Political Movements
Politics & Government
The Architecture of Anticipation: Ousmane Sonko and the New Phase of Senegalese Governance
A lawyer close to Ousmane Sonko reflects on his client's strategic acumen and the shift from PASTEF's campaign for power to a new institutional phase in which Sonko, now National Assembly president, and President Diomaye must navigate their distinct visions for Senegal's future. The interview suggests that divergence of strategy, rather than conflict, characterizes their emerging relationship.
The Laws of Power and the Senegalese Reckoning: Sonko, Faye, and the Choice to Govern Subordinate
A meditation on Ousmane Sonko's dismissal as Prime Minister of Senegal through the lens of Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power. The writer argues that Sonko violated the classical law against outshining one's master—not because he threatened Faye, but because he pursued radical reform across all fronts simultaneously, making himself the singular face of every threatened interest. Yet the piece pivots to consider whether his swift return to Keur Gorgui, his base outside power, might signal a deeper understanding of power itself: the choice to govern from movement rather than from office.
The Peril of Performance: Youth, Social Media, and the Erosion of Serious Political Engagement in Africa
The writer examines how social media's amplification of charisma and visibility threatens to corrupt genuine youth-led political movements across Africa. In Cameroon specifically, the 2025 presidential race is attracting both sincere reformers and opportunists seeking influence rather than power, a dynamic that risks fracturing the very generational energy needed for meaningful change.
Symbols Without Substance: The Portrait and the Slogans
This essay examines how Cameroon's political culture has come to rely almost entirely on symbolic gestures—a ubiquitous presidential portrait, cycling national slogans, monuments, and rebranded success stories—while the material conditions they purport to represent continue to deteriorate.
The Price of Change: On Sacrifice, Institutions, and Why Good People Stay Silent
The writer reflects on Rebecca's public refusal of a presidential candidacy, using it as a lens to examine a deeper paradox in Cameroonian civic life: citizens simultaneously demand change while scorning those willing to pay its cost. The piece interrogates how we defend the very institutions that harm us, and whether collective refusal to sacrifice ultimately empower those in power.
The Politics of the Picture: Celebrity, Complicity, and Cameroon's Defeated Imagination
The writer argues that high-profile Cameroonians—particularly those with global platforms—cannot escape political responsibility through silence or selective visibility. A photograph with state figures is itself a political act, and the absence of critical distance amounts to a form of consent that reinforces the regime's legitimacy.
Airplane Mode Till 2025
A reflection on a two-hour internet protest against Cameroonian telecom operators, examining why such social-media-based activism often fails and what organized, strategic community mobilization requires instead.
Do We Deserve a Democracy?
The writer examines whether Cameroon's citizens possess the civic engagement required to sustain a functioning democracy, arguing that the nation's stagnation stems not from the system itself but from widespread citizen apathy, vote-selling, and disinterest in governance. The piece contests the gap between democracy's promise—power to the people—and the reality of a disengaged, manipulable majority holding decision-making authority.
Anglophones Must Think Differently About Marginalization (Part Two)
The writer responds to reader commentary on language acquisition, resource constraints, and elite responsibility in addressing the Anglophone crisis. Through a point-by-point rebuttal, they argue that learning French is a practical survival tool—not assimilation—and that the educated minority has both capacity and obligation to lead solutions rather than wait for mass consensus.
Eto'o and Power in Cameroon: Trauma, Ambition, and the Price of Change
This essay examines Cameroonians' fraught relationship with power—rooted in decades of authoritarian rule—and how that collective wariness shapes reactions to Samuel Eto'o's leadership at FECAFOOT. The writer argues that scrutiny of Eto'o's methods, while understandable, may be blinding observers to his effectiveness and his potential role in a broader renewal of Cameroonian leadership.
On Pan-Africanism and Cultural Boundaries
The writer defends a Cameroonian brand's adoption of a Nigerian Yoruba term, arguing that cultural exchange strengthens rather than weakens Africa. She positions the controversy as a test of whether continental unity is a genuine aspiration or merely rhetoric obscuring deeper tribalism.
