Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

How Far WILL Biya Go — and How Far SHOULD He Go?

“How far will Biya go?” That seems to be the most commonly asked question these days as the public impatiently waits for more “heads to roll" as a result of Biya’s anti-corruption campaign. However, a recent interview given to The Post Newspaper by Garga Haman Adji (AKA "the whale hunter”), a former Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, raises a more relevant question: How far should Biya go, given the mind-boggling depth of institutionalized corruption in Cameroon?

Living Up to the Olympic Creed

Dibussi Tande

I just watched bits and pieces of the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics on TV. From an organizational stand point, the Italians have everything to be proud of. But these games lacked the passion and drama of the 2002 Salt Lake City games. In fact, the most memorable event of the 2006 games was the doping scandal involving the Austrian team. Here in the United States, Bryant Gumbel’s putdown of the Winter Olympics on HBO generated more passion than the performance of any athlete in Turin, and virtually started a mini race war.

The Great Clean-up... Or Wool Over Our Eyes?

By Dibussi Tande

On January 23, 2006, Amadou Ali, Cameroon’s Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, who also doubles as Vice Prime Minister, revealed to the press that the judiciary was reviewing some six files on corruption. About a month later, on February 21, 2006, a terse statement from the Minister informed the public that "Judicial cases have been opened against a number of officials accused of embezzlement, corruption, forgery and use of forgeries."

Political Rumor in Cameroon: The “Weapon of Mass Destruction” of the Masses

By Dibussi Tande

Based on Francis B. Nyamnjoh’s Africa's Media, Democracy and the Politics of Belonging. London: Zed Books. (May 2005). 320 pages. Cost: Hardback: £ 60.00 $85.00; Paperback: £ 18.95 $29.95.

In June 2004, Cameroon came to a virtual standstill for close to a week following a rumor that President Paul Biya had died in Switzerland. This was just another in a long series of rumors that appear with mathematical regularity on the Cameroonian socio-political scene. Without doubt, rumor, popularly referred to as Radio trottoir (sidewalk radio), is part and parcel of Cameroonian life. And, it is driven by the absence of trustworthy information from the official channels of communications and the need of the masses to be informed about key events and personalities.

A Review of Notable Political Rumors from Cameroon

Dibussi Tande

Was Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon's first President, a Nigerian with blood ties to the Sokoto Caliphate? Was the Lake Nyos gas disaster caused by a neutron bomb test carried out by the Israelis? Did the Biya regime try to sterilize secondary school girls in the Northwest province under the guise of a fake vaccination campaign? Cameroon's President Paul Biya might insist that la verité vient d'en haut, la rumeur vient d'en bas (the truth comes from above and rumor from below), but as far as the masses are concerned, the truth comes from the Radio trottoir (sidewalk radio) "below". As one observer puts it, in Cameroon, the truth "lies in the cup" (that is, it is revealed when people swap stories inbars and other places of leisure).

In his book, Africa's Media, Democracy and the Politics of Belonging, Francis Nyamnjoh lists 10 of the most notable rumors in Cameroon of the past decade, four of which are reproduced below with permission of the author:

Film Review: Cameroon's Patriarchy Gets A Lashing From Sisters in Law

Reviewed by Brian Gibson

Sisters in Law. A film by Florence Ayisi & Kim Longinotto Featuring Vera Ngassa & Beatrice Ntuba Cameroon/UK, 2005, 104 minutes, Color, VHS/35mm/Beta/DVD

Currently Screening in the United States and Canada

Sisters in Law opens by introducing one of the feistiest, no-nonsensest action heroes you’re likely to see on screens all year. State prosecutor Vera Ngassa walks into a weathered building, past barred windows and through the padded inner door to her office. This is where she brings abusive husbands and tyrannical guardians to task.

A Dream Deferred: Emmanuel Njela Nfor

Dibussi Tande

As I surfed the web for Cameroon-related news this morning, I came across an article from the Korea-based OhmyNews International with the ominous title "Remembering Our Cameroon Citizen Reporter". What followed was a heart-wrenching obituary for OhmyNews’ Cameroon and Africa citizen reporter, 28-year old Emmanuel Njela Nfor. The newspaper’s editor was full of praise for Njela’s talents and dedication:

The Ethos of Ostentatious Consumption in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

In 1991, prominent Cameroonian historian Achille Mbembe described the venal proclivities of Cameroonian ruling class as "the rampant [and] ostentatious colonization of the state" by an "arrogant ... elite with little mastery of monetary issues and more inclined towards the ethos of lavishness than production". Michael Rowlands would write a few years later that the country was plagued by "an ethos of ostentatious consumption" and "unproductive patterns of investment and reliance on the state patronage for accumulation."

