Yaounde Notes

Strategising to fail

2010-01-29T17:32:00.000+01:00

The elimination of Cameroon from Africa Cup of Nations on Monday was more than a lesson in football – the lack of strategy and foresight always leads to dismal performance. Cameroon went into the game without any real idea about how they hoped to perform well. Coach Paul Le Guen opted for a four-day training session. For a team full of so many new and young players, hoping to put on a good show with that kind of preparation was being overly ambitious. The results have been catastrophic. Cameroon scraped through the group stages in which they suffered at the hands of small Gabon and expectedly lost 3-1 to Egypt. The play style was hollow and the Lions were at the origin of nearly all goals against them. The old and new alike failed.

Next year, Cameroon will hold a presidential election. We fear that we are also going into that election, with no real idea about how to make it credible and acceptable to all parties. It is only now that ELECAM is really taking over the electoral process from ENAM. A full year has been spent getting the organ off the ground. By the close of this year, electoral registration is expected to begin. It is going to be a tough process. The roll is in such bad shape that it would make sense for ELECAM to simply keep aside and start off on a clean slate. But at the moment, there appears to be no real urgency to get Cameroonians out and interested in national politics. The current lack of trust in ELECAM, correctly or falsely, makes confidence-building, the most important task ahead of ELECAM – even before registration.

Fighting corruption with half measures

2010-01-29T17:27:00.000+01:00

The anti-corruption drive started in 2006 was a major turning point in Yaounde’s attitude towards the problem. It came after decades of blatant denial of its existence by the regime in Yaounde. Understandably, President Paul Biya was applauded at home and abroad. The United States pledged its full support to the campaign, as did many other Western powers and multilateral institutions. And then, suddenly, the operation dubbed sparrow-hawk began looking ugly.

Critics said it had been diverted to fight political opposition and ethic groups complained of discrimination in the arrests. Others wandered of what point the operation was, if it ended with the jailing of those found guilty, leaving stolen money stashed away. No doubt, by the time fresh arrests were made last week, some of the initial applause had considerably given way to suspicion.

The arrest of two former ministers brought the number of high profile arrests to more than 20. Security sources have told the Standard Tribune that in all around 500 people have been arrested. The number is impressive, even given the scale of corruption in the country. It shows for the first time that even if political scores are being settled, people with no known political might are being taken in. Added to the number of police officers being reprimanded every now and then for “harassment and extortion”, it is our belief that authorities are moving in the right direction. At some point, it would dawn on the public that things are changing.

Biya must take credit for those steps. But we fear that the lack of broad reforms could make any real results elusive. You cannot fight corruption by simply catching people and jailing them. It has not worked with other forms of crimes. Unless measures that make it difficult to be corrupt or steal from the public purse are put in place, people will still take a chance at bribery and embezzlement. Critical to this is to introduce more transparency in the way public affairs are conducted. Government procedures need to be simplified and made known to the wide public. Corruption in the taxation, customs and judicial sectors are largely provoked by red tape and opaque procedures. Simple things like making large payments by bank transfer and cheques can limit the amount of cash in circulation and leave traces about where government money is going to.

How the web might change campaigns in 2011 poll

2009-12-03T11:13:00.000+01:00

From the election of Barack Obama to post-election violence in Iran, we have seen the enormous power of new technology, particularly social networking websites, to dramatically influence political processes. Ahead of a crucial presidential election in Cameroon in 2011, some Cameroonians are trying to take advantage of those same tools.

And the social networking site Facebook that played a key role in rallying Iranian protesters, appears to be the takeoff point.

At least two pre-2011 Facebook groups already exist: Le Nouveau Cameroon (LNC) is a political movement run from Paris by Cameroonian musician, writer and engineer Henri Georges Minyem, while Un Autre Cameroun en 2011 is an apolitical group run from Cameroon by journalist Thiéry Gervais Gango.
To what extent Facebook or any other social networking site can influence campaigns 2011 is hard to tell. The internet penetration rate in the country is still extremely low, compared to the US and Iran, though it is expected to jump to record levels by 2011. Even then, the kind of web culture that would develop would have a big role to play.

