Like Cameroon Under Biya: What Future For CATTU After Nkwenti

President Paul Biya came to power in 1982 as the constitutional successor of President Amadou Ahidjo who has ruled Cameroon since independence. At that time, the constitution started clearly that in the absence of the sitting president, the Prime Minister takes over. After a number of constitutional amendments that clause has been removed or modified to mean that in the absence of the President, the House Speaker takes over and runs affairs for some 120 days during which fresh elections shall be organized. The same constitution is very clear on the fact that the transitional president cannot stand for such elections even though within the transitional period he/she can modify or change the government.

The worry afterall is not about the constitution. It has rather been about the future of Cameroon after President Biya as there is no indication that he is preparing anybody to take over after him. The problem with some transitions is never about what the constitution says or not but rather whether a giant and accepted image can emerge to take over from the predecessor and continue where he/she left.

Today in Cameroon, that question can hardly be answered because Biya has not been seen to be preparing anybody. There seem at the same time to be no strong number II. The fear with the future of Cameroon after President Biya is that the country can slide into wrong or a weak leader’s hands. That would not augur well for the nation. That would be a bad sign. The Chinese proverb is very clear on this issue that “one cannot be said to be a success without a successor”. By that, it means that one has to prepare his/her successor before he/she quits the stage. If the future of Cameroon is bleak after Biya, it is more so because within the ruling party, there seem to be nobody that Biya can trust. Even if there are a number of people he can trust, the people themselves do not seem to think that they have the ability to run the affairs of state. In the run up to the 2011 presidential elections, a journalist in Bamenda asked the Rt. Hon Simon Achidi Achu why he was only supporting Biya and not putting in his candidature. Then came the stunning reply: “I am not as experienced as Biya”.

During the same period and this time at a press conference in Yaounde, another journalist sort to know from Communication Minister, Issa Tchiroma why he was not putting in his candidature even though he was national president of a political party. His reply was an embarrassment even to the journalist that asked the question. He invited the journalists in the hall to take a look at him and see whether he looked like presidential material.

So, What Future for CATTU After Simon Nkwenti?

In life there are some things that start like questions without answers and end up like answers without questions. Simon Nkwenti himself, while alive asked this question repeatedly. In one of the elective general assemblies some years ago, he urged fellow trade unionists in the Cameroon Teachers Trace Union, CATTU to be ambitious and aspire to lead CATTU for as he providentially put it, he was getting tired and would in the near future quit power.

That particular election was hotly contested but the contest was more for the Assistant S.G’s post and others than the S.G’s post. Today, per the CATTU constitution, it is clear there is no constitutional void. The assistant secretary general would manage CATTU affairs till fresh elections would be organized after this current mandate would have ended. The question is “what future for CATTU after the sudden demise of Simon Nkwenti. Would CATTU become a moribund institution like others have become after the demise of their founding president. Where Simon Nkwenti is, would he be proud that a vibrant leader has succeeded CATTU? Would the successor’s voice echo and reecho as Nkwenti’s was? Would he live up to expectations, especially with the challenges in the education sector?

Before his demise, CATTU was no longer the only actor on the Anglophone landscape. An epileptic Teachers Association of Cameroon, TAC had been relaunched. Even though it disappeared only months after, he posed a considerable threat to CATTU. It might not have posed as a threat in terms of productivity, but its rowdiness gave the impression that CATTU would no longer say things and go away without a second voice. Would there be someone as strong as Simon Nkwenti to continue fighting for the betterment of teachers’ conditions?

Simon’s Unique Selling Proposition

In marketing communication, there is what is called a product’s unique selling proposition; which means, what makes one product different from another or what would make people prefer one product to another. A vivid example is the fact that all banks perform the same functions, that of banking money. But what makes an individual to choose one bank in favour of another is the extra service the bank can offer. That seems to have been the case with Simon Nkwenti. He had a way with words and all his positions had a feel of urgency in it. His capacity for lobbying and advocacy was so unparalleled many people fear it would be difficult to match after him. So what future for CATTU after Simon? Wait and see.

