The Regime in Cameroon has outlived its lifespan!

Professor Paul Nchoji Nkwi

Member, Cameroon’s Constitutional Council

Paul Nchoji Nkwi has been a professor of African Anthropology at the University of Yaounde I, the Catholic University of Central Africa, and the St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui. Professor Nchoji Nkwi, has a whole lot of achievements to his name. He was the founding President of the Pan-African Anthropological Association (1989-1994). In 1973, he won the Frobenius Essay Award and he has equally been Vice President of the African Academy of Science.In politics, he has served as the Policy Adviser of the Social Democratic Front (SDF).

Edev Newspaper’s Ekongang Nzante Lenjo caught up with Professor Paul Nchoji Nkwi shortly before his appointment by President Paul Biya alongside 10 others from the ten Regions of Cameroon. In addition to the multiple activities that the professor is involved in, he also teaches at the Catholic University of Cameroon in Bamenda. The professor in this interview states that the regime in Cameroon has outlived its lifespan and that in social history most regimes nose dive after a generation. He begins this interview by taking a look at 2017.

“I think 2017 was a tumultuous year at least among us from the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. The Pandora’s Box virtually exposed some of the deep seated problems that we have lived through during the last fifty something years. It was the hope of many that the first six months would lead to a Constructive Inclusive Dialogue permitting all of us to seat around the table and talk about those basic problems of the country called Cameroon. This would have given us an opportunity to talk about the things that divide us as well as those that unite us. The real dialogue that should have occurred has not occurred.”

The President of the Republic is of the opinion that dialogue has already started and that he has been having useful feedback from the Commission of Bilingualism and multiculturalism that he created.

To begin with the Commission on Bilingualism, it is a farce. It is a hoax and it cannot solve the problem. That commission is an attempt to divert attention from the Anglophone problem to something which we do not need at this present moment in time. You cannot believe under any circumstance that there is dialogue simply because you send Mr. X to talk to Mr. B or whatever. That is not dialogue. It is a process that involves the collection of additional information to prepare your dialogue. The Prime Minister came, the ministers came sat around the table with all the stakeholders especially the teachers. The ministers were that of Justice and that of Education and they simply sat with these people in some sort of a fact finding mission. They simply came and talked to groups of persons and it was a fact finding mission to create grounds for a constructive and inclusive dialogue. 

Many said 2018 was going to be a very difficult year. Are facts on the ground are proving them true?

Let’s say that 2017 was a difficult year. Firstly most of our children stayed out of school. For parents to deny education for their children is terrible. So for parents or a group of parents to deny education for their children simply mean that they don’t think the existing set up can give their children the kind of education they need. There is no need churning out children from school without that quality knowledge and with little chances of them finding their feet on the ground. Many of our graduates are without jobs. Many of the bike riders in this town have degrees in their pockets. It means that the system has slowly collapsed to an extent where you need to bribe to go to professional school, you bribe to get elected. That is the system we find ourselves in. Take for example during the negotiations in its early stages that people drove up from Yaounde to talk with teachers and they tried to bribe them. If those teachers leaders were not morally grounded then these crises might have taken a different turn. The second thing is what none of us understands. Prime Minister Philemon Yang came here and the Ministers of Education came here and they sat and talked and agreed first on 19 points. They eventually prepared a document of 25 points. They were supposed to sign that document on a Wednesday and all those people were arrested on a Tuesday. Even if you call a dialogue today I will not come because I will also be afraid of being arrested. I think that one of the dramatic things that occurred at the end of 2017 was the failure of the Head of State to come out and tell people that I am sorry let us come together and talk as a family. Everybody was expecting this message but what did we hear?

What exactly did we hear?

The President is more preoccupied with his re-election and probably preoccupied with the reelection of those who have brought this country to its knees. And that is why he says it’s an election year. Is he telling those Cameroonians who were on the streets to come out and vote? 

With the realities on the ground do you think the chances of dialogue have completely collapsed? What do you foresee for Cameroon in 2018?

To begin with, dialogue has never started in Cameroon so dialogue did not collapse. What I see is the clamour for dialogue and I can say 80% of Cameroonians in the Northwest and Southwest Regions are in favour of dialogue that is inclusive and that opens the floor for us to explore what our problems are all about. They have rather told us that if you want to come to the table expecting that you will bring change to the nature of the state, then nothing will take place. The 80% that are in favour of dialogue have been pushed to the next possible move; that of civil disobedience. You cannot tell us to go to school and we go. We are not going to do anything that you tell us to do.  Take what happened in Tardu in Kumbo a few days ago and it has happened in many other places. They go into villages, brutalise innocent people, burn their houses and burn down their agricultural reserves. A person who has been virtually humiliated in this manner will hardly come to the dialogue table. The arrogance of those people against the church is absolutely the arrogance against God. Any regime that goes against God is digging its own grave. In the Democratic Republic of Congo the only way for Christians to demonstrate their anger is with their Rosaries praying in the streets. Is that what we want? The people who govern have forgotten one basic thing; that most regimes dictatorial or not usually have a life span of a generation and after that, they begin to nose dive and it may ultimately end in chaos. The Regime in Cameroon has outlived its lifespan. Those are realities in Social History. Take for example the Soviet Union which collapsed. The so called Soviet Union that assembled many nations and Russia was just one of them collapsed. The same thing occurred in Yugoslavia. Tito did everything to maintain his grip but failed and it broke into six different nations. It takes about 30 years and if Paul Biya had good advisers they should have told him that. If he left ten years ago probably he would be a happier person. The chaos and need to rethink the nature of the State in Cameroon is unstoppable.  You can go to Nigeria, catch people and lock them up, but you are merely igniting the process. 

Recently, Christian Cardinal Tumi and Arch Bishop Samuel Khleda called on Biya not to participate in any future elective exercise in Cameroon. What would you say to the President if you had a similar chance? 

My message will be the same. I will toe the Tumi line or the Khleda line. Time is up for the President to run and let us not chase him out. Let him willingly walk out but if he doesn’t work out he will be chased out. Where is Mugabe? He is happily retired. A new way of thinking and forces of violence are an indication that it is time for him to bow out. Take for example if it is true that soldiers in the army are deserting; you pick up soldiers from Yaounde to Mamfe and when you reach Kumba some disappear. Some get to Mamfe and disappear. Why? Do you remember that Indira Ghandi was shot by his own body guards at the end of a long line of the Ghandi family? The person who was supposed to protect him removed the gun and simply shot him. Imagine the guy who stole the brief case with money. That was his own way of saying “Pa I have been seeing you siphoning this money so let me take this.” It can get to a state where there is a revolt. He has served this country as Prime Minister, Head of State and it is time for him to quit and give other deserving sons and daughters of our country an opportunity to create a new sense of leadership.

It was a pleasure talking to you.
Thank you.

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