Land Surrender by CDC to the indigenes of Fako

URGENT

MEMORANDUM

To:      Mr. Zang III,

The Senior Divisional Officer for Fako

            Limbe, Fako Division

South West Region

Cameroon

Cc:       -Mr. Ngoni Njie

The General Manager

Cameroon Development Corporation

Bota, Limbe

South West Region, Cameroon

From: Barrister Mbella Ikomi Ngongi, Esq.

            Email: ngongilaw@yahoo.com; ikomingongi@yahoo.com

Date     Thursday, June 6, 2013

Subject:           Land Surrender by CDC to the indigenes of Fako: The Obligation and Challenges of Preserving Fako Ancestral Lands for Fako Indigenes and Posterity

Introduction:

This morning, we heard over the news on CRTV Radio, Buea, your announcement inviting many chiefs of Fako Division to a meeting at the Limbe Council Hall at 10 AM tomorrow, Friday June 07, 2013, to discuss issues relating to lands surrender in Fako Division, by the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), your administrative jurisdiction.  Having heard some of your recent public pronouncements and admonitions regarding the reckless and illegal sale of Fako lands by some Fako chiefs, we think this meeting is very appropriate and timely; maybe long overdue, but welcome and much appreciated.

The Problem and Context

Today the peoples of Fako are faced with the challenges of the overwhelming influx of economic migrants, who pose a considerable threat to their very survival as minorities in their own ancestral lands.  Coupled with this is the reckless and illegal sale by FAKO chiefs of indigenous lands surrendered by CDC.  The obvious absence of any strategy by the people of Fako who are faced with this very serious and increasingly intractable problem, is evidenced by the way they are increasingly marginalized in the management of the affairs of the Division - politically, economically, socially, and, to a certain extent, even culturally. 

The Government of Cameroon has an obligation to protect the indigenes of FAKO who are the innocent victims of this reckless and illegal disposition of their ancestral lands by some irresponsible chiefs.  This task, at the Divisional level, lies on your shoulders as the Senior Divisional Officer of Fako.  Your recent public statements decrying the practices of the illegal sale of Fako land by some Fako chiefs bolsters our efforts to redress this problem with the urgency it demands. Your concerns are legitimate and we applaud you for the efforts you manifest in this regard to the benefit of the many hapless indigenes of Fako Division. 

International Law, to which Cameroon law is subject, addresses the critical issue of protecting national and ethnic minorities all over the world. 

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the General Assembly Resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992, takes cognizance of this responsibility that States have towards their minority populations and exhorts Governments to take all appropriate measures, under the law, to guarantee their protection.  The situation in Fako today, where the reckless and illegal disposal of indigenous lands by some Fako chiefs, with the complicity of some government officials, occurs on a daily basis, calls for URGENT and DECISIVE actions, on the part of Government, the Judiciary and Civil Society – actions that would put an immediate stop to this continuing and insensitive abuse and criminality.

The loss of Fako ancestral lands through this reckless and illegal sales and acquisition, or even theft, by some chiefs and government officials, seriously threatens and undermines the identity and very existence of the people of Fako.

Article 1 of the United Nations Declaration  states, inter alia:

1. States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.

2. States shall adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to achieve those ends.

Article 2 states, inter alia:

2. Persons belonging to minorities have the right to participate effectively in cultural, religious, social, economic and public life.

With the clear intention of ensuring that no recriminations are wrought on minorities who seek to assert their rights to protection under the law, the Declaration further states:
Articles 3:

No disadvantage shall result for any person belonging to a minority as the consequence of the exercise or non-exercise of the rights set forth in the present Declaration.

Article 4:

1.       States shall take measures, where required, to ensure that persons belonging to minorities may exercise fully and effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination and in full equality before the law.

  

The principles and rights set forth in this United Nations Declaration on the Protection of Minorities are the offshoot, in spirit and letter, of those embodied in The United Nations Charter (1945), The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976), all of which the State of Cameroon is signatory to.  By virtue of these international instruments to which Cameroon is signatory to, and their principles which the State has made a commitment to honor, the Government of Cameroon has an obligation - a duty - to ensure that the peoples of Fako are not robbed of their cultural, social and economic heritages, which underlie their fundamental human rights and freedoms.

When a people are deprived of their very fundamental source of livelihood, nay, existence, - their land - they cannot, under any circumstance, effectively participate in the economic, social, cultural, religious or public life in their country. The indigenous peoples of Fako face the real and present danger of suffering this fate if the current surrender of ancestral lands by the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) continues in the haphazard, uncontrolled, maybe opaque, manner, style, and speed in which it has been done in the past and until today. 
In furtherance of our fervent desire to ensure the protection, enhancement and sustainability of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the peoples of Fako, we are, hereby, proposing a change in the current and past practices of land surrender by Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) to Fako indigenes.

This memorandum is the first of a series we will submit for your appraisal and action. We, as a Think Tank Group, propose strategies and practical steps for the people of Fako, and even other parts of the country, faced with the challenges of economic migration, especially in cases where the indigenes, or their chiefs, have cultivated the negative practice of recklessly and illegally selling their ancestral lands to the detriment of their own indigenes and posterity. This practice is unsustainable and untenable because it deprives the people of Fako from their most important capital for development – land-  which, in turn, is already, now, producing a vicious cycle of poverty, disenchantment, despondency and dependency in many of our village and urban communities, with the most vulnerable being our youths, the future of this Division, this country.  It negates the legitimate aspirations of any peoples to preserve their culture and promote their legitimate economic and cultural aspirations for posterity.