Operation Epervier’s Segregations: Similar Crimes Different Jurisdictions.

What Compromise On Those Tried & Sentenced In Normal, Special Criminal Courts And Supreme State Audit?

 A phrase purely Cameroonian has come to stay in the psyche of the citizens. This phrase, whose mere mention sends jitters down the spines of people, because of its devastating effect, is what is known as Operation Epervier; roughly translated into the English Language as Operation Sparrow Hawk. Conventional wisdom has it that a hawk is a bird of prey, and that a hawk is clumsy and heavy and depends much on proper cover ups to pounce on its prey, thus guaranteeing its source of food and survival. A sparrow on the contrary is very fast, agile and exceedingly dexterous. Those who coined the word Sparrow Hawk must have had something ominous in their minds to combine the attributes of two birds of prey in one. Thus a Sparrow Hawk should surely be a fast and tricky predator that takes its prey by surprise. This is exactly what is happening with the Operation Epervier in Cameroon where most people who fall prey to the claws of the Sparrow Hawk are taken by surprise on mere suspicion and jailed, before charges are, if ever they are drummed-up to proffer on them.

What Is Operation Epervier?

It is the name given to the anti-corruption drive that was instituted in Cameroon in 2004 through pressure from foreign donors to curb corruption that had propel Cameroon to win the corruption trophy twice uncontested. On inception, Operation Epervier normally is supposed to be a judiciary procedure to judge those found guilty of corruption and embezzlement. It is not supposed to end at picking up people and incarcerating them but speedily trying them and recuperating the funds they are accused of haven siphoned. Unfortunately Operation Epervier is everything but this.  It has become an avenue for political score settling, tribal alienation and why not some ethnic cleansing. Paradoxically, Operation Epervier that was instituted under the government of Thomas Ephraim Inoni in 2004 today has Ephraim Inoni as one of the victims. Has the hunter become the hunted, many are asking. Yet circumstances of Inoni’s arrest and incarceration remain clouded with a lot of unanswered questions and polemic. People think he is a victim of circumstances as he had to be picked up to give the impression that the Operation Epervier was not out to victimize people from a particular region or that only one particular tribe had a penchant for siphoning the public purse.

Operation Epervier’s Segregations: One Weight Two Measures

Today more than 15 former Ministers and three scores of Directors are incarcerated in various cells and prisons for embezzlement of public funds. Some of them have passed through what is described as kangaroo trials and slammed prison terms while some are still in pre-trial detentions awaiting trials. What is making news is that Operation Epervier has apparently diverted from its original target of fighting corruption to fighting particular individuals who at one time showed their penchant for political power. Most of those held in detention are those who were one time tagged as the G11 in Cameroon, or better put those who wanted to contest the 2011 Presidential elections.

According to the universal principles of criminality, everybody is considered innocent until proven guilty. The Operation Epervier has reversed this universal principle and everybody is guilty and has the onus to prove that he/she is innocent. This is why most of the court cases of those arrested for embezzlement are frequently adjourned as the defense lawyers usually attack the cases for lack of substantive justifications of the charges proffered on those incarcerated.

At one time, it was circulated that Operation Epervier targeted only people from a particular region. Voices were raised by others to make sure that all the regions of Cameroon were touched as if to say that the Operation Epervier was out to victimize people and not to clean the system of corruption. And as if to ensure regional balance in the Operation Epervier individuals were surreptitiously picked up from the four cardinal points of the Republic. What make news is how justice is being rendered in the Operation Epervier as the methods used and the selective trials leave room for people to question the raison d’etre of Operation Epervier. Some people have been tried by the normal courts and sentenced. A special Criminal court has been created to try others with the possibility of them reimbursing the sums they are accused of and escaping imprisonment. Yet others are merely invited by the Supreme State Audit and tried in chambers with simple blames and requests for them to pay back what they have embezzled. Why should the same weight have two measures?