Nonetheless, the power of social networks cannot be taken for granted, not now that evidence of its strength is beginning to emerge. Last week, LNC claimed it had already hit an online membership of more than 1,500. Un Autre Cameroun en 2011 runs at least one new lively debate each day and is also growing in popularity.
Clearly, what this shows is that to a great extent, future political debates would not be taking place from rally grounds and podiums but on computer screens and cell phones. It would be driven by a new generation of politicians - young IT generation lads - and the voice of the Diaspora, which has so often been silenced, could become stronger.

Unfortunately, the Diaspora which will lead this evolution cannot vote as yet. But mainstream political players back home may find themselves on the fringes as this Diaspora becomes the main group responsible for shaping public opinion back home, especially among the younger segment of the population.

On Bakassi, aftershocks linger on

2009-12-03T11:10:00.000+01:00

LIMBE – Last week exposed how precarious the peace process between Cameroon and Nigeria has remained, following the settlement of the Bakassi dispute.

On Thursday, Nigerian lawmakers urged their government to report Cameron to the United Nations and the Africa Union over broken promises.

It followed alleged assaults by Cameroonian gendarmes on Nigerian citizens who are still living on the territory, a patch of marshland rich in fish and petroleum.

At least 700 people, most of them fishermen were forced to flee to temporary settlements in the Cross River state, according to Nigerian media.

The reaction of the Nigerian House of Representatives was arguably the most radical by a public institution since the August 2008 handover of the border territory to Cameroon.

In no small way, it highlighted the difficulty the two neighbours have had in managing the post-conflict peace process, in spite of accolades the leaders of both nations have had from the international community.

Nigerian politicians are given to exaggerating every small incident in the Bakassi region, where the majority of inhabitants are still believed to be of Nigerian origin.

Due to strong misgivings over the handover in Nigeria, Bakassi has become an easy wager for politicians seeking easy popularity.

Reversing the Green Tree Accord the UN brokered agreement that finalised the implementation of the ICJ verdict has become a common line in campaign rhetoric.

But Cameroon has not helped things as well - by posing as the victor the smaller neighbour entrenched itself on many issues, leaving Nigeria painfully frustrated.

Allegations of police/gendarme harassments of Nigerians, in or out of Bakassi, abound, yet there is no visible evidence that something is being done about it.

Both countries have failed to push forward the confidence building measures that were recommended in the dispute resolution process.

• Trade between Cameroon and Nigeria remains at best informal and at worst illegal. The only beneficiaries are corrupt customs officer on both side of the border.

• In spite of several pledges by international donors to fund the building of cross border roads, not a single project has taken off.

• Cameroon and Nigeria agreed in principle to jointly combat maritime security challenges in the sub-region but nothing is happening.

The current state of what looks like mutual distrust is blinding the governments of both countries to the huge opportunities available.

Nigerian for instance would bend over backward to import electricity and grain from Cameroon.
In a new trend, the Cameroonian population in Nigerian universities is dominated by students of francophone origin.

But the lingering chill over Bakassi, is standing in the way of any real progress.

Bozize visit boosts Biya leadership role

2009-12-03T10:54:00.000+01:00

YAOUNDE - President Paul Biya has a chance to assert himself further as the new leader of the Central Africa sub-region when the president of the Central Africa Republic François Bozize visits Cameroon in the coming days.

Biya moved into the much contested role following the death of former Gabonese President Omar Bongo earlier this year, and has so far received the endorsements of two of the sub-regions five other heads of state.

Bozize’s visit is the third by a sub-regional leader to Yaounde in about three months, coming shortly after those by the Chadian president Idriss Debby and the new Gabonese leader Ali Bongo. It makes it two presidents short of a complete round of the sub-region.

