Losers and Winners – Biya’s new Government in Cameroon

By Innocent Chia

The June 30, 2009 government shake-up by Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has come as a surprise to a few and not so to many others that have, since late last year in 2008, been anticipating the change. Of seismic importance to many is the appointment of Philemon Yang as Prime Minister; even as the former PM, Ephraim Inoni, gets the boot and unconfirmed rumors that his passport has been seized. In Biya’s banana republic, a personnel recycling represents reform, or change as is known in the common lingo. Cameroonians know, meantime, that the appointment of Yang (from the North West) over Inoni (from the South West) fuels the perpetual burning fire among Southern Cameroonians just the way some politicians want it to be.

There are few Cameroonian circles wherein qualification and other merit-based discussions take center-stage in the wake of appointments such as in the recent government shake-up. More often than not, ethnicity and geo-politics become principal lenses for public discourse. It is thus that Biya’s appointment of Philemon Yang is celebrated more so by North westerners, especially those from his native Oku and Banso, as well as his new family-by-marriage in Kom. 

One can only imagine what sour fans and supporters of the former PM, Ephraim Inoni, are saying at this point. I will bet my last dime that the kitchen table and office discussion on the matter is all about how the North West has finally come back to the good graces of the Lion man. More so, the appointment will most likely sharpen the rhetoric of “Biya for life president” as espoused most recently by the one-time cabinet Minister and administration-back-end kisser, Hon. Francis Nkwain. Indeed, the field is ripe with losers and fewer winners than one can fathom.

LOSERS: 

The most prominent loser, yet again, is the youth of Cameroon. Biya elected to recycle his old bodies as opposed to giving the dynamic youth of Cameroon something to hope for. Born a forth night from today on July 14, 1947, Philemon Yang would hardly qualify for a young man, especially not with life expectancy at 44-45 for Cameroonian men. At age of 62, the new PM is certainly several years younger than President Paul Biya (1933), but certainly past the threshold of youth. It is true that his several-decades-younger wife may be a new lease on life for him, but this bridge to youth is tenuous at best and of iota-less political significance. President Biya is himself married to a fountain of youth in Chantal Biya, yet no lifeline has been thrown to young people as a result of her network. 

US President Barack Obama has shown what vitality and renewal a younger person brings to a nation. It is not only about a new vision in conjunction with a new era. Heaven alone can measure how much of a visionless country Cameroon is. The country needs a fresh set of eyes that will see things from a perspective of inheritance for generations yet unborn, rather than the perspective of appropriation for which Biya will not be forgotten. 

Another set of unsung collective losers will be the voices that have always cried foul at a system that relegates Anglophones to second class citizens, and who decry the ceiling of achievement set for Anglophones at Premiership. Philemon Yang’s family and supporters, like those of former PMs Achidi Achu, Peter Mafany Musonge Ephraim Inoni, are rightfully rejoicing at the opportunity and hailing the King for his infinite wisdom and magnanimity towards the people. To these, any talk of fielding a legitimate Anglophone as President of the country is comical and besides them. 

The appointment of Philemon Yang also waylays the argument that it is past time for an “aboriginal Anglohone” to become President. Mostly championed by Kenneth Fru Ndeh, son of former Minister of Transport John Benaghi Ndeh, he has maintained that after two Francophone Presidents (Ahmadoh Ahidjo; 1960 – 1982 and Paul Biya; 1982 – Present) it is time for an aboriginal Anglophone to give it a shot. As bare bone as I have captured the “aboriginal Anglophone for president” school of thought, it is indeed its essence which is anchored in the checkered and fragile union between La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons. 

Whatever the case, “aboriginalists" will agree that the appointment of Philemon Yang, less than two years away from the next Presidential election in Cameroon, will buy Biya some time as well as send his opponents scrambling back to the drawing boards. 

Of course you have the patented, egoistical losers that once paraded the corridors of power and forever see it as some kind of entitlement. These include all those former Ministers who believe that if only they go around blowing Biya’s horn and carrying his water bag, he will call them sooner than later for service. 