Selective Trials And Punishments

Operation Epervier is in its third phase now, yet some people who were arrested in the first phase are still to have a fair trial. Alphonse Siyam Siwé was slammed 30 years for accusations of embezzlement at the Douala Ports Authority in 2007. In 2008 former Minister of the Economy and Finance, Polycarpe Abah Abah and former Public Health Minister, Urbain Olanguena Awono and other collaborators were arrested on charges of embezzlement. Their trials have suffered numerous adjournments. Curiously, Polycarpe Abah Abah was speedily judged for a purported attempted escape from the Kondengui Central prison and slammed six years imprisonment, meanwhile the principal accusations of embezzlement levied on him is pending due to lack of sufficient charges.

According to the spirit of the newly created Special Criminal Tribunal, cases have a maximum of the three months to be trashed. And those found guilty can pay the embezzled amounts and regain their liberty. Marafa Hamidou Yaya and Yves Michel Fotso would be tried in line with the spirit of the new Criminal Court. The question is why should this Special Criminal Court not retry all the cases of embezzlement? This is because those who have been tried by the normal courts have been unduly punished for the same crime while those who will be tried by the Special Criminal Courts have the possibility of going unpunished. What qualifies a case to be tried by the normal courts and the Special Criminal Courts?

Marafa Hamidou Yaya was arrested alongside Ephraim Inoni. Marafa has already appeared in court while Ephraim Inoni has not. What is the cause of these selective trials that give the impression that some people are being favoured in the Operation Epervier? Actually, Yves Michel Fotso, Jerome Mendouga, former Cameroon ambassador to USA and Jean Marie Atangana Mebara were arrested for the same case that has taken Inoni and Marafa to prison. Presently it is only Marafa and Yves Michel Fotso appearing in court and not all those accused of embezzling funds destined for the purchase of the Presidential aircraft. Worst of all some culprits have already been sentenced on the same crime while others are still under judicial inquiries. What will become of the case if those still to be tried point accusing fingers on those already tried and acquitted in the same case?

Some of those who are incarcerated by the operation Epervier and their supporters are aghast with the different jurisdictions that are investigating embezzlement in Cameroon. Before their arrest some of them went through hell in the hands of the Judicial Police that grilled them for long hours, subjecting them to psychological torture. Others were picked up on the least suspicion of embezzlement or mere denunciation by CONAC or Supreme State Auditors and are now languishing in jail without any prove of embezzlement. Yet others that have been found wanting or have been denounced by the press as embezzlers are still parading the streets. Recently the Supreme State Audit made public the names of some people and the amounts they have misappropriated. Contrary to popular expectations, these personalities were merely asked to refund the amounts they embezzled with some little fines. This gives away the impression that any vote holder can embezzle funds, invest these funds and reap profits from these funds and repay them when found wanting. But this is happening when others are wallowing in jail for same economic crimes.

Are some people being protected is the question being asked by many political analysts. The fact that the same economic crime has different punishment has come to confirm the widely circulated notion that Operation Epervier is out to put at a comfortable distance all potential political challengers of the Head of State. This is further justified by the fact that when Titus Edzoa, former Secretary General at the Presidency and Health Minister who doubled as Paul Biya’s personal physician resigned in 1997 to challenge him in that year’s presidential elections, he was immediately arrested and charged for embezzlement. He was slammed 15 years and when he was just two years to the end of his jail term, new accusations were levied against him to make sure that he remained in jail. A close look at those who have been given heavy jail terms reveals that they are those whose names circulated in the media at one time in Cameroon as members of the G11.This is why Titus Edzoa, Atangana Mebara, Abah Abah, Olaguena Owono and others have maintained throughout their incarceration that they are being victimised for their political ambitions and not for embezzlement. Marafa Hamidou Yaya through his open letters has given away the same idea that he is being incarcerated for political reasons as he asked the Head of State not to take another mandate in 2004. Many are those who hold strongly that the Operation Epervier is a mere tool in the hands of the regime to instil discipline and victimize political adversaries and not a judiciary tool to render equitable justice. If not, why the flagrant discrepancy in judging the same crime in different jurisdictions with different sanctions?  

