LE SPECTRE DE VIE QUI NOUS HANTE ---- PAUL BIYA:

Posez cette question aux tous les Camerounais avec une profonde perception du monde: Qui est le chef d'état le plus malhonnête et illusoire en Afrique? La réponse de la majorité absolue serait évidente. Notre locataire dans le Palais de l'Unité est le chef de l'Etat.

Le deuxième président du Cameroun est un mauvais chef de l'Etat. Sa gouvernance a détruit la plupart des fondations des manier de vie et des valeurs progressistes  de notre peuple. Sans principes, sans scrupules et sans vision, il était insaisissable suffisamment durant ses premières années de leadership en convainquant de nombreux à le considérer comme un leader brillant. Oui, il s'est fait brillant et attrayant pour les gens, même en dépit de ses véritables convictions.

Le second président Camerounais, est un démagogue qui harangua à propos son New Deal de rigueur et de moralisation, quand il jamais eu l'intention de travailler pour l'intérêt de tous les Camerounais. Il est arrivé au pouvoir dans le seul but de défendre les intérêts de son patron (la mafia dans l'establishment français qui dirige la politique africaine de la France), pour améliorer le bien-être matériel et la position sociale de sa clique d'hommes d'affaires sans scrupules, politiciens, fonctionnaires et surtout le groupe ethnique de sa naissance.

Le deuxième président Camerounais est déshonorant, et il est un homme sans convictions. Il a commencé ses manifestations politiques comme un nationaliste Camerounais d'orientation socialiste, sous la bannière de l'Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), mais bientôt sans hésitation jeté son vêtement nationalistes pour les postes de haute offerts aux renégats de la lutte Camerounais par le régime  Anglophobe de Ahmadou Ahidjo et ses maîtres. Ayant allumé sa fidélité à la gloire de la puissance nue dans le régime français soutenu par supervisant le génocide des forces syndicales nationalistes au Cameroun, Paul Biya a rapidement gagné le cœur de son patron pour devenir Premier ministre en 1972 et plus tard président en 1982. Après cela, il a versé tous les aspects de ses liens avec le nationalisme Camerounais et est devenue une fervente francophile et manipulateur des anglophones. Aujourd'hui, il est clair aux yeux de tous que Paul Biya se présente comme le chef des forces renégats qui peuvent éventuellement tuer le nationalisme Camerounais et mener la nation vers l'abîme, en niant le pays de réaliser son rêve séculaire de l'unité, l'indépendance, la prospérité et opportunités ouvertes.

Paul Biya est sans but, sans visage et paranoïaque. Ses longues années de pouvoir et de la vacuité de son règne ont été masqués par la mafia Françafrique et ses collaborateurs Camerounais. Durant ses premières années comme chef de l'Etat, Paul Biya a parlé de rigueur dans la mise en œuvre de l'éthique de travail progressif, des règles, des lois, la liberté, les droits de l'homme et des réformes économiques; quand il n'a jamais voulu le moindre changement dans le système corrompu qui la France a imposé et que il a hérité de son prédécesseur. Biya n'a jamais eu la moindre intention de changer le cours de la dictature, la corruption, la kleptomanie et de division qui était la règle du système et les attributs du pouvoir et des richesses qu'il offrait. Une décennie après son prononcé de la rigueur, le Cameroun qui avait le deuxième plus fort taux de croissance économique dans le monde après la Corée du Sud en 1986 (même s'il a été à la traîne de ses potentialités vrai à l'époque), est aujourd'hui, avec le moins d'économie prometteuse en Afrique.

La rhétorique de moralisation  de Biya est un abus inacceptables pour l'humanité. Même s'il a promis de rendre son règne une morale où la gouvernance serait basé sur un programme pour améliorer la bonne conduite des affaires publiques, sociales, économiques et politiques, il est revenu en présidant la pire dégénérescence d'un pays africain qui n'est  pas ravagé par la guerre.

Malheureusement pour les Camerounais, Paul Biya est un de ces produits regrettables de la nature avec un force de caractère qui est une négation de ce qu'on appelle un bon leadership. Il ne le dérange pas du tout que ses actions quasiment mauvais et son règne a réduit les Camerounais en un peuple miséreux, érodé leur sens du but, divisés dans leurs rangs, leur rendu dans les poignées de découragement, dénigré leur influence dans la politique nationale et internationale, et a encouragé la corruption à la forme d'un art, et surtout, il convient à son proposons qu'il a enveloppé le Cameroun en l'embrayage et les caprices de la France.

