President Biya, fire brigade management

25 years ago, I wrote an opinion in Le Massager, English edition, with the above title bearing on the complete absence of pro-activeness in handling commonplace issues related to governance within the corridors of power, leading to avoidable overheating of the polity.

The article was triggered by a strike action embarked upon by workers of Cameroon Publishing and Printing Company, SOPECAM. Moreover, it was on the heels of persistent complaints by staff to management against deteriorating working conditions within the corporation.

Ironically, government response to such brazen display of incompetent management was to upgrade the Director General Joseph Charles Doumba, to the influential position of Secretary General of the CPDM, close the English Edition of Cameroon Tribune and embark on avoidable redundancy of staff.

This approach of waiting for incendiary symptoms before reacting to issues of national concern, has characterized the conduct of government affairs in Cameroon to this day.

What readily comes to mind in relation to the above assertion is the notorious issue of ou sont les preuves (Where is the proof?).

This was president Biya’s reaction to disquieting revelation By Robert Messi Messi, erstwhile Director General of SCB bank incriminating late Jean Irene Biya, wife of the head of state, as she then was, for involvement in misappropriation of state funds.

As a corollary, many highly placed government functionaries have embarked on loathsome corruption that has laid bare the emptiness of our public treasury to the extent that we have been classified the most indebted country in Francophone Africa with projections of possible slip into drastic economic slumber.

In addition, the selective prosecution of those accused of misappropriation and embezzlement leaves much to be desired.

While some trials are dramatized and handled with dispatch, others are treated with kid gloves raising the specter of justice via ?his masters voice?.

Another glaring instance of management by reaction is the prosecution of the disreputable Tripartite Talks of 1993. Here was an opportunity offered government on a platter of gold to completely decentralize governance in Cameroon via functional federalism.

However, because of entrenched phobia for anything that erodes power from the centre, we were left with a caricature of resolutions that have saddled us with a constitution that cannot or is difficult to be implemented to this day, in spite of being promulgated into law upwards of 20 years ago.

Today, there is no constitutional Council, no Regional Council but, on the part of government it is business as usual.

Of course, everyday money is being wasted by the ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, schooling people on the rudiments of a decentralization process that is applied in feats and starts.

Another pole of attraction in Mr. Biyas erratic management is the legendary immobility of some of his ministers and heads of public and Para- public enterprises.

While there is no law fixing the tenure of ministers which means their stay in government is at the whims of the head of state, the same cannot be said of General Managers.

Honestly, unless the government does not read the same meaning as the rest of us Cameroonian in terms of the seriousness of a ministerial portfolio then can we understand why close to half of his government is made of people who have been in and around for at least 10 years

There is a law pegging their tenure at 3 years renewable twice which means that the most a General Manager can serve ought to be nine years. But we know of examples including National Social Insurance Fund, CNPS and National Hydrocarbon Corporation, SNH that flout this law with no qualms.

With no intention of condoning impropriety in the management of public affairs, there is very high temptation to question the rationale in keeping some one for more than the prescribed tenure, only to turn and complain that some of such persons had helped themselves with money from the public till.

Common sense would have induced the head of state who appoints high ranking public functionaries to let go as soon as their tenures expire.

Even worse is the case of ministers. There are ministers who have spent no fewer than 20 years in the same position or moving from one ministry to another.

Honestly, unless the government does not read the same meaning as the rest of us Cameroonian in terms of the seriousness of a ministerial portfolio then can we understand why close to half of his government is made of people who have been in and around for at least 10 years.

While it is true that experience is the best teacher, but there comes a time when going beyond a certain threshold becomes counterproductive and induces people into unorthodox conduct.

Yet, the person who is supposed to obviate such occurrences is so absent minded that anything goes and in the course of such mindlessness, embezzlement, misappropriation and other governance vices rear their ugly heads.

When some occasional uproar jolts the president to action, it is to arbitrarily deprive such suspects their freedom even as this would have been prevented if Mr. Biya had taken the courage to ensure that no minister stays on for more than eight years.

Furthermore, judging by current information, there are many International treaties ratified by parliament on the request of the head of state. Unfortunately, such treaties are most of the time ignored by government.

Take the example of the new penal code bill that wants to take us more than 5o years when some crimes that were considered heinous attracted death penalty as punishment.

This and that granting immunity to ministers that has fortunately been amended replicate the state of mind of those called upon to decide our fate through adoption or rejection of laws in Parliament.

From televisions images and their behaviour out of the glass house, it is clear that most of our parliamentarians are just there for the money and prestige of the office. They enjoy the authority but greatly disavow the responsibility and so do not care about the incidence outcomes of decisions emanating from them.

The surprising and annoying part of all is the unnecessary bravado put up the minister of justice only for him to start granting concessions to the suggestions made by the Bar Council and Civil Society Organisations. At least the article granting immunity to serving ministers has been earmarked for amendment and the repugnant section involving ministers repealed.

Sis is coming after lawyers went on the rampage in Bamenda and Kumba, situations that would have been averted if the minister of justice had the welfare of Cameroonians in mind instead only that of his immediate family and himself.

What all these uncoordinated mode of governance portends is a country hinged on cronyism instead of the rule of law and due process.

Because people are not too sure of what will befall them in the case of arraignment before law courts, eminent personalities scamper for safety by jumping into boats on high seas or braving the danger of unexploited forests to run away from justice.

We have a constitution that ought to guide the people in the corridors of power on what actions to embark upon at every given moment. This way we will avoid unnecessary confrontation and prospects of a fratricidal war.

This country was built to be a role model in Africa and still has the potentials in spite of our current directionless leadership. Let those who feel redundant leave the country to those with the zeal and drive for a new Cameroon to pilot the ship of state to safe anchorage, in anticipation of peace justice, progress and stability.