Interview

They hatched a plan to marginalize Northerners

         -IssaTchiroma

Issa Tchiroma

Being an interview he granted to BBC in 1997, after the publication of the famous Grand North Memorandum. We brought back the interview for your reading pleasure.

                Thank you Mr. Minister for accepting to talk to us at so short notice. Sir can you introduce yourself?

                Thank you for giving me this opportunity. My name is IssaTchiroma. I have been minister for four years. I am married with three daughters. One of them is married and she is a doctor. The two others are also skilled and qualified. I have been an MP and a former minister. Now I am dedicating my time for the improvement of the life of Cameroonians within the framework of the democratic process which is going on in Cameroon.

                Sir one of the things that you have been highlighted recently is your firm backing of the memorandum that was published on the Grand North. Can you highlight the salient points that you people raised in that memorandum?

                Well, the memorandum is the outcome of a policy that was conceived in 1984 after the abortive coup attempt. As you know most of those who engineered the plot were the northerners. When the plot was foiled the government conceived a policy which consist of ostracizing and marginalizing the Grand North. Today the situation has become so inhumane and unbearable that it has become a time bomb for this country. As a politician and a citizen of this country and seeing the things that are happening here and there I decided to be part of the writing of this memorandum to let Cameroonians in particular and people of good faith all over the world to know that we are marginalized; that we are being punished for 22 years and now we are fed up and we are saying that enough is enough. And we have to say this clear and loud so that people should know exactly what is happening in the North. And when we conceived and published the memorandum nobody could deny its contents as not happening in Cameroon. It was a wonderful document and we did it to let people know that something wrong was happening in the North and if this time bomb is not diffused in due time they should not be surprised tomorrow if something goes wrong or starts in the North because people are getting desperate and destitute.

                You say this memorandum sprang from the abortive coup d’etat, do you have the impression it is some sort of punishment for the Northerners for trying to overthrow the present regime?

                It is a conviction. If you have the opportunity to spend some few days in North you will realize that it is in such a disarray, in such destitution that no organized people in this country can accept the kind of hardship and dire conditions in which the Northerners are facing today. I mean it and I say it clear and loud that the situation has become unbearable. If because some northerners at a given time took up arms against the regime, all of them cannot be arrested and court-marshalled. All those who at a given time were part of this coup were arrested. Let me remind you that I spent almost seven years of my life in prison as a political prisoner. So this is a collective punishment which is being implemented and enforced in the North. This is not a fiction, it is reality.

                Arguably those of you who wrote the memorandum are all former ministers. Why did you people not act when you were still in government?

                You are perfectly right in evoking this remark which is very pertinent. True we were ministers, but I will like you to know that you are a minister for the state and not for a region. You are made minister to solve the problems that fall within the competence of your ministry. In the domain where you are minister you are in charge of that domain throughout the whole country. I am proud of my achievement as minister of transport for almost four years. Facts speak louder than words – I am very proud of my achievement. When you are minister you do the best you can in your own domain. But you haven’t signed a contract with your people to help them. You don’t have the people’s mandate to lead them. So you do the best to help the head of state, improve the economy and develop the country. All what you do is in the name of the head of state who has a contract with the people. As minister you only implement the policies laid down by the head of state; you have no private or personal agenda or program. You are not accountable to the people; you are accountable only to the head of state. So those who are asking why we did not act when we were in government as ministers should know that the magnitude of the problem was such that the combined competence of all the northern ministers could not solve the problem. We could not solve it without the requisite political will. And as I talk to you today that political will is not yet there. We accepted to be ministers in 1992 when FruNdi won the election as the head of state but was deprived of his victory. FruNdi proclaimed himself as the head of state. If you can recall, a state of emergency was declared throughout the country. So, we had to choose between saving the republic which was at the verge of collapse and civil war or to stick by our principle which was to point out to Mr. Biya that he did not win the election and join Mr. FruNdi and allow the country to go up in flames, the consequence of which you cannot imagine or foresee. So we decided to join Mr. Biya to save legality but not legitimacy. And this pushed us to even violate some of our own principles just in a bid to save the peace in our country. This was the motivation for our acceptance to join government in 1992. And we did the best we can in order to help our country to solve its pressing problems. So this criticism that we did nothing as government ministers does not hold water at all.

