THIS MY CRITICAL PEN

By Sylvanus Ezieh

 

Biya’s achievements, 32 years on

While a majority of Cameroonians locked up themselves in their rooms on November 6 to mourn 32 years of waste on behalf of the Cameroonian unrepentant potentate, some unapologetic CPDM sycophants with the aid of partisan administrators besieged public avenues to gibber over what they referred to as Mr. Biya’s achievements.

The stupor and hypocrisy that usually typify such ceremonies can only be compared to that described by Ayi Kwei Armah in his The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born. The substituting celebrants take upon themselves to nosh the green audience with ornamental descriptions of Biya’s stewardship at the helm of the nation.

The descriptions are most often truncated with unpardonable lies and half truths. You will not even imagine the caliber of individuals who champion such lies telling. Tennyson in his Mort d’Arthur epic poem frowns at lies telling by “a big man.” His disappointment over the persistent deceit by his immediate collaborator; Sir Bedivere pushed him to declare “If you come back here without executing my instructions, I would rise from here and slay you with my hand.” He was certainly demonstrating how frustrated one could be in the face of blatant lies told by ‘big people.’

The point here is that Biya’s ‘ambassadors’ are lies tellers. They refrain from telling their gullible electorates the plain truth about the charade regime in place. Rather than feeding them with flimsy convictions like peace and unity achievements, they should be honest enough that Mr. Biya has failed to mature the limping democracy that was forced down his throat thanks to the SDF; that Biya has failed to address the disturbing unemployment figures staring the nation in the face.

That for 32 years the president has also succeeded to clutch the corruption trophy as many times as all the other African countries put together. Of course it should not be a surprise to anyone if Cameroon champions the corruption charter in the world. To quote one famous columnist, President Biya uses corruption to rule. He deliberately allows his collaborators to corrupt and embezzle so as to use it as blackmail against anyone who challenges his oligarchy.

One thing that has continued to linger on the image of the president like a red stain on a white cloth is the marginalization of Anglophones and the reticence to dialogue with the SCNC as recommended by the African court.

Biya is the head of the judiciary in Cameroon; he therefore incarnates all the judicial institutions. The African court or African Commission as it is officially referred to, is a continental judicial institution that exerts its authority on all signatory nations; Cameroon being one. And so challenging its ruling would mean demeaning the judiciary. So how would he feel if anybody defies the judiciary that he heads in Cameroon?

National roads have remained at the beck and call of government attention. While the majority paupers continue to scrape along the seasonal roads in worn-out public transport cars, his songbirds who consume a greater part of their time in air-conditioned offices barely slide pass on these deadly tracks in their highly-protected Mitsubishis unperturbed. The feedback given to Biya is “tous est bien Monsieur Le President.”

And that is another landmark achievement of our head of state after 32 years – inertia and the inability to supervise government action. I hear, Ahidjo was a striking contrast. Pardon me for the expression ‘I hear.’ I was born and grew up to meet a president who already existed like President Paul Biya. And so I can only say of the late president what I was told or what I learnt in history.

We hear he used to pay impromptu visits to all provincial headquarters, visit and personally supervise construction sites, follow-up contractors to the letter and ensure that anyone guilty of the embezzlement of a dime is prosecuted and convicted.

With Paul Biya’s Cameroon, officials are authorized to embezzle state funds provided the amount does not attain 50 MFCFA. Does anyone hear that? Spare me any further revelations.

Those who have chosen to blow his trumpet and declare him messiah of peace and unity can continue. Posterity will however live to testify that ‘there once lived a monarch in Cameroon who sacrificed fatherland’s interest for the common purpose of consolidating his grip on the throne.’

Footnote: Power is sweet but turns sour when driven to excess. The governed who give the power withdraw it and the powerless leader falls back to the ground to grapple with those he stepped on their toes while exercising his excessive powers