Government’s Marginalization Of Anglophone Press:

A Threat To National Unity

In his yet-to-be-published work: “Cameroon Cultural Myths: A Study in Contemporary Political Parody” Gwain Colbert posits that every nation on earth has its cultural myth. The United States of America strives on the myth of the founding fathers. Since independence and by extension, reunification Cameroon has functioned on the myth of peace and national unity. The book outlines other cultural myths in Cameroon that politicians in contemporary times have parodied in and out of season. They include the myth of Cameroon being a land of promise and glory where milk and honey flows; the myth of peace and national integration; Cameroon being one and indivisible; the myth of Cameroon being Cameroon, and you can name them. Perhaps it is important to know the place such myths play in the life of a nation.

In a New York Times column (March 30, 2003), critical of how President Bush has betrayed the “foundational myth” of the American cowboy, author Susan Faludi offers a succinct description of the role shared stories play in the culture of any country or people. “Mythologies” Faludi suggests, “are essential to defining who we are and, more importantly, who we want to be”. One can hardly imagine a clearer way of explaining the concept we tell stories to bind us to one another, reinterpreting and retelling the tales with each generation so that we eventually accumulate many versions of the same defining narratives. We have attempted to explain a few of the many myths that make up the Cameroonian story. Of course, for Russians the themes often shared focus on the myth of endurance and suffering, not surprising, given the history and geography of that sprawling nation. For other ethnic groups including the Jews and African Americans the defining myths include tales of persecution and Diaspora.

The Cameroonian myths of being one and indivisible and above all, of national unity are particularly important now as the nation braces up to celebrate 50 years of reunification in Buea. This national unity myth, interpreted in numerous ways, since became part of our national consciousness.

In the past, people we brought together in Cameroon on the myth of the country being a “land of promise and glory, where milk and honey flow”. To my mind, part of the greatness of the myth of national unity in Cameroon is that it obliges future generations to fulfill promises its signers or promoters could not meet. Otherwise, why is it that 50 years after reunification Anglophones should still be crying of marginalization and discrimination? In the past, the Anglophone press was used by other segments of the Anglophone population to vent their anger and frustration over express marginalization by the Francophone regime. Today, the Anglophone press has joined the fight, no longer as chroniclers of events but as victims of such blatant maltreatment in the hands of Francophones. The marginalization is visible on all fronts even as just recently a caucus of Anglophone publishers met in Bamenda to single out some key points.

The Facts of the Matter

The decision by Anglophone publishers to come together and stand up for their rights especially against a francophone regime that is insensitive to their cry of marginalization makes them the newest kids on the bloc. Practically all segments of the Anglophone populace had complained at one point or another.

The story about the marginalization of the Anglophone press is glaring. It starts with the very basics of the profession; access to information. Access to information is an uphill task in the English media. In the first instance, all official information comes in French. Anglophone journalists both in the public and private media have to make do with what the French organs have published. Even at CRTV, the state-owned media, critical information only gets to the English desk after the French desk has finished exploiting it. Even when it finally gets to the English desk, it is still in French and the English audience must get use to the distorted and spontaneous version translated on air by the journalists. Anglophone publishers hardly have access to government documents. Government officials treat them as second-hand press. They stress to get what their francophone colleagues take for granted. The worse thing is that francophone decision makers hardly ever know the name of any English language newspaper or media house. Even the minister of communication. Proof of this fact is that when Yaounde officials plan an event in any of the Anglophone regions, they come along with their francophone reporters from Yaounde. While they are treating them to hundreds of thousands of Frs, the local English journalists has to make do with 5000 frs or less from the local organizing committee.

