Benjamin
Ngah in Bamenda
The euphoria raised within government
spheres by what has been described by many as a “stop over” visit by the French
President; François Holland to Cameroon is fading out. Many a Cameroonian are
yet to make meaning of the visit and what the country stands to gain from such
a visit apart from the promise by the French President to help Cameroon in the
fight against Boko Haram. The economic pacts to tune of billions signed did
between the Cameroon government and the French did not go down well the throat
of many because of the lack of accountability and transparency in the
management of state affairs, inertia, corruption and the lack of true will to
democratize and check all these. They argue
that the country had had several such accords before with different countries,
yet nothing seems to be working and the country remains highly indebted, poor
and weak with poverty visible in the eyes of the majority due to acute
unemployment.
One Cameroonian who was invited at
the Unity Palace to receive the French President, and who later met with him one
to one at the French embassy in Cameroon was Ni John Fru Ndi, leader of
Cameroon’s major opposition party, the SDF. For close to four minutes of
intense exchanges with the French President, Fru Ndi says, the discussed the
state of democracy in Cameroon, Boko Haram and the French aid to Cameroon.
On the state of democracy in
Cameroon, the chairman of the SDF said, “I
had good talks with the French president and tell you before a French president
could condescend to receive the opposition leaders as Holland did is a good
sign. I told him that the electoral system in our country was not good and that
the French being one of the countries that sponsors Cameroon, they should not
send the French tax payer’s money to be wasted in bad governance.” To this according to Fru Ndi, President Holland
made it clear to him that it was time “Cameroonians
take their responsibilities into their own hands.” But he informed Holland that for the past
years of the democratic struggle in Cameroon, Cameroonians have been maimed,
killed and imprisoned since the powers that be uses excessive force to quell
down dissent. He pointed out to Holland that, “there is no way that the people
can fight a government that is training its army to fight and suppress the
people.” The chairman further questioned Biya claims of always winning in
elections in the country and sought to know who changed the constitution and
who tied the hands of the Supreme Court President in 1992 elections during which
he utterly and persuasively won.
On Boko Haram, the SDF chieftain
expressed satisfaction that Holland informed him that France was going to help
Cameroon in the domain of training. According to Fru Ndi, the Cameroonian armed
force have been doing a tremendous job so far in the fight against Boko Haram
but needed more skills in combatting terrorism. “If France should come in to
train our soldiers who hitherto were not well train to fight insurgency is a good
thing and we can only appreciate the French for that. We may not have to rely
on foreign soldiers again to defend our national territory. I appreciate France
for that.”
Although the Anglophone problem
which has been gaining momentum of recent did not feature on their table
because of time constraints, Fru says the Anglophones are problem is a purely
Cameroonians problem and the Anglophones are already taking the right path he
pledges his unconditional support to them.
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