was quickened and we saw, as a consequence, in the House of Assembly, a spirit of sympathetic understanding unprecedented in the history of party politics in West Cameroon. That is why I would like to remind the leaders, who have made this decision, of the tremendous responsibility that lies on their shoulders. Between failure and success, they have no choice. They are simply condemned to succeed. They are now sailing on the river of no return. From this point, there can be no going back. Either they succeed or they will go down discredited, in West Cameroon history, forever. Of course, the danger of failure is there and must be taken seriously. That is why the situation calls for a deal of boldness in the leadership. There should be no hesitation, no selfish calculation, no weak-kneed indecision, now that the road is clear. Let them remember what an unknown writer once said of Rome: “Audendo atque agendo res Romana crevit, non his segnibus consiliis quae timidi conta vocant.” “It was by daring and by doing that the Roman state grew and not by the timid policies that cowards call caution.” Let them bear in mind that to be ever safe, is to be ever feeble; that they who never venture, never gain; that they who take no risk, win no war. 133 The Need for a Lofty Purpose People get bogged down in petty jealousies and pointless wrangling where they have no noble end to strive for...