It is becoming even more apparent that Cameroonians have a traumatic relationship with power. With one of the longest serving presidents in the world who has held a tight grip on power and used it more for oppression than development, it is easy to see why there is a general disdain for power. When that power seems excessive, it triggers that PTSD in the average Cameroonian.
This strong disdain for power, I believe, has contributed to the inability for Anglophones to rally behind the various people that have presented themselves as leaders of the struggle. As soon as any person seems to be emerging as a leader, we see attempts by many to discredit them by picking up and highlighting their flaws. For many their intention to lead has been immediately dismissed with “the man just want na power.” This is a chapter for another day.
We all watched the fight Eto’o put up to become president of FECAFOOT. He even went as far as compromising,what I believe are, some of his values. I am talking here about the incident in Limbe where he claimed to be moving around with no body guards while evidence proved otherwise. One thing that is certain is that Eto’o has had his sights on the presidency of FECAFOOT for a very long time. I believe his support of Biya’s 2018 campaign was another compromise he made to improve his chances.
Meanwhile many are happy he won the elections, the voices that disagree with his leadership style have increased since he took over. When he locked FECAFOOT employees out of the gate for coming late in the first days of his presidency, many believed he was overdoing it. That group decided to ignore the fact that late coming to work should not be tolerated and rather decided to attack Eto’o for being too harsh on his employees.
The current issue according to many is that he is doing Song’s job. That he picked Song because he knew he could make him his minion. We have seen multiple videos of him addressing the lions before and after games, something which many believe should be the job of the coach and not the president of FECAFOOT. To that, I’ll say a few things. First of all, there is no rule book that says he should not address players and secondly just because we don’t see videos of Song talking to players, we cannot assume he doesn’t have his time.
If you ask me, I’ll say maybe the idea of putting out those videos is the actual issue and not the fact that he addresses the lions in the place of the coach. When you think about it some more, those dressing room videos also serve to build up that relationship between the team and the fans. Song clearly does not have the oratory skills that will get people amped up. Song has his charisma but it is not the motivational type. So in my opinion, Eto’o is actually filling in for a weakness of a teammate.
Eto’o is also aware the buck starts and stops with him as far as the success of the lions is concerned. If the lions fail Eto’o will be blamed so you must forgive him for intervening when he thinks he has to and how he has to.
As the days go by, it is becoming clear that the presidency of FECAFOOT is not where his ambition stops. He might be looking at the presidency of Cameroon in the future and why not? For every Cameroonian, that should be a valid dream. Just like he prepared for years for the FECAFOOT, he must be preparing for the presidency of Cameroon. His PR is definitely out to show him as different kind of leader, the kind of leader that can bring the much needed change in Cameroon. Him constantly addressing the lions and putting it out there is part of that campaign. It is what one can refer to as a necessary evil because honestly he could still motivate the lions to winning without putting the videos out.
Why do I call it a necessary evil? Because it all comes down to politics and politics is a game that is rigged. You can’t play fair and expect to win. Sometimes you will find yourself getting your hands dirty. The hope is usually that for a good man like Eto’o, those hands don’t get stained. Is the man perfect? NO. But if we are looking for perfection in a leader, we’ll end up picking a liar or pretender.
Eto’o is definitely running a popularity campaign for himself alongside doing his job as president of FECAFOOT. The question is why not? If he has bigger ambitions, he is definitely preparing for them now like he prepared for FECAFOOT years ahead of time.
I believe to bring any change in Cameroon as a leader, you have to employ unconventional methods and that is exactly what Eto’o is doing. We are also in an era where people will ask you “Tu as fais quoi que les gens on vu?” So we must stop speaking from both sides of our mouths. He has to document his work and put it out there. You know that old question “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to see it, has it fallen?”
Many are even accusing him of having dictatorial tendencies. I’d prefer we judge from the results. As far as I am concerned, corruption and embezzlement are the primary problems plaguing our country and Eto’o has proven that he is not easily corruptible and does not embezzle. For that alone, he should be cut some slack.
We also have the fear of a personality cult forming around him. Does it really matter if he is getting the job done? For a very long time, Cameroon has not seen a leader like Eto’o rise to his prominence. For those saying he is trying to outshine the others? When was the last time he was not already shining more than the others?
When I speak of the need for us to empower the powerful, I am talking about giving more power to people like Eto’o. I acknowledge the PTSD we have gotten from power in Cameroon, let’s be wary of allowing it push to fight power for the sake of it because right now, some of us are just afraid of the power he is gaining and are scared he might become too powerful for us to control.
To conclude, our fear of power should make us push for better institutions because institutions will serve the common good more than any individual can. Maybe this is the time for other young people to start getting involved in politics because that’s the only means by which we can empower ourselves to push for better institutions.
- Norbert Foy