Camerounese Opposition: Failure of Vision and Leadership[1]
- The absence of leadership. If the Camerounian drama is simply the crass failure of a leader, its externalization is also the outcome of the bewildering absence of a dynamic and visionary leadership in the challenging forces. For a while Camerounians thought they had found such a leader in the Social Democratic Front Chairman, John Fru Ndi. Time, the merciless judge of man and his activities has now displayed that all that glitter was never gold. It was not even bronze. Fru Ndi has now proven to be almost as incompetent, almost as dictatorial, and almost as morally bankrupt as Paul Biya the man he set out to eject.
Rather than dream that they can win elections via the already spiked electoral process, rather than wish that they can get the dictator to change ELECAM, and all these pious wishes being passed around as policy, Camerounians should hearken to the following words of grave wisdom from Tazaocha Asonganyi.
The critical issue for Cameroun this day is to identify the appropriate leadership, create a vibrant coalition of the willing, define an inner core of strategists, formulate winning strategies and tactics for turning election fraud to an advantage, and then using the entire medley to jump start mass protests in… especially the political capital, Yaounde! Charles Taku puts the problem bluntly terms. The time for that new leadership to emerge is now. The time to recrystallize the opposition agenda is now.
A critical reason for the failure of the SDF and its compradors is that the disparate movements for change lacked impetus because were operating from the periphery i.e. 400 kilometres from the main battlefield. There seems to be action in the above lines. Africa Top Secret No 000 of August 17, 2009 not only reveal that a group claiming to be composed of 173 civil society organizations has been looking for a possible leader but the group actually has proposed names. Among the names mentioned were sonorous but unknown quantities like Mathias Eric Owona Nguini, son of a former Biya minister Joseph Owona and a Professor of the University of Yaounde II. Mathias Eric Owona Nguini’s name was leaked pre-maturely by fellow tribesman a certain Joseph Marie Eloundou who heads a civil society organization called CONALI or the National Committee for the fight Against Inertia. Other names mentioned are equally unknown quantities like Christopher Fomunyoh, head of the Africa Bureau of Transparency International and Barrister Akere Muna, Vice President of Transparency International. All that glitter and dross might not be gold. A dark horse will emerge in the fullness of time. When it comes to power structures there is always that elliptical moment when the scepter changes hands – when the throne leaves Saul and David is anointed King. The scepter left the House of Biya ages ago. Cameroun passed that stage long ago; some would say it actually happened way back on November 6, 1982!
- The absence of proper diagnosis and a minimal achievable goal. The goal is simple: Vote Mr. Biya out of office. A simplification of the message will create focus and prevent the movement moving into several directions. There is a Camerounian attitude of confusing the forests for the trees and vice versa. The Camerounian problem this day is not the constitution. Corruption, inertia, homosexuality, etc. are just symptoms of the problem. The real problem is Mr. Biya and the system that he incarnates. Change Mr. Biya and every other change especially a constitutional change become plausible and possible.
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