Lapiro de Mbanga: "Everybody to Kondengui Prison" (Music Video)

Listen to the lyrics of this song to understand why the Biya regime is determined to silence jailed protest singer Lapiro de Mbanga

In this fiery and no-holds-barred song released last year, Lapiro lashes out against the symbols of decay in today's Cameroon: A regime in power which has turned its back on all the nationalist slogans of the early years; generalized corruption that has effected every stratum of society ; an insolent and arrogant ruling elite brazenly parading symbols of ostentatious consumption (vulgar SUVs out of place on Cameroon's roads, huge castles amidst appalling squalor, some shown in the video);

unfair IMF and World Bank loans which the country is unable to repay (“Not only have we become slaves, we have also mortgaged the future of our yet unborn progeny”); a security apparatus that regularly teams up with gangsters to rob the common man, etc. This is Lapiro at his best as he succinctly diagnoses what ails Cameroon today. "Dis contry no well" (this country is sick) he laments.

To many Lapiro fans, this is a premonitory video because, according to a report by French TV5, it was filmed in the prison in the town of Mbanga where he is currently being held. In fact, some of the cops who make a cameo appearance in the extended version of this video may actually be the ones now assigned to give him his daily "coffee"...

Warning: If you don't understand Lapiro's brand of Camfranglais, then don't bother trying to understand the lyrics...

Comments

[Samira Edi]

Thank you Mola Zri,
Even though like many Cameroonians I hardly understand a word of the lyrics, Lapiro's video pictures are very self-evident. He has aptly conveyed in bold technicolor what he is railing against, in a shockingly captivating manner– a huge mire in which Cameroon, a once prosperous country has finally settled into.

A place where clothed policemen wait in strategic corners to ambush innocent civilians arbitrarily—everything comes across very powerfully in that video. The poverty, the dirt, the disease literally jump out in mind boggling levels to smack one in the face. The country is plagued by the myriad of all that is really horrendous about Africa, without it being at war.

Unfortunately, the video is also ironically a self-fulfilling prophecy. It may seem Lapiro nursed the fantasy of self-immolation which became a reality. The protester is yanked off into the same prison which he is decrying. The conditions of which we have been told you will not send even your worst enemy’s dogs into. What an outrage.

Lapiro should have known better. There is no freedom of speech in Cameroon. He once have dabbled with the regime and abandoned them when he realized his “erreur”—at a time when he was truly a man of the people, he showed support for Biya. But the Biya regime is not the kind that forgets a betrayal, or spares apostates and revisionists.

They harbor ill-will and long-held grudges against people like Lapiro whom they consider as dangerous detractors on the loose, capable of unraveling their corrupt regime, by provoking popular revolt. Lapiro should have known better than to release such an expository video and then remained in that police-controlled country. The dictator’s disciples only have to take a look at him driving his Mercedes in seeming total relaxation to decide to “enmerder” his existence, not only because they are jealous, but because they are that evil.

This is the sort of injustices most Cameroonians have come to know about this increasingly vile Biya regime. Cameroon is notoriously a dark place of hate— where innocent civilians are held captive, their lives ruined by a regime which does not tolerate dissent.

The government of Cameroon has dragged the country back not only economically, but in all levels of human development. There is no law capable of rescuing Lapiro and showing him justice. The Cameroon government does not know the word “Show Mercy” or “Leniency” They will trump up their charges and penalize a completely innocent man in jail to languish for a long time. As long as he is forgotten by the wider community, his goose seems completely cooked!

One day, God will smile on Cameroon and Biya will be no more. As macabre as that thought may appear, it represents a light for a country going through a long begrimed tunnel. What a tragedy.

[Norbert Nju]

Samira,

"Lapiro should have known better?" This is exactly the kind of cop-out that has made Cameroonians a very helpless bunch. When someone stands up on the basis of principle, instead of rallying around him or her, we take cover and say they should have known better. No wonder Biya rammed a constitutional amendment down our throats without any response from 16 million Cameroonians. God Save Cameroon... from its citizens!!!!

[Akume]

I thinks you are very stupid Norbert or what ever you call yourself. For your information, I lost a teenage brother, shot execution style while on the street to demonstrate against the constitution. So please you should mind your words when you talk about cameroonians taking cover. Can you tell this audience what you did or have done, to stop biyas madness?
If you don't have anything to contribute you better shut up bastard!

[Lapiro-Ndinga Man]

LAPIRO DE MBANGA , « Constitution constipée ».

« Libérez Big Katika, libérez Répé Ndoss,
Le pater est fatigué oooo, foutez-lui la paix
Libérez Big Katika, LIBEREZ REPE NDOS
Le pacho est daya ooo, foutez lui la paix

2011, Cameroon must change !

Libérez Big Katika, libérez Répé Ndoss,
Le pater est fatigué oooo, foutez-lui la paix
Libérez Big Katika, LIBEREZ REPE NDOS
Le pacho est daya OOO, foutez lui la paix

Big Katika don tired ooo,
He don tired,
Répé don slack ooo( ?),
He don fatigué
Wou na lep he, he rest,
He wan go rest

Big Katika don tired,
He don tired
Répé don been cass,
He don fatigué !
Wou na lep he, he rest,
he want go rest.

Libérez Big Katika, libérez Répé Ndoss,
Le pater est fatigué ooo
Foutez lui la paix…
Libérez Big Katika, Libérez Répé Ndoss,
Le Pacho est dayed, ooo, foutez lui la Paix…

Seigneur Jésus, appelle ton frère, le Prophète Mohamed.
Au secours, venez-nous délivrer, l’heure est grave.
Les bandits en col blanc veulent braquer la constitution de mon pays.
Les fossoyeurs de la République veulent mettre le Lion en cage,
Les poussins veulent échapper aux serres de l’épervier ;
Le coq est harcelé et menacé d’une tentative de hold up.
En vérité, en vérité, je vous le dis, ils veulent tcha Pablo en otage

Libérez Big Katika, libérez Répé Ndoss,
Le pater est fatigué oooo, foutez-lui la paix
Libérez Big Katika, libérez répé ndos,
Le pacho est daya ooo, foutez lui la paix…

C’est quoi l’urgence et pourquoi cet acharnement farouche à modifier absolument l’Article 6 alinéa 2 d’une constitution dont la mise en application graduelle n’a jamais été amorcée ?
10 années sont passées, le Sénat et les Régions sont toujours attendues…
10 années sont passées le peuple attend toujours la déclaration des biens des individus appelés à gérer les fonds publics ; ce qui en cette période de lutte contre la corruption endémique est une priorité !
10 années sont passées, le peuple attend toujours d’avoir une structure indépendante pour gérer les élections libres et transparentes afin que la grande majorité des citoyens aient le droit de voter ;
Ca, les marathoniens de la mangeoire n’y trouvent aucun intérêt ; sauf celui d’éliminer la limitation du mandat présidentiel de la Constitution.
Aux Etats Unis d’Amérique, en France, en Union Soviétique et dans les vraies démocraties, les mandats présidentiels sont limités ; au Cameroun, pays de mes ancêtres, berceau de la démocratie avancée, apaisée, des fraudes électorales et paradis de la corruption, ON S’EN FOUT.
APRES TOUT, LE CAMEROUN C’EST LE CAMEROUN…

Constitution à gauche,
Constitution à droite,
Révision en haut, révision en bas
Motion de soutien par-ci, contre motion par là
Marche de soutien le jour, contre marche la nuit. »
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LAPIRO- NDINGA MAN.
http://www.kwalai.com/index.php?option=com_musicbox&task=view&Itemid=164&catid=114&id=23