Government Adverts

This is another thorny very thorny and vexing area of conflict. The point being made here is that, it is a truth universally accepted that even the best selling newspaper on earth cannot rely on sales to break even. Think of New York Times, The Economist, News of the World, The Washington Post. Proof is that even the national daily, Cameroon Tribune that is not only enjoying yearly government subvention but has most of its staff paid from the public treasury, and still gets all the official adverts, is always ever desperately scouting for more money from all corners. What more of a private newspaper, talk less of an Anglophone newspaper. The phenomenon in Cameroon today is that practically all the adverts from government and para public corporations got to the French papers. Interestingly, even adverts from English corporations still find their way into the French papers. There is no way this cannot be seen to be the express handiwork of the francophone regime in Yaounde to stifle the Anglophone press. This unfortunate incidence has naturally clipped the wings of critical English newspapers that have today reduced themselves to singing praises on the few wealthy Cameroonians in a desperate move to survive.

The Much-Talked of Government Subvention

It is important to note that if the government came to the conclusion that the private press needed government subvention it was not just because the press assists government in its constitutional role of informing, educating and entertaining the public but more importantly, because it knows that even the highest selling newspaper on earth cannot survive only on sales. After paying for printing, after paying staff, after paying rents and other utilities, an average media house can barely survive. Despite this knowledge and despite this move by government, what obtains in reality is that the francophones in the ministry of communication has decided to turn the exercise into a sharing arrangement among their brothers and sisters. Papers that had not published for the past two years receive the subvention while English newspapers that struggle every week to cater to the interest of Cameroonians are dished out paltry sums. This is even after under-the-table negotiations.

The bitter part of this story is that when during the last presidential elections campaign, the civil cabinet decided to subvent newspapers and audio-visual houses with upwards of 600 million, no English newspaper or media house was deemed fit to receive that money. Come to think of the fact that this was tax payer’s money. Come to think of the fact that some francophone newspapers receive over 20 million each, and see how you will not call that marginalization.

Marginalization: A Threat to National Unity

When this issue of marginalization was brought up the other day in Bamenda somebody joked that it was no longer news. He had as supporting evidence the fact that even in Operation Epervier, Anglophones are still marginalized. To him, the fact that till date very few Anglophones have been arrested means that no Anglophone has ever been close to any juicy management in Cameroon. Marginalization is the root cause of all malcontent in Anglophone Cameroon. To the uninitiated this is difficult to understand. But the fact is that the myth national unity pales down dangerously when not everybody is seen to be sharing from the national cake. All francophone papers can become dailies, not because they have a large market as many erroneously think but because they have access to all the adverts. If government does not immediately redress the situation, our unity, our much-talked of national unity would be seriously threatened.

Back To The Days of Censorship

Satanic Verses

Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains. This is the opening sentence of Jean Jacques Roussou’s famous book: ‘The Social Contract’. The book centres on the fact that the relationship between the person who governs and those bring governed is like a social contract by which those in power have to rule following the wishes of the citizens.

Paul Biya won the applause of Cameroonians soon after he was handed power on a platter of gold by Amadou Ahidjo. It was not just because Cameroonians like all other creatures cherish newness; it was because Biya promised them greater freedom than Ahidjo did. Freedom of speech and of the press is the most cherished forms of freedom recommended by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 1990 Liberty Laws guaranteed Cameroonians this. But despite the liberal nature of these laws censorship was a common practice in Cameroon in the days of multiparty politics. Article 13 of the law on newspaper publication, which Bishop Ateba Joseph of the National Communication council is trying to revive, gave the administration and legal authorities the right to check what the regime in place considered excesses. To do this, newspaper publishers had to deposit their dummies with the administration which okayed them before publication. If the administrative official was not satisfied with the content, especially the front page of the newspaper, he put a cross or wiped off the portions that were unpalatable to him.

The result was that some newspapers appeared with the front pages partially defaced. Blank spaces were also found inside the pages, where supposedly anti-government material had appeared. Not only did Cameroonians, the international community cried foul and the regime was reduced to the necessity of shifting the responsibility of controlling press publications to the law courts.