                So you and all the former ministers who penned this memorandum are saying that the problem is the lack of political will to alleviate the problems up North?

                It is not me who is saying it. It is something that is obvious and clear. In 1984 after the abortive coup they conceived a policy which consist in marginalizing the Northerners. This resulted in the absence of northerners in the civil service. Though we are above 45% of the population of this country, I challenge you to prove that Northerners form even 2% of the civil service of this country. In Garoua which is my home town for example, there are less than 40 people in the civil service, I mean 40 people including the minister of state Bello Bouba and any other high ranking official in our administration. The situation is so bad.

                Mr. Tchiroma the accusations you advancing are really, really tough! Are you saying that in the whole of Garoua there are not up to 40 people in the civil service or are you talking of top government position?

                I am a native of Garoua and I challenge anybody to prove to me that we have up to 40 people from Garoua in the civil service of this country, I mean people with what they call ‘Bac plus’. I tell you it is impossible to count 40 people including the ministers, directors or service heads and all of that, it is impossible. And this situation for us is inacceptable. We have to say it loud that we are fed up because the future has ceased to bear any hope for us.

                When this memorandum came out how did the government react to it?

                They said that we are some kind of bandits or something close to that; that we are suffering from nostalgia; that we wanted to come back to government after we were dismissed. They tried to bedevil us; we became what they call in French “empecheurs de tourner en ronde.” But the facts are there and you know that facts are stubborn. The Grand North has been dispossessed of everything. Let me tell you this. Recently I spent two days in Bamenda and I drove to Bafoussam. I can tell you that Bafoussam is ten times more developed than any city in the entire grand north. Bamenda is twice or thrice more prosperous than any city in the Grand North. This was not the case 20 years ago. MrBiya must understand that he is the head of state for all Cameroonians and not for some Cameroonians. So I say here that if for some reason some northerners took up arms against the state, today all the northerners are giving him the best they can in order to please him and redeem themselves. But we feel like we are not being understood. The situation has become unbearable. I am not talking on my behalf because by the Grace of God Almighty I can feed myself and everything is good as far as I am concerned. But Biya must understand that time has come for him to listen to the Northerners and change his mind. Should he fail or adamantly refuse to listen to us then the consequences will be grave.

                When this memorandum came out there were some ministers notably the speaker of Assembly, the secretary of state at MINADT in charge of penitentiary administration and decentralization who undertook a tour up north disclaiming the memorandum.

                They did that just for the sake of their own interest. People are starving, people are dying in the Grand North, and less than 13% of the population are educated or literate. If you travel to the north you will realize that to communicate with the locals you need someone to always help you translate from the local dialect into English or French. These are facts. You can’t refuse or change them. These people who went to the North did that just to bedevil us, to say that we are inciting people into rebellion; that we want to destabilize the peace. So what can they disclaim when people cannot feed themselves, people cannot afford clothing or education. How do you talk of peace when people are dispossessed of everything. This is not true. I can tell you that these people you are talking about only ridiculed themselves and they know that they were a ridicule.

                Now let’s talk about the coalition for change. There are a number of Northern politicians in the present coalition. Do you think that this memorandum is going to galvanize the people of the North during this coming election?