De origines paysannes, Biya a appris, mais à tort assimilé les valeurs aristocratiques. Le triste résultat de cela est son mépris injustifiés des masses d'où il avait ses origines. Comme un homme de savoir élevé, c'est regrettable que, malgré ses longues années de service dans le système, il possède encore tous les traits d'un pseudo-intellectuel et un pédant. Et elle est due à la conscience de sa faiblesse intellectuelle qu'il a développé un complexe d’infériorité masquée. C'est pourquoi il rejette, snobe et se dérobe à partir des bonnes idées de ses supérieurs intellectuels.

Le Cameroun est le seul pays en Afrique où ses combattants de la libération et les nationalistes n'ont jamais été autorisés à la tête du pouvoir. Elle est la première nation en Afrique où la France s'est profondément impliqué dans la collaboration avec Ahidjo, dans le génocide de ceux qui ont résisté de son mensonge (près d'un million de morts dans la guerre 1956-1970 contre l'UPC). Le Cameroun est le seul pays en Afrique, qui a été le plus cruellement violée dans nos temps modernes par la France. Même si les Camerounais sont l'une des personnes les plus dynamiques du continent, ils n'ont jamais été libre d'exploiter leur potentiel et de construire leur pays dans la grande nation qu'il mérite vraiment. Au lieu de cela, les Camerounais ont été abaissés par un complot ourdi au cours des années de contrôle de Jacques Foccart, le dirigent  de la politique française sur l'Afrique, une conspiration qui a effectivement utilisé les collaborateurs Camerounais, Paul Biya, en particulier.

Ca ne dérange pas le deuxième président Camerounais que le peuple Camerounais sont suffocant dans sa servitude. Il a perdu le contact avec les masses Camerounaises, la réalité Camerounaise et la vie dans ses différentes formes. Cependant, contrairement à son homologue psychopathe, l'empereur romain Néron, il a maîtrisé un art---l'art de garder le pouvoir, malgré l'opposition des masses. Et comme la plupart des mégalomanes et des expérimentateurs, il continuerait à expérimenter sa théorie de la rétention de pouvoir, en dépit de son impopularité. Il  ne s'inquiète pas que le peuple Camerounais sont traînés vers l'abîme dans le processus.

Biya effectue sa théorie de la rétention de pouvoir sur nous, une expérience qui va certainement détruire le meilleur de nos forces créatrices, si nous lui laisser persister. Par ailleurs, en continuant pour rester au pouvoir, il détruit la foi que nous avons dans notre rêve et le pire reste la mère de progrès, qui est l'espoir. Le triste résultat de la catastrophe de la règle Biya serait la mort du Cameroun. Pour l'esprit rationnel, c'est inacceptable.

Peut-être pour un peu plus longtemps, le spectre de vie qui représente le deuxième président Camerounais va continuer à hanter le peuple; traîtresse dans ses voies, impitoyable dans ses méthodes et nonchalant dans ses vues. C'est notre tâche inévitable, si ce n'est que pour le bien de nos enfants, que nous nous levons; reprendre notre dignité, espoir et l'avenir de lui et de ses mécènes. Puis en suivant le cours naturel de l'histoire, nous limiterons lui et son héritage à la poubelle de l'histoire.

28 février 1995



Janvier Tchouteu

                                                                                      

DREAMS WE SHAREd: Part One

        Introduction

I am a child of the Dark Continent. I am a child of a land where you will find the most genuine happiness and the most genuine suffering. I am a child of a land whose soul is in conflict. I am a child of Africa.

Africa is a continent caught between child-like innocence and evil disposition. Africa’s child-like innocence is what gives the continent its beauty, its hospitality, its incredible retention of hope and the richness of its soul. It is what makes the cradle of civilization so human despite its horrific past. Even though the continent is the most afflicted in the history of humanity, it never despairs. That is the side of Africa I love. That is the side of Africa that should be nurtured. That is the Africa for the future.

Even as we hope and weep for that human side of Africa, we can not close our eyes to its evil disposition. Africa is still a haunted continent; haunted by the legacies of misrule, wars, slavery, imperialism, colonialism, cold war, neo-imperialism, racism, genocide and ethno-centrism. It is the different mix of those negative legacies that is haunting the continent today and that is preventing it from shaking off its underdevelopment to become an integral part of the global economy and the democratic world civilization. Why is Africa’s evil disposition dominant? Outsiders to Africa may think the answer lies with the African people, that the African people have an innate inferiority complex. Even some Africans intellectuals also blame the African people for the plight of the continent.

