By Tazoacha
Asonganyi in Yaounde
The theatrics
around suspected brigands and pilferers of the public purse should only amuse,
not surprise us. If anything, one should be asking why now, not several years
ago when the same names started floating around in all forms. In any case, the
important thing is to keep our eyes on the ball. This is why the Kumba HTTTC
issue should not be lost in the melee.
There has been a lot of
grandstanding around the creation of Kumba HTTTC, with many politicians
auto-proclaiming themselves the legitimate parents, while others have been
scrambling to have it situated as near their ancestral compounds as possible.
And yet others have been fighting over who would sign “motions of support” or
of “thanks and reverence,” since such archaic activities have become the pastime
of self-appointed politicians, and an avenue for reminding their God-sent maker
of rain and sunshine, of those who need appointment, promotion or other
personal favours. Interestingly, others
are even promising their political supporters that they will “pack them into
HTTTC Kumba”!
It is difficult to believe that
these are the same people who have been complaining about the neglect of
Anglophobe technical education since “reunification” in 1961; it is also
difficult to believe that it is the same people or their parents who, since
reunification were looking forward to Ombe Trade Centre to be developed by 1963
to a full-fledged Technical Institute with the status of a British Polytechnic,
offering the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in the first cycle and the Higher
National Diploma (HND) in the second cycle. They are all behaving as if all the
clamouring by Anglophones for the renaissance of their technical education was
not a demand for rights but for gifts or favours from the all-powerful giver!
From all the signals received so
far, it is clear that the CPDM regime does not intend to allow Kumba HTTTC to
play the role that such institutions play in other places as centres for
anticipating the future. Like several other such institutions in Cameroon, it
may end up with the appointment of politicians, not experts as managers.
Indeed, like all other “technical” colleges in Cameroon. Kumba HTTTC may end up
as a technical college only in name, because of the absence of the
sophisticated technology for hands-on training; only hands-on training can
produce graduates capable of imparting high-tech skills that are necessary not
only for designing new technologies, but also for the maintenance of already
existing technologies that are with us today.
The purpose of an institution
like Kumba HTTTC should be to train “teachers” who, in turn, will be able to
provide the students they train with the discipline, confidence, pride and
assertiveness, and the knowledge to create and transform new knowledge and ideas
into goods (products), services and processes that are competitive because they
meet market needs. The discipline imparted in such an institution should not
just be about obeying orders, however good-intentioned; it should be the
discipline to pay attention to details. This requires careful and rigorous
training because designing of technology requires extraordinary self-discipline
- the sort that only careful and rigorous training can induce.
Although Cameroon is still
essentially an agricultural society, most of those it presently interacts with
in the world have moved from agricultural, through industrial to information
societies. In essence, all societies have become a mixture of all three, in
differing proportions. For example, it is usually said that by the year 1800,
90% of American society was involved in agriculture, producing 100% of the food
they needed; today, just 3% of the population produces 120% of the food they
need – the surplus is stored or exported. The population has shifted first to industry,
and then to information. This is true of most of the Western countries, and
other countries that are genuinely struggling to catch-up at varying rates.
If 70-80% of the Cameroon
population is still involved in agriculture, this means that the rest are
either in industry or in information, or are doing nothing. In each of the
sectors, people are itching to introduce technology, in order to increase
output. In doing so, they should understand that technology is not meant to
liberate us from personal discipline and responsibility; indeed, technology can
only solve our problems or better our lives if we take personal responsibility
for it.
This means that when
institutions like Kumba HTTTC are created, their principal mission should be to
produce graduates capable of generating knowledge and ideas; to produce a rich
mix of graduates characterized by creativity, innovation, experimentation and
change; indeed, to produce people with the brain power to support the capital
investment that is supposed to be ploughed into the institution and into the
economy they will move into, when they will eventually move into society. This
also means that those appointed to manage the institution should not be
cronies, sycophants or loud-sounding, empty politicians; they should be people
with knowhow, expertise, and management skills. They should not be people who
would use party cover to engage in corruption to admit third rate candidates,
or in the embezzlement of the public money put at the disposal of the institution.
Kumba HTTTC should be a hen for
business; a hen that lays eggs that hatch into viable businesses because it is
a centre for imparting knowledge, entrepreneurship and innovation. It should be
a business spinning-off centre because it produces highly skilled manpower that
is internationally competitive. If we do not anticipate the future in this way,
we will soon become a dumping ground for all types of “new” technologies, and a
graveyard for failed technologies that cannot be maintained in a viable state,
because we lack the expertise to do so.
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