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.

Today, as Cameroonians ponder over the social, legal and ethical dimensions of the publication of the names of alleged “homosexuals of the Republic” and “billionaire civil servants”, it is necessary to take a closer look at the role and place of political rumor in Cameroon. Why does it have such a powerful force in the country? Why are Cameroonians so readily inclined to believe rumors about those in high places – or to propagate them even when they are not certain about their veracity?

I will try to respond to these questions by drawing from a chapter in Francis Nyamnjoh’s groundbreaking publication on the media in Cameroon titled "Africa's Media, Democracy and the Politics of Belonging" – a must-read for anyone interested in the interplay between the media (private and public), the public and the political elite in Africa.

In a chapter titled “Creative appropriation of ICTs, rumour, press cartoons and politics” (pp. 204-230), Nyamnjoh states that in Cameroon, rumor is “is arguably the most popular source of information both for the private press and for the information-starved public". He argues that rumor has become an ubiquitous and legitimate source of information because of "the rigid control of information and communication by the power elite":

Thus rumour, far from being something essentially negative and false – to be rejected as unaccountable and unconfirmed and not to be romanticised, is like the voice of the voiceless seeking to challenge passivity and the oppressive discourses of officialdom. Rumour, Bourgault observes, ‘is underground news, an alternative to the official press, which is tedious, censored, uninformative, and often unintelligible’, and as such, is a ‘free and uncontrolled “medium”’, to which ‘everyone is a potential contributor’.

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Tags: Book review Cameroon Africa

Comments

[manga che]

I have had the opportunity to read Nyamnjoh's book on the media in Africa in general and Cameroon in particular. I unequivocally recommend it to anyone who has even a casual interest on how the media has alternatively served as a promoter of democracy and a bulwark to that same democracy in Cameroon; how it has served as a tool for developing national consciouness while promoting narrow ethnic interests; how CRTV failed during the Mendo ze era to serve public interest and how it foiled all attempts by anglophone journalists in the early 1990s to make it a fairly objective watchdog of Cameroonian society.

Of course, there is much more with this book such as the concept of "ethnic citizenship" in Africa; a concept which I found quite intriguing but apt in the African context.

"Africa's media", unlike similar publications, is written in a simple and direct language without all the distracting academic jargon. All in all, it was 30 dollars well spent on www.amazon.com

Manga

[ngum]

Cameroon Tribune for example, is a bland Pravda screed. Then there is rumor. Then there is rumor-in-print, like some of those "newpapers" peddling outings for profit. Then there are le Messager and The Post, that are bringing alternatives to mere rumor and pravda and presidential decrees. The funniest event in Cameroun for an observer is a cabinet reshufflement. The bossman choses the same reptiles from the same fetid pool. After letting them luxuriate awhile, he picks them once a gain. People speculate about new entrants, lucky enough to swim with the crocodiles. They also wonder why the boss bugger man has put so and so to pasture, and the speculation goes on. It is a power move, a mystery prerogative of el presidente.

[Edmund Njoh]

One never knows,
It should be noted that state Medias particularly CRTV is a party media and will always do the best to protect the head of state.Political Rumor in 2004 were alergly sprauted from International Media in Switzerland.
It was recently also alleged by a French based Catholic NGO of Biyas Wealth and investments at home and adroad and included was his son......
It may hav occured that 2004 was "Lazarus".
And 2009...........................