By Dr Peter Wuteh Vakunta
I believe that one day Cameroon will cease to be a country saddled with inept leaders, most of whom are stooges of Western powers, notably France. Many reasons account for my compulsive optimism. Cameroonians are slowly but surely shedding their fear syndrome and learning from recent events in Africa—grassroots revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The economic dire straits at home have forced Cameroonians to venture into the Diaspora, a move that could be counted as a blessing in disguise. They are rapidly acquiring expertise in a myriad of domains: technology, health, military intelligence, economics, finance, science, and more. These skills will be sorely needed in the stride toward economic prosperity in the post-Biya era.
I believe that the attainment of Cameroon’s long-term developmental objectives should be anchored in the Cameroonian people’s determination to extricate themselves from the tentacles of Western imperialism.I have the conviction that Cameroon’s economic recovery initiative requires a new vision, a new type of partnership with the West—one in which the country’s economists and decision-makers will work in tandem with foreign partners to promote the nation’s developmental goals, rather than simply give foreigners the leeway to exploit natural resources for the benefit of Western corporations. What Cameroon desires from the West at this juncture is not Foreign Aid but economic partnership on an equal footing. Foreign Aid has been described by economic pundits as the death-knell of recipients in Africa.
In her seminal book, Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and Why There is a Better Way for Africa (2009), Dambisa Moyo adumbrates an economic blueprint intended to serve as a paradigm for weaning Africa off the debilitating aid-dependency syndrome that has kept the continent in perpetual economic stagnancy for decades. Using dependable statistics, Moyo argues that government-to-government or bilateral aid (which should be distinguished from charity-based aid) to Africa undermines the ability of Africans to conceptualize their own best economic and political policies. As she puts it: “The net result of aid-dependency is that instead of having a functioning Africa, managed by Africans, for Africans, what is left is one where outsiders attempt to map its destiny and call the shots.”(66) Foreign Aid does not only undermine economic growth, it keeps recipient countries in a state of endemic poverty. It is itself an underlying cause of social unrest and possibly even civil war. Here then is the reason why Cameroon should steer clear of foreign aid now and in the future. To achieve meaningful economic advancement, Cameroonians will have to think and come up with effective paradigms that would guarantee genuine sustainable development in the economic arena. I think that the time has come for Cameroonians to go beyond the blame game; taking the West to task for their grime and gloom.
I have believe that one day Cameroonians will take their destiny into their own hands by combating endemic corruption through moral education and the inculcation of life skills (truth, integrity, loyalty, respect, honesty, trustworthiness, patriotism, and decent work ethics) into every citizen. No amount of wishful thinking is enough to resolve Cameroon’s internal problems. The onus is on all Cameroonians to bit the bullet and come clean, by turning over a new page. Cameroonians should learn to be architects of their own destinies, rather than await some inaccessible manna from heaven. I believe that there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel in Cameroon. To achieve their common objective, Cameroonians should to not take other Cameroonians for granted.
I believe that to rescue Cameroon from the economic doldrums in which she finds herself at present, Cameroonians should learn to invest at home. I am aware that our leaders have set a bad example by putting their money where their hearts are. In other words, they prefer to invest in France, Baden-Baden, Switzerland, you name it, instead of in Cameroon. But bad leaders are what they are. We are under no obligation to learn from them. In fact, my appeal is that we do the opposite of what they do. In the final analysis, they will learn from us. Cameroonians at home and in the Diaspora must take bold steps and work together to eradicate chronic poverty by all means necessary, including redirecting expenditure toward the acquisition of skills sorely needed in the global workplace. Cameroonians must learn to invest in the future because a saving nation is a prosperous nation.
I believe that Cameroon is neither a country for the taking nor the designated bread-basket of her ex-colonizers. She may be home to Africa’s most underprivileged people; she may be saddled with some of the deadliest endemic diseases on the globe, she may even be in the throes of underdevelopment. Nonetheless, the incontrovertible truth is that Cameroon remains one of the most robust and resilient countries on the African continent.
