(Rejoinder) Gerontocracy: An Indigenous Constitution of Cameroon

A provocative rejoinder to the Gerontocracy in Cameroon debate from Emmanuel Konde (Associate Professor of History Albany State University,(Georgia, USA) 

"Why should the President of Cameroon be expected to relinquish power by election if his counterparts everywhere in the country, including those who preceded his rise to power in 1982 in the various ethnic polities, have not done the same in their fondoms, lamidats, chiefdoms, and villages?” 

It is a truly vexing question, particularly for ambitious young Cameroonians whose access to political power is being delayed by those who were born before them and have controlled the levers of power for a little too long. What’s to be done about this situation is a question, has been a question, and will be a question for much longer than we can imagine.  In the meantime, however, the hazy heads amongst us will find time to castigate gerontocracy by recourse to inconsequential and irrelevant abstract ideas, even as they wait in the wings for their turns.

Far from reproducing abstractions drawn either from the void via the medium of human intellect or from the lived experiences of non-Cameroonians in Europe and elsewhere, I propose to discuss gerontocracy as a living aspect of the indigenous constitutions of Cameroon, since the foundation of every nation’s constitution should be derived from the people’s own historical experience. Approached from this perspective, gerontocracy makes a lot of sense in the context of the existing polities in Cameroon.  All these polities were born of and nurtured in gerontocracy, which is the organizing principle of the composition of who governs and has deep roots in Cameroon’s distant past.

Almost everywhere in the country, whether among the centralized autocracies of the North West, West, North, Adamawa, and Extreme North provinces, or among the segmentary semi-democracies of the South West, Littoral, Centre, South, and East provinces, the same principle of devolution of power applies: old men rule. 

Nowhere in Cameroon do we find a fon, lamido, chief, or village headman removed from power through the ritual of election.  All over the land every fon, lamido, chief and headman who ascends to power rules for life if some vicissitudes of history beyond human control do not intervene to force a displacement.

Gerontocracy, governance by old men, is an integral part of the political constitution of Cameroon.  It would be an extraordinary native Cameroonian who, despite his parroting of some foreign lofty ideas of political change and renewal, would willingly descend from power once raised to the supreme magistracy.  One does not have to look far to identify and isolate this natural tendency among Cameroonians who exercise even a semblance of political power.

Let’s consider the leader of the Cameroon opposition, Mr. John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front (SDF).  Fru Ndi’s slogan during the heyday of Operation Villes Morts was “Power to the People.”  Power to what people?  What did this slogan mean to the man who uttered it?  Whatever it entailed, I can assure you that it meant practically nothing to the man and practically nothing to his followers.  If we consider what has transpired or conspired since 1990, we can fruitfully rephrase the slogan and imbue it with concrete meaning.  “Power to me,” that is, Fru Ndi, and the slogan and the events make sense because power has been actualized in the chairman who, following the political tradition of Cameroon, is SDF leader for life.

Perplexing? Confounding?   Even here, in the SDF, where the chairman has no palpable power or authority to compel people to do as he wishes, no armies, no police, no gendarmes, no state instruments of coercion, John Fru Ndi has been the only chairman of that party since its founding.  Surely, the same can be said of all the political parties that were created since the advent of political pluralism in the early 1990s.

And so I ask: “why should the President of Cameroon be expected to relinquish power by election if his counterparts everywhere in the country, including those who preceded his rise to power in 1982 in the various ethnic polities, have not done the same in their fondoms, lamidats, chiefdoms, and villages?” 
It is with the utmost humility that I question the hypocrites and parasites amongst us, people who would expect the whole to operate in contradiction to its aggregates.  Why should the national government of Cameroon be anything but gerontocratic if the fon and his cabal of old men called kwifon rule their fondom, and the chief and his council of elders consisting of old men rule their chiefdom? 

Political logic is always strange; but stranger is the logic that maintains that what is good for the leader of Kom must of necessity be bad for the leader os Cameroon because Kom is small and Cameroon is big.  The point of contention is not size; it is the maintenance of power by old men, which shines with a blinding brilliance everywhere in Cameroon.  Gerontocracy in Kom is therefore no different from gerontocracy is Cameroon.  In both contexts the beneficiaries are old men.

Comments

[Manyaka]

So what about Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, etc.? Don't they have centralized and semi-democratic traditional institutions? Why has democracy and ther alternation of power been possible in these countries? Dr. Konde's analysis is like the lady who appears to be very beautiful from a distance but who on closer inspection turns out to be very plain.

Gerontocracy's stranglehold on Cameroon has little, if anything at all, to do with our ethnic cultures. It has everything to do with the modern state institutions that we inherited from the colonial masters which were supposed to perpetuate the unfettered dominance of the state and political leaders over the masses.

[tumwijuke]

I'm a first time visitor to this blog and I'm loving it! There is so much to read. I'll offer a more meaningful comment on subsequent visits.

