Roughshod: Regional balance or regime imbalance

Regional balance as used recently in the entrance exam into the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC, is a subterfuge for influence peddling, nepotism or outright corruption.

The word ‘balance’ is a very tricky one as it can be used or interpreted by anyone to suit his or her position, station, or situation. Just like the devil can use the Good Book to serve his whims and caprices.

In Camerounese, balance is used by taxi drivers as the amount they handover to the owners of their cab; by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade as tool for measurement of goods; it is also used to mean change or difference when the buyer has offered an amount higher than the price of a good and service; it is used by economists and countries to indicate international trade differences like in ‘balance of trade’; it is used in good governance as in “checks and balances” and so on and so forth.

It is even used by our Creator as in the axiom; “When God closes the door, He opens the window.” I stand corrected if I am wrong to state that He, the Almighty, also uses it to check or make for deficiencies. For example, you can shout the name of a deaf person within arm-length to the point of breaking your voice, he/she will not hear, but stamp your feet on the ground, s/he will turn and give you the required attention.

In this instance, wouldn’t you agree with me that God has taken from him one of the five senses, sound, and given or amplified his or her sense of touch or feeling? Before I quit this philosophising; I hope you will agree with me that ‘balance’ in all domains and dimensions, is used towards equity or equality.

Allow me to paraphrase Winston Churchill, British wartime Premier [2nd World War] by saying, “Never have so few owed so much to so many.” The Biya team or regime, put together, plus those on the substitute bench, are not up to two percent of the rest of Cameroonians. They, put together with the chosen tribe, are not a tenth of the populace.

But, after they have taken all the top jobs, orchestrated underdevelopment and impoverishment by emptying the people's treasury, and lorded it over them for a period of 12 regime-changes under other climes, what balance do they want again from the people?

If the people of the deprived Regions get the divine ‘balance’ of being intelligent and are excelling in academics, can’t you let them be? When they pass entrance exams, let them be trained, so that when you fail them in appointments, they can fend for themselves elsewhere.

In other words, since you have taken all, the only thing they are left with is their intelligence. You can give all the positions and money siphoned to your family and friends. Rather balance the equation by letting them the places they have earned by passing exams.

Otherwise, why organise exams and take those who have failed or have not sat for the exams. You could jolly well appoint your friends and family into the school without organising the exams. Or are the exams used to scam Cameroonians through the registration fees they pay to write them?

The people from these other regions know that they cannot be appointed or placed in jobs, or called up into the national team, at their individual levels,so, they put their best in everything they do. That is why they excel in things like mountaineering or other individual sports, trades and craft, the arts or academics.

They do excel, because, in these fields, there is no stopping them. Yet, when they come first in any of these, somebody wants to replace them with mediocre family members and friends because he is in Government. This has been going on and on.

Around 2001-2003, Prof GervaisMendoZe reportedly presented a list of seven people who never wrote the exam into the National Advanced School of Posts and Telecommunications, Yaounde, 40 days into the school year. When the then Director, NjiTumasang, refused to admit them,MendoZe used the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, KweKongo, who intimidated Tumasang and he obliged.

In 2007, out of the 6,000 people recruited into the police training school in Mutengene, 4,000 came from the South alone. The remaining 2,000places were first distributed to the grand North, followed by the other Regions with influential people in Government.

Of course, the last were the Northwest and the Southwest, who had a sprinkle of less than 50 each. If, actually, there was regional balance, simple logic and arithmetic would have required that, since there are 10 regions, every region should have 600 places out of the 6,000.

I remember vividly the scandal of the entrance exam into the University of Buea Medical School in 2006, when the list of successful candidates was published by Prof. Lambi. Prof Fame Ndongo was very angry because Prof. Lambi did not wait for him to inject the names of relatives of members of Government Ministers and Directors. He came up with another list that included many people who did not even sit for the exams.

Prof Lambi said no. Following the pressure from Fame Ndongo for his list to be respected; the student deemed that it was going to dilute the prestige of the place to be and went on the rampage. The then Governor, EjakeMbonda, ordered the police to fire at the unarmed students and this led to the death of three people, including 2 post-graduate students.

The same Fame Ndongo, was exposed this time around by the entrance exam into IRIC. So, the issue of ‘Regional Balance’ is a subterfuge for nepotism, influence peddling and corruption.

In the so called Regional Balance, those who sat for exams and passed are failed and their names replaced with the names of relatives, friends and those the authorities had taken money from. Examples of people who never sat for ENAM entrance, but are civil servants today abound.

Besides those who have godfathers, I hear, others pay FCFA 1.5 million for ENS; FCFA 2 million for IRIC; FCFA 3 million for ENAM and so on. Soon, Regional Balance will be used in the GCE, the Baccalaureate and even in sports like the Mountain Race. It would soon apply in music, movies, business and other personal endeavours.

Those who have the head or aptitude for something should be allowed to do it and those who do not should find it elsewhere. For instance, at every given time, the National Team is dominated by the Bassas, who has complained about that?

Why is Regional Balance not applied where it should rather be applied? For example, why is regional balance not also applied in the appointment of Ministers, Directors and other Government functionaries? Of course, you are not getting it from me that almost half of the Government is from the ‘chosen tribe’.

However, when payback time comes, whether it was regional balance or balancing the regions in appointments, we will know. Find out which Regions have the highest number of appointees in Kondengui, and you will know that during payback time, the Region that had the lion’s sharein appointments, will have the lion’s share in disappointments; that is, in Kondengui as it is today.

Candidates for the recruitment into the police force have sat for the exams. Check out the number of candidates that will be recruited from the chosentribe and you will know the place where the balancing act should rather go to.

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