President Biya Alludes to the "Gay Outing" Saga

(Youth Day Message, February 11, 2006)

"My dear young compatriots,

The society of freedom and progress that we are trying to build implies common attachment to the democratic institutions which we are putting in place and respect for human beings as regards their most fundamental and most sacred rights. For, it should be borne in mind, human beings are the cornerstone of that society. It is, unquestionably, a difficult and exacting task because of our ethnic, social and cultural diversities which require the cooperation of each and everyone in strengthening social peace and national unity.

"Le Front" Publishes the "Hit Parade of Billionaire Civil Servants" in Cameroon

Le Front, a biweekly French-language newspaper, has published what it describes as the ""Hit Parade of Billionaire Civil Servants" in Cameroon in its February 9, 2006 issue (no. 065). According to the newspaper, the names, banks, and accounts of the civil servants involved were revealed by "American financial networks" who have traced the bulk of the accounts to banks in Spain, South Africa, Portugal, Switzerland and Monaco. Le Front claims to have obtained the list from “most reliable sources at the very top of the Cameroonian State.”

The Cameroons Unification Revisited (1): On the Road to the Plebiscite of February 11, 1961

By Dibussi Tande

(Originally posted on the Camnet Internet forum on 11 February 1995)

It's [45] years to the day since the British Southern Cameroons voted, in a United Nations-sponsored plebiscite, to unify with the French Cameroons (then known as La Republique du Cameroun) to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

Over the years, there has been a huge amount of literature about the state and outcome of that union. This posting will not dwell on the issue but will instead  focus on some of the reservations expressed primarily in Southern Cameroons before the plebiscite. I leave it to the reader to compare the pre-plebiscite predictions to today’s realities. 

The Cameroons Unification Revisited (2): The Endeley Prophesy

On the eve of the 1961 Plebiscite, EML Endeley’s Cameroon Peoples National Convention (CPNC) released a lengthy pamphlet warning Southern Cameroonians of the dangers that lurked ahead in case they voted for unification with the French Cameroons. The message was described as "eternal evidence of the full note of WARNING that is being sounded in good time to all Cameroon people before they make their historic choice of February 11."

The CPNC considered the document of such critical importance to the region that it appealed to the people of Southern Cameroons to "read it in your quiet moments. If you can't read, get a school boy or some other person to read and explain to you. Then sleep over the arguments raised in the pamphlet and wake up with a new resolution..."

Below are ten key points extracted from the lengthy pamphlet released in February 1961. Let the reader judge if these points have stood the test of time...

The Cameroons Unification Revisited (3): The John Ngu Foncha Declaration (Yaounde, December 1994)

In December 1994, John Ngu Foncha, the “architect" of the unification of Cameroon, spoke at length about the outcome of the unification between the British and French Cameroons. This was just before he walked out of Biya's Constitutional Consultative Commission which had refused to include a discussion of constitutional protections of Anglophone minority rights on its agenda. Here are excerpts of what turned out to be Foncha’s last major public declaration on the Cameroon unification experiment:

When Private and Public Spaces Collide: Power, Sex and Politics in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

Three weeks after the issue erupted on the national scene like a volcano, Cameroonians are still talking about the “outing” of alleged homosexuals in what the international media has variously described as an anti-gay frenzy, a “Gay witch hunt” or a  “purity” campaign that bears all the hallmarks of 21st century McCarthyism.  Expectedly, gay rights activists around the world are up in arms and have been venting their anger on Internet chat groups, forums and blogs. According to one report, British gay activist Peter Tatchell has called for protests at the Cameroonian embassy in London and demanded that Western governments halt all aid to Cameroon as long as the country remains a haven for homophobia:

Language as a Tool for Exclusion: Reflections on Cameroon’s National Bilingualism Day

By Dibussi Tande

Today is National Bilingualism Day in Cameroon. I didn’t even know that such a day existed until I read about it in the Monday, January 30, 2006 online edition of the Government-owned daily, Cameroon Tribune.

According to an article in the newspaper titled "Bilingualism is still a Challenge”, this day was instituted because,

Bilingualism is enshrined in the Constitution of Cameroon since September 1st, 1961, when English and French were recognised as official languages, with equal status in every sphere of national life. Bilingualism was chosen, not only as an instrument to ensure equity, but also as a pivot of socio-economic integration for the two entities, Francophone and Anglophones, who opted for unification.