Cameroon: believe not in populist leaders
History is replete with leaders who have promised heaven and earth to the people, just to let them down. And when he/she has exhausted his /her plans fails, he/she becomes a dictator.
Ruan Velasco of Peru, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Robert Gaberiel Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Every political plans based on lies and the raising of high expectations, invariably flops.
Do you know why a Christian can’t become a communist? It’s simply because, proponents of the ideology have usurped the bible. While the bible talks of a paradise in heaven or on earth, where everything will be fine and equal, Communists have promised it here on earth.
But sadly for them, no communist country on earth has ever prospered without returning to market economy ,even the great totalitarian regimes and communist of course, of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea , Cuba, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Angola have had to blend their illustrious ideology with that of the reviled free market economy.
Populists are not only found abroad. Right here in Cameroon we had and still have a handful. To know them, they have one hallmark. They are best at sloganeering. The first known populist was late Dr John Ngu Foncha with his simple but ravaging slogan: “small no be sick,Kamerun na we country”. All those those who believed in that his slogan and his calabash, as symbol only have their eyes to cry today.
As you know, the devil, they say, is in the details. What his fanatical supporters who supported him with a tinge of tribalism never saw was his choice of symbol: calabash. A calabash is fragile and the calabash called Cameroon has broken. It shows also the contradictions that is in all populists.
The other populist is Paul “calamity” Biya. He came to power and wrote a strange book: “Communal Liberalism”. My question: “how can communal become liberal?” The man hypnotized the entire country, especially those from the greater South (Anglophones and Francophones).
People in the greater South who are majority Christians loved Biya then, because he was a Christian. I was 9 year old then, I can fully well recall my father jubilate that, at last, one of us is at helm of the country. My late grand mother was a Biya fan ,especially when he brought Pope John Paul 11 in the country. Until she died, if you wanted to anger my grand mother, criticise Paul Biya.
The man bamboozled the nation by going to the farm and sweetened his his speeches with rigour and moralisation. Today we know what he has become. People so hate Paul Biya to a level that, they are celebrating whenever he floats the country with stories of his false death. That’s bad, wishing someone dead is the highest level of insensitivity.
After Biya, came John Fru Ndi, like him or hate him, he is the best political leader in modern Cameroon. The only other person who can hold him a candle is late Ruben Um Nyobe. But, he too is a populist. In the 90s,he brought: “soffer don finish”. He even won the 1992 presidential election, but France said: an Anglophone cannot rule over their overseas dependency called Cameroon.
Had John be enthroned officially and if the management of the SDF is any guide, he would have been a dictator. These days, populists are having a field day. They are promising people what they know is impossible to achieve. And whenever you air a contrary view, you are thrown under the bus.
My question: how can we be fighting against a vicious dictator and yet wants to replicate in our own imaginary world the same traits? Remember, the Bolsheviks, they came to power in 1917, but sooner had they held power, they started reproducing in grande and more cruel ways, all what they hated in Tsar regime.
Elie Smith
8 comments
Dictators like biya tell lies – the bigger the lies, the more they are believed. Now the big biya lie is that Ambazonians are TERRORISTS and have to be killed. That lie is believed by the UN, France, Britain and the AU. biya’s lie is believed by the international community. Under the pretext of that lie, biya declares war on innocent, peaceful Ambasonians. Now they are being killed left and right while the international community watches in awe. When the killing is all done, and the truth is revealed, the damage would have already been done. The alternative is that all Ambazonians should try as much as possible to defend themselves in any way. Dictator biya is killing now and will not stop until all Ambazonians are dead. Biya wants Ambazonians dead if they will not accept living as slaves in cameroun.
The only thing plastic-lion man dose well is lie that he is about to die, psychologically speaking, that is crazy. Who dose such a thing?
No one cares for weather he want it or not, he is going to die one day and it will
be all over with his “I’m death, I’m alive” sick game.
I want him to live forever, old to the point that he can not do any thing at all by him
self, I want him living so that others should take care of him like a one day old baby
but with the consciousness of an adult. This will make him and his sick supporters know
he is not God.
This is a good lesson for those in our struggle who naively believe all you need is a strong man to lead. Populist are those who say the leader knows best. Believe in the leader. Every revolution that has been based on a strong man ends up producing a dictator. Every revolution that is based on a warlord will guarantee you a Robert Mugabe, Charles Taylor onces the revolution is over.
