If you are surprised by the news, you are either not Cameroonian, are living in a bubble or just bewitched. It’s that simple. Many people had seen it coming a long time ago. All you need to do is take a walk around Yaoundé or Douala, our two largest cities and see that things are certainly not going as they should be. And that is just for infrastructure.
I have always held the belief that the most oppressive and corrupt people in this country are those who claim to be the most patriotic. But as it happens, their notion of patriotism is veiled by a thick cataract of corruption, nonchalance, and a nauseating deference to our commander-in-chief. Everything in this country seems to run at the speed of Etoudi-O’clock. And boy is that clock old and outdated!
President Ahmad of CAF has shown more patriotism than most Cameroonians as a matter of fact. For being patriotic is first of all accepting that things are not right and being courageous enough to say it so that what is necessary to fix it can be done irrespective of how many egos you bruise along the way. But in Cameroon, when you do that, what do you hear?
“C’est un ennemi tapis dans l’ombre qui veut déstabiliser ce pays qui a un gouvernment republicain. »
The Anglophone crisis started two years ago almost exactly today. And that was the same rhetoric that was used. The powers that be did not want to face the hard truth and solve the problem. And here we are today. As a matter of fact, I had been against this AFCON for more than a year now with the deepening of the crisis. And I was wondering how Cameroon could rid itself of it when President Ahmad came to the rescue.
The truth is, Cameroon shot itself in the foot when it agreed to host 24 instead of the previously agreed 16 teams. The “patriots” who had seen in the Nations Cup another opportunity to erect their champion once again and show how much of a good father of the Nation he is, could not let it go. Cameroon should have fought that decision. Taken it to court and hosted a 16-team tournament. But stupid, empty pride got the better of them and they decided to forge on even though the odds were stacked high up against them.
After all, impossible n’est pas Camerounais n’est-ce pas?
And so we indebted ourselves to the tune of hundreds of billions of FCFA to build two new completely unnecessary stadia. I’m talking about the new stadia in Yaoundé and Douala. Two white elephants that will not serve us in any way down the line.
Did we really need to build another stadium in Yaoundé? The Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium was just renovated at the cost of a new stadium and sits over 40,000 people. The Bepanda Stadium in Douala could have been rebuilt and the people living around compensated at the cost of their land. Bepanda is in the heart of Town and can be accessed easily from Mboppi, Bonamoussadi, Ndogbong, Deido, Akwa and even Bonaberi. They just to go build the new one at the fringe of town. Billions down the drain.
Billions that could have been put to better use.
Do you imagine how much we would be paying in maintenance cost for these stadia over the next 60 years? How many people go to watch football games in this country? Will a Tonnerre vs Panthere du Nde match even fill a sixth of the Olembe Stadium? Sweet heavens!
We knew 5 years ago that we would be hosting. But nothing, if anything was being done. As usual, we held meetings and workshops and formed committees; all of them moving at the pace of Etoudi-O’clock. It had to take the warning of President Ahmad for us to whip our horses into action. But by then it was already too late. Even divine intervention could not have helped us.
This has happened. But is anything going to change after this? Sadly, I think not. I am sure that even if we are given the 2021 Nations Cup to host, we will still not be ready. Incompetence is the brand name of this present government.
As a matter of fact, I have the ominous feeling that these sites will be abandoned and we will incur even higher debts. I imagine what Bakari, our national Vuvuzela would have to say now. What statement he could possibly be concocting to absolve the government of this absolute disgrace.
And to think it was for this nonsense that Eto’o threw himself to the wolves. I wonder what is going through his mind now. How his plans for self-atalaku possibly to erect himself as someone who brokered the success of the Nations’ cup has been blown away like he biblical chaff in the wind.
Ashooka ngorngorli!
But let me not be a sour-puss and a pessimist. If anything, there is a silver lining here. That we, Cameroonians, will be one and indivisible. One and indivisible in carrying the burden of the heavy debts we have incurred for this shame for which we are hanging our heads now.
Oh, I forget the other silver lining. Rihanna.
-Wandji Wilfred