CDC Land Surrender in Fako and the Dangers it Poses:

                                  

The Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, has for several years now embarked, together with the assistance of the Senior Divisional Officer and the Fako Division Department of Lands, on a program of surrendering Fako lands occupied by the CDC in the form of plantations, to many villages, which have applied to them for the surrender of parcels of land for their apparent use.  Many of the villagers in these villages to which lands have been surrendered by CDC do not own one square meter of land in the “surrendered” lay-outs.  An exhaustive list of such land surrender is in the offices of the Senior Divisional Officer and should be published.

During our visits to some of these villages, and in discussions with some of their Chiefs and notables, the following troubling facts have emerged:

1.                  For several years now, CDC has been ceding considerable amounts of land (average of over 70 hectares each) to village populations that vary from 10 to 5,000 people.

2.                  Most of these villages, which we have visited and with whose Chiefs and occupants we have talked, do NOT have the 1.5 million francs CFA (or more) that CDC is asking as the fee for the cession of the lands.  In addition to the 1.5 million francs cession fee, an additional 1.5 million francs, or more, are needed to pay for the purchase and implantation survey pillars, labor etc. Therefore, a minimum of about 3 (three) million francs is needed, on average, for each village to accede to the surrendered lands.

3.                  CDC is putting considerable pressure on the villages to come up with the money immediately, or else they would lose the opportunity to obtain the said lands.  They (CDC) have made this land cession time-sensitive. This poses a serious problem since most of these villages are not ready, financially, psychologically, managerially, or otherwise to receive and wisely and effectively use and manage these lands.

4.                  Because of this pressure and because most of these Chiefs/villages do NOT have the requisite sum of money to pay to CDC, several of them have resorted to the dangerous option of  illegally “selling” parcels of “promised” lands, in ADVANCE, to those who would give them the money, in order for them to pay CDC.  This is the case with many chiefs and villages in Fako Division. 

5.                  There is great danger in this practice.  Most of the lands ceded by CDC have invariably ended up in the hands of non villagers, and not to the rightful and legal owners - the indigenes for whom the land surrender was meant and from whom the invading and occupying Germans illegally took away the lands.  This has completely negated the raison d’etre for the land surrender by CDC to the ethnic and indigenous, minority peoples of Fako.

6.                  In our many focus group meetings held with some village members, notables and chiefs, there seemed to be a general agreement on the proposal we made to them for the need to have a credible and realistic management plan for the lands that are being surrendered by CDC.  However, knowing the level of material and spiritual poverty of some of these people, there is a slim chance that they will wait for the process-driven management plan to be set up before they completely divest themselves of the land by way of cheap, ridiculous, sales to whoever brings ready cash to them.  Time has proven us right. Most of the lands ceded by CDC are NOT in the possession and control of the intended recipients. Rather, they are in the contentious “ownership” of non- intended third parties.

In the light of the foregoing, we respectfully submit to you, for your urgent action, the following proposal as a means of addressing this problem from a short, medium and long-term perspective:

OPTION A:

i.                    Immediately order a freeze on all CDC lands surrender to any Fako villages UNTIL a clear and unambiguous understanding is reached by ALL Fako Elites and Villages/Chiefs on the generally accepted principles by which these lands will be held in trust by the chiefs or elected or selected committees, to be properly managed, when surrendered, in the interest of the village communities.  These principles will be in keeping with a desire to protect these ancestral lands - not to sell them - and to ensure that they will be passed on to posterity.

ii.                  Set up a Fako Strategic Land Management Committee (FSLMC) to work directly with CDC, the SDO, the Lands Dept and all Fako villages to establish viable development management plans for the lands earmarked for surrender and also to establish a viable plan for any future land surrender by CDC in order to ensure proper protection for the minority indigenes of the respective villages and for posterity.

iii.                Sign commitment/engagement agreements with each village/chief embodying the principles of no-sale and proper, sustainable, management of these lands. Any violation of the terms of this agreement shall result in the immediate revocation and annulations of the lands surrendered and a return of the said land to CDC for safe-keeping and use.

iv.                No lands shall be ceded by CDC to any village that does not submit a 25 to 50 - year development management plan, accompanied by a visaed agreement by The Senior Divisional Officer, along with credible Stakeholders from Civil Society of Fako Division origin, or any other designated entity, certifying the embodiment of the principles set forth.

OPTION B:

i.                    Immediately set up a Fako Land Trust Fund with at least 1 (one) billion francs CFA of Cameroon Government money, designated for the development projects of Fako Division.  Set up a management process for this trust fund, whose membership/contributions should be extended to all Fako elites and indigenes.

ii.                  Use the funds from this trust fund to support villages with the acquisition of the ceded lands and support the creation and implementation of viable, short, medium and long-term, development and management programs for all Fako villages, with special emphasis on youth training and employment in rural communities to prevent or stem rural exodus..

We remain at your disposal to help in clarifying the proposals made here and in actualizing strategies to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the many, innocent, peace-loving but deprived indigenes of Fako.  We seek to work with you in the furtherance of your objectives that has led you to calling and holding this meeting with the chiefs of Fako, in Limbe tomorrow, June 07, 2013.

Respectfully yours.

Living in the 21st Century: The Rainbow

Louis Egbe Mbua 

In this age old world,

And the lots therein,

Yellow is the sun

 And green is for plants.

Seen in the waters

And the seas in deep:

Blue is

 The curve in the sky,

As red is the earth

Plus brown is for man.

The colours of the rainbow

Mean things in the heavens

And matters in the world!

