Paul Biya: The Man Of Nov. 6

November 6, 1982 remains a memorable day and date in the psyche of many Cameroonians as the day that a new page in the history of Cameroon saw the light of day. It was a historic day. Hopes and fears intermingled. Expectation was fever pitch as President Paul Biya took the reins of power. This man who had known the Cameroon nation and her expectations came along with justified ambitions. His comportment, temperament, style, conviction, thoughts and vision of a nation gave all and sundry reason to sing alleluia for a brighter Cameroon. Paul Biya, the man of Nov. 6 stepped into the driver’s seat, adjusted the seat belt and gently placed his leg on the accelerator to pilot Cameroonians to their destiny.

The take-off was smooth and the ride was pleasurable to all. Safeguards and safety valves were prescribed in rigour and moralization in state affairs. Everything was gliding gently and steadily to a better destination. But the state car suddenly bumped into a rock. It could only be the man of Nov. 6 who could again steer the state car into the road and follow the right course.

The bumpy road to progress

When President Paul Biya took over from his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, he had a roadmap for Cameroon. This roadmap was a product of his convictions and visions about the nation. It was a roadmap of the New Deal government imbued in virtues of rigour and moralization and communal liberalism. But Paul Biya’s efforts met with some violent dissenting winds. The dissenting forces in 1983 that culminated into the coup attempt of April 6, 1984 halted the smooth drive of the state machinery. The sad incident refocused the Man of Nov. 6 who continued in his efforts to modernize Cameroon. And like in Albert Camus book, Le Malentendu, where an impoverish mother and her daughter inadvertently killed their son who came back to take them out of misery, some Cameroonians of evil intentions almost off rooted the seeds of progress planted by President Paul Biya. When President Biya and Cameroonians were just about putting the sad incidence of April 6, 1984 behind them, another disaster hit Cameroon. The lake Nyos disaster of August 21, 1986 came to compound an already bad situation. The economic crises that started rocking Africa since 1974 hit Cameroon in 1985. The sixth five year economic development plan that had to run from 1986 to 1991 had to be halted.

Things became very difficult for Cameroonians who own their part preferred easy lives. The Man of Nov. 6 prescribed agriculture as the panacea. But political and economic inertia had gripped the country. The devaluation of the CFA franc added salt to injury. Civil servant salaries were slashed and structural adjustment program set in. The bumpy road to progress became more complicated, but President Biya tasked Cameroonians not to remain prisoners of their past. Negative tendencies were shunned and the President said the end of the tunnel was imminent.

The refocused vision

Some dysfunction of the state machinery was largely due to the apprenticeship in the democratic process. The Man of Nov. 6 had declared over the airwaves of Radio Monte Carlo that he would be remembered as the man who brought democracy to Cameroon. The wind of change in 1990 did not leave Paul Biya indifferent. He wanted Cameroon to come out of underdevelopment and knew that some aspects of public life were prerequisites for greater achievements. Thus the proscription of the anti people texts of 1962 by law no 90/052 of 19 December 1990 ushered in peace, freedom and liberty. The peaceful cohabitation of religions and political parties came to democratize Cameroon. The protection of minorities aided the unity in diversity that Cameroon enjoys today.

The revised constitution of January 18, 1996 came to set new dispensations for the president. The creation of the constitutional council, the prescription of Regions to replace Provinces and the creation of the Senate to make parliament bicameral were welcomed by all. Thus the Man of Nov. 6 embarked to modernize state institutions. The New Criminal procedure Code CPC of 2005 came to guarantee the liberties of all Cameroonians. The National Elections Observatory, NEO saw the light of day to ensure Cameroonians exercise their civic responsibilities freely.

Great Achievements

Biya’s quarter century reign in Cameroon has witnessed greater achievements in various fabrics of national life. Socially, economically and politically, Cameroon has made great strides under the leadership of President Paul Biya. Politically, the man of Nov. 6 has been able to maintain peace and the unity of Cameroon. The country is politically stable and serves as an Island of peace in turbulent Africa. His acts have guaranteed human rights and civil liberties. There is a national Human Rights Commission to ensure the respects of human rights in Cameroon. Multiparty politics, a prerequisite for democracy is a reality in Cameroon with more than 200 political parties peacefully coexisting. The enacting of law creating NEO and the one creating ELECAM are positive political measure that portrays the political will of President Paul Biya in democratizing Cameroon. Good governance has become the song of the day in the New Deal Government. The National Programme on Good Governance was proposed in 2000 and revised in November 2005. Paul Biya’s open diplomacy has achieved through peaceful resolution of conflicts the preservation of Cameroon’s territorial integrity.

On the economic domain, the man of Nov. 6 has succeeded exceedingly. The privatization of Para public companies that became liabilities to government has been achieved. President Biya’s able leadership permitted Cameroon to reach the HIPIC completion point that has injected a new lease in investments in Cameroon. Foreign investors have been wooed to invest in Cameroon, thus improving on the economic welfare of the state and her citizens. Economic growth has increased and this is noticed in the recent increase in the salaries of civil servants.

Socially, Cameroon has registered enormous progress under the man of Nov. 6. Health infrastructure and personnel has been improved upon. Recently 2500 health personnel were recruited to increase the patient/doctor ratio, thus improving on the health of Cameroonians. Education too has witnessed improvement with so many state universities created and secondary and technical colleges created all over the national territory. Primary education is free while didactic material and classrooms are built by government on daily basis in schools. Culture has improved since the creation of the Ministry of Culture by President Paul Biya in 1988. Sport is another social domain that has sold the image of Cameroon abroad. Cameroon started savouring victories in 1984 when Albert Roger Milla and team mates won the African Nations Cup in Ivory Coast. The spree of victories continued in 1988, 2000 and 2002. And in 1990 Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions made President Paul Biya proud by reaching the quarter finals of the World Cup. The Man of Nov. 6 being the number one sports man has encouraged sports in the country. He always receives athletes and sports men in unity palace as an encouragement to their efforts. This might account for the double success of Francois Mbango in obtaining two gold medals successively.

Action Time

President Paul Biya is a man of action. He does not mince his words and fulfils all his promises. The state machinery may be slow, but it always steadily grinds to its logical end. The man of Nov. 6 promised democracy and it came to pass. He promised NEO and ELECAM and delivered the goals. He promised that Cameroon was going to change and he is true to his words. Inertia has been kicked to an unknown corner. Corruption and embezzlement is being chased with all vigour. Corrupt officials are languishing in jails. He promised state Universities and they saw the light of day. He promised dialysis centres in all the ten regions and they are on course. And to crown it all he promised to move Cameroon into modernity and all the projects are either completed or are on course.

Major projects

To ensure that Cameroon enters the era of modernity, the man of Nov. 6 has embarked on the following major projects: the shipyard project in Limbe and the extension of ALUCAM. In the energy sector great projects are in the Nachtingal for the construction of a dam, the Memve’Ele, Lom-Pangar and the thermal gas station in Kribi. The mining sector equally has major projects like the Minim-Martap bauxite project, the Iron Ore project in Mbalam and the cobalt-Nickel project in Lomie.