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

48. Lion Man, Lion’s Share

195 48 Lion Man, Lion’s Share Friday 27th July, 2007 If anyone says he is surprised at the results of last Sunday’s general elections, just know he is deceiving himself. Apart from the rigging carried out by the ruling CPDM machinery, what is even most disturbing was the very low voter turn-out estimated at 30 percent; a figure which is far below the credibility benchmark. Now that the CPDM has bagged in 153 out 180 seats in Parliament, President Biya, the Lion Man, should be as pleased as Punch. He wanted a comfortable majority and he got it. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea, after all, to replace the lone star on the national flag with the picture of the lion; a predatory beast that symbolises greed and indolence. It may not also be a bad idea if all the opposition parties resolved to dissolve and fuse into the ruling CPDM. Such a move might ensure that every citizen gets a share of the national cake; that is after the Lion Man would have sliced off two-thirds of the pastry. Someone has suggested that civil servants may go without pay this month owing to the fabulous expenditure incurred by the ruling CPDM at the expense of State coffers to fuel its election campaigns. This is not likely to be the case because we can take advantage of debt relief to borrow from European financial clubs. The elections are over and we can at least heave a sigh of relief and return to business as usual. What one gathers from the low voter turn-out is that Cameroonians are so preoccupied with poverty and misery that politics no longer holds any attraction for them. The business of survival has taken up the little energy in them with nothing left for politicking 196 Stop These Quack Medicine Men Traditional doctors play a major role in the country’s health delivery system given their proximity to the masses and the comparatively low cost of treatment. However, the proliferation of certain unethical practices by a good number of them is a great cause for concern. I was taken aback the other day by a commercial announcement over radio Buea about a certain traditional doctor residing in Bomaka claiming to cure blindness, river blindness and cataracts in fifteen minutes! Media managers and journalists ought to be a bit more circumspect in handling these kinds of information. Medical doctors are ethically barred from making commercial advertisement and one should expect same to apply to traditional doctors especially those who make fabulous claims; some of them even claim to have discovered a cure-all drug, a panacea for 200 kinds of ailments. The Ministry of Health and National Council of Medical Doctors ought to take vigorous action to stamp out this dishonest tendency and why not punish the offenders. Another variety of offending traditional doctors could be described as itinerant charlatans who usually commute in express buses of travel agencies. One cannot help the feeling of being part of a captive audience when traveling in these buses. They do not only violate one’s sense of decency with their uncouth language and vulgar references to sex in general. You don’t have to be prudish to feel a great amount of discomfort when these charlatans harangue passengers for hours on end about their merchandise. Some idleminded passengers are thrilled by these charlatans, some of whom, it should be said, are quite adroit in salesmanship. They are good at hoodwinking a generally gullible set of unsuspecting passengers and so passengers who would prefer to journey in tranquillity, read a magazine or book, or chat among themselves, are virtually held hostage by those rascals. Nobody can have peace of mind when these charlatans board the bus. Their lewd and explicit description of sex, 197 even in the presence of children is simply unacceptable and the Ministry of Transport ought to issue an order banning these mind corrupters from violating peoples’ right to peaceful enjoyment of their bus ride. God alone knows the content of the concoctions and decoctions they offer for sale. So, apart from the moral harm they cause, the graver danger is the hazardous game they play with the health of citizens. Continental Government for Africa The recent African Union Summit came and went with little attention paid to it by the national press even though the meeting was...