Officially both men would discuss bilateral cooperation and sub-regional integration. Heightened insecurity on the border between Cameroon and its eastern neighbour is also expected to come up.

But for Biya, the significance goes beyond cooperation and good neighbourliness. The Cameroon head of state has been longing to play leader in the sub-region, and more than ever before, his hour has come.
Biya told reporters in France earlier this year that he would love to play an important role in the sub-region, if given the chance. But the statement looked like a modest vote of acceptance.

For many years, Biya disputed the status with Omar Bongo, who though a younger man, was the longest serving head of state in the region. He was in power almost twice Biya’s 27-year stay but Biya felt Cameroon was a bigger country.

Following Bongo’s death in June, Biya suddenly became almost the lone man interested in the role – a situation that makes the leadership position he is now trying to assume difficult to dispute.

Cameroon is also the sub-region’s biggest economy and main entry point for at least two landlocked neighbours; and though this appeared less helpful to Biya in the past, it could make Biya’s drift to the driving seat much easier.

The position comes with no real powers. The sub-region is politically run through a turn-by-turn chairmanship of CEMAC. Yet, it could put Biya in a very influential position when it comes to both international and sub-regional diplomacy.

Omar Bongo often got top preference treatment from France, the region’s chief international partner. On at least two back to back occasions, different French presidents skipped Cameroon on an African tour but went to Gabon. That often left Biya’s ego deeply hurt, according to people close to the president.

By making the sub-regional heads of state come to Yaounde one by one, Biya is trying to send out a strong signal that he was now the man in charge. It would be no surprise that the Congolese leader Sassou Nguessou is next in line.

It is disputable how much Biya would bring to the sub-region once fastened in his new role. For many years, the president visibly showed very little concern for sub-regional bodies, sparingly attending sub-regional summits and other meetings.

France’s Cameroon imprints keep fading

2009-10-06T19:43:00.001+01:00

The new French ambassador who has taken up office in Yaounde does so under a very different outlook in ties between his country and Cameroon. For nearly three decades following independence, France was the unchallenged patron of Cameroon, using the status to gain near monopoly access to Cameroon's resources and market place. By 2007, France already accounted for about 30 percent of direct foreign investment in Cameroon: with French companies well in charge in the crude oil, port and agriculture sectors.

But since the beginning of the last ten years, it has seen huge cut backs in this privileged position. The United State now believes it is the single largest investor in the country. US business interests have grown mainly following the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project and the purchasing of SONEL by the AES Group. With, Americans now interested in mining and tourism, US investments in Cameroon are only set to rise, according to many forecasts.

Elsewhere, Japan (infrastructure) Korea (mining), China (infrastructure and trade), Australia, Canada and even Africa countries like Africa are now cutting deep into France's fief.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has said he would prefer long-serving Africa leaders out. If he keeps to that promise, then French relations with Cameroon could weaken on the diplomatic front as well. Already, Yaounde rejected his first choice of ambassador earlier in the year - because of the proposed man's alleged coup-links. It is certain that Biya and Sarkozy would fall out if the issue of succession in Cameroon ever comes up.

In Bongo’s visit, a trade-by-batter

2009-09-11T21:29:00.000+01:00

A red carpet was rolled out for the Gabonese president-elect in Yaounde Friday as he began a diplomatic offensive following a contested election. President Paul Biya personally received Ali Bongo at the Yaounde airport. That treatment is reserved only for heads of states and persons ranking as such and showed Yaounde’s full acceptance of the outcome of the Gabonese poll.

It was to be expected: Biya was one of the first leaders to congratulate Ali Bongo on his election. Ali Bongo’s coming also ends long years of quiet leadership feuding between Yaounde and Libreville, in which Biya always almost appeared to be losing. Unlike his father, Ali Bongo is yet to assume office as president and could be half Biya’s age. That plays the longevity of service and age factors in deciding the sub-region’s next man in charge indisputably into Biya’s advantage.