Criminalization of Libel

To achieve its goal of checking press publications libel was criminalized. Meaning that a publisher would not only page huge sums for libelous or defamatory article(s) found in his newspaper, but also go to jail for at least six months. It was following this law that Late Pius Njawe was always moving in an out of jail. The head office of his newspaper, Le Messager was quite often raided by police and important equipment destroyed or carted away. Paddy Mbawa had to spend a year at the notorious New Bell prison following a complaint from a certain Njie Mandengue Epee. He had to leave Cameroon for safety in neighbouring Nigeria soon after release following information that some people, obviously instigated by top government officials, were preparing lawsuits against him.

Peterkins Manyong, a Bamenda-bases reporter for The Herald newspaper spent four days in detention at what is now known as the central police station. He was arrested along SONAC Street following a complaint from Rex Kodang, Achidi Achu’s legal hangman. Rex Kodang was surely acting on the instructions of Achidi Achu who was angry with The Herald and the reporter for taking up the case of Chiamusoh Emmanuel, his personal video photographer arrested in Yaounde, brought and detained at the Bamenda central prison. Chiamusoh had failed to collaborate in an election rigging plot.

In order to avoid the fate of the above mentioned persons Cameroonian journalists in their vast majority decided to practice self censorship. And rather than the hard stories of previous years, many press organs to play safe and survive, went in for public relations stories. A practice that has continued till date.

Moukoko Mbonjo’s Buffoonery

It is the customs from time immemorial for those in authority to give the impression that they are acting in the public’s interest whereas they are doing so for theirs. Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, a one time Minister of Communication demonstrated this tendency. The minister whose name appeared in the hit parade of top officials engaged in homosexual activities decided to revive the long buried censorship laws. He sent a bill to parliament on this subject and it was being examined when President Biya intervened and withdrew it. The President knew the havoc that the restoration of this obnoxious practice would cause, on his regime. But Biya had contributed to the Minister’s Tomfoolery without really intending it. Reacting to the publication of L’Anecdote and other French language papers on homosexuality, Biya had blamed these papers for invading people’s privacies. The declaration came as a rude shock to Cameroonians who all know that homosexuality has been criminalized by the penal code. Moukoko Mbonjo emboldened by the President’s statement and not only filed a suit against the newspaper which he claimed defamed him. Not contented with that he proceeded with the obnoxious bill just mentioned, to parliament. Its withdrawal was another milestone in the history of the fight for press freedom. Moukoko Mbonjo was not long after sacked as Communication Minister as a deterrent to anybody who many contemplate restoring censorship.

Bishop Ateba, the Communication Johnnie-Just-Come

When he was appointed to head the National Communication Council most Cameroonians, especially members of the press corps saw in him a Daniel come to judgment. They erroneously thought that being a man of God, he would be the light of truth and encourage initiatives that would enhance effective communication, not stifle it. His decision to revive the Pungent Article 13 of the 1990 Liberty Law demonstrates his weakness of will and readiness to lick the boots of those in authority. Obviously to please Issa Tchiroma Bakari, Communication Minister who is in the eye of the storm over the 1995 plane crash affair, Bishop Ateba revived the law which states that all publishers must deposit copies of their publications with the DO or state counsel two hours before circulation. One does not need to be an expert in the art of newspaper circulation in Cameroon to understand that the whole thing is not only unworkable, it is ridiculous. Most newspapers are printed at night or in the evening. The moment the printing is over, the very next thing is to dispatch the papers to their various destinations and they arrive in the morning. The vendors start circulating them immediately. That is about 7a.m. To deposit it with the state counsel means to wait till 8 or even 9am, then wait for two hours before circulation.