An Inquiry:Part 2

Louis Mbua Egbe

A visit to Africa by President Obama was an expectation; what he says or said was hoped for. Now, let’s examine the reality in practical terms. It is not possible to have genealogical origins embedded in a land; and then decide to look the other way. If one were to do such a thing, the entire world would question that person’s sense of judgement as to be injudiciously conceived because it is only natural that a man reflects on his origins, roots and position all in simultaneous synchrony. Thus, if a man has been put in a position of trust, power and privilege, he would but easily remember his own historical being: this, the writer believes was the inspiration behind Dreams of My Father by President Barack Obama.  Now, suppose we agree that that man’s first pre-occupation is to guarantee the well-being and safety of his own nation, America, in this instance, and therefore himself and his family: then we may easily reach the logical conclusion as to why Obama acts the way he does and how he is to proceed to attain a successful political and Presidential career. However, being successful in America is but just one side of the story. How the Africans and African Americans, Europeans perceive him is another part of the matter. Furthermore, and more fascinating, how White America views his approach and opinions on issues relating to Africa is yet another slice of the pie in this conundrum.

The following is that when Obama last visited Ghana, Africa, in July 2009, hopes were high, expectations heightened, in relation to promises of a new era for Africa now that their man now holds the most powerful position in the free world. Ghana, having a strong democratic tradition of recent was the best option in a continent occupied by tyrants and demagogues of every conceivable kind who run their fiefdoms as though they were mediaeval kings in 15^th century Europe, and where serfdom was so prevalent that Kings declared themselves appointed by God. Obama did not disappoint. He castigated dictators, attacked Africa’s human rights abysmal record and earnestly promised to help Africans rid themselves of this terrible megalomaniacs that have held Africa on its neck, squeezing the delicate part, without the remotest conscience, so as to kill the continent. But he also gave a condition: well, Africans have to do it themselves. This was all very well. On the other hand, what then was the point of his mission; and why are Africans jubilant about his Presidency? That is the real issue.

If we follow the logical conclusion, then Obama has lived true to his words—you are on your own. He did little or nothing to put pressure on these tyrants to leave. If Africans view him as the most powerful man in the free world, it is only natural for them to expect some reasonable or limitedly visible kind of support. It seems this support did not arrive; and that given his domestic problems at home, the support was not actually expected to arrive. This may have to wait for his second term of office which is bound to arrive in two week’s time. Yet, Africans must first show the initiative in changing their own nations.

The despond Africans may now be disappointed. It should be noted that the success of Africa in relation to Obama’s Presidency is also closely followed by Obama’s African-America compatriots – as well as a significant population of White Americans who may have links with Africa or African Americans. While the actual numbers of White American and other Americans who may be in support of the resurgence of Africa may not be known, one may aver that this number is significant. Consequently their influence in sustaining the Obama Presidency is crucial. Since Obama appears not to have lived up to his expectations in Africa, it is logical to conclude that this may have resulted into a backlash against the Obama Presidency and hence the Democratic party in America in  November 2010 mid-term elections. The democratic losses may partly be accounted on this foundation. For Obama to retake the centre ground, he has to take a bold step towards the reinstatement of Africa to the Commonwealth of Nations that respect human rights and the rule of law. How he goes about this is not clear. Given that the UN charter does not provide for interference into the territorial integrity of nation states, the writer may suggest alternatives to this twist of diplomatic matters.

It is important to support well-organised, mandated and accountable civil and human rights groups that profess to challenge tyranny and totalitarianism, corruption in despotic African states. Financial inducements, moral backing and endorsements of these groups would put the present tyrants in the hot seat. As President of America; Obama’s speeches should mention some of these groups to provide them with some legitimacy. While it is true that they have to fight their way into their various countries -- leaving them on their own makes them vulnerable to the vultures of death who detest any form of opposition. In Cameroon, recently, journalists and human rights activists have died in prison and not a word was uttered by the Obama administration to attack this outrage. We saw Obama in full swing when it concerned the BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, attacking the hapless BP Chief Executive and extracting up to £20 Billion for compensation of those affected; to clean up the polluted Gulf Coast and the stopping of the damaged Oil well head. The writer is not against oil exploitation or exploration or oil production, but in support of social justice.

It is of special consideration to point out that because of Obama’s tough stance, the American (and European) crisis was overcome within three years. While the writer is not suggesting that Obama should take the same line of action against foreign African nations, it is of essence to see that the impact of his influence on world opposition groups in Africa is great; and that other influential Africans should make the effort to approach Obama, putting forward their human rights ideals, their strategic plans of action; and underlining their need for his financial and moral support within the bounds of international and America law. Therefore, the exercise is a two way master plan – Obama as a powerful leader on one side, and the committed human and civil rights activists as a power block at the other end. This is one of the diverse ways that may be applied to shape the destiny of the world because if Africa advances in social, economic and technological terms, then so too will America and the world.  As Africa recovers from the presumed death throes of its sorry state of predicament and fundamental want – without supply – so too will the economy of America resurges from her own present dire straits. It is a classic mistake to believe that one must fully concentrate to overcome a huge domestic and political hurdle so as to achieve greatness or success or both as a leader.

The world today is far different from the superpower obsession of the 20^th century when the cold war brought to bear a kind of parochialism, division, paranoia and isolationism of the West and the East. During that confrontational period, clashes existed between the socio-politico paradigms of the East and that of Western Europe, ideologies of Communism versus the now discredited capitalism as it was and is recently practised.  At that time, all nations had to either fall to the Eastern Bloc or stay “safely” on the Western sphere. It mattered very little if one were located south or north, geographically. States had to choose sides in order to survive the ideological battles and the nuclear arms race. The consequences were that global prosperity were stifled; and that Western Europe was living in a fool’s paradise, the Eastern Bloc lived in a fool’s outer darkness. Progress was stunted. The collapse of nations’ economies the world over in 2008 and the on-going credit crunch, from America to the Arctic fringes means that every leader who is in a pole position to shape human destiny has to re-assess their options in terms of foreign and domestic policies.

