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

68. Too Little, Too Late

277 68 Too Little, Too Late Saturday, 15 March 2008 Cameroonians are very fond of the phrase “better late than never.” Going by this dictum, we ought to applaud President Biya for the belated measures he has taken to cushion the excruciating effects of the chronic economic crunch the nation has borne since the IMF imposed its structural adjustment programme in 1987. The 15 percent increase in civil service salaries and the suspension of customs duties on certain essential commodities such as rice, wheat flour, sugar and cement, are laudable measures which have come a little too late and whose impact would largely depend on their effective implementation. Critics have likened the government’s reaction to the week-long violent street protests that rocked the major urban centres of the country last month to a negligent doctor who, instead of incising a tumour when it was still benign, preferred to dilly-dally until it became cancerous before he began prescribing palliatives for the patient. How far these palliatives would go to reverse the chronic ailment that has plagued the country is anybody’s guess. It would be recalled that earlier measures to check the galloping price of foodstuff had failed because of the unscrupulous manoeuvres by some importers and wholesalers who are in the practice of hoarding commodities or selling their goods to neighbouring countries for higher returns after benefiting from tax incentives. Instead of setting the law in pursuit of such recalcitrant traders who have proven to be part of the cause of the general economic malaise, Cameroon and the international community are being treated to a melodramatic spate of kangaroo trials of more than 1,500 youths 278 alleged to have perpetrated the street violence in which more than one hundred young persons are said to have lost their lives as a result of police brutality. The Cameroon Bar has condemned the summary trials for lack of due process, but this does not seem to have impressed the authorities who have consistently demonstrated contempt for human rights. Reports of the seizure at the airport of the passport of opposition SDF MP, Jean Nintcheu, his arrest and handcuffing in public by uncouth security operatives are all acts of primitive governance, which go to demonise the nation’s already soiled image. I still find it difficult to believe government’s insistence that the SDF and Honourable Nintcheu in particular were responsible for the bloody protests which, by all accounts, were spontaneous and lacked a sense of direction. If the government truly believes the SDF was behind the unrest, then I fear it is crediting the party with an extraordinary power to mobilise the masses; an influential force which the regime had previously refused to acknowledge if one were to rely on the fraudulent results of last July’s general elections. The SDF did call for a public demonstration in Douala to protest against plans by the regime to panel-beat the constitution so that Mr. Biya can become life president. Independent TV footage showed a rather scanty protest march that quickly aborted when it was confronted with tear gas and water cannons. Two days later the urban transporters’ strike came into effect and hordes of angry young men took advantage of the empty streets to express their bitterness over their meaningless condition of life. The forces of law and order even registered a scant presence on the streets in the early days of the strike given that their mobility was severely restricted by the strikes. This would teach the government to start considering the building of barracks in order to facilitate the mobilization of the army in future. Given this state of affairs, it is hard to see the SDF’s hand in the recent turmoil. Perhaps in a desperate search for a scapegoat, the government has conveniently forgotten that not long ago, it had stigmatised the SDF as a regional (Northwest) party. 279 If truly, the SDF were responsible for instigating and mobilising the strike which degenerated in some cases to deplorable acts of vandalism and that the SDF, as charged by Mr. Biya, was trying to gain power which it failed to obtain through the ballot box, then the regime is tacitly admitting that the SDF is a credible alternative political force to reckon with; a force that can create a veritable earthquake and not just a storm in a tea cup! The whole idea of...