Play Your Music and Say Nothing: On Dissent, Artists, and Political Voice in Cameroon
The writer examines the cultural pressure placed on Cameroonian artists—exemplified by Charlotte Dipanda's recent political statements—to remain silent on governance and regime change. The piece argues that this silencing reflects deeper pathologies: Stockholm Syndrome acceptance of dysfunction, a particular form of crab mentality that polices intellectual ambition, and deliberate attempts to frame artists as intellectually unqualified to engage politics.
The SDF at Thirty: A Party's Dimming Flame
On the thirtieth anniversary of the Social Democratic Front's founding in 1990—marked by a deadly march for multi-partism in Bamenda—Poise reflects on the party's arc from revolutionary hope to diminished present. The piece traces how John Fru Ndi, once embodying Cameroon's democratic aspirations and appearing to win the 1992 presidential election, has become a contested figure, accused of betrayal and clinging to power rather than nurturing renewal.
The Gift That Obscures the Legacy
The writer examines how Cameroon's cultural and political systems privilege material gift-giving over substantive contribution, using Manu Dibango's global musical influence as a counterexample to ask what true value—and true remembrance—should mean.
Driving Change: Youth, Legitimacy, and the Work of Collective Movement
The writer argues that sustained human progress typically originates with young people willing to defy convention, and that modern democracy—even its imperfect versions—creates unprecedented tools for collective action. The real work, however, lies in learning to listen across difference and translating online community into offline power.
The Favoritism Problem Goes Deeper Than Age
The writer questions whether Cameroon's youth are truly equipped to lead the country, arguing that the systemic rot of favoritism, nepotism, and tribalism is not an older generation's failing but has thoroughly infected young people too. A personal anecdote about an ambitious peer revealing his intention to staff government positions exclusively with former schoolmates becomes the lens through which to examine whether structural change is possible.
Still in the Rain: On Power, Proximity, and the Myth of National Unity
Drawing on Chinua Achebe's novel, the writer observes that sixty years after independence, Cameroon remains trapped in a dynamic where a small elite occupies the shelter of state power while the majority remain excluded, yet internalize the rhetoric of necessary unity and sacrifice.
Slay Queens and Politics: The Corruption of Access
The writer examines the peculiar alignment between social media celebrities and political power in Cameroon, focusing on a public figure's visible courtship of state ministers and subsequent political endorsement. The piece uses this moment to interrogate a deeper hypocrisy: those granted proximity to power rarely leverage it for the voiceless, yet remain largely unaccountable.
On National Names and National Purpose
The writer engages with musician Blick Bassy's provocative question about whether Cameroon should rename itself, prompted by the colonial etymology of its name. Rather than advocating for renaming, the piece argues that national identity flows from governance and shared ideology, not nomenclature.
The Architecture of Influence: Chantal Biya and Power in Cameroon's Presidential Circle
A February 2019 post examines the shifting public profile and apparent political influence of Chantal Biya, reported on the cover of Jeune Afrique at age 48. Drawing on analysis of cabinet reshuffles and institutional positioning, the piece traces how she has moved from ceremonial presence to a figure whose preferences appear to shape personnel decisions and governance culture.
On Youth and the Persistence of Patronage
This piece interrogates the assumption that generational change alone will solve Cameroon's structural problems, using a personal anecdote to argue that favoritism and patronage span all ages, not just an older generation. The writer contends that meritocracy cannot take root until the mentality that privileges kinship and loyalty over competence is genuinely abandoned.
Ernest Ouandie and the Ghosts of the UPC: A Life in Resistance
The writer chronicles the life and execution of Ernest Ouandie, UPC vice-president and armed resistance leader against Ahmadou Ahidjo's government, from his birth in 1924 through his public execution on 15 January 1971. The account traces the UPC's suppression, the flight and exile of its leaders, and Ouandie's clandestine return to wage guerrilla war—ending with his capture through exhaustion and chance encounter near Loum.