I am saying this clearly to those of you who were quick to say the Interim Government is weak. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe does not speak like a revolutionary leader. We need a revolutionary leader like Cho Ayaba. Now that you have succeeded to conspired with La Republique to abduct Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, you can now have your ‘Reboot Conference ‘ and elections your revolutionary leader like Cho Ayaba. Good luck to you. I can Guarantee you that they will never been a President Cho Ayaba or any of your so call strong leader in Ambazonian. We will not move from La Republique dictatorship to Ambazonian dictatorship. We will not move from one Tribalism leadership to another Tribalism. Mark my words. We are waiting for your parallel government you promised to form. You are in for a big surprise.
Brother Elie, this is an excellent food for thought. Presently, some of us have lost our bearings. The whereabouts of our leaders are still to be determined, yet some are talking about meetings? This just shows how low some people are willing to go for cheap propaganda.
Fru Ndi tried this nonsensical approach, but see how the people are responding to him today.
Ambalanders know better and will flush out any egomaniacs who dare to insult their intelligence.
The first rime I watched a Cho Ayaba video in Feb 2017, it was a love at 1st sight. Then later, the more I listened to him, the more he sounded obnoxious till I hated listening to him. I have not watched any of his videos since after the blame-Ayuk and position-self video he made on the second of Oct 2017. I learned with anger that he used his time last Sunday to say that the website of Ambagov has been hacked and that use of credit cards are not safe on the Ambagov website. When did Ayaba become the IG spokesperson? If not of special interest, who in his mine will support such a person. He is one of those who don’t know himself, because id he knew himself, he will realise that the current him does not self well except to some special interest acquaintants, and take stock of himself so he can change.
He and others like JMA are being fooled by Alex Mbianda, a 1st generation Bawock/ Bagante-Bamileke born on Bali soil, whose parents and ~ 400 other Bagante formed the ancestors of present 4000 people Bawock village in Bali. Who will be more against Ambazonia independence than Alex Mbianda, protecting the lone Bami village in Mezam. To shift deflect attention from himself, he laser focuses attack on the generally acxepted Punch-back in Ambazonia Milan Atam. You you attack, Milan, you will always have supporters with variwd reasons, while he uses it to his own advantage, sharing information with first cousins in lrc gov. If you want to know more, check on who arw the Bawock people in Bali and how they feel and how they have always uswd their Bamileke connection to cause problems to Bali people, Mbianda Alex being one of their most successful elite ans champion of their fight against Bali people, using Bamileke elites in Lrc govt
Bali Nyonga,
You brought something up that is very important. At the heart of this struggle is the question about land ownership. This struggle is not about federation or independent or union with La Republique. It is about who owns that piece of land that the U.N. by law was supposed to hand the title to our forefathers in 1961.
In La Republique legal system, all the land in a country belongs to the government. Only the President or his representatives can distribute that land. That means the land in your village does not really belong to your village. Biya, a governor, SDO or DO can assign land to anyone. So if I want to open a farm for anything: yams, corn,tea, plantains etc and I find the land in your village to be fertile. Depending on the size of land I want, I can easily go to the DO, SDO, governor or President to get the land. This is the same tool these guys are planning to us to gradually take over Ambazonian. The strategy is to allocate land to their people especially Beti,Bassa, and Bamileke. Look at Fako where land that CDC gave back to Bakweri people was grabbed and distributed. You now have Beti and Bassa people who own more land in Fako than a native Bakwerian. Anyone who has been to Australia, the USA, and Canada may have never met the natives who were the original owners of the land. This is because they have been pushed out of their land to reservation.
This is the faith that awaits us. For those of you who thing the struggle is some kind of political game need to wake up. If we fail in this struggle, our people will be living in Townships like blacks do in South Africa. We will all be pushed out of that land into reservations.
Amba, this is once more a powerful display of knowledge is power. The most tragic fact is that some of us are so damaged to the point where we are now instead furthering this diabolic agenda of the Beti thugs of lrc on the land of our ancestors.
We must all stand together and fight or we will all go down in perpetual servitude and live to blame no one but ourselves.
Well I think Elie Smith has just opened our eyes to see clearly and understand that its time we believe in ourselves and not in “a person” who may enchant us with nice slogans.
We have had populist leaders who have laid down solid foundations for a nation such s Jerry Rawlins, Paul Kagame, Kadafi, Mandela… but there are very few of such. Rather the majority are of the likes of Biya, Zuma, Sasso Nguesso, Compaore…. who feed on their people than building and investing in their own country with the complicity of predators who cherish to work with such leaders.
We the people have decided that this struggle is in our hands and no one can pretend to speak for us without our consent. Anyone who tries to hijack our struggle, we shift him aside. We don’t need strong men nor experienced long time freedom fighters as saviours. they can join the people and move along with the people.
Southern Cameroonians have come through the emancipation and we know what we want.