The Task of Today and Other Seminal Essays

Part IV. Under the Sign of the Rising Sun

109 Part IV Under the Sign of the Rising Sun 110 111 Under the Sign of the Rising Sun I tell you nought for your comfort, yes, nought for your desire, save that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher. (G.J Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse) With the Morning Sun for Symbol, President Ahmadou Ahidjo and VicePresident John Ngu Foncha have won an overwhelming mandate from the Cameroon people. If ever there was a date-making event in Cameroon history, this is it; for never before, since the hour when this country awoke from political slumber, has an agreement as spectacular and as unanimous as this ever been readied among the inveterate, ever-warring Cameroon political factions. Thus, quite apart from the fact that it is the first time ever that Cameroonians have elected their supreme political chiefs by universal adult suffrage, quite apart from the fact that it has brought an end to the transitional period in our constitutional life, quite apart from the fact that it was achieved with the Rising Sun for Sign, this event deserves, by reason of the historic unanimity it aroused, to usher in a new and endless day in the life of this country, so that the unity thus achieved and the strength that this unity entails should come to stay. But this will not happen without an effort, on the part of the parties now in power, an effort at reflection, an effort at bold decision. In ascetic theology, there is a principle that whoever wants to keep on the path of virtue should never forget to undertake, at the close of each day, an examination of conscience in order to see where he slipped, where he scored; in order to be able to better his spiritual record each succeeding day. It is a principle whose worth is recognised by all who seek success, whatever be their enterprise. Commercial houses especially know the value of this practice and take stock at regular periods in order to keep the wolf of bankruptcy as far as possible from the door. It would be folly if, in a question of such undisputed necessity, political parties show less wisdom than trading firms. At the close of the transitional period, therefore, on the eve of the new 112 day ushered in by the historic victory of our leaders, it is precisely to such a taking of stock, to such a session of autocriticism, to such an examination of conscience, that I wish to invite the party to which I belong – the Kamerun National Democratic Party. A political party in office is like a traveller; and the welfare of the people from whom it holds mandate is its ultimate destination. Now, anybody about to go on a journey must first ask himself these questions: Where am I going? Why am I going there? How best shall I get there – on foot, by road, by rail, by sea or by air? It would be a madman who would jump out of bed, of a morning, as though in a dream, and take to the road before asking himself: Where the hell am I going? Whatever people do in this world, therefore, they cannot do it well unless they first sit down and give clear answers to these questions: What? Why? How? Judged by this criterion the Cameroon people, in the past have shown quite a degree of political maturity. For, right from, the beginning of our political awakening, back in the early 1950s, they had it clear in their minds where they wanted to go; they set their goals clearly before their eyes — independence and reunification; and they knew precisely how to go about them. And today, both goals have been won. But in those days, we were so taken up with the struggle to attain these objectives that we tended to forget a very important thing, namely, that these, for all their unquestionable importance, were merely events that would come with time and pass with time. We were s o engrossed in independence and reunification that hardly anybody ever stopped to ask himself the question: After independence and reunification, what next? Not to talk of the why and the wherefore, or the how of that next thing. We forgot that, for all their worth, independence and reunification were only a means to an end, not an end in themselves; they...