No country that I know of has ever been subjected to the same magnitude of exploitation, dehumanization, denigration, and brutality that have been the lot of Cameroon. Of all the African countries, Cameroon alone had the misfortune of being the victim of three colonial regimes (German, French and British)! Yet, in the face of all these tribulations, Cameroonians have continued to hold their heads high, and to walk tall in the face of unsolicited provocation. I believe that to forge ahead, Cameroonians must transform their hard-won political independence into genuine economic autonomy. They must avoid servitude in all its forms. The journey toward true liberation begins with decolonizing the mind.
It is my belief that in the foreseeable future, Cameroon will remain a peace haven. Right now, in many African countries, bullets have replaced ballots as instruments of governance. Not yet in Cameroon. That is because Cameroonians have understood that democracy and fair-play have the potential to ease countless socio-political bottlenecks. I believe that Cameroonians have come to the realization that for every gun that is manufactured in the West, an African is destined to be a casualty. In many African countries, inter-tribal feuds have degenerated into civil wars. This is because most Africans perceive the world through borrowed lenses.
I believe that one day Francophone and Anglophone Cameroonians will see eye-to-eye as they walk hand in hand in the streets of Yaoundé without looking over their shoulders. What transpired in Rwanda in 1994[ii] should never happen to our country! I believe that before long the graffi from the Northwest Region will dine with their brethren from the Southwest Region. When that time comes, there will be no chants of “come no go”[iii]It is my fervent belief that one day Francophone Cameroonians will perceive Anglophone Cameroonians as dependable compatriots; rather than enemies in the house. I have no illusions about the fact that one day the much dreaded Bamileke-Anglophone Conspiracy[iv] will be a thing of the past.
The trail of economic destruction and human suffering left on Cameroon by Mr. Paul Biya’s rogue government is unprecedented. But there is room for hope. Why civil servants continue to be routine on dereliction of duty remains a moot point. But there is ample room for learning from past errors. One reason that political competition has degenerated into a dog-eat-dog warfare in our country is that we are politically illiterate, thirsty for power and hungry for material possessions. But I believe that this trend will change as Cameroonians begin to learn the ropes. I believe that in the near future, it will dawn on Cameroonians that politics is not all about self-aggrandizement; rather it is service to the governed.
I believe that in the face of mounting pressure from international human rights watchdogs, Cameroonian leaders will learn to respect the constitution they promised under oath to protect. Cameroon’s constitution has been transformed into worthless pieces of paper by the executive branch of government. But the status quo will change. When that time comes, the people of Cameroon will be invited to take part in the drafting of a constitution that includes a Bill of Rights that truly grants them basic rights and freedoms. At present, there is too much toying with the national constitution of Cameroon. In the future, there will be a way of holding our leaders accountable in the event of breaches of the constitution. I believe Cameroonians are inherently law-abiding, peace-loving people. They desire to live under the rule of law. One day Cameroonians will realize that the onus is on them to devise ways and means to reverse the current trend of misgovernment and wanton misappropriation of public funds.
I believe that the day will come when Cameroon will write her own history. It will be a story of glee and glory. When that day comes, Cameroon will cease to be looked upon as a sore thumb on the African landscape.The capacity to embrace diversity has always been part and parcel of the Cameroonian mindset. Our cultures melt and spread into subcultures which in turn generate aggregates. In a bid to mint a common national identity and avoid asphyxiation, Cameroonians have the onerous task of embracing disparate subcultures.
The submersion of various cultures into a holistic Cameroonian heritage by means of mutual acceptance is one of the extraordinary ways in which Cameroonians could enter into symbiotic intercourse with their kith and kin of different extractions. I believe that this is a rewarding means to commune with members of the global village. Our emotional make-up, our pains and our uncertainties, the strange curiosity of what is generally perceived as our flaws and shortcomings should serve as a support base for our convivial strive toward a common identity.