Obama and the African and Middle East Revolution

It should be recalled that Obama came to power at the most difficult of times in the American Presidential history – Two international  wars – in Iraq and Afghanistan -- as well as an American economic and financial melt-down. In fact, one may claim, arguably, that America was running on the borders of imminent and ignominious bankruptcy and cataclysmic social ruin. So, it is wise to arrive at the reasonable conclusion that his first priorities were to undertake the tasks he was elected to do by his own people --  and as a patriotic American. Many Africans fail to see this fundamental obligation. The writer notes that in Africa: those who are elected by the people quickly forget why they were elected in the first place; and where the power lies. In a society where tribalism, paternalism, croynism and corruption are the main moral standard of the day, it is easy to see why the African intellectual class are obtaining these sub-conscious ideas. The writer would not attribute such wrong-headedness to culture.

When a people have been enmeshed and subjugated for a long time, they start taking the characteristics of the oppressor. The society as a whole becomes part of the corrupt system and as a consequence, the entire thinking and ideology of the society alters intolerably, bent towards materialism. As materialistic instincts of man takes hold, and overshadow the intellectual nature of that particular society, human beings no longer apply the depth of thought: for surface values are those that merely satisfy the eyes, ears, tongue and skin. Thinking about what one sees, savouring as to what one eats, and listening only to what one wants to hear beclouds the mind. The mind of a man must act in line with the physical world for that mind to exact any meaningful impact on society. If, by some kind of social and moral disturbance, this balance of mind and material world becomes lost, there are two scenarios that may ensue in relation to inhabitants of such a doomed society: those who subscribe to materialism will obviously come form the majority as the society steers towards the survival of the fittest, and as a result, assumes the mantle of moral bankruptcy gearing towards animalism. Those who wear the cloak of the mind will form a minority whose voices of reason will be drowned until such a time when those with spiritual inclinations begin to come around to connect mind and the world. Such has been the unfortunate case of the African peoples, the World; and why it becomes difficult for a significant number of Africans and world peoples to understand the wisdom of challenging evil and tyrants. They may have been in tyranny for far too long to understand the moral obligation, and the courage it takes in attacking a despot who has vowed to destroy his own people.

Fear itself becomes part of the psychology of the tyrant-- to put his people under the strange spell of his own invincibility. This cultism is broken if the tyrant is delivered a fatally punishing blow to his authority. The Western world knows this dictum. Africans do not know and unfortunately or they might have known; but abandoned or forgotten their mantra as a result of 500 years of subjugation by outsiders bringing with them other values. This, therefore, may explain the opposition from certain institutions in Africa, and the hostility of opinion against the well-meaning military help the United Nations provided for Libya.

The second stanza about Obama and the destiny of Africa is more problematic.  Obama cannot help Africa with hardened dictators and self-proclaimed life-presidents ensconced precariously forever in an unbalanced treacherous power – stability in instability. Some came to power through bloody Coup d’états, others have altered their respective constitutions to remain in power eternally -- an with fake elections thrown in.  

An Inquiry on Architects of Destiny Part 1: Obama

Louis Egbe Mbua

It entered into my mind that certain individuals are heavily marked by destiny – good or bad; and that the rise and fall of these remarkable people may have a bearing as to their very existence and actions. The rise and fall (or fall and rise) of a man is as old as the beginning of the times. What initiates this event has always been an origination of animated debates, gossips and other explanations since the art of conversation was invented when nobody was anybody.

The trick of the matter, one should suppose, is to exemplify the case with those living at the time, the contemporaries of the era. Others employ an historical rear view to explain human destiny, dipping and diving -- into the past to conjure up the future, to bring up light in areas of grey and darkness. However, it is only when one is living the times of the day that one may be in a pole position of undisputed strength and knowledge to investigate current events, and the fast currents that drag the human race to their ultimate destination. Whether that destination will be heaven or hell is dependent upon the point of definitive departure, the manner and the force of personality of that individual in the driving seat and, above all, the prime condition of the vehicle through which that road is being circuitously navigated.

The way may be rough, rugged and uninviting but if the man is destined to reach safely, then we may agree that that individual is destined for a greater good – or bad. On the other hand, if that person reaches a road block and is obstructed, do we concede that he is doomed? And would one say that the entire vehicle is destined for destruction? Let the reader follow the train of thought.

When Obama won the American Presidency in November 2008, it was widely hailed as the event of the century -- if not the millennium -- because it broke down the colour bar that has benighted this world for half a millennium; the end of racism was here; and that substance and talent have prevailed over superficiality and mediocrity. The entire planet was a light, brimming with optimism. Pessimism had been irrevocably destroyed, presumably. Or is it? However, recent events appear to have dampened the euphoria of the prospecting world of Utopia. There are myriad of reasons that may be put forward in relation to these strange occurrences. President Obama’s background and his charting the landscape of the American society to reach the pinnacle of power are well documented so one will not belabour the reader on this known matter. The point of contention is whether his path is running true to his chosen aim.

As a person, who lived in the Federated West & East Cameroon States days, and is now living in the UK, my experiences dictate that Obama’s health care reforms are one of the greatest events in American history.  Any group of people who have signed up to be called a nation have the moral responsibility to ensure that all are equally exposed to the benefits of that nation. It is true that some are more gifted than others, and that others are stronger in various spheres than others. However, it is futile to believe that those who are less fortunate do not contribute to society. Contribution to society is not only material as some may suppose. Consequently, that a person may not possess material wealth does not mean that person does not bring his own gift to the table. The simple act of exercising one’s right to vote for the right leader in a free, credible, and fair election is on its own a great contribution; that people bring forth human beings into the world may be considered more important than having a million pounds and deliberately spending the entire lot or loot! On their own! The rational for a national health care is to ensure that even those who may not contribute materially may also have the opportunity to play their part as destiny assigns.

