Yes
the bottom line is that we are not productive. There is a saying which states
that you cannot give what you don’t have. If you pretend to give what you don’t
have then you are a fake. Cameroon is not productive because she doesn’t know
how to produce. It boils back to the educational system from where everything
is learnt. The knowledge base we are having in Cameroon is not productive
knowledge. It is a system based on what was put in place in 1960 which allowed
us to communicate with the colonial masters. Other countries with which we
started at the same time like South Korea went out for Engineering and
Technology so as to enable them to be productive. This made it possible to add
value to what they already had. In Cameroon young people who leave High School
and even the university can neither write letters nor solve problems. They
cannot think in the abstract or get things done because the education that has
been put in place does not trigger meditation.
In practical terms, what obtains in the average Cameroonian campus?
Students simply read the teachers’ notes and regurgitate the notes after which they are given a degree with no element of research. They don’t go out for themselves to find out how things work. As a journalist you must know the key questions of where, when, why, who and how. In our universities, we simply provide answers to these questions. For instance, Who was the first President of Cameroon? When did Cameroon gain independence? If you study like this you can never produce results or yield fruits. Studies should trigger meditation. They should be capable of brainstorming and making things happen. Why is it that developed and shorter banana species produce more than the tall wild species that we have in our villages? What do Scientists do to come out with improved species that come out with greater yields? What happens to produce a change in colour from green to red in a tomato These are the kind of questions that our children should be asking. Brain tickling questions that push the machinery towards productivity. How can soap that is made from palm oil be used to remove palm oil stains from a shirt? Why is the road between Bafoussam and Bamenda in such a sorrowful stage? This question will take them to issues such as the life span of tar that is used on our roads and the effect of fires that was burnt on the tarr during political uprisings in our political history. Fire reduces the cohesive power of tar. Students should be capable of asking and having answers to the how and why of their daily lives.
Some think it is an attitude problem that presently disturbs Cameroon considering the fact that you have some very intelligent people in this country.
Cameroon might have some of the best minds. If you have Cameroonians who’ve studied out and returned home and copied what they have seen out as well as come home with the mind sets of the people where they studied then they will be as productive as any other creative set of people. But this is not dominantly the case. The thought process of the average Cameroonian is wrong and when this is the case, you will certainly produce something which is wrong. We’ve got more problems with our thought processes and if we don’t correct them, we will never get out of our limbo. So I think we have a problem of attitude. We don’t know that our attitudes have got to be right for us to succeed and we think that we can always fake it. We must come back to the truth as the bible says that the truth shall set you free. The truth here is not just about believing in God but the truth in every aspect of our lives. We must be principled and so if we go against principle, we will be punished for it. On this issue of principle God sends rain to the farms of both the believers and the non believers alike. Back to principle; if you follow the ordering of the seasons then you will benefit from the rain fall but if you don’t then the rains will be of no use to you irrespective of whether you are a believer or not. To follow the truth involves being principled and when we don’t we pay the price that Cameroon is paying at the moment.
What about the fact that deserving Cameroonians hardly ever get anything in return?
This brings us to merit which is still another aspect of truth. There is this thing called GIGO in computer language. Garbage in garbage out is the perfect description of Cameroon at the moment. When we do our competitive examinations to send students to CUSS, ENAM P and T and all sorts of schools, the question we should be asking is, are those the best students found in Cameroon? When we say that this year we have selected 150 students to enter CUSS are those the best 150 in the country? Of course no. We have other ways of selecting which do not represent the truth and that’s where the problem lies. It is all about working with the truth and respecting the truth. If this is done, 80% of the problems of Cameroon will be corrected. You see the child of a peasant who is very intelligent sees the doors shut onto him while the children of some well placed rich person who watch TV from the morning to the evening and who cannot even write their names take their places. The country is going to collapse if we keep on doing this.
I trained as a Medical Doctor in CUSS but because I also had an opportunity to be trained in Nairobi and in London and I have the opportunity of traveling I can tell you that our health services are not doing very well. I’m using the health services as an example since other sectors are the same. Something is wrong somewhere and until we lay our hands on what is actually wrong then we will be dancing in circles.
We have about 6000 Medical Doctors and professors in Cameroon. If we were to do an experiment and go to Boston University and bring a professor in Medicine from there to come and test our Doctors and professors the question is how many of us will pass that exam which is set following international standards? It’s a thousand dollar question. If health services in some countries in Western Europe are rated at 90% then what score will you give our health services? An honest answer to this question will reveal that even if we increase the number of medical doctors in Cameroon to 12000 a very little change in quality will be registered.
In specific terms what do you think South Korea, Singapore and Hongkong, countries with which we started out at the same time are doing that we are not?
They understood long ago that the key lies in proper education and also having the right attitude and character. These are things that we have neglected and we are going to pay dearly for them.
Are you also of the opinion that Colonial Masters contributed in the way Africa took off?
If I say yes, my answer will be 50% correct. Because if Colonial Masters are going away without showing you what to do to survive then it will take a long time for you to discover what it is that is important. They put us on the wrong track and we are studying the wrong things so that they could come back and continue to feed on us. Now that we have the means such as the internet from which to get the truth we should know what is important. We have our backs against the wall and we have to rethink our strategies real fast. It is time to export more than we import and to add value to our raw materials and create jobs for our youths.
Continued.......
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