I believe that one of the prerequisites for the collective survival of Cameroonians is their ability to maintain a conscious relationship with one another and with the global community in which they live as a subspecies. This presupposes sinking superficial differences and embracing the all too obvious commonalities. Cameroonians must ensure that their collective consciousness celebrates and enriches rather than alienate them as a people from the community of nations. Cameroon constitutes an integral part of the international community. I believe our heritage should not be hijacked by foreigners to place us in a pariah state. Our collective diversity should be perceived as part of an integrating process of world diversity. Cameroonians must acknowledge the fact that each culture— Francophone, Anglophone, or indigenous for that matter is never a finished product but rather a stratum in the continuum of global cultures.
I believe that Cameroonians are interested in cohabiting rather than dominating, in exchanging rather than expropriating.That’s why we remain our brother’s keepers in good and bad times. A Hausa man from Northern Cameroon sees himself as a brother to a Hausa man from Donga-Mantung. A Fulani woman from Sabga considers herself a sister to a Fulani woman resident in Foumban; a Bororo from Maroua is kith and kin to a Bororo from Misaje, and so on and so forth. That is why they all sing Ubuntu,[v]we are one!
Without denying the cosmetic differences that exist amongst us, differences which have been exploited by our detractors to their own advantage, we must acknowledge that what unites us as Cameroonians is vaster that what separates us. This implies that the celebration of our diversity should constitute our contribution to the edification of the United States of s Africa. As the adage goes, united we stand; separated we fall. Our unity will empower us to face up to the different hegemonic challenges that threaten our very survival in a global community that has become the marketplace for the commercialization of ideas.
Cameroonians have a rich culture of care, mutual respect, self-esteem, love and protection. Childcare for instance, is not perceived by Cameroonians as the duty of the child’s biological parents alone. It is seen as a communal responsibility involving members of the nuclear and extended families. That explains why in Cameroon the young address the elderly as "Pa" or "Ma" regardless of blood relationship. By the same token, the elderly address the young as "son" or "daughter" whether or not they are biologically related.
Cameroonians possess time-honored methods of inculcating moral rectitude and life skills into their offspring. This is a task that commences from the cradle and continues into adulthood. The preservation of our Cameroonian cultural specificities, to my mind, is a manifestation of our being a tributary to the concept of African renaissance which makes Africanity distinct from other global cultures. Espousing the concept of the African personality[vi] is tantamount to embracing those elements of our cultures that identify us as a people with a common heritage.
I believe in the concept of Cameroonian Renaissance, the quest for a contraption that obligates political leaders, parents, traditional and community spokespersons, teachers and social workers to instill into the youths a sense of self-worth and respect for the nation. Renaissance amounts to a re-assessment of our cultural values, worldview and imagination. Embracing the ideals of Cameroonian renaissance will empower us with the bagagge necessary to put a premium on our Afritude[vii]At the same time, the idea of a Cameroonian Renaissance should not be construed as a negation of otherness, or a rejection of our colonial heritage. Indeed, I believe that Cameroonians should enjoy the best of both worlds. In doing so, they must maintain constant vigilance over the cankers that have transformed their nation into a moribund Nation-State.
Notes
[i] Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is A Better Way for Africa, New York. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009
[ii] The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda’s Tutsis by Hutu militia. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the assassination of Juvenile Habyarimana on 6 April up until mid July, at least 500,000 people were killed. Most estimates indicate a death toll between 800,000 and 1,000,000.
[iii] Derogatory expression used by indigenes of the Southwest region to describe settlers from the Northwest Region of Cameroon
[iv] President Paul Biya believes that Anglophone and Bamileke Cameroonians are conspiring to overthrow the Beti-led government based in Yaoundé.
[v] African communalism
[vi] Reference to Es’kia Mphahlele’s book titled African Image (1974).
[vii] Attribute of being African