En Esprit Républicain
A fierce, code-mixed poem that channels anger at Cameroon's political dysfunction through bitter irony and layered metaphor. The writer moves between colonial history, present-day authoritarianism, and personal resignation—asking whether the nation's elites will ever stop treating citizens as prey.
Post-Elections: On Respect and the Cost of Public Sacrifice
Following the 2018 presidential election, the writer defends Cabral Libii against social-media derision over his appearance and lifestyle, arguing that Cameroonians are undermining their own political actors through petty criticism rather than substantive debate. The piece calls for a culture shift: toward recognizing the sacrifices of those who mobilize youth politically, and away from corrosive cynicism that discourages future leaders.
The Ghetto President: Youth, Repression, and Uganda's Emerging Political Challenger
This 2018 profile documents Bobi Wine's rapid ascent from ragga musician to parliamentary member and presidential aspirant in Uganda, following a brutal military beating that cast him as the principal threat to President Yoweri Museveni's 32-year rule. The piece traces Wine's journey from Kampala's slums through music stardom to political awakening, capturing a generational shift in which young Ugandans—nearly 80 percent of the population under 30—have begun to mobilize against an aging autocrat.
Slay Queens and Politics: The Unholy Matrimony
The writer examines the tension between social media prominence and political accountability through the case of a Cameroonian influencer whose eyebrow shop opening was attended by a state minister, and who later appeared in CPDM campaign materials. The piece interrogates what it means for those with access to power to remain silent about state violence and injustice.
A Year in Service: One Campaign Worker's Testament to Political Integrity
A young Cameroonian professional recounts his decision to leave a secure, well-paid position to work unpaid on Akere Muna's presidential campaign, framing it as a redemptive turn from political apathy toward civic engagement rooted in historical conscience.
The Final Hours: Opposition Consolidation and the Cost of Disunity
As the 2018 Cameroonian presidential election neared, the writer examines the last-minute strategic calculations facing candidates Osih and Cabral following Akere Muna's withdrawal and endorsement of Maurice Kamto. The piece argues that both candidates face a binary choice: unite behind Kamto or risk permanent political and moral damage.
Football and Politics: The Nations' Cup as Distraction
The writer argues against Cameroon hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, seeing it not as a sporting honor but as a political tool used by the incumbent government to distract from infrastructural failures and poor governance. The piece traces how the tournament became entangled with ego, sycophancy, and nationalist rhetoric rather than honest assessment of readiness.
Three Days Before the Vote: Can the Opposition Unite, and Who Should Lead?
With Cameroon's October 7, 2018 presidential election days away, the writer examines whether opposition candidates might form a coalition to challenge the incumbent, and which candidate is best positioned to lead such an alliance. The analysis finds Akere Muna uniquely qualified—both by institutional expertise and by having already articulated and built coalition structures months before it became a rallying cry.
Three Days Before the Vote: Opposition Unity and the Coalition Question
With the 2018 presidential election imminent, Poise examines whether Cameroon's fragmented opposition can coalesce around a single candidate—and if so, who should lead. The analysis argues that Akere Muna, whose Now Movement was itself born from a multi-party coalition, possesses both the institutional background and the prior advocacy for unity that could make him the natural choice.
The Coalition Question: Who Should Lead Cameroon's United Opposition?
As the 2018 presidential election approached, opposition candidates faced a critical strategic choice: unite behind a single leader or campaign separately. This piece examines the case for Akere Muna as coalition head, tracing his early advocacy for opposition unity and his pre-existing coalition platform, while acknowledging the profound difficulty of consolidating rival candidates around a single figurehead.
The Audacity of Stupidity: When Icons Endorse the Indefensible
A sharp critique of two celebrated Cameroonian footballers—Samuel Eto'o and Rigobert Song—for publicly endorsing the incumbent president in the lead-up to elections, examining the disconnect between their stated reasons (national unity, personal gratitude) and the institutional realities that shaped their own careers and departures.
