I Spit on their Graves: Testimony Relevant to the Democratization Struggle in Cameroon

Where is the “Grand débat” We Were Promised?

41 Where is the “Grand débat” We Were Promised? I woke up from my bed today to the sound of a beautiful but slightly pathetic song with the chorus: WHERE IS THE LOVE YOU PROMISED ME? I’m sure you know the tune. My mind immediately went back to the “grand débat” we were promised since October. There are few things in human relationship as painful as a failed promise. A false promise belongs within the same brackets as a betrayal. When I wrote “A Basket Full of …Promises” as far back as October 1991, some readers of this column, especially disciples of Dr. Biya and his “New Deal” gospel, were upset. Some of them even went as far as calling NO TRIFLING MATTER “Gobata’s Satanic Verses.” I kept cool. As usual. But just examine the evidence yourself. Take a look only at the very recent track record of the regime. Just before the ill-fated presidential elections last year, we were assured that the Victoria deep sea port would soon go operational, that the Tiko sea and air ports were fully operational, that the Bisongabang airport would soon be revived. Go and find out which of these things has happened. The Prime Minister himself assured University students in front of the National Assembly that University bursaries would not be scrapped and that they would be paid all their accrued arrears. Today all University students are paying fees. The same P.M. told crowds at the Fon’s palace in Nso, Bui Division, (where he reportedly gave the Fon a bribe of 600.000 francs which the latter later left for his councillors and courtiers to scramble over) that 75% of the funding for 42 Godfrey B. Tangwa (Rotcod Gobata) the Ring Road had already been secured. Why don’t they construct 75% of the road? The answer is blowing in the wind. Shortly before “A basket of Promises,” in the Cameroon Post of Sept. 6-13, 1991, NO TRIFLING MATTER had observed: “The Biya regime has become like a stubborn jigger in the foot. Shall Cameroonians endure the pain and trauma of removing it or give up and limp along with it as best as possible? That is the critical choice.” Well, Cameroonians have opted to continue limping. May be this is not an entirely bad choice when we consider developments in Togo and Zaire. For, make no mistake about it, Eyadéma of Togo, Mobutu of Zaire and ours truly are birds of identical plumage. These are the millionairedictators in Africa. They are all suffering from the Samuel Doe syndrome. In “The Does of Africa” (NO TRIFLING MATTER, Oct 24-31, 1991) I called all of them by name and composed a litany for them (in which I inadvertently missed out the name of Kamuzu Banda of Malawi) praying them to have mercy on their people. It is very painful that Cameroon, which should be sprinting, is limping along because of a jigger in the foot called… (fill the blank yourself) which it cannot endure the pain of taking out. But even limping can be done well, with common sense and even a bit of style. Is the fact that someone is limping a good reason to fall into every pit on the road especially those into which he had fallen before? Immediately after His Excellency’s “victory” at the last presidential elections, he solemnly promised a “grand” national “débat.” We were all excited. Five whole months after the promise, where is the grand débat? I can tell you where it is. It is in the same basket as “la démocratie avancée,” “L’unité national,” “relance de l’économie,” “rigueur et moralization” etc, etc-a completely empty basket of famous platitudes. 43 I Spit on their Graves: Testimony Relevant to the Democratization Struggle During the last presidential elections, over 1 million potential voters could not exercise the franchise. Reason: the regime insisted that they could not break the law by opening the electoral registers outside of the legally stipulated period. But they could break the law in holding the elections six months before the stipulated time. The legally stipulated period for registration is January to March of each year. Half of that period has already elapsed without the electoral registers being opened. Have they not already broken the law? Can what should have been done over three months be...