Buying 15 Cars for Fcfa 700 million?

Musonge Tell Me This Is Not True!

By Joachim Arrey, PhD

Dr. Joachim Arrey: It is sheer financial Recklessness

I could have put out this piece over the weekend, but I had to do some due diligence to ensure that whatever I put out there is factual and does not bring unnecessary pain to anybody.

            This also implies that those who govern the people will and must take full responsibility for their actions. As a simple writer, I know it is my job to check my facts and I accept full responsibility for my publications.

            That said, I would like to point out that my weekend was not a good one. Before packing my old bag from my office on Friday, I saw this document signed by Peter Mafany Musonge, the Chairperson of the Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism in Cameroon.

            I honestly do not understand the role of this body within the context of the conflict that is causing Cameroonians to kill each other.

            But it is not the commission that is my problem. I can live with it. It is just another toothless bulldog created to deceive the international community. It is that document which bears very bad news for the Cameroonian tax-payer that is concern to me. I am really losing sleep over this document.

            By that document, the commission chairperson is ordering 15 vehicles for a whopping CFAF 700,000,000 (seven hundred million fcfa). This therefore implies that each vehicle will cost some CFAF 46.6 million. Some 15 commission members will be using these vehicles during their time at the commission. And what is the output we should be expecting from these people who are used to lazing around?

            In my view, this commission is irrelevant. It is costly and will not be able to help extinguish the fires that are burning in our country. I do not know if Musonge and his collaborators actually know what pain they are causing to fellow Cameroonians who cannot even afford two meals a day.

            This commission will only meet a couple of times a year. Why do they need to squander such an amount of money when the country’s economy is on life support?

            There are many Cameroonians who cannot even seek health care in good hospitals as they do not have the resources to do so. All through my life, I have always known that working for a country’s public service implies making huge sacrifices. What has happened to such a noble philosophy?

            Today, Musonge and his collaborators are running this huge monster they call a bilingualism commission whose only result so far has been a phoney report he submitted to the head of state, indicating that Southern Cameroonians were angry because Ahidjo’s corpse had not been returned to Cameroon.

            Do Southern Cameroonians really care whether Ahidjo is dead or alive? Ahidjo put them in this predicament and many will continue to blame him for the mess that is playing out in Cameroon. Ahidjo intentionally and artfully killed a union that was supposed to make our country the envy of the world.

            Mr. Peter Mafany Musonge’s decision to be reckless with the taxpayer’s money is a reflection of the disease that has invaded the country. There is no car that will cost that much. If Musonge is honest, let him contact me and I will provide him with the same cars at half the price.

            There are many car dealers in North America, especially in Canada, who will get those cars to him in less than six weeks at half the price. I have done my research throughout the weekend and I know I will save the taxpayer a bunch of money which could be used to build a good school for some kids in one of Cameroon’s many under-developed villages.

            Musonge is dishonest. I had called him to reason in an open letter in 2017. He seems to be so committed to destroying Cameroon to the extent that he does not care about future generations. I don’t live in Cameroon, but I can still feel the pain of my people.

            I do not hate Musonge. He is a fellow South-Westerner like me. But he is not an honest man. His rightful place is in Kondengui, the country’s maximum security prison located in Yaounde. He lies through his teeth and this has been hurting me for too long.

            If I don’t speak out I will be complicit. Silence could be acquiescence. I don’t want future generations to think I approved of the mess he and his generation are creating in Cameroon. As a writer, I am a society’s conscience and it hurts me when I see old people like Musonge working so hard to make life difficult for the ordinary Cameroonian.

            I am not writing this out of spite or bitterness. I seek nothing from him. I was born poor and I have opted to live a basic life. Luxury belongs to others. I don’t admire it. Musonge must repent before he dies. And my write-ups will compel him to go and see a priest or a bishop for a confession. He could even head to Rome to go and see the Pope. The choice is his.

            He is a man in his late seventies and it appears he wants to ruin Cameroon before he lives this world. Common sense dictates that we make the world a better place for others. We should leave this planet better than we met it. How come old people in Cameroon do not seem to understand this universal truth?

            It is not even the price of the cars that will be paid upfront that is a problem. The cost of maintenance will keep on eroding state coffers. The cost of fueling those cars which will be used by family members of those on this commission is one of the things that are ruining my day. And what about the cost of hiring drivers and body guards?

            What have Cameroonians done to deserve such a system? I have personally cursed the hour to which I was born to such a destiny and country.

            All life cannot be politics. Can Peter Mafany understand that their generation is ruining Cameroon which is our common wealth? Why are we so unblessed?

            Please let someone tell me that it is not true that 15 cars will cost us CFAF 700,000,000. Mr. Musonge will be reading from me in the days ahead. I will make sure he regrets this wastefulness. Cameroon belongs to all of us. We must preserve it for future generations. I am just thinking aloud!

N.B: Dr. Joachim Arrey published this write up on his facebook page, just as the local press also harped on the burning subject. It immediately went viral on the social media. The Median lifted and published it for your reading pleasure.