The liberation generation  that was against  colonialism rejected  that notion of an innate inferiority complex in the African and convinced the world in the 1950s and 1960s that Africa was  a place of optimism, the coming continent of the second half of the twentieth century and the torch of the new millennium. After all Asia was a basket case at the time; plague by famine, wars, religious strife, repression and oppression. And Latin America was gripped by dictatorships, and gross social and economic inequalities. 

I have been trying to understand how Africa and my country in particular derailed from the noble vision on which the quest for independence was founded; to the suffering, poverty and violence that has made life more miserable for its people? It is difficult to understand why in the 1990s, most of Africa failed to change while the rest of the world took advantage of the end of the cold war. The collapse of the Berlin Wall; Mandela’s release following  close to three decades of imprisonment and the end of Apartheid; the demise of the Soviet Union; the collapse of radical war communism (Stalinism) as an economic and political system; the signing of  the Oslo peace accords that heralded peace between Israel and the Arab states in the Middle East; and the rise of new regional economic organizations and the strengthening of old ones, brought peace, prosperity , freedom, liberty and democracy to other parts of the world but failed to do so in Africa.

Historians claimed that the 1990s heralded the end of history as we had known it over the centuries, and predicted a new world order where liberal democracy and free markets   would regulate relations between nations and people. And since democratic societies do not go to war against one another and are insusceptible to internal conflict, the optimists believed that the destinies of peoples and continents that embraced liberal democracy and the free market would become intertwined.

 I too do not believe in the innate inferiority complex of the African. I believe in the noble visions of the fathers of African liberation. I believe in Africa’s child-like innocence whose advanced humanism could produce heroes like Martin Paul Samba (Mebenga Mebono) Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Nkwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba. That is why I grew up haunted by these questions about Africa and the country of my birth:

·         Why is there so much poverty?

·         Why has the continent remained so underdeveloped while the rest of the world is moving forward?

·         Why is Africa not using its immense natural resources to become developed?

·         What ideas, form of organization and degree of cooperation does the continent need in order to develop?

·         Why has the continent failed to be a part of the globalization and democratization trend that unleashed the developmental and progressive forces that leaped other less developed parts of the world like Asia and Latin America?

To understand the African problem, one has to get into the African soul. And to get into the African soul, one has to get through one of the doors into Africa. What are the doors? That’s the simple questioned I was asked decades ago. Simply, the doors are the African states.

The fact that I was born to a state that is at the centre of the African soul is a privilege I shall cherish until my last days. Kamerun, Cameroon or Cameroun is an embodiment of Africa, its complexity, its hopes, its dreams and its sufferings. Called Africa in miniature, the country too is haunted by the legacies of misrule, wars, slavery, imperialism, colonialism, cold war, neo-imperialism, racism, genocide and ethno-centrism, just like the rest of Africa as a whole. Through my involvement in the struggle to effect change in Cameroon, I came to terms with the Cameroonian and African malady.

Africa is trapped in poverty, underdevelopment, division, conflicts, tyranny; and lack of liberty, freedom and democracy because it has been hijacked by the minority with the evil disposition. These retarding African elements are backed by elements in powerful foreign nations who also have the evil disposition over Africa. Any effort to shake Cameroon and Africa out of the malady would require dismantling that system that protects the interest of those with the evil disposition; it would involve replacing the system   with one guarantees the empowerment of the majority of the people, who without an iota of doubt posses the enthusiasm and commitment to develop the land and make freedom, liberty and democracy a reality.

Over the past five decades, Cameroon, like the rest of Africa has been caught in a power game by a world where those who call the shots are not those who love the continent; but are instead those who need it. The power brokers who control the retrogressive African States have set aside packs of rules for these states that are solely meant to defend their interests and not to promote progressive values. Those policies have been successful because collaborators were found amongst those Africans dominated by its evil disposition. Unfortunately for Cameroon and Africa, most of the African states have been hijacked by the alliance between  Africans with the evil disposition and external power brokers who do not share the continent’s interest and  have no empathy  for the plight of  Africa’ majority- those with the child-like innocence  and faith in the future of the continent.

By identifying with the silent majority who are blessed with Africa’s child-like innocence, I am trying through this book to portray their efforts to shrug off the negative legacies of their history, and build a new, prosperous, free and liberal Cameroon and Africa.  By finding an answer to   Cameroon’s problems, one finds most of the answers to Africa’s problems. This book is a miniature portrayal of Africa’s struggle to embrace its diversity while harnessing progressive values that binds its people together. The book is also a rejection of the rule of those with the evil disposition who justify cruelty and mass deprivation as a means to retain power against the interest of the majority of their people.