At the same time, societies differ in their philosophical outlook; and that each nation has a beginning that defines their destination. But if we agree that there are aspects that are universal in shaping our destiny then we may judge that, the philosophy of a nation may not be always right as long as it violates these universal norms. If America believes in individualism, survival of the fittest in entrepreneurial skill, talent, and energy, that is fine only to a certain limit because even if one is talented, it is clear that we may not reach our destiny on our own without an added push from other individuals and the nation. Therefore, if we accept that we achieve as a result of nationhood then it is clear that those who one may consider as the low of the lows contributed in their own ways. Thus, it is unwise to oppose a universal health system. It seems, thus, to the writer that those who oppose the universal health care law by the Obama regime have a sinister political agenda because the idea that only individuals may achieve and as a result, can afford health care is false. On this count, I believe Obama won. Although he may have paid a heavy price, he will win in the long term for himself and the American people. With this achievement, he has shaped his destiny and those of his people for a long time to come; and that their future well-being is assured.

The troubling aspect in the American scenario can be placed as a sign on the doors of a kind of modern misunderstanding. There are those who have resigned as to refuse the acceptance of a man of African origin occupying the White House. It takes about five generations to come to term within a deeply institutionalised vice; another five to realise the large moral fault that it creates; five more to rectify and bridge the gaping obstacle. It is of importance that those destined to lead a nation in these circumstances have a thorough understanding in this sphere. That one may be voted President of a multiracial society does not remove this hindrance or cancel out past and traumatic events.  The evil of racism does not affect only the oppressed in a negative way but has the intrinsic danger of warping the minds of those who never felt the pangs of discrimination. A man who knows not discrimination may be falsely led to believe that he has the birth right to persecute those who had had the sad experience of exclusion.

This effect may not be conscious or in-born but that one is shaped by what they have been brought up to believe, and what they know from the past.  So, the natural instinct or intuition is that he challenges and opposes a policy not on its merits but that the new order is presumed to be inferior to his own thinking – a totally false assumption. Those who adhere to this view cut across all sections of society, from the commoner to the King, from workers to their leaders. At the top of the echelon, the exponents of this kind of thought are hard to identify because they would want to protect their power. As a result, they may not reveal their hand in an open manner but may use other subtle means to undermine a noble undertaking of their imagined inferiority of others. A man who turns up at a rally with a gun, pretending to fight for his freedom against another man who says and practises freedom may actually be the carrier of the views of those at the top and within the structures of power. It follows that to shape one’s destiny; a speedy intuitive stock has to be taken as to who is actually for freedom – irrespective of race – and who pretends to be for freedom and the well-being of their nation.  To chart the difficult path to one’s destiny is not purely political as some might be led to believe-- seemingly. It is a sum total of where you started, who you met on the way, which road one takes, who they are and what you think of them when you reach your final destination on a personal note.

There are two kinds of destinations in this argument:  One destination that is borne out of personal ambition and the other resting on the aspirations of a people. The former, if one attains it, is temporal, the latter eternal. The following is that attaining the personal without achieving the universal amounts to failure. Again, if one were to attain the universal without attaining the personal, it poses a problem because how is one to attain the universal without individual success? And which of the said aspirations comes first? The answer is that one cannot extricate himself from both because one cannot attain universality if one does not survive. The point is that to chart a destiny, one must do both all at once, to keep a close look at your chosen destination; and that of those you wish to lead; and that what good you wish for yourself should be that same gains you should wish for the entire people. Since the entire nation is on your radar screen, one should not be unscrupulous as to who serves, or to reject who can play a part. Therefore, those who arrive safely at their destination are individuals who may be able to know, by intuition, logic or otherwise, as to what policies and principles are right; and to choose those who know that what they do and where they are going is the right way.

Living in the 21st Century 21: Convenience

Living in the 21^st Century:  Convenience

The propriety of enjoyment not a person sows,

But if the art of its survival is in hollow marshes,

 Thence a marriage of love is the perfect way.

 To marry for carnal pursuit is to put

Wisdom into the next flight

 To doomsday!

A love of convenience is worse

Than a wedlock of inconvenience,

Since all knots are unwanted

At some point in their life span.

So, no marriage of convenience does

 Exist in reality!

The scribe imagined something inexplicable:

One woman marries for money,

Fame and power while the other

For the strength of a man; this is vanity:

But who can resist raw male strength

And wealth?!

The poet saw something mysterious:

Another man also marries for fame,

Money and power while the next one

For the beauty of a woman: this is vanity;

But who can oppose raw female beauty,

Amoureux?!

An Albatross in the Cameroons

Louis Egbe Mbua

Never, since the formation of the defunct Cameroon Federation in 1961, has there been such a growing generation of curiosity and euphoria by four rapid letters in succession. Had it been love letters for a long lost Casanova to his damsel in the land of utopia, it would have created a different kind of fantasia in the imaginations of the populace:  if, on the other hand, it were a single letter conjured up to fire a company director from a renown multinational, a different sort of phantasmal excitement will again be expected but a great expectation all the same. One can quickly recall, summoning at lightning speed, periods at one’s teenage years when a silly student’s love letter was caught by the college Principal who would proceed to announce and then move forward to promptly read it up aloud in front of a curious bunch of fresh-faced love non-starters: who would be waiting, anxiously,  and fully alert for the juicy parts to be serialised so as  to burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter while the supposed culprit would watch in total helplessness and fright  on the stage with his eyes firmly glued to the floor.

