Why do we allow these old men to make decisions about our future when they are not going to be part of it?
Most countries in the world thrive on empowering their youth and giving them resources to develop their skills but in this country our government leaves us out in the cold with a baseless rhetoric about youth lacking experience. All evidence shows our old leaders are experienced at failing, they have failed so much that a low quality stadium in Limbe is considered a great achievement not to talk of the light years they have taken to construct a simple bridge over the Wouri.
Contrary to what they want to make us believe, we are much more intelligent than our parents, and the knowledge we possess is much more relevant in the current economic and sociocultural landscape of the world. When you look around, the only people doing things in this country worthy of international recognition are the youth. Our parents have continued to implement legislation that strain the private sector of our economy while continuously making the government larger and impossible to manage and because of their penchant for mismanagement and laziness, they have chauffeured us into a society where every and anything other than merit will earn you employment. Most of the reforms made do not take into account that the youth account for a larger proportion of our population and that we have different needs than they as our parents needed when they were our age.
If in the age of information technology, we have government officials deliberating restricting access to the internet, we might as well all apply for residency in North Korea. They don't get it at all. like the saying goes 'You can't tech an old dog new tricks.' Back to the accusations of our lack of experience, yes, those are accusations because we are hardly given an opportunity to prove ourselves. We have all asked this question in one way or another ‘when are we going to be given the opportunity to gather that experience.’ The same leaders connive to secure places for their nutjobs, mostly spoiled elitist children, in the national administrative schools and continue to recycle their damaged DNA in the system.
Presidential Elections have been set for October this year and despite all the hope I had, it appears we shall have to live in another seven years of doom.As I write, members of Cameroon’s electoral board are auditing the files of the 28 presidential hopefuls who turned in their applications. The electoral board is permitted by the electoral code to accept or reject a candidacy. We will be furnished with the list of approved candidates on or after the 8th of August, which is early next month.
I do not even have time to go vetting all the 28 candidates myself because most of them are just a bunch of jokes. I believe I am in the position to say that if I don’t know you, you have no business even appearing on that list because you have clearly not done anything of substance to show that you are capable of solving the most pressing issues in this country - not to talk of even understanding them. On that list the youngest names worthy of mention are Joshua Osih and Cabral Libii, who in my opinion, are not ready for the fight.
Cabral is banking on a public image he has built through his wittiness and analytical critiques of our political structure but I do not see any great marks of true leadership ability. I see him more as a person that can serve best in an advisory role to the president rather than being the president himself.
Joshua Osih on the other hand appears to be nothing more than just a nice guy. His greatest skill I think is in his abilities to delegate but I think we need more fire in the man that is supposed to be our next president. As it stands, the government continues to show that the anglophone crises is incomprehensible to them. One would think they know the solution but they would rather have the next best solution that they are still to find. I do not think there will be any voting in the North and South West regions. People are as scared of the rebels as they are scared of the government forces and they are not to be blamed. Only prisoners and military officials will vote in those regions and I wonder how many of them are even registered to vote.
Maurice Kamto I imagined would be able to put up a fight by using his Bamilike brothers and their financial backing to put up a campaign that can attract some attention and open a platform for sensitizing the public. He seems however to be more of a complainant to the public rather than being a fighter in face of adversity. We already know they are going to shut down your documentary screening. You complaining to us who are even more powerless is of no effect.
Akere Muna still remains the only person that has shown till date that he has a fight in him. My only fear is in the pride that can take over by him being a person of age that finally succeeds in doing what his mates didn’t and couldn’t do. i.e unseat Biya. Something tells me they'll try and disqualify his candidacy!
I registered to vote in Bamenda but I can assure you I am not traveling out there to vote. If I find myself there at the time, I will judge the climate and see if I can make it to the polling station.
Add all the above to the fact that ELECAM is most probably compromised and we can safely assume we are going to either witness a miracle, or have another 7 years of Biya. 2018 means Biya will be here with us for 6 more years if we are taking his word for it. In 2004, resurfacing after rumors of his death, he gave us a rendez vous for his funeral in 20 years. With only 6 to go, I'm tempted to start taking him seriously.
The next presidential elections after this one coming up in October will be in 2025 -after Biya goes in 2024. According to the constitution, where the office of President of the Republic becomes vacant as a result of death, resignation or permanent incapacity duly ascertained by the Constitutional Council, the polls for the election of the new President of the Republic must be held not less than 20 (twenty) days and not more than 120 (one hundred and twenty) days after the office becomes vacant. The constitution also states that the President of the Senate shall as of right act as interim President of the Republic until the new President of the Republic is elected. Where the President of the Senate is unable to exercise these powers, they shall be exercised by his Vice, following the order of precedence. We all know how old the president of the senate is going to be at that time.
So how do we survive another seven years of this and how do we prepare to usher ourselves into the 3rd Republic - the one envisioned by Um Nyobe and Co.
My ideas in the next article!
- Tino Foy