Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

How Ahmadou Ahidjo Under-Developed Northern Cameroon

By Jing Thomas

A sophisticated and scholarly people, with a longstanding history of trade, politics, learning and animal husbandry, was lulled to sleep with the narcotics of "balanced development" and its dangerous by-product of favoritism.

Balanced development is not a new concept. In the context of post-colonial Africa, with its fragile ethnic patchworks that pass for nations and a development landscape disfigured by history and culture, the concept seems all the more imperative and provides a perfect recipe for social justice and political stability. After all, is there any greater claim to true development than one that is collective? And did all parts of any country see the light the same day?

In a multi-ethnic nation, while the benefits of development enjoyed by each tribal or regional component may not necessarily be commensurate with its contribution, a minimum sense of fairness demands that everyone should be seen to be making maximum effort, at least to justify entitlement to such benefits. The same sense requires that any development experiment should be based on strict and morally sound rules and devoid of double standards and opportunism. Here, Ahidjo's efforts at uniting around the notion of balanced development start to develop warts.

Regional Balance, Educational Quotas and (Under)development in Northern Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

The year 2008 ended in Cameroon with a major controversy over competitive examinations into the Teachers’ Training College (ENS) of the newly-created University of Maroua in the Far North Province. It is alleged that prior to the launching of the competitive exams, the Head of State personally guaranteed the elite of the Grand Nord that 60% of registered candidates from the three Northern provinces (Adamaoua North and Far North provinces) would be admitted into ENS Maroua.

University of Buea: What is the Cost of Quality Education?

Dibussi Tande

Students attending state-owned universities in Cameroon do not pay tuition. Instead they pay an annual registration fee of 50,000 FCFA [98 US Dollars]. This fee was instituted in the wake of the 1993 university reforms which decentralized the University of Yaounde (then the country's lone university) and created five new universities across the country.

Deconstructing Regional Balance and Higher Education in Cameroon

Dibussi Tande

Should admissions into state-owned universities be based solely on merit or should “sociological balance” be taken into account?

At the root of the deadly crisis that engulfed the University of Buea in November / December 2006 were deep-seated disagreements over the application of the principle of “regional balance”, Cameroon’s attempt at affirmative action. The crisis began when Prof. Fame Ndongo, the Minister of Higher Education invalidated the list of successful candidates eligible to participate in the oral part of the entrance examination into the Faculty of Medicine which had been published by that university’s Vice Chancellor.

Higher Education in Cameroon: When Chickens Come to Roost

It was an apparently innocuous article tucked deep inside a recent issue of Cameroon Tribune, but its content was yet another message of despair from Cameroon. According to the article,

"Out of some 10,000 candidates who sat for the competitive entrance examination into the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance, recently launched for holders of First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC), over 4,000 were university graduates."