WINNERS: 

The status quo in Cameroon comes out well served with the band of cronies that Biya has recycled. Friend and foe of Biya have generally agreed that loyalty is a virtue that he expects from all of his collaborators. In Philemon Yang the President gets one with whom he goes back a long ways. Back in the mid seventies when Biya was Prime Minister of Cameroon under his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yang was also appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture in 1975, and Minister of Mines and Energy in 1979. They know each other well enough for Biya to have left him as Ambassador and High Commissioner to Canada for over twenty years. He trusts the man. 

It is the kind of trust that you have for somebody who can and will take the bullet for you. It will not be long before Prime Minister Philemon Yang is asked to remind the people of his native North West Province that Cameroon will burn in hell fire if Biya is not reappointed for the nth mandate in 2011. Among the several achievements of President Biya, the PM will shamelessly say that his appointment is evidence of Biya’s commitment to the province. There will be plenty of food and wine to drink and Biya will be reelected. End of story…Unless Biya decides that he does not want to go like Bongo…But Biya is so drunk with power he would rather die with the crown in his toilet bowl than pass it on. 

Oku land hopes to fall in the category of winners. With the appointment of their son, there is little doubt that something will have to be done to macadamize the road to Oku. I was there in 1998 to lay the final remains of a mentor in journalism, Ebsy Ngum. The short ride from Banso to Oku was a bumpy and memorable ride through beautiful hills and gorgeous valleys. I will be hard pressed taking that trip again. 

So too will the Prime Minister - he has to show his world off to the world. It will be expected of him to make any and all arrangements for the ring road to go through Oku, just in case it was not the case already. His appointment may also mean that the Ring road through the North West province gets off the papers before long. The caterpillars may hit the black soils before elections in 2011. 

There is also the category of individual winners. Among them the former Minister of Higher Education, Agbor Tabi. His appointment to the post of Assistant Secretary General at the presidency of the republic makes his comeback the stuff that those who have dropped from grace to grass live for. Life for them is meaningless if they are not picking up the crumbs from the table of their master.  

Finally, I would be foolhardy to miss an important point that a friend reminded of: The cabinet shake-up puts the recent brouhaha about President Biya’s assets on the back burner. It will give him enough time to sojourn in Paris and to take care of business, including stashing way whatever ill-gotten wealth he has amassed in Paris. The Lion man is always buying time and his docile people are always giving him time. Only time itself knows when it will run out on Biya like it finally did for Omar Bongo of Gabon. Until that time, PM Philemon Yang is welcome into his lot.

Comments

[Bob Bristol]

A nice write-up.

[Mbango]

The Foccart-Ahidjo-Biya system just had another menstrual flow, but it is almost menopause.

[Gilbert Mbeng]

Inno
That was well said and well written.
I remember Dr ,Ben Jua lecturing in UB the Clientele system of rule in Cameroon.It worked in the time of Ahidjo and continues to work under Biya.
Whether we like it or not someone somewhere will change his bitterness for Biya in an attempt to be connected to the new names in the cabinet shakeup

[tchabo]

Cameroonians,Cameronians,Cameroonians. Why have we decided to offer our beloved country to this ingrate-bastard"biya", on a plater of gold . Are we going to sit and watch this country turned into a kingdom? The country is ours,and it's our responsibility to reclaim it from the tyrant .And to u, Mr. "Chia"please keep-up the good work.

[Mr Capitol]

we know no doubt, Biya's policy of appointing a northwesternan as a PM is just a way to pave his way into success in the fourth coming presidential elections come 2011.

[Mr Capitol]

I guess its time we stand up and fight for our right MR Biya is taking us astray, we have to go back to the old path as the bible says,"in the time of John the baptist the kingdom of God suffered voilence and the violent taketh it by force", i guess its time for us to take our right by force. Join me in fighting. Thanks to Mr Chia

[MORGAN JOHNSON LITUMBE(USA CAMEROONIAN YOUTH WING MOVEMENT IN DIASPORA)]

I guess when elders begin to call white black and term evil good then it's high time the youths take their place.Why should we allow one individual(Mr Biya) to keep on manipulating a cross-section of individuals(Southern Cameroons) to remain in power.Us in the Diaspora are fully preparing for 2011 so the youths should rally behind us as "the issues of the will no longer be decided by the ballot box but rather blood and iron" as that Yaounde Banana Gov't must go.Biya stop manipulating cameroonians, we are tired of your lies and deceit.i speak to you directly know that we are coming purposely for you in 2011 despite your well ammended suiting constitution.If our brothers back home are afraid to tell you the truth we will not only tell it to you but we will put some one there who will show you the truth while you will be restless in your grave.start preparing in joining your Gabonese counterpart Omar Mbongo.See you in 2011.

