Franktalk: Toughest times to be Cameroonian

Once upon a time, Cameroon was bliss. Peace was cherished. Even Ahidjo’s dictatorship (no semblance of democracy like today) was acceptable. After all, there was food on the table. Cocoa and coffee boom gave jobs. Cameroon was entering the Opec circle. Makossa was on top of Africa and resonating across the world.

The Indomitable Lions were veritable kings of the jungle. If Cameroonians had nothing else to show, they were recognized and given recognition at foreign destinations and asked “how is Roger Milla?” They answered with pride. Beer was cheap and Cameroonians took pride in being a boozing nation.

Once upon a time, being an opposition figure was in vogue. You said “Biya must go” and you were a hero, even if you offered no convincing alternative. Nowadays, food barely provides a meal. The Indomitable Lions are called “tamed cats”.

Cameroonians abroad are teased, “What happened to your football”. They are often lost for answers. Beer prices are skyrocketing. Boozers now have to “calculer” before settling for a drink. Makossa is down and imitating Coupe Decale, Ndombolo and Nigerian R n B.

Peace is shifting towards the window as Boko Haram threatens through the door. The famous “Island of Peace in a turbulent central African sea” is now beckoning on trouble-free neighbours to rescue it from war.

Nowadays, a banal critical political statement is treasonous. You say “Biya must go” and you are not patriotic. You question how war donations are managed and you are a divisive figure at a time of national mobilization. You tell an international radio station about non-combat, extrajudicial killings in the war and you are stigmatized as a sympathizer with the enemy. You have enjoyed being a Cameroonian. Now, you have to learn new ways of being a new Cameroonian.

Regional Balance

Just over 15 years ago, I was a pitiable victim of some balancing in a competitive recruitment test. I emerged on top of the pack but lost out in the final list to people, some of whom I’m glad I did not feature on this same list with because of how mediocre they have remained, in spite of the favour they received over me. I have been a victim, so I’m not oblivious to the pain of victims of regional balance.

Regional balance or reversed discrimination or affirmative action in the United States is an umbrella word for several other balances in Cameroon. There is also ethnic balance when the spoils to share are within a region. This happens either when the opportunity is reserved by right for a region or when the big man sharing the spoils has secured a certain number for their region, but is at odds over intra-regional sharing.

Issues of ethnic balance came up in the South West Elite Association in the 1990s when Professor Agbor Tabi was higher education minister with apparent powers to secure admission into higher teacher training institutions. He had verbal fights with fellow Southwest elite especially Dion Ngute (Ndian) and Churchill Ewumbue Monono (Fako).

As a meritocrat, I’m in difficulty to accept and justify regional balance, but looking at certain realities, we must come to terms with it and only seek to make it equitable and fair. I was on a radio panel with Dr Owona Nguini, the late Richard Touna (Repere newspaper) and Guibai Gatama (L’Oeil du Sahel newspaper) back in 2007 after the ENS Maroua massive admission for northerners.

Unlike some of the panelists, I was favourable to the affirmative favour done to the Greater North because the area is largely under-scholarized. Often teachers posted there refuse to go on “punitive” transfer. That leaves children there without quality teachers. They thus remain in the dark.

I told fellow panelists that the Centre region, for example, boasts of a strong academic and professional base and consequent political influence because of exposure and access. Their kids play around university campuses, the way kids in some remote places only dream to play around a shack used for a primary school. Still a dream!

It has been proven that less privileged children, hitherto on the downside of academic performance, given equitable exposure and access, have sprung to the top. There can be a way to manage regional balance equitably to provide a level playing field for all children of the nation without penalizing meritorious ones.

The problem with supposed regional balance is that those in position of authority use it as a pretext for favouritism, tribalism, nepotism and other forms of clientelism. In the name of regional balance in the IRIC entrance, Ayuk Marguerite Josiane, apparently from Manyu and thus a Southwesterner, was thrown out and replaced by a less meritorious Mokwe Welisane. (Apologies little sister, but your name has become the password of a discourse.)

Now, if the explanation was intra-Southwest ethnic balance or ethnic affirmative action, is it certain that the big man’s daughter from the deprived ethnicity was the most meritorious from that ethnic group? And, knowing that Professor Horace Ngomo, secretary general in the ministry of higher education is of the same ethnicity as Mokwe, must one also understand in the Ayuk/Mokwe case, a continuation of the challenge of Agbor Tabi’s Manyu dominance?

This regional balance talk can be deeper and mean more things than they say.