The horrible part of it all is the possibility of the state counsel saying the paper is unfit for public consumption because it contains information unsavoury to those in authority. This means that all five thousand copies or more printed would be discarded and the publisher has to begin layout of another newspaper, pay 300.000 again and print a new edition which could again be rejected for the same reason(s) that disqualified the other publication. This is the worst form of censorship ever because it not only prevents the public from getting the information on the newspaper, but throws the publisher completely out of business. That is extremely vicious, it must be emphasized. It were better to say that as was the case in the 90s, the dummy should be deposited at the offices of the DO, SDO or state counsel before publication although that is still a form of censorship.

Censorship as Fetters on the Mind

‘The Unfettered Press’ is a publication every journalist knows or should know. The book does not only focus on the importance of the press functioning freely, but also on the importance of conflict as an indispensable ingredient in journalism. Censorship tries to eliminate or undermine this aspect of conflict. A responsible press should call the government in place to account. The journalist should not become the mouthpiece of the regime in place. In the face of the above role, censorship laws are like fetters on the imagination. Such laws are intended to curb and restrain the freedom of thought in the same manner as bodily movements would be restricted if the ministry of culture were to enact a law stating that all musicians should dance in chains.

It should also be noted that free speech or writing also relives the writer and diffuses tension in the readers. The revolutions that swept away Arab leaders like Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarack and Muammar Gaddafi resulted from the suppression of free speech and writing by these regimes. Biya knew this as soon as he took power and permitted Cameroonians to enjoy liberties which they lacked during the Ahidjo era.  He should not allow overzealous appointees to gag the press. He should know that with the prevailing economic situation in Cameroon, only freedom of expression can prevent an outright rebellion. Sigmund Freud calls the freedom of an individual to air his or her feelings during stress as the ‘Talking Cure’. Let Cameroonians talk. Let them air their grievances through freedom of speech and expression. It is only through this that Biya can avert the kind of revolution that swept Mubarack and others from power. If Marafa has embezzled, let him face justice. The solution is not gagging the press for publishing information about him. Attempts to do so would only make him a hero. What else can he say worse than what he has already said? Biya should not allow his lofty idea of freedom to be thwarted by overzealous appointees and adventurers.

Satanic Verses: Why Loudest Voices Against Marafa; What Became Of Cavaye’s Sentencing Of Iya Mohamed In Parliament?

Hon Cavaye Yeguie

Rt. Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, House Speaker of the Cameroon National Assembly took the rostrum of the Glass house on Tuesday May 5, 2012 to preside over the opening of the second session of parliament for the 2012 legislative year. The House speaker in his opener did not end at citing the activities of members of the Glass house during the inter-session but hurriedly took a greater part of his opening speech to fire serious verbal bullets on those he described as enemies of Cameroon’s economic progress. Hon Cavaye said this category of people were responsible for the demise of Cameroon through corruption and embezzlement of public funds. What was exceptional in Cavaye’s opener was the fact that he spent a greater part of his speech talking about what is currently being referred to in Cameroon media landscape as the “Marafa Affair’, without mentioning the name of Marafa Hamidou Yaya. Although Cavaye called no names, he left nobody in doubt that he was referring to the former Secretary General at the Presidency, former Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Marafa Hamidou Yaya who was arrested on April 16, 2012 and is presently incarcerated in SED. This became more apparent when Cavaye said culprits of embezzlement instead of defending themselves in court have decided to manipulate public opinion which they now hold hostage through the publication of public letters.

However, Hon Cavaye’s diatribe and loud sounding warning about embezzlers did not found total favour amongst all the MPs from the Northern part of Cameroon as many of them shuffled their feet in disapproval each time they sensed the House speaker was talking about Marafa. But these visible signs of disapproval did not stop Hon Cavaye in his attempt to chastise embezzlers of public funds. He said government has taken a giant step in the fight against corruption, adding that the legislature was fully behind the Head of State in his unbending drive towards cleaning Cameroon of the corruption gangrene. Rt. Hon Cavaye called on the people’s representatives to be vigilant and act as precursors to the fight against corruption and embezzlement of public funds.

