2018 Presidential Campaigns:

On Your Mark, Get Ready, Go!

By Joachim Arrey, Ontario, Canada

Joachim Arrey, PhD

I hear the campaign season has started and Yaounde is in deep thoughts. Southern Cameroons is causing sleepless nights. If you wear a white shirt, never jump into a pigsty. The government did not listen and the “pigs’ are having a great party.

            There is a wide range of candidates participating in the election. I hear even prisoners are participating. Age is not an issue, some people say. But others argue that nobody will let an 86-year-old pilot to fly them to their destination. The risks are too great. Others say the situation is too tough for young hands to handle.

            We, the observers, are simply having fun. Waiting to see how it goes, after all, I am already the governor of the southwest. Somebody just called me not long ago to tell me that Okalia Bilai has simply left the Governor’s mansion as he cannot stand the heat from the fighters. That’s my seat. It is now vacant.

            It is alleged that he now lives in Douala. I will continue to wait in the wings. Who does not enjoy his people’s endorsement? Many even say there is a natural candidate in the upcoming election. I don’t know what makes some people natural candidates. Others say youthfulness may hold the answers to the issues tearing the country apart.

            My fear is that 20% of the population will not take part in the election as English-speaking region is in total chaos. The ruling party is used to distributing food and drinks during this period. Are its supporters going to do the same thing this time around as the violence escalates?

To the best of my Knowledge, the CPDM is banned from Southern Cameroons and many Southern Cameroonians consider the election foreign. It is even forbidden to wear CPDM uniforms in Southern Cameroons. This uniform is currently going abegging.

            Most chiefs who used to act for the government have been intimidated by the fighters on the ground and none is courageous enough to display his loyalty to the ruling party. Some have been kidnapped and others have simply run away from their chiefdoms. People like Chief Tabetando can no longer go to Mamfe. Chief Ayuk Hope has fled his village as he could not pay his own contribution to the war effort.

            Many of the chiefs in the Southwest are permanently in fear. The stress is too much for some of them. Many are thinking of abdicating. It is even strange to see police and gendarmes respecting ghost towns. Law and order are gradually dissolving in that part of the country. Cameroon has always been an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos. We, Cameroonians, are messing up our divine gift.  We could have sought other solutions. Fighting is not the answer.

            Today, Southern Cameroonian politicians of the ruling party have been told not to come back to the region. Death awaits many of them if they disrespect the rules set by the many armed groups prowling the region in search of those they accuse of betraying them. Senior civil servants are permanently walking around with butterflies in their stomachs.

            This is indeed an unsettling solution. It is like wearing an undersized shoe and not knowing when the occasion will be over. This is indeed unfortunate. Regardless, of the situation, the best solution will be creating the right environment for an inclusive dialogue to ensure the country does not become a haven to many criminal gangs that are taking advantage of the mess to implement their own agenda.

            The government has mismanaged the situation and many around the world are shocked by this mishandling of a simple strike by teachers and lawyers. When it all started, the government was warned that the situation could deteriorate very fast. Instead of arresting the situation very fast through sincere dialogue, it resorted to killing and jailing people. This radicalized many.

            I fear for Cameroon. Elections will not cut it. The negotiating table holds the solution. Pretending will not help matters. There must be dialogue for people like Minister Mengot, Chief Tabetando, Peter Mafany Musonge and other Southern Cameroons politicians to come back and feel free. The government should create the right environment. Chaos does not benefit anybody. We all need peace, but the current political configuration will never guarantee any peace in Cameroon. It’s time to wake up and ensure future generations do not go through this type of unfortunate situation. There is still some time and we all can save this land that has been given to us by God.