 The price has been high for steadfast and dedicated advocates of change who made the effort to understand the desperation, hopes and dreams of the powerless with the child-like innocence.

I made it a point of  piercing the thinking, motivations and  limits of  the powerful with the evil disposition; who are determined to maintain power, influence, control  and wealth;  even as they drag the land and its people into abyss in the process.

It is easy to empathize with the despondent section of the majority with the child-like innocence whose lines are hardening and who are retreating into religious, regional, ethnic and tribal niches; and in so doing are losing faith over the revival of their countries and Africa as a whole.

I have a great deal of  compassion for the hopeful majority and powerless  who have  the rich African soul  and  who though in political lethargy are waiting for a new direction, effective organization and committed leadership that can lead them to develop the land and realize liberty, freedom and democracy.

Nevertheless, it is easy to relate to the dedicated minority with the child-like innocence that share the noble visions for the land and committed themselves to realizing the new dawn. Though victimized, estranged and suffering because of their unwavering commitment to the struggle to realize a new dawn for their people, these “NEW AFRICANS” are prepared to pay any price to realize change. I understand them because I too got involved in the struggle with a virginal mind only to discover that what many know as the problem of our land is only the tip of the iceberg of our problems. The custodians of the system and those who benefit from it will never let go of power so easily. By challenging this retarding  group  in a do-or die struggle, we are opening a  broader public debate, which will not only  change our lives and the lives of our children for many years to come; but will also change world political thinking and the way Africa, its problems and its future are viewed.

The broader vision for Africa is a topic for another book. For now, I shall look at our problem from a limited perspective or at a micro level. I shall talk about the Cameroonian struggle and our involvement in it since the 1990s. By understanding the huddles it went through;

·         we shall have a better insight into this country which is Africa in miniature;

·         we shall understand the importance of a free, liberal, democratic and prosperous future for this land that is at the heart of Africa;

·         we might come out of it with a better idea of how to find  a solution to the country’s socio-economic and political impasse

·         And we shall be better provided with broad outlines to the solutions of Africa’s problems.

The characters in this book are real and most of them are people in my life who in their different ways helped me to come to terms with the realities of my land. My heroes in this book are those who shared the dream for a better future for Cameroon and its children and who put their personal interests below the noble objectives of the struggle and the Cameroonian dream.  I say so because I understand how lonely the path is for those at the forefront of a struggle to realize a dream. Apparently, the dream has not been realized even though a heavy price has been paid by those who genuinely believed in it, those who selflessly gave most or all that they had, and who were at the forefront of the struggle. Should we consider them as heroes or victims?

I think it is essential for us to treat with respect the legacies of those who sacrificed enormously for a selfless, progressive and unifying dream. It is only by emulating the positive legacies of those heroes that we can retain our hopes, harness our potentials and realize our dreams as a peaceful, united and progressive people. Emulation of the positive legacies of heroes and legends is particularly important for a people whose effort at liberation or redemption has been thwarted by those with the evil dispositions that are in power or that are also seeking power. For without the emulation of the positive aspects of a struggle whose objectives have not been realized, and of the visions of its heroes, we risk being doomed forever in despair and incomprehension.

This book is for you to judge. It is a journey into the paths of some of those who believed in the advanced dream of a prosperous nation where peace, unity, freedom, liberty and democracy would be part of the every day life of its citizens. It is a dream longed by its citizens, but one which has not been realized despite the high price paid for it.

·         Who are the players?

·         Who are the victims?

·         Who are the heroes?

·         What is to be learnt?

·         What is to be done?

These are some of the questions you might be able to answer at the end of this book. The book is nothing more than the recollections from a person who fell from innocence and tried to learn from the fall. The learning was a process and it came about from being hurt, from hurting, from being betrayed, from trusting, from personal failings, from confronting harsh realities and from being humbled by reality. Yet it was a process that reinvigorated my faith in the struggle to realize a new and desirable society, a process that cemented the determination not to allow those with the evil disposition to prevail over the noble Cameroonian and African souls. I say so because even though the African people have been left behind in the race to freedom, liberty, democracy and prosperity; the African soul still leads the world with the human touch and the joy and happiness that come with being humane. With the liberation of that inner strength that is the African soul, the continent and its people shall catch up and play a prominent role in world development...