Hon Cavaye’s loud cry was coming on the heels of a public outcry by the CPDM in national seminars recently organised across the national territory to douse the ‘Marafa affair’ fire that is threatening to consume the CPDM regime. Just as Cavaye received disapproval from a cross-section of MPS from the Northern Region, so were the CPDM delegations dispatched to the three Northern Regions that had a herculean task convincing CPDM militants on the raison d’être of Marafa’s arrest. In Garoua, the fief of Marafa, a fight broke out between pro-Marafas and pro-government and many people sustained injuries.

Many CPDM bulwarks like Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo and Joseph Anderson Le ,have also come out loudly trying to defend President Paul Biya why deriding the open letters written by Marafa from his prison cell. Even the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has been upbeat in quelling the fire lit by Marafa’s letters. He held a press conference with Radio and TV stations cautioning them to refrain from giving more vent to discussions about Marafa. Issa Tchiroma’s apparent censorship came on the heels of serious debates on private radio and TV stations on the open letters of Marafa to the Head of State, debates that were considered by the government as provocative and inciting tribal hatred.

The issue by barons of the regime to defend the Head of State is legendary in Cameroon. When Cameroon was classified as the most corrupt nation, barons of the regime immediately swung into action defending the indefensible. Equally when an international NGO, Catholic Coalition against Poverty and Hunger published a report that accused the Presidential family of having illicit wealth, and accused President Paul Biya of financial extravaganza in the Island Resort of Baule in France, barons of the regime immediately constituted multitudes of defense to clear President Paul Biya who surprisingly remained very mute as he is in the Marafa’s letters. Barons of the regime are again shouting on roof tops to defend the Head of State of the accusations levied on him by Marafa in his open letters. Of what importance and of what consequences are their loudest voices that are inundating air waves and occupying space in newspapers?    

 Hon Cavaye can be considered as a barking dog that does not bite. Thus his entire diatribe on Marafa could not go beyond the distance that the loudspeakers in the National Assembly could echo.  This is because he can only end at making speeches with no follow-up. Under his tenure as House Speaker, the National Assembly has engaged only two parliamentary commissions of inquiries, and only the results of one of these two commissions bore fruits as the Mounchipou Gate was uncovered.

 During the session of June 2011, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril came out very loud and alarmist about SODECOTON. He told the government and MPs that SODECOTON’s production had dropped from 300,000 tons to a meager 114,000 tons and had only 170,000 producers from an initial figure of 370,000 producers. Hon Cavaye went forward to add that SODECOTON’s profit margin had fallen by 30% as the few producers that remained were selling their produce in the black market. The House Speaker said all this was happening because of Iya Mohamed, the Director General of SODECOTON who was inept and was spending most of his time in planes travelling instead of managing SODECOTON that catered for the livelihoods of the population of the three Northern Regions.  Hon Cavaye called on government to rescue SODECOTON by sacking Iya Mohamed from the helm of the structure. He passed judgment on Iya Mohamed and sentenced him in parliament without listening to him. After sentencing Iya Mohamed in the Glass house, everybody thought that the Head of State was going to sack Iya Mohamed the next day. It did not come to pass. Instead the Minister of Agriculture visited SODECOTON and congratulated Iya Mohamed for a tremendous job at the helm of SODECOTON.

Nevertheless, many thought that Iya Mohamed would be sacked during the Board meeting of SODECOTON. It did not still come to pass as the Board meeting of SODECOTON instead congratulated Iya Mohamed and voted another budget for him to control. So of what use is Cavaye’s loud noise about Marafa? Can parliament do anything about the open letters Marafa is writing to the Head of State and how? Why all the loudest noise about Marafa when nothing can stop his letters or force him to cooperate with the judiciary that he is despising? Has Marafa who has served the regime for close to 17 years and was picked up and incarcerated suddenly metamorphosed into an enigma or a cross-word puzzle that the judiciary, legislative and executive are putting all hands on deck to resolve? Time will tell.