Mr. Marafa Hamidou Yaya is no small student or is he a small time office clerk working in the Buea Council in Cameroon. A Cameroonian and USA trained geologist and engineer, he had scaled the heights of his engineering profession by sheer raw talent, worked as an oil man, transformed into a respected oil executive in Cameroon and then morphed into a top flight politician with the clout and position as Secretary General at the Cameroon Presidency, and latterly as Minister of Interior. How he did it is any one’s guess. All that may be gleaned from his biography is that he did it with easy panache. That, however, is not the point of this essay. The main focus is that he was promptly arrested without warning in the national capital Yaoundé, together with Chief Ephraim Inoni, the former Cameroon Prime Minister, who was quietly living off his retirement in his native coastal village of Bakingili near Victoria, Cameroon; and performing his functions as the local Chieftain.

According to reliable reports, both former African big men were summoned to Yaoundé,  to answer questions relating to or directly connected to what has now been aliased as the Albatross Affair. The intricacies and twists of the matter have been diagnosed and documented by many renowned writers, and so will not be fully sermonised in this expose. Nevertheless, a fast-paced précis will add much needed Indian spice in the cooking of the story to be followed by the books for exotic and exquisite taste on this complex of state matters.

Accordingly, President Biya of Cameroon wanted a Presidential Aeroplane for his own and family personal use. Unfortunately for the seemingly politically sweet-toothed or power-spoiled Mr. Biya, the IMF had imposed tight restrictions on the rumoured and evident Cameroon squandamania as a trade off for Cameroon to qualify as a Heavily Indebted Country Status (HIC). It is with irony, and the wringing of the hands for one to make a note that Chief Inoni was the architect of this Cameroonian “rescue” plan as Cameroon was on the verge of total bankruptcy due to years of the Biya regime’s gross mismanagement and gross corruption. That is another story.  Anyway, Biya had other ideas. Following our thread, Biya sort a cunning and illegally irregular plan to go ahead and purchase the luxury jet in breach of this international economic compromise agreement.

Knowing full well his usurped dictatorial powers, he grafted the defunct Cameroon Airlines (CamAir) to do the ignominious task so as to evade detection by the international body. In a further complex dictatorial manoeuvre he ordered the state-owned Cameroon Hydrocarbon Company,  La Societe Nationale d'Hydro-carburant (SNH)  to stump up for the plane, further covering his gaming tracts. Trouble is that those responsible or given the task to purchase or procure the aircraft or both appeared not to have understood the great act of deception by Le Grand Sorcier de la politique (GSP). As a result, the entire project was bungled with corrupt officials having a field day with more than $31 million sent directly to the “manufacturing agent” abroad (the story is so full of complex webs of lies and deceit that nobody can quite decipher exactly who is the manufacturer or agent or both) by the SNH to buy the plane. The “project” was so badly executed so much so that Biya ended up with a second hand or third hand (nobody quite  knows to this day at to whether it was an actual  plane or a converted 18^th century Zeppelin balloon) aircraft.

The interesting matter here is that it was not immediately obvious as to the state and mechanical conditions of the Albatross since it was given a good coat of metallic paint, so it was said. The machine had very little difference with the fake disguised tanks used by the allied forces to deceive Hitler into bombing an empty paper tank. Whatever the case, Biya and his family appeared to be very pleased with the “results”; well, not until the Albatross “aircraft” took to the air. From preliminary “technical” reports from the media, it seems the aircraft took off but immediately had intractably serious problems flying and staying in the air. With the President and his entire family in the Albatross, there are rumours of Biya and his family entering into a fit of fright, intermittent panic attacks  and massive hysteria because it seems the plane was about to plummet onto the ground like a huge savage stone. What would have happened to the Albatross and the fate of the passengers if, by some cruel poetic orison, the Albatross hit the ground in its shaking rage with a deafening bang nobody can quite tell. With a stroke of good luck, the able Captain managed to control and land the “aircraft”. There began the strange and scandalous Albatross Affair.

Now, Mr. Biya claims Marafa and Chief Inoni were fully responsible for the “hold-up” or hijack of public money “set aside” for the doomed aircraft, and that they are outright embezzlers or that they planned to finish him off complete with his family, depending on whose story is to be believed and whose side one takes. Who, exactly, is the culprit on top of the stage with his eyes permanently glued onto the floor? Marafa has washed his hands and says it is not him. Chief Inoni also denied any involvement in the scandal by staying mute. So who stole the $31 million from the SNH? That is the first port of call in the source of the Marafa letters.

There are so far four letters released by Marafa which can be considered as the CamMarafa Scandals. These letters are widely circulated in the internet thus I will not belabour the reader with its details. However, the crunch summary of the matter is that Marafa stated clearly that he had nothing  to do with the transfer of  $31million abroad  in connection with the acquisition of the Albatross; and that the transactions were done in violation of normal  and official working practice of the Cameroon government which conduct state matters by means of letters of credit. In another separate missive, he decried lack of consultations with the recent electoral reform Laws in Cameroon; and that he clearly advised Biya to step down, and not to stand again in the 2011 Presidential elections; he was opposed, he stated, to the altering of the constitution to eliminate term limits in 2008 that gave Biya a free reign to transform himself illegally into a life President against the consent of the Cameroon people. He went further by stating that he opposed an “inherited” Presidency since Biya was planning to create a position of a Vice President that would take over the Presidency after he “leaves”. Most poignantly, he called for his own fair trial before a competent judge since he dismissed the original judge who recommended his incarceration as “corrupt”. He questioned Biya’s judgement for appointing incompetent ministers who display amazing tepidity and incomprehension in executing state functions while reporting that Biya replied that “not all minsters were actually “ministers””.  

