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

55. When Silver Begins To Rust

223 55 When Silver Begins To Rust Friday 9 November 2007 To make a balance sheet of President Paul Biya’s stewardship is an exercise in futility. It is even more frustrating, uninspiring and debilitating when one attempts to make an assessment of his 25 years in power because the man’s performance lacks latitude - a graph of longitudes without curves and character. Historians, like mathematicians and geographers, need significant markers and pointers without which their story falls flat, their narrative becomes insipid and commentary is rendered tedious instead of illuminating. The sheer monotony of the man’s pronouncements can be so irritating that many are those who turn off their radios and TV sets every time he comes on to harangue the nation in his not-so-angelic voice. For 25 years, we have heard him churn out his favourite stock phrases such as “rigour and moralisation”, “appeased democracy”, “advanced democracy”, “grand ambitions”, “fight against poverty”, “peace and stability”, “Cameroon is a state of law”, “we have achieved so much but much still has to be done”, “we must roll up our sleeves and work harder.” Etc., etc., etc., etc. Mr. Biya’s speeches are so predictable that one can conclude his discourse even before he opens his mouth. He exhorts everyone else to roll up their sleeves but no one recalls when he ever sweated in his armpits except during the April 6, 1984 coup attempt when ‘putchists’ came knocking with bazookas. He does not sweat and does not like to sweat, but he expects everyone else to sweat so that he and his cronies can continue to live in style. 224 How many cabinet meetings does Biya hold in any given year? Ever since he promised to personally supervise the construction of the Bamenda Ring Road in 1985, one wonders if he can identify that region on the map. Any historian or journalist who ever bothered to chronicle Mr. Biya’s first 25 months in power would not need to strain to map out his 25 years in power. The nature and itinerary of his leadership were indelibly imprinted from the outset. The spokesman of the April 6 coup plotters had unbelievably diagnosed the cankerworm of the regime when he stated over the national radio that Biya’s acolytes were recklessly siphoning the wealth of the nation as if there was no tomorrow. They were looting the state coffers with impunity and even if that was not the ulterior motive for their coup attempt, it was, nevertheless, a tangible excuse to take up arms against Ali Baba and the forty thieves. Even though the tables turned against the coup plotters, the looting continued in higher gear and one of the kingpins of the white collar robbers, Roger Melingui, who depleted the produce farmers providence fund - the National Produce Marketing Board - shamelessly came on TV to justify his extravagant life style by stating that he hails from an ethnic group which believes in high living. In the latter part of the 1980s, Cameroon became notorious for being among the top ten world consumers of champagne. The new boys were really living it up. They had arrived. It was their turn, the turn of Biya’s tribesmen to rule and ruin the nation and they succeeded. They have not only succeeded but also believe they can get away with it. For 25 years, the ship of state has been drifting with a highly distracted pilot and no navigator. In 25 years, the country has circumnavigated full circle to a de facto one-party state. The political balance sheet is not only in deficit, but indicates an irredeemable bankruptcy. Economically, we twice won the world trophy for corruption and shamelessly carried the banner of Heavily Indebted Poor Country. 225 When Biya moved into state house in November 1982, the five-year development plans and other development blueprints fled through the window. From a social point of view, the number of liquor off-licences began competing with the number of schools and health centres. Boozing became a full time occupation while work became an occasional distraction. Religious and ocultic sects flourished as Rosicrucians and Free Masons held the instruments of power hostage, demanding blood as ransom. What have we not seen? What have Cameroonians not gone through? On many occasions, President Biya has assured his countrymen that there was light at the end of the tunnel, but what they...