EDITORIAL

Beti, Northern elite bad-mouthing: End time signal for Biya regime

Of the four geopolitical axes in Cameroon, Betis and Northerners have been on the driving seat since reunification. Bamilekes until recently when they were given the position of the senate president, have been on the corridors of political power while their Anglophone cousins have at best been on the sidelines.

After the Betis, the grand north have a commanding presence in Cameroon politics, whether in the opposition parties or in government. Presently, three Northern opposition leaders are in the CPDM government. They are the minister of state for tourism and leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari of the UNDP, Issa Bakary Tchiroma of communication and Mohamadou Moustapha, special duties minister at the presidency.

Within the ruling CPDM, Northernerss co-pilot the New Deal regime, occupy the positions of vice prime minister in charge of relations with the assemblies, Amadou Ali; minister of finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey; minister of public contracts, Abba Sadou; minister of sports and physical education, Adoum Garoua; minister of environment and nature protection, Helle Pierre; minister of livestock and animal husbandry; Dr. Taiga and the minister of basic education, Youssouf Adidja Alim.

Other CPDM northern elite in government are the minister delegate in charge of relations with the Islamic world, Adoum Gargoum; the secretary of state in the ministry of public health,  Hayatou Alim; the secretary of state in  the ministry of defence in charge of ex-servicemen, Koumpa  Issa and the secretary of state in the ministry of forestry and  wildlife, Koulsoum Alhadji.

Despite holding these juicy positions and many more in state corporations, Northerners are surprisingly not contented. They had even written the “grand north” memo complaining bitterly of being on the margin of political and infrastructural development. Their covert ambition as has been analysed time without number is to take over from Biya when he eventually leaves power.

Their warp logic is that since it was one of theirs who handed over the presidency to Paul Biya, it should be returned to where it came from.

The Betis also argue in hiding that it should be one of them to take over from Biya. That explains the vitriolic open exchanges between the Betis and Northerners last week.

Elite of Lekie division had in a motion to President Biya giving him courage in the war against Boko Haram made the implication that some members of the new deal in the north were “accomplices” to the terrorist group which has inflicted harm in the northern regions. The document, in which Eyebe Ayissi, former external relations minister and now minister in charge of supreme state audit signed, was unequivocal in accusing his fellow regime members as if they are enemies in the house. “No to the accomplices of Boko Haram mainly in the Grand North of Cameroon and their underhand methods or their attempts to incite the partition of this country which takes the form of the regrettable developments which have taken place in other countries or regions in the African continent’.

The memo further fired a scathing indictment on Northerners for “political blackmail, hostage- taking and complicity inspired by diverse ends notably political ambitions of personal or regional interest”.

One of Biya’s close allies from the north, Hon. Cavaye Djibril, speaker of the national assembly and political bureau member of the CPDM did not take the Lekie memo kindly. In his reply on behalf of the north, he said Ayissi’s document was “capable of instilling hatred among compatriots whose sole desire is to jointly tackle the pressing challenges of the republic. We denounce these maneuvers which aim only at tainting the image of one part of the country while fostering individual positioning.”

Cavaye has said it all; the rumbling battle between the north and Betis is motivated by the “positioning” to take over from Biya. The infighting is even more so given that at over 80, Biya is not grooming a successor which gives room for the open animosity, accusations and counter finger pointing within the New Deal top brass. Where this tussle leaves Anglophones who at the worst ought to be next in command in any regime continues to beg for an answer.

Putting the next of kin tussle at the backburner, Ayissi has made very severe allegations that for the sake of “national unity” and security considerations should not be swept aside. Boko Haram, it has been said over and again is a Nigerian sect, based in Nigeria, and operating mainly in Nigeria with an occasional swoop on Cameroon’s   north to kidnap hostages for ransom.

Ayisi’s could not have said there are “accomplices” in the CPDM regime without proof. The least he can now do is to name them publicly and also submit the names to the security and the president to order the arrest and trial of the “Boko Haram partners in crime. If he cannot name names, the option left to President Biya can only be to sack him with alacrity.

It is not the first time the nation has been scornfully entertained by open dispute between members of government from the two blocks. The other day  it was Amadou Ali, minister delegate in charge of relations with the assembles trading covert accusations with defence minister, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o  over the Boko Haram attack that resulted in the abduction of  Ali’s wife.

If there is a bitter lesson President Biya can learn from the open squabbles between his Beti brothers and their political rivals in the Grand North, it is that his government is dangerously divided. Isn’t it said that “united we stand, divided we fall?”  The “motion of support” the president needs now more than ever before is a new government with a trajectory towards an equitable representation of all interest groups and not just the dominance of the Betis and northerners now at each other’s throat to the detriment of national interest.