Snapshots: An X-ray of Cameroon�s Democracy, Governance and Unification

75. Agenda for Pope and Paul

307 75 Agenda for Pope and Paul Friday, 31 October 2008 News of the impending visit to Cameroon of Pope Benedict XVI has come as a breath of fresh air and hope to a desolate populace whose struggle for survival and prospects for poverty alleviation are bleak. The imminent papal visit is seen as a source of spiritual strength to a people, who have just been told by the International Monetary Fund to expect a dismal economic performance next year, a prediction which Cameroonians have been constrained to accommodate for more than two decades. Even though we are told that the Pope’s planned visit is at the invitation of President Paul Biya, presumably with the backing of the clergy, one can safely assume that it is the Vatican that would draw up the agenda of the visit after having condescended to grant us the rare favour of accepting the government’s invitation. Several critics have wondered aloud whether Cameroon truly deserves the favour, especially as next year’s visit will make the third papal sojourn to the country; a country managed by a dubious, avaricious and vicious class of politicians and their appointees. Cameroonian faithful strongly believe, however, that it is thanks to this papal visit that the country has miraculously avoided plunging into an abyss of irreversible doom. They strongly hold that it is thanks to this visit of the Holy Father that despite the proliferation of satanic cults and devilish practices including ritual murders, sodomy, incest, brazen armed robbery, bribery and corruption, callous exploitation of man by man, inordinate wealth accumulation and you name the rest, Cameroon has barely managed to avoid falling over the precipice. 308 Some observers of world affairs have concluded that the world is ruled by three super powers, namely; the United States, the United Nations and the Vatican. The Vatican, the repository of spiritual power which claims supremacy over temporal power, draws inspiration from God and it could be argued that like the good Jesus himself said, he had come to earth to save the sinners not the righteous. Pope Benedict like the good shepherd has chosen to come to Cameroon, a country that is solely in need of spiritual, socioeconomic and political salvation. The Vatican, we are told, is a state endowed with the most efficient intelligence gathering apparatus in the world and we can confidently expect that the Holy Father will be thoroughly briefed on the most sensitive and intimate dossiers on the Cameroon situation. It would not be a redundant exercise, however, to reiterate the expectations of Cameroonians with regard to the agenda of talks between the Pope and Paul Biya. The Pope is a superstar in his own rights but by virtue of the humility associated with his position, we cannot expect him to play to the gallery or to shout on the roof top how he is going to tell off Biya and warn him to toe the line of civilised governance. Some have suggested that the Holy Father ought to threaten the wayward son of a catechist with excommunication, but such a line of action may cut no ice with a fellow like Biya whose sole purpose of inviting the Pope is to make political mileage out of a pastoral event. I would strongly urge the Holy Father to provide spiritual counselling and exorcise Mr. Biya from the grip of demonic forces that have taken up residence in the country. He should persuade Biya to cast off his illusion of grandeur and to stop believing in the fiction that those who are clamouring for him to perpetuate his stay in office genuinely love him. President Biya ought to know by now that his close associates and hangers-on are mere eye servants who are simply afraid to tell him that the king is naked. It is not a valid argument to justify his 309 prolongation in office on a whimsical belief that it is the popular wish of the citizens. We expect the Holy Father to persuade Biya to desist from taunting the Maker of Heaven and Earth who has tolerated Biya’s illusion of a demi-god with mild amusement and to advise him to call for early presidential election which he shall gracefully desist from contesting. The United Nations, through the voice of its former Secretary General, Koffi Annan, has made its position clear and unequivocal with regards to the externalization of...