Debating to clarify issues to the public

Most weekends in Cameroon, especially in the major towns of Douala and Yaounde, have become rallying points for intellectual debates on topical issues.

The advent of media plurality has prodded such developments with specialists and some opinion leaders as well as political parties being given the opportunity to air their views on a number of concerns that either directly or indirectly affect people across the country. In order to echo the varied and diversified concerns that have often led to heated debates on the multiple radio and television stations in the country Cameroon Tribune has created space to delve into some of the ideas raised.

A close follow-up of the ideas shared and debated during most weekends over the audio-visual media reveal the dire need to fill an important information vacuum whereby most members of the public who might not have read the newspapers or who are oblivious of the daily goings on around them are given the chance to know what government officials, opposition political party leaders and other opinion leaders are involved in. This is because the discussions have a bearing on the wellbeing of the population, life in specific localities and the country as a whole.

Several such concerns took centre stage on the media over the weekend from 15-17 August 2014, including the participation of the Head of State and Wife, Chantal Biya in France in the 70th anniversary of the 1944 Allied Landing in Provence to save France from Nazi occupation and youth participation in politics as catchy preoccupations. The focus of the debate on the celebration in France were whether African ex-servicemen have had their fair share of compensation like their French and European counterparts who joined in the war to safeguard French sovereignty.

Most panellists involved in the debates have been out to remove the woollen blanket blindfolding the population over such an issue whereby Africans have continued to play the second fiddle in a global stage while the colonial masters pull the strings in part, to perpetrate their domination over the entire continent. While some have been of the opinion that the African continent deserves more from the West, some think that it is time for strong inclinations toward Afro-centric views aimed at a better assertion of the African identity. But given the weak nature of most African economies, it could be a dicey option to forge on with such ideal goals without first of all ensuring the basics. The political independence of Africa has been easily comprimised by economic take-off, living most African countries heavily dependent on the west for survival.

However, the public have the right to know what decisions their leaders and other public figures are taking in order to make informed choices whenever issues of common concern are put on the table for debate or votes. Thus, the avowed onus of the growing media debate must be conceived as another forum for Cameroonians to join in aspects that shape national life, foster the democratisation process and crystallize the freedom of expression which remains the alienable right of citizens.