Laquintinie hospital tragedy:

International press nails Biya regime

Foreign online newspapers see the Monique Koumateke affair as a sign that the Biya regime has arrived at the end of the road

By EssanEkoninyam in Yaounde

The drama that unfolded at the Douala Laquintinie hospital on Saturday, 12 March 2016 is the talk of the day not only in Cameroon. The international press that gleaned detailed reports on as well as horrifying photographs of the tragedy from the social media has picked up the issue and is giving different interpretations to it to show how inherently bad the current regime in power is. In other words, the international press is using the Monique Koumateke affair as a conceit to lambaste President Paul Biya’s close to 34 years in power.

                In an article published in the African edition of Le monde.fr on 15 March, it is said that Public Health minister André Mama Fouda cannot be “audible” in his version of what happened because public authorities have lost credibility in Cameroon. According to this online press organ, most Cameroonians know their ministers as liars and thieves; that is why they see this scandal as revealing how profoundly discredited the political class in Cameroon is, in the first place.

                Le monde.fr goes on to say that the video of Monique Koumateke in front of the closed doors of the maternity of the Laquintinie hospital crystallizes the anger of a people against a regime whose poor management massively destroys human lives every day. Hear the online press organ:

                “The dilapidation of the health system in Cameroon has been the vehicle of this war cry. But it is the entire country that is in a state of clinical death for more than twenty years, taken hostage by a majority of irresponsible policies and civil servants.”

                To Le monde.fr, reactions to the tragedy have multiplied since Sunday, 13 March and will continue to do so for two reasons: the first is that they bear witness to the fact that the Cameroonian people are still capable of growing angry and so are not dead. The second reason is that at the time when, in the country, the voices of the status quo multiply calls for the candidature of the Head of State in the 2018 presidential election, a popular front seems to be growing up, which expresses a firm will for change.

                The online version of the pan-African newspaper, jeuneafrique.com, has taken the analysis a bit far. To it, this tragedy has come to weaken the position of the Cameroon government which is already facing many criticisms. “Despite the underground riches of the country, the Paul Biya government finds it difficult to put in place credible health institutions,” jeuneafrique.com states.

                Quoting Emmanuel Ombang, a Douala-based computer scientist, this online newspaper says this “is one more injustice as we know that the daughter of the President, Brenda Biya, pays more than 400 dollars (200 000 FCFA) as taxi fare a day in California whereas women and children (back home) lack care.”

                For its part, France24.com goes back to a series of accounts given by witnesses. Quoting a Douala inhabitant, the online newspaper states that, “One should, in fact, pay a ‘deposit’ before one can see a doctor or have oneself operated upon. Two years ago, my sister almost died in hospital under the same circumstances. She was in hospital during delivery. But there were complications. The only solution was to proceed to a caesarean section. Yet to have a caesarean section done she had to pay close to 200 000 FCFA.”