[Wonja]

Hi Pr Konde,

You have made a fatal error in judgement. Can you kindly explain to me why there is no gerontocracy in England, despite the fact that they have a queen who rules for life, very much like your fon of Kom? Why did Tony Blair step down, despite the fact that the queen, about his grand mother, has been ruling even before he was born (I presume)?

There are many other European countries with kings, queens, princesses and princes who rule for life e.g Queen Elizabeth (UK),King Don Juan Carlos (Spain), Prince Albert (Monaco),King Carl Gustav (Sweden).
Why do old men not cling to power in these countries? Why do presidents in these countries step down at the end of their terms of office?

Your theory is based on a false premise, thus rendering your conclusion untrue.

[Charles Pergiel]

Interesting. This is the first time I have heard anyone propose any kind of theory as to why this happpens other than some people just enjoy having absolute power. It happens all over the world, not just in Cameroon. It doesn't happen everywhere, but it does happen in many places. Venezeula and Zimbabwe are two examples.

[Innocent Chia]

Napoleon Bonaparte was not from Kom. Ghadaffi is not from Buea. The Queen of England is not from Cameroon...The point is that absolute power anywhere corrupts absolutely.
But where I will agree with the Pr. Konde is using his article as a reference point from which one can make sense out of senselessness - the inertia, impunity...
What Konde forgot to mention is that the Kwifon has the power to overthrow the King/Fon etc.
The rubber stamp parliament in Cameroon has no such authority. The Supreme Court has also forfeited its authority.
The Army has been silenced by the size of the calf in their mouths.
An only recourse is for the people to revolt. But Cameroonians are without balls.

[DANGO TUMMA]

geron...what ever means less.

NOT UNTILL BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS ACHIEVES ITS LOND OVER DUE INDEPENDENCE.
THEN THEY THE FRENCH CAMEROUNESE WOULD MANAGE AND RUN THEIR COUNTRY, WHAT EVER SYSTEM THEY SAW SEES FIT.

TO THEM WE SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS ARE JUST OUTSIDERS MAKING NOISES. BAD FOR US WHO KNOWS NOT THIS FACT, THAT PAUL BIYA CALLED IT BILINGUALISM,YET HE SPEAKS NO ENGLISH

[Ndoga]

Pastor Crowned Chief

A Pastor, Rev. Dr. Andrew Ekoka Molindo, was Thursday, March 12, crowned the Chief of this village, Mondoli, Limbe in the Southwest Region... Molindo was chosen to take over from his ageing father, Emile Andrew Ekwe, who, though still alive, has VOLUNTARILY OPTED TO HAND OVER TO HIS SON. He is said to be 87 and owing to his age cannot continue to effectively carry on with the discharge of his duties.

http://www.thepostwebedition.com/Content.aspx?ModuleID=1

[Dr A A Agbormbai]

This is a useless article that is based on lopsided principles and on twisted logic... almost bordering on ignorance.

I should perhaps point to the author that the nation follows the leader. Therefore if the leader sets the example the nation will follow.

The leader does not follow the nation.

[Wanaku]

It seems that when it comes to the Chiefs/Fons/Lamidos of the present State of Cameroun, and the power they seem to have (or had), Dr. Konde takes off his academic hat, becomes Mr. Konde and then articulates his points (feelings) like any MOTS (man on the street). In that state, should he be taken seriously?
~w~

[ndaks]

This is simply horrible coming from a historian! The analysis taints this blog.

[Mancho]

Professor Konde,
To equate the state of Cameroon to ethnic entities or villages show's how cut off you are from historical reality. As another historian I believe it is utterly unacceptable that you should think that every village with a hereditary succession is ruled by bigoted old men who consider themselves above the village they are supposed to rule. Why should Biya relinquish power? Because history precedes him. He did not inherit power from his grand father or from another octogenarian. Power was handed over to him when he was still in his “youth” by another “youthful” president. Even in those villages where the old fon and his council of old men wield power, they are still accountable to their subjects. I recall a few years ago a fon in the northwest province was exiled by his subjects and after a few years he returned and in an attempt to retake the fondom was killed by his subjects. The fons and lamidos do not have immunity but oligarchy that rules cameroon has shielded itself in immunity protected by the constitution. "the hypocrites and parasites amongst us" are more in touch with national realities and the history of Cameroon and African chiefdoms than some ignoramuses scholed in the hisotory of the american colonisation.

[Jojo]

No hard feelings to Dr Konde.
It seems he was writing on something else.
I will wait for the proper article.
But to some of those commenting here and comparing Biya, Fru Ndi to Kings and Queens in Europe, I will request then to have a careful look at the roles these monarchs play in their various countries.
At this stage in the development of Cameroon, do we really still need fons, lamidos and chiefs? What are their roles and what benefits do they bring to their people.
If Biya was a monarch and allowed a free hand for the Prime minister to make political decisions, who will then care how long the devil stays in power.
Biya is a dictator and they have never been any good to their people. The bottom line is that he will have a misearable end and his family may either disappear completely or live in permamnet fear of destruction.