The Architecture of Reform: Reading Akere Muna's Governance Vision
This analytical note examines the governance and economic platform articulated by one presidential candidate through available excerpts and documents, focusing on institutional reform, decentralization, anti-corruption mechanisms, and social development commitments. The writer finds the institutional proposals substantive but notes the social guarantees are ambitiously framed and the full program remains partially inaccessible.
The Musicians' Betrayal: On Conscience, Complicity, and the Cost of Silence
The writer condemns Cameroonian urban musicians—particularly those under 35—for performing at a presidential concert designed to bolster an incumbent leader's electoral standing. The piece argues that their participation represents a failure of moral responsibility and a capitulation to a system that has systematically impoverished the arts sector.
Reading Kamto's 2018 Electoral Program: Substance, Ambition, and Rhetoric
On the eve of Cameroon's October 2018 elections, Poise examines Maurice Kamto's 88-page policy platform across five domains—institutional reform, youth and education, economy, social welfare, and foreign relations—separating concrete proposals from campaign rhetoric and identifying both promise and peril in his vision.
Ruben Um Nyobe: Sixty Years After
On the anniversary of Ruben Um Nyobe's assassination by French forces in 1958, Poise reflects on the life and legacy of the UPC founder—a charismatic trade unionist whose birth name meant 'speaker of the nation' and whose death by violence marked a turning point in Cameroon's colonial struggle.
How to Survive Seven Years of Transition
The writer argues that Cameroon faces a seven-year period of crisis before entering a transformative third republic, and proposes five practical steps for individual preparation: learning French, acquiring practical skills online, self-directed education, personal accountability, and voting with one's money.
Seven Years of Doom: Youth, Leadership, and the October 2018 Election
Written on the eve of Cameroon's October 2018 presidential election, this piece indicts the gerontocratic stranglehold on power, arguing that aging leaders are structurally unfit to govern a youth-majority nation. The writer surveys the available candidates with scorn, finds none worthy, and predicts the outcome—another term of incumbent rule—with resigned bitterness.
Should Our Celebrities Speak Up or Remain Silent?
A sharp critique of Cameroonian celebrity silence on national crises, particularly the Anglophone conflict. The writer argues that most celebrities lack the substance, courage, and genuine commitment to speak meaningfully—and that shallow, self-serving commentary may be worse than silence.
The Generational Impasse: When Young Populations Meet Long-Tenure Leaders
This piece examines the disconnect between Africa's youth-majority demographics and the continent's aging political leadership. Using Cameroon as a case study, it documents how citizens born under single-leader regimes experience political alienation and see little incentive to engage in public service.
The Imperative Moment: Youth and the 2018 Cameroon Presidential Election
Writing on the eve of Cameroon's 2018 presidential election, Poise reflects on a newfound urgency to engage with politics and calls on the youth—who have known only one president—to participate thoughtfully in electoral discourse. The piece announces a commitment to scrutinize candidates not on tactical promises but on their underlying vision for the nation's future.
A Call for the New Republic: Barrister Akere Muna's Presidential Candidacy Announcement
In October 2017, amid the escalating Anglophone crisis, a civil society leader announces his candidacy for the Cameroonian presidency, framing the election as an opportunity to rebuild institutions around governance, rule of law, and the voices of youth and women.
The Excuse of 'C'est le Cameroun': On Hopelessness and Complicity
The writer challenges the defeatist refrain 'c'est le Cameroun' (that's just how Cameroon is) as a mask for inaction rather than an honest reckoning with circumstance. Drawing on historical examples of ordinary people reshaping reality, the piece argues that Cameroonians have chosen learned helplessness as cover for the very practices that perpetuate dysfunction.
Nkrumah at Addis Ababa: The Political Kingdom and Continental Union
In this 1963 speech from the historic founding of the Organization of African Unity, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah argues that African political union is not a distant ideal but an urgent necessity—the only framework within which genuine economic independence and social development can occur. He rejects gradualism and neo-colonialism as traps, insisting that a united Africa must seize control of its vast resources and wealth rather than remain a supplier of raw materials to the West.