                To that there is no doubt. There is a proverb in my area which says that “when somebody is stronger than you he can use your own hands to slap your face.” This is what the CPDM is doing out there. Unfortunately I don’t know if you ever had the opportunity to read this memorandum. If you did then you would understand the danger which is looming large over our head. You have a very dark cloud which is hanging over our head like the sword of damocles. So this memorandum will for sure galvanize the people. It is the most important sensitization campaign. We know that all the laws in this country are tailored to serve Mr. Biya’s purpose; the Supreme Court appointed by Mr. Biya is there just to legalize massive fraud. No one that was appointed by Mr. Biya can be courageous enough to report what is wrong with our electoral process. But they had no choice than to testify that the elections were free and fair so that Mr. Biya even before running for the election is already elected. There is no doubt about it. Mr. Biya cannot organize an election and lose. He has the administration and all the laws are for him. It is virtually impossible for him to lose an election. We know this. But we still have to galvanize, sensitize and mobilize Cameroonians and make them know that they should never give up or submit to CPDM pressure. They have to be ready to fight for peace and democracy. Today Cameroon is a country of 16 million but only less than 4 million are eligible to vote. Cameroonians are disenfranchised. So you see the memorandum will galvanize and sensitize and I hope that the northerners will be their own savior.

                So how is the coalition faring today? Who are the people who make up this coalition?

                Well the coalition is faring very well. We spent a nice time in Bamenda scrutinizing and assessing the situation from the birth of the coalition up to date. I think with the coalition, the future which yesterday appeared black is beginning to be brightened and I am hopeful that together we are going to put together the broken pieces in terms of the opposition. We are going to unite and mobilise and galvanise as many political parties as to be able to make it against Biya. If you don’t have the backing of the people it wouldn’t be easy to uproot Mr. Biya. We are very well aware of this and the coalition is working hard. We have very outstanding people like Chairman FruNdi, NdamNjoya, Yondo Marcel, HogbeNlend, SandaOumarou, AntarGasagay, myself and many others. Jean Jacques Ekindi is going to join us in the days ahead. So all the emblematic figures of the coalition have understood that by being divided we are only playing the game for Mr. Biya and the CPDM. So we are compelled to be together and forward looking.

                So what alternative policies are the coalition presenting to Cameroonians?

                Yes we published a political blue-print in which we precised the policies the opposition will implement if elected. Firstly we said if the opposition wins the next head of state will be in office for just three years to get things in order that is, rewrite the constitution and correct all the imperfections in our system. We believe that to get things write we must rewrite our constitution because like I said before all the present laws in the country are tailored to suit and protect Mr. Biya in power. So we want the constitution to be impersonal and fair. We want elections organized and monitored by an independent body, we want the prevalence of rule of law, protection of HR etc. I enjoin you to take time and read our blue-print. It is quite an edifying political program.

                Has the coalition come out with a criteria for who will be its presidential candidate?

                Well for the time being the majority of Cameroonians are very fatalistic about elections. This is because they know that whether they vote Mr. Biya or not he will still be declared the president. So there is no point for them to register and go and vote. So the most important thing today is to sensitise and galvanise the people and to let them know that change lies in them. To let them know that you cannot want democratic change and at the same time abstain from voting. You have to register and vote. This the most important issue in our agenda. There is still time. We will set up a criteria for choosing our candidate to run under the banner of the coalition. This will be done in due time. There is no problem.

                Can you remember what you were doing the day President Ahidjo resigned?

                Yes vividly. I was at home in Douala. I was deputy director for the rail transport company. I could not believe when he resigned because I knew him personally. When I was a student in Paris I usually me him whenever he came over or I meet him in Garoua whilst on vacation in the country. Really there was no sign he was going to resign. So I was shocked to hear that he had resigned. I was in disarray and things changed in my life.

               

                How do you compare the Biya&Ahidjo regimes?

                Ahidjo was a dictator who did not allow or condone free speech. But he brought economic prosperity to Cameroon. Business was booming, everything was okay. MrBiya was an intellectual who brought freedom of expression, democracy. The delight with which I greeted his coming to power was doused when he failed to translate the freedom of expression to economic prosperity. No sooner did he come to power then an economic crunch set.