[DANIEL NGWA NIBA]

THANK YOU MORGAN. I READ YOUR COMMENT, WE WILL KEEP FIGHTING FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS BACK HOME TILL WE WIPE OUT THAT BIYA'S GENERATION. FOR HOW LONG CAN HE DEPEND ON CLIENTELISM AND HIS DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY. NOW HE IS SEEKING FAVOUR FROM NORTH WESTERNERS BECAUSE HE KNOWS HE HAS CAPTURED SOUTH WESTERNERS. HE KNOWS WHEN TO HIT THE JACK. I WONDER IF THERE IS A COURSE IN THE UNIVERSITY CALL "POLITICAL MANIPULATION" THAT HE STUDIED IN FRANCE. BUT ANY WAY YOU GUYS IN USA SHOULD NOT FAIL TO ATTEND OUR NEXT RALLY MEETING SCHEDULE IN BERLIN AS OTHER MEMBERS IN OTHER NATIONS ARE PREPARING FOR IT.

[NNOKO MBOH JOHNSON]

Innocent Chia,keep up the fight.

[Hins]

what a superbly written article. Biya has obviously run out of ideas, and Cameroon may just just end up being one of the sad African stories to emerge out of the global economic meltdown as a result of his lack of ideas. Here's the time when more than ever smart people with ideas on how to create jobs, grow the economy and provide opportunities to the youth should be in power...Biya calls up his old buddies with Alzheimer brains. Tis new cabinet has pushed Cameroon back 20 years, and for a country that so desperately needs to move forward, it's such a tragedy.

[EGOH ABDEL-AZIZ MODI-RAMAN BEGAWAN]

The article written by Innocent Chia on “winners” and “losers” with regard to president Biya’s new cabinet reshuffle is a pretty good one, but raises some conventional questions that deserve scrutiny. I think that it’s of urgency for us to start discarding from some of these conventions that has brought us to this almost irreparable state of our political economy.

One of the fundamental concerns that I wish to point out in relation to the article titled “winners’” and “losers” can be deduced from our stereotyped ideas on President Biya’s appointments of individuals to top executive positions of government. Most often than not, we turn not to shy away from the fact that all technocrats in government are appointed because of their political affiliation to the ruling party.

As Innocent Chia rightly puts it, appointments to top government positions since Paul Biya took over from his predecessor Amadou Ahidjo in 1982, has always been influenced by geo-politics and ethnicity. Good and fine, it is his political tactics of divide and rule that he has used as the main instrument to capture and nurture support from various ethnic groupings.

The point I am trying to put forth is that, this stream of thinking has almost become a stereotype within several Cameroonian communities, of which I suppose we need to discard from its trappings. I think that we should start looking at the possibilities of people’s performance in and out of government. I do not personally know the newly appointed Prime Minister, especially in terms of his performance level, but I wish to call upon the attention of many to start thinking positively on some of these appointments. President Paul Biya may be unwilling to neither embrace change nor to represent change, but his appointments of individuals to top executive positions of government can be some times meaningful, and can indirectly catalyze change, even not as an end itself, but can catalyze change as a means to an end.

Even though the top executive of the nation is not ready to set the pace for positive change by stepping down from power, it does not restrain us from thinking that he cannot appoint people based on their level of performance any longer. In other words, appointments should not only be seen from the perspective of political affiliation.

People’s performance and conduct can as well bring them to the limelight. Let’s look at what the newly appointed Prime Minister has that many don’t have. Let’s also look at his track record within his areas of governance. Are there some positives or is every thing about him reduced to his CPDM attachment? Or conversely, why is it that we can not look at the level of loyalty that Mr. Paul Biya showed to his former boss (Amadou Ahidjo) before finally gaining his confidence to the throne, which I presume according to him non of his prime ministers or members of cabinet have been able to showcase right up to this point in time?

My dear compatriots, gone are the days when we should be thinking in one direction. I propose that we should be keeping our minds constantly at work on some of these issues and possibly carve out possible niches rather than persistently positioning ourselves within the realms and caprices of certain stereotypes that may plunge us into negativity all the time. It is not going to help us at all.

