Road Companion to Democracy and Meritocracy: Further Essays from an African Perspective

2. Of Prof Ngwafor’s Practical Jealousy and Ambition’s Sterner Stuff

115 2 Of Prof Ngwafor’s Practical Jealousy and Ambition’s Sterner Stuff P lease, forgive today’s title. It sounds quite un-Gobatalike, but all the “Sasse” in it is drawn from the SOBA YAOUNDE CHAPTER NEWS LETTER of June 1996, although the grammatical, spelling and typographical howlers on every page of that issue are very un-Sasse and should make even 0/Level Sasse students blush with shame. In the said edition of the said Newsletter, the editors single out a SOBAN, prof. Ephraim Ndeh Ngwafor, Rector Yaounde University II, for unqualified praise and accord him an interview in which he enunciates his theory of “practical jealousy,” among other things. Asked about the recipe for his “brilliant appointment” and “remarkable success,” the loquacious Prof, responded, inter alia: A man without ambition is no man! I have my own ambition. But one should not be over-zealous. Rather, any young aspirant should have one or two models to emulate. ...I had the opportunity, while young, to mix with a lot of people most of whom were serious. That gave me the occasion to ask myself if I would not like to be like the Lantums, the Ngus ... and of course the answer was always YES! But yes is not enough an answer. You must make much effort and work hard. ... According to TOLSTOY (Russian Writer)... “The good things you see in others could be a reflection of your own soul. “ This is what I would like to call practical jealousy. I was so to speak positively “envious’’ of the prestigious’ positions which I saw in the Nassahs, Ngus and others as I played tennis with them. I told myself that I would like to be like them. Today, thank goodness, I am just behind them. 116 Road Companion to Democracy and Meritocracy Such, in a nutshell, is Prof. Ngwafor’s philosophy of life and recipe for worldly success, based on practically “jealousing” (still remember the Jealous Constitution?) those you admire and would like to be like. This recipe certainly has much to be said on its behalf provided it is appropriately nuanced and qualified. A man (or woman for that matter) without ambitions scarcely exists anywhere on earth. But while it is recommendable, even inevitable, to have ambitions, not all ambitions are worthy. Some ambitions are inordinate and some are even morally wrong. Furthermore, not all efficient means that might be used in achieving an ambition are worthy or morally acceptable. Machiavellian methods can achieve any objective faster than fair and morally acceptable methods, any day anywhere. That does not, however, mean that Machiavellism is recommendable, even on purely prudential grounds. Cheating and other types of fraud can lead more surely to success in any examination than studying hard. Hence, some teachers prefer a short visit, be it to a ‘short time Hotel” or at home from their students to long answers in the examination. It is easier and faster to get rich by looting, embezzling or stealing than by working hard in whatever domain. But that does not make these Machiavellian methods recommendable or morally acceptable. Cleverness is not intelligence. In Cameroon, Machiavellian methods of achieving ambitions and objectives have been greatly reinforced by our collective tendency to be professional congratulators and to celebrate every achievement and every success irrespective of its moral worth and the methods used in its achievement. Earlier this year, a young female friend of mine sent me an excited message that, at long last, she had succeeded in her ambition to be admitted into ENS Yaounde, thanks to a certain CPDM parliamentarian. I sent back the response that while I neither doubted her intellectual capabilities nor her full qualification for admission, I could not congratulate her on her admission because it was not the result of any putative meritocratic process. Any semi-literate CPDM parliamentarian can get any stark illiterate of his choice admitted into ENS, a feat most lecturers at ENS itself are quite unable to perform. Generally at the University of Yaounde, as elsewhere in the Cameroon civil-service, it is by far faster and easier for any lecturer to attain promotion by joining the Presidential Majority and constantly prostrating before the 117 Of Prof Ngwafor’s Practical Jealousy and Ambition’s Sterner Stuff appropriate political power-brokers than by teaching well, researching and publishing, which are the sole criteria of academic success elsewhere, as Prof, Ngwafor rightly pointed...