Finally, Marafa claims to have  a “democratic“ plan; and an objective for future and prosperous Cameroon, then went on, in some kind of political bravado, to openly challenge his accusers to either produce or conjure up their own plan. Nobody quite knows the exact content of the Marafa “plan”. Nevertheless, his intrepid and politically damaging actions may indicate that his road maps and objectives fall under the heading of the revolutionary. This perfectly mirrors his present actions as what he is undertaking, at the moment, is nothing short of direct confrontation with the status quo as an insider. His rivals –if we may call them as such – so far, have failed to produce any meaningful  “counter” plan for the country with a clear vision save pitiful photshopped graphical illustrations of a possible mirage in 2035.

It should be drawn to the notice of the eminent readers that Marafa is not the first high profile prisoner to write from the notorious Kondegui prison facility in Yaoundé. However, what gave his correspondences added weight and impetus is that he directly challenged Biya’s 30 year strangle hold on power and dictatorship. Mr. Mebara, another incarcerated apparatchik and former Secretary General at the Presidency who is also allegedly implicated in the comical Albatross uproar with Biya and the ensuing Brouhaha within the Cameroon press corps appears to have begun his literary career in prison. Yet, although he was praised for his soothing style, gripping narratives and ease of words as well as carefully crafted grammatical terminologies, his was written to solicit a sort of “pre-condolence” telegram from the self-proclaimed Supreme  Magistrat de l’Etat. The killer bite was palpably not there, the punch de grace noticeably lacking. These correspondences will serve as excellent historical and social documents for future references, a literary bonanza for “kongossa” and gossip champions, a personal testimony, undoubtedly, but at the moment they can only be viewed as missives of procrastinating entreaties with supine acquiescence as the moulding block.

In a desperate attempt to fight back, a calculated move to strike back, at halting the incessant and vicious attacks from Marafa into the left and right ventricular power flow lines of the Biya oligarchic jamboree, Professor Fame Ndongo, the Cameroon Minister of Higher Education, and a CPDM ruling party operator-manipulator wrote and circulated in the Cameroon press what may pass as a purely theoretical philosophical academic “rebuttal” of the Marafa letters. As ana academic treatise, this was of excellent grade. However, as a counter political guerrilla tactics, it counts for an impecunious zero political capital. While this served as a necessary distraction for a while, the near convoluted disquisition that quoted medieval philosophers was totally devoid of iron teeth to bite the increasingly accelerating intellectual bullets from the firing stun gun of the Marafa pen. Instead of even slowing down the momentous political contours that these events were carving in the landscape of the Cameroon dramatic scene, the Fame Ndongo rebuttal rather added more impetus to further attract the Chariot of the Gods to dispatch more fire and dark smoke through vents that penetrate into the very foundations of the Cameroons lands.

Late in July 2012, Marafa appeared in court in Yaoundé together with his Chief Attorney Professor Kofele-Kale. Dressed in a crisped and well-pressed suit that seemingly resemble a tailored couture cut out by a skilled hand in Saville Row, London, he proffered a tentative “Presidential” wave to the crowd who had jammed the court area as well as lining the street to see him. The crowd didn’t disappoint. In a spontaneous move to return his felicitous accolade, the 10,000 strong crowds boomed back in an unmistakably unanimous stanza: “Bienvenue notre President”. Seeing the scene in pictures takes the motion of a compelling premonition in moving images as in a silent movie. Reminisces of biblical similitude completes the chorus:

 Saul has slain all his one thousand;

The girded one has his tens of thousands

Saul came, did not see, empty went

The people came, saw and fear conquered

The Albatross has come to stay,

An Albatross ‘round their necks strung

What is in there for the millions?

Extracted from the forth coming Book: A 21^st Century Trilogy of Essays Book 2.

Afriqiya -- Hole in the Plane

Louis Egbe Mbua

Note: This is not a negative rendition of the Afriqiya Airways. Their services were very good.

In July 2009, I arrived at the Douala International Airport in Cameroon en route to London. I had come to Cameroon to attend my brother’s wedding in Kumba.  With the formalities over and all marriage vows etched in stone, I found my return ticket, and was escorted to the Douala International Airport. The Afriqiya flight was scheduled for 11.00 pm Cameroon time; and was, therefore, important that one arrives at the airport at least an hour so as to check in and board. Furthermore, there were no computers displaying light emitting signals on huge electronic boards in the airport.

The consequences are that travellers have to depend on their raw instincts to ascertain as to what time one’s particular plane arrives. The trick, I found out later, was to check in as quickly as possible, and then move on to quickly find your way into the waiting room. As most of the waiting rooms are adjacent to the runway; and that their glasses windows are in the same geometrical location opposite to the runway, one can actually physically see their aircraft complete with their logos and inscriptions in the fuselage, landing and then taxiing to the gates. Or so I thought.

Having arrived in time, I went through the motion until the last security post manned by a certain burley Cameroonian “security officer” in plain clothes, possibly a secret agent as the custom of Cameroon.

“Ton passeport Monsieur! “, he growled in French looking a bit menacing straight into my eyes. I handed him my passport. He took it, looked at it intensely as though observing the parts of a microscopic organism poorly magnified by the traditional microscope. Having thoroughly examined the soft back, he opened the first page, scrutinised it again and saying in his breath:  “Not sure about this”. I equally hissed under my breath, quite instinctively: “sure, you won’t”.

“Tu as dit que quoi?”, he half-shouted in a quite self-important intonation and apparent anger.

