When one thinks of any ENAM
product the first idea that comes to mind is repression and suppression. If the
product is from the customs department a businessman or woman, especially those
dealing with import/export thinks first cut throat custom duties, brutal
seizure of goods and some other forms of trauma and psychological torture
associated with such ways of life. If it is about a taxation official, the
first idea that comes to mind is harassment and exorbitant taxes. This one is
so visible that no businessman in Cameroon would want to have
anything doing with a tax official. Through these unscrupulous tax officers,
government has over the years tax many Cameroonians out of business. This would
not have been a problem if the taxes went anyway closer to the central
treasury. The evil thing about tax officials is that they prefer to land the
businessman heavy taxes so he/she can resort to underground negotiation
methods. The bribes they receive end up in their bank accounts and they buy
flashy cars and fly our streets.
Then enters the
civil administrator, the famous landlord or ‘Chef Terre’. This category of ENAM
graduates is all visible, all knowing and all-present. They are found in every
ring of public life. Since Cameroon
independence and the replacement of colonial administrators by civil
administrators, an average Cameroonian has appreciated civil administrators
differently. Before the liberty laws in 1990 and before the reintroduction of
multiparty democracy in Cameroon,
civil administrators have virtually controlled every aspect of life in the sub
divisions, divisions and provinces. They controlled the social, the cultural,
the economic, and the political. They had to give a vignette of approval for every
event to take place, public or private. They were the ones that ordered the tax
drive. They ordered arrests and administrative detentions. They decided what
amount of freedom a community should have. Individual freedom is the preserve
of the civil administrator. With the introduction of liberty laws and a strong
civil society, civil administrators have had the challenge of readjusting to
the new landscape. Most of them have continued to resist change and to claim
that as personal representatives of the Head of State, civil administrators
were above the new laws. Some have continued to ignore all constitutional
provisions that guarantee more rights and freedoms to the individual citizens.
It is still commonplace to hear that a civil administrator violated an
individual’s life and even ordered for his/her detention for upwards of 15 days
renewable. Another category continues to rule by arêtes and orders, as if we
were in the pre-1990 era. They use the pretext of “maintaining law and order”
to harass and intimidate the citizens when modern administration demands
dialogue and constant concertation.
President Paul
Biya’s New Deal policy of bringing the administration closer to the people did
not mean that civil administrators should operate like CIA agents policing
every individual’s moves, prying into people’s affairs. It meant that civil
administrators should change from operating like the village school headmaster
to become facilitators of development every where they are assigned to work.
The Real Administrator
As stated earlier, a real
administrator is one who is a facilitator of development in his assigned
constituency. He is moderator and above all, a resource person to all
development initiatives of the community. He is a link between the government
and the governed. He is the custodian of laid-down norms of society. He is a
reference, mentor and leader. He is a lover of people, not a “juju”. He is the
first to be consulted and the last to be confrontational. Given the stress and
the challenges that individuals and communities face in their daily struggles
to make ends meet, civil administrators at least, the ones worth the salt, are
supposed to be level-headed and with a high sense of good judgment. These are
the character traits that immediately come to mind when one thinks of the new Governor
of the North West Region.
Governor Lele Lafrique: An Epitome of Level-Headedness
March 23 to today July 23 marks
Governor Lele Lafrique 120 days at the helm of leadership in the North West region. The
120 days have been marked by a certain quietude and serenity that no other
Governor before him has enjoyed. Despite the tension created by former governor
Abakar Ahamat few months before he was transferred, Governor Lele Lafrique has navigated
through such waters without any major incident. Working against the background
of his understanding that force is the weapon of the weak while dialogue and
concertation is that of the strong, new North West Governor, Lele Lafrique has
used his first 120 days to understand the Bamenda man. As a new administrator
with a new mission and vision for the people of the North West, Governor Lele Lafrique has taken
up time to tour all the seven divisions and some key sub divisions. During the
tour, he took time off to listen to all and sundry and to dish out some pieces
of advice where necessary.
At each lap of
the visit, he pledged his total collaboration and availability to the people of
the North West.
He stressed the need for peace and unity and reminded all that there can be no
development without peace.
The
level-headed governor never minced words when it came to addressing ills that
are plaguing the North West.
He advised communities to desist from resorting to violence each time there is
a boundary problem. As a typical grassfielder, he wondered why communities that
have lived together for centuries suddenly turn round and start fighting and
killing each other over a small parcel of land. The governor stressed that if
someone has grown up in a community; he or she must know the boundary between
that village and another and should not expect a civil administrator to show
him the boundary. He however cautioned them that since all land belongs to the
state, all land disputes be referred to the land consultative board. The
soft-spoken civil administrator was keen to notice that most of the conflicts
in the region were generated by elites who unfortunately preach peace during
the day and violence and revenge during the night. He promised to work with all
stakeholders in the region to see to it that intertribal wars are a thing of
the past. The Governor’s level-headedness was demonstrated in triumphant detail
when it came to working sessions and audiences. He received all and sundry,
provided answers to all questions and all worries. As he ended up in Bamenda,
he advised the population, especially a group of vagabonds that move round with
a certain A.C Risky in the name of civil society to desist from creating
conflict where there is none, and to seek the consent of the administration
when they have any crisis. He also took time off to talk to motorcycle riders
or “benskins” who do not seem to respect any laid-down rule. He advised them to
be duty-conscious and to respect the prime minister’s text regulating the
sector.
As a
level-headed administrator, he has not been as highhanded as Abakar Ahamat. For
his 120 days as Governor of the North
West, he has attended public occasions where prayers
have been said. He has not asked that no prayers be said at events that he
presides. On the contrary, he has preferred to let sleeping dogs to lie. Unlike
Abakar who suspended CAMCCUL meetings, Lele Lafrique has preferred to wait for Yaounde authorities. He
even went ahead to authorize the holding of a CAMCCUL General Assembly Meeting recently
at Azam Hotel where far-reaching resolutions were taken.
Lele Lafrique: An Unassuming Governor
Governors have come and gone in
the North West.
But no governor appears to be as simple and as easygoing as the new governor.
No sooner did he arrive Bamenda on March 22, 2012 than news went round town
that immediately the man checked into Ayaba Hotel, he soon disguised and hired
a benskin to take him round town so he can see for himself how Bamenda
vibrates. He was reported to have gone into the streets without any escort.
Unlike his predecessors Governor Lele Lafrique is so unassuming and so simple
that the post of Governor does not make his head big. He does not seem to like
a lot of protocol and reason why when somebody gets to his office, he or she is
received without any question as to class or position. For his unassuming
nature, we say kudos and keep on keeping on, Governor Lele Lafrique.
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