One way of handling an enemy is by getting closer to him and pretending almost as if any decision he takes is good. In this light, the decisions that seems completely unpleasant to his fellow compatriots he will think twice and make possible changes on them provided he sees them as close allies.

Another crucial issue with regard to stereotypes among Cameroonians, more specifically, the Anglophone community is the fact that they have openly made it clear to the top man that there is an uneasy relationship reigning between them (i.e. between South Westerners and North Westerners).

The fact of the matter is that we have made our relationship vulnerable to the top man, which he has used in strategizing to further create that gap of unfriendliness between the two Anglophone provinces, thus bringing about an atmosphere of long standing hostility and suspicion, which has almost become a norm. My worry is that we should start discarding the notion of division, hatred, suspicion and hostility among our selves. We should even come to the point where our common enemy should not find it possible to trap us. We understand that no society reigns without such differences.

But again, why can’t we emulate from our brothers who were in the apartheid struggle as a united force against the common enemy for years, and happened to emerge victorious at the end of it. Even though they constituted the majority (that is, the black South Africans against the Whites) as opposed to our situation as minorities, we can still learn from their determination and unity to confront our common enemy if that’s the case.

Another stereotype which is recurrent in hot spots in and out of Cameroon is that related to the absolute exclusion of youths, their certainty for a better tomorrow, and their needs and assurance of livelihood in policy formulation processes and circles. It is almost certain that the youths have embraced the idea that they are losers, and would rather prefer not to identify themselves elsewhere as Cameroonians.

Just as the government of Cameroon should understand the position of the youths as the future leaders of the country, so too the youths should understand that they have a responsibility of shaping their destiny. A good example where youths displayed a commitment in shaping their destiny was the Soweto uprising during the apartheid era in South Africa. My concern is that the youths should start thwarting the notion of being losers. They have the potential and vibrancy to make their situation known to the outside world.

They need to dismiss the denialist attitude that is deeply embedded in them, and understand that to a larger extent, their destiny can only be shaped and assured by their inputs in striving for change and assurance of a better livelihood.

President Paul Biya’s continuous appointment of Anglophones as Prime Ministers is another convention among Anglophone Cameroonians, that their ceiling of achievement is limited within the parameters of the Prime Ministry of the Republic. It is a fallacy and an idea that needs to be completely eradicated from the minds of Anglophone Cameroonians across the spectrum. Who ever believed that the long standing racism in American politics and society would have ever been to the point where it is today? Who ever believed that the apartheid regime would have ever come to a stop? A regime that has ravaged almost two generations and rendered thousands today unfit to properly integrate themselves in society? If some one would have told Mobutu of former Zaire and Omar Mbongo of Gabon, that certainly one day, they would quit their nation’s power houses, their responses would have been a capital No.

Even though we are not wishing the same for Biya and his band of cronies, justice will one day take its natural course. And it might turn out that the plight of the Anglophones will be terminated with the possibility of a change in the political landscape.

It is a struggle that warrants tireless efforts. Efforts that will readily embrace technical approaches. The issue of stereotypes should not be recurrent in our political discourse. Conversely, let’s turn around and search for alternatives to these conventions that have accumulated over time.

[Ramson Nnoko Ngolle]

Chia keep it up! nice article.Morgan and Daniel i really need to get in touch with you so that i can be link to join the fight.I have heard so much about your previous rallies held in France,USA,
Canada and of recent that of Britain.I'm based in Russia so wish the movement should be extended there too as there are many Cameroonians here eager to join the fight.

[slomo]

I can imagine Popol sitting over a bowl of 'nnam ngonn' (egusi pudding),chuckling and celebrating how the Anglophones have been divided for good.
Its a pity to hear such nonsense of motion of support from intellectuals like Simon Nkwenti or Mbella Muki to Biya thanking him for the appointment of their sons to PM or whatever...
This simply show how as Southern cameroonians we are split and powerless and can be manipulated upon.The post of PM in cameroon, even if not written in reserved for Anglophones since its powerless and reserved for 'yes sirs'.
Ah before i forget, about the PM's age, Innocent please donot forget to tell dad to step down, he is no longer a youth isn't it?

[Malvern Ngoh]

Well written couz!!!