Cameroon - Which Way Out Of The Problems?
By Elizabeth Ohene
Those who had always opposed Ahidjo or fallen out with him at one time or the other were not mollified for they saw the same personalities and policies.It never rains but it pours, Cameroonians might very well say if they look back on the past one year or so.
For over 20 years, the most spectacular thing to have occurred in Cameroon was the transfer of leadership from ex-President Ahidjo to President Paul Biya. Even the change of leadership - contrary to normal African practice - went without a hitch. Ahidjo had had enough and his deputy was eased into the vacated seat.
At first, the 'peaceful island in a sea of trouble' scenario continued with things generally going on much the same as before until the retired President decided that he was not enjoying his retirement after all and started to claw his way back.
The ensuing tension could not but draw blood because Biya and Ahidjo had been very close collaborators for more than 20 years and drew their support from the same sources.
And then those who had always opposed Ahidjo or fallen out with him at one time or another were not mollified by the change since they saw the same personalities and the same policies.
When Biya decided on the first changes as a relaxation of the Ahidjo repressive measures, like encouraging press freedom and open debate, they were necessarily tentative. For the critics, it was not enough and fell far short of expectation because they wanted a complete overhaul, for the majority of the people, it was merely baffling. They had after all never lived under a free administration before and were not sure how to make use of the new freedoms that were suddenly available to them. Some other people were understandably sceptical and feared that such new measures were some new ploy devised by the government to catch some innocent citizens. The media practitioners after a lifetime of toeing the party and government line and portraying the President in a godlike manner could hardly turn overnight into objective critics of the government.
Some other people got heady with the change as though they had drunk new wine, they were those who were intent on moving faster than the government could or wanted to.
And then, of course, there was President Biya himself who must have had doubts about the course he had chosen he must have known better than anybody the strength of his former master, for it must have taken a lot for Ahidjo to have ruled Cameroon with such absolute power for 22 years and then the temptation must have been great to simply have continued as before in suppressing all the organs of state and exercising absolute power.
When the clash did erupt between Ahidjo and Biya, the consequences were bound to be far reaching for many Cameroonians could not help but see it as a fratricidal feud and even though President Biya came out as the winner he had irrevocably split the ruling block into pro-Ahidjo and pro- Biya factions.
President Biya is at that point in his career where courage is needed above all else. It is too late for him to try to out-Ahidjo Ahidjo and clamp down on his people, for having tasted freedom, it is unlikely they will once again submit to the iron hand without complaint.
The attempted coup that came on April 6 was in a way the culmination of the tension that had been building up for a whole year. The shock that it had on the national psyche will take decades to ease and was bound to split the society into even more fragments.
The death and destruction that were caused will not be easy to recover from and have meant that for the first time, Cameroon is attracting the kind of attention that any country can do without. There is the psychological problem of having to cope with suddenly having been transformed from a peaceful and stable country into an unstable one. There is the problem of "security" suddenly becoming the most important consideration.
Doubtless President Biya after recovering from his initial shock must have wondered whether his easing of the repressive measures did not in some way contribute to the tragedy.
In much the same way as he would know more than anybody that the political commentators who today are saying that the coup attempt was by a group of power brokers who had lost their influence and had no definite or specific aims, would have had a much different song had the coup succeeded.
While the whole nation has been trying to recover from the events of April 6, came the still unsolved explosion at a lake in the Bamenda region which resulted in 37 deaths.
At any other time, the Douala airport incident in which at least three people were killed by a fire on a Boeing jet could have been discounted as a tragic accident. But the general atmosphere and the telephone call claiming it was the work of opponents to the government, have put a different complexion altogether on the incident.
President Biya's moves during these trying moments are still tentative as though he were not sure of the correctness of his course or he had still not recovered from the succession of shocks that have been inflicted on him in the past year.
The proceedings at the recent convention of the ruling CNU party must surely give some direction. The participants apparently surprised themselves by the frankness of the discussions and the ability to criticise the failing of the party.
But they stopped short of examining the one party system, a concept that has no dynamism and is dangerous in a country where differences are accepted and then used for progress.
President Biya is at that point in his career where courage is needed above all else. It is now too late to try to be a clone of Ahidjo and what is more it is later even still to try to out-Ahidjo Ahidjo by clamping down on his people, for having tasted of the waters of freedom, it is most unlikely that they will now once again submit to the iron hand without complaint.
It is important for President Biya to take that all-important step and move away from the one-party state.
The true opponents of Ahidjo as opposed from the time-serving turn-coats would be looking to see signs that the President is sincere about his talk of opening up Cameroonian society. Allowing the legal formation of another party might yet prove to be the calming medicine that is needed to diffuse the mounting pressures.