“Oh, I was just practising one of my songs”, I threw back a hastily concocted reply in English to save my skin; and risking the presumption that he may not understand English fully (Cameroon is officially bilingual although the officials in the French-speaking part of the country always insist on speaking in French and assuming that every other person understands French).

The security guard was taken aback.  His countenance recovered from my seemingly surprising positive attack on his attitude.

“Alors,tu es musicien a Londre?” he asked with a mixture of excitement, surprise and seriousness on his face.

If I said yes, he would have to investigate me further, and possibly delay my check in, almost certainly missing my flight; but if I said no, then he would have to suspect what I had just said putting my “security” clearance under profound jeopardy. So, I quickly answered without batting an eye lid:

“Oui  et Non, man no make erreur.” I kept my face straight holding back an audible laughter in case he mistook me for a kind of stand up comedian. He stared at me; and I Iooked at him, inspected him from top to bottom, and then fixated my darkish brown-blue iris( I change the colour of my Iis to frighten potential adversaries), which actually change in colour as the circumstance warrant, on his face in a bid to apply an importunate psychological dressing down and to administers some fright. It transformed into a stand-off match in an intimidating battle of the batting of the eyelids. The security man was frightened out of his wits.

I allowed my eyes to wander around the other commuters who queued behind me without actually turning my head or alter my iris position. I noticed from the corners of my eyes that every eye was fixed on the unfolding spectacle, some of the travellers actually giggling.

Confused, and perhaps believing that I was some kind of Lapiro De Mbanga supporter, the Security man demanded abruptly as if one were in a military training selection exercise in a camp somewhere in the middle of the forest:

“Can you make a photocopy de cet passporte?” he demanded in a new version of Franglais or Camglais as some would like it be referred to, depending on what part of Cameroon one has their origins.

“Why would you require a photocopy of the passport when you actually hold the real document?” I rhetorically responded fervently in English and in half-amazement, with conviction.

“By the by, do you have a photocopy machine in the airport?” I made a reasonably polite demand.

I was ushered into a shop in the airport, handed out a  CFA 1000 (about  70 p) note to the lady on the till, who made a photocopy of the desired pages of my passport, hurried back to the check-in point and gave the copies to the custom officer or the suspected l’homme de CENER. He glanced at it, thanked me, handed back my passport and opened the gate. I reciprocated the polity; but not after again questioning the officer as to why he would need a photocopy of a passport.

 “Well, I’d have to send it to the London High Commission for checks of authenticity”, he replied. “We have to be absolutely sure that this is your passport,”   he said quietly.  Not to cause any more commotion, I decided to leave it at that and trudged the long straight corridor, turned one or two sharp corners into the waiting room.

There were other travellers waiting for the Afriqiya aircraft. Since there were no computers or bill board to indicate flight schedules, one had to depend on his own sight or that of other travellers to actually see the aircraft taxiing to the gate for passengers to board. One had to keep asking;

“Has the Afriqiya plane arrived yet?”

“Non,” was the answer from a seasoned traveller. “It is normally late by up to two hours,” he continued.

He was right.  At about 1.00 am, the distinctive 999 logo pasted on the tail of the Airbus manufactured aircraft could be seen advancing onto the gate, a cool 2 hours late. No apologies were given but each and every traveller was relieved that the plane had arrived; and that we are to leave at last. We boarded the plane and had a smooth, enjoyable and uneventful flight to Tripoli where we had to catch the next plane to London Gatwick. There was another delay in Tripoli but we eventually boarded a similar Afriqiya Airways Airbus plane.

After a brief announcement by the flight attendant, we boarded the aircraft. Took my seat by the window, pulled out a book and began to read. Next to me was an African woman of about middle age range. After exchanging a few African pleasantries, the flight attendant began her health and safety instructions and signifying that the plane was set for take off. At that very moment the African woman pointed at the hand luggage compartment just opposite to and above our seat:

 “There is a hole in the plane!” she exclaimed. I looked intently and actually saw that one of the compartments was damaged and that there was actually a hole in the plane. To be absolutely sure, I got up from my seat and had a good old-fashioned look. To my ultimate horror, there was actually a hole in the plane. However, the hole appeared to be confined onto one damaged luggage compartment. At the same time, who knows where the hole led to?  Did the hole lead to the outside of the plane?  I went back to my seat, picked up my book and resumed my enjoyable perusal. The plane was geared to take off anyway.

“What happens happens,” I thought, secretly frightened out of my wits.  But the African woman continued to insist that there was a hole in the plane; and reported the matter in full hearing of the already disconcerted passengers. So, we decided to draw the attention of this seemingly grave technical matter to the flight attendant who was already giving health and safety instructions in case of a plane crash! The Lady next to me, pointed to the hole, asking the flight attendant to “do something about this”. She looked around, appearing at a loss for words and said “Oh it is but a small matter, it is not important, and the plane is about to take off.” Now, we did not know what this meant exactly. Is it because the plane was about to take off that made the hole unimportant or was the hole unimportant because it didn’t actually lead to the outside – the atmosphere? And if the second hypothesis is true, how did she know where the hole led to? Was she speaking from experience? And even if she spoke from experience, was she a qualified Aircraft Engineer? With all the arguments and counter-arguments conflicting in my mind, I decided to leave my seat, took off my glasses and took a good old fashioned look again, but this time I went nearer to the whole. I saw nothing because the hole was dark.  At least I didn’t see the outside lights of the day; and because we were travelling during the afternoon, I could conclude that the hole was confined to the single luggage compartment.

Extracted from the forth coming Book: A 21^st Century Trilogy of Essays Book 2.