But Ali Bongo had something to take out of the new arrangement. It was expected that Ali Bongo would use his stay in Yaounde to obtain assurance from a typically snobbish Biya to personally attend his inaugural. This is important because Biya’s absence from that event could significantly shape relations between Yaounde and Libreville, which until Omar Bongo’s death were at best cool.

Biya would love that opportunity to cement is supremacy in the sub-region, especially because he is already not in the best terms with the other southern neighbor Equatorial Guinean. Propped by oil money Malabo has demonstrated that it can be unpredictably nasty. Often, it is Yaounde that is bruised.

We can’t afford Biya's lavishness, simple

2009-09-11T15:44:00.000+01:00

As I write no one is challenging the facts. President Paul Biya is currently spending more than 27 million francs a night in hotels bills in La Baule, France, where he is on holiday with his wife Chantal. In all, the president is paying for 43 rooms, spread across two luxury hotels: L'Hermitage (5 stars) and Le Royal (4 stars). At the end of the president's three-week holiday, which includes a crowd of about 40 officials, personal staff and bodyguards, the total bill would have reached about half a billion francs. The math excludes restoration, shopping and possibly casino expenses. According to one French analyst, this is more than the holiday bills of Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and George Bush put together.

In a swift rejoinder, the general manager of Lucien Barrière hotel, the mother company of the two hotels said the reports, carried in France's best circulating daily newspaper Ouest France, France Inter, and a local broadcaster Radio Fidélité Nantes were incorrect and at best deceitful. At a press briefing on Tuesday 1 September, the communication minister said the reports were the handiwork of shadowing forces meting wanton assaults of President Paul Biya. Issa Tchiroma linked the media reports to allegations some months back that Biya may have used his office to illegally enrich himself. Tchiroma, who is clearly a strong believer in the existence of a conspiracy to unseat Biya, said the president deserved a good holiday, wherever he pleased. "Why him? Why now?" he asked.

Like with the claims of the president's excessive wealth some months ago, the government's strategy has consisted of trying to blame evil hands wanting to stir trouble. The intention appears to try to whip up sentiments and rally support for the president by diverting attention from the core issue. In the opinion of most people I have talked to, it has never been about the president taking a holiday or not. The scandal is in its cost. That is the fact the government has been unable to rebut or explain. It is unbelievable that the parliament approved 27 million a night in hotel bills for the president as Tchiroma tried to suggest. Even if that were the case - that would in itself be an issue to raise hell about - WE SIMPLY CAN'T AFFORD IT.

The reason is simple. Cameroon is a struggling nation. Sometime before 2003, Biya wanted to buy a presidential plane. But Ephraim Inoni, who was then the country's front man in dealings with the IMF, warned that the IMF would not let the plan go through. Inoni reckoned the IMF would find the venture too expensive for a broke country that was undergoing structural reforms. Much has not changed. During the current year, one of the priorities of the government is to cut back on non-essential spending. For example, there is a check on the purchase of new state cars and ministers are forced to limit their trips abroad and reduce the size of their delegations. As we speak, the bulk of development projects being undertaken in the country are funded with debt relief money. Three years into the completion point of the HIPC initiative, the country is already incurring new loans. Government economists fear that with the coming of the global economic crisis, things would worsen - growth would contract by nearly half, from about 4.9 percent to 2.9 percent this year. Cameroon still posts some of the highest poverty rates of the continent, estimated at about one out of every four people.

To imagine that this is not something the media should pay attention to is to admit a misunderstanding of the role of the media. My guess is that the government is aware of the wastefulness of the president's lifestyle. What I see in all the ballyhoo of government officials is an embarrassment that this truth is now spilling onto the public domain. Our attitude at this point should not be to try to blame others when our president spends 7.5 million in public fund a night. It makes no sense that a government that is in the middle of a campaign against abuse of public office should try to write off such blatant extravagance. Biya himself has said more than once that for the country to move ahead, sacrifices have to be made. What the president's La Baule bills suggest is that those sacrifices have nothing to do with him.