Fanning winds of change
Opposition determined to unseat autocrat Biya have challenged Cameroon’s poll results
CAMEROON, with its appalling rampant corruption and a dominant leader who spreads development only to himself, his allies and favoured ethnic groups, risks a breakaway of regions which have been marginalised by the government.
The 85-year old president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, nicknamed “The Sphinx”, who is Africa’s second-longest ruling dictator, has been in power for 36 years, and stood for elections in the October 8 presidential poll.
Opposition parties and leaders have approached the country’s Constitutional Court to cancel the outcome of the elections, alleging widespread rigging, intimidation and threats to opposition supporters.
Claims have emerged of “ghost observers”, individuals masquerading as observers, declaring the poll free and fair.
The country’s state broadcaster, Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), which is firmly controlled by Biya, days after the poll ran a report alleging that elections observers from Transparency International had endorsed the fairness of the poll. But the NGO denied sending observers.
CRTV gave blanket coverage to Biya’s campaign.
Biya has little to offer in terms of fresh energy, development ideas and dynamic leadership in a country where 60% of the population are young. About 75% of the population have experienced only Biya as their president.
The Biya government cobbled together a strategic document for growth and employment with a 10-year plan to bring middle-income status “to a socially acceptable level”, reduce poverty, become an industrialised country, and strengthen democracy and national unity.
The strategy called for growth to be raised to 5.5% between 2010 and 2020, informal employment to be halved by 2020 and monetary poverty to be reduced from 40% to 29% by 2020.
Implementation of the strategy has fallen short. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated a 3.7% growth rate last year.
Statistics from the country’s third national household survey showed that 7 million people lived below the poverty line. The International Labour Organisation estimated Cameroon had a 30% unemployment rate but that 75% of the population was underemployed.
The state is the largest formal employer. Only 4% of people were employed in the private sector. The informal sector, which included subsistence agriculture, employed 90% of the population. Over a third of the population were illiterate.
There has been little infrastructure development since independence from colonialism, beyond vanity projects for the president.
Cameroon has vast unexplored mineral deposits, including oil, gas and iron ore. It produces agriculture products such as coffee, cotton and cassava. Oil exports were the country’s biggest income earner. It has made the mining industry a priority to develop.
However, the government, like in most African countries, does not have an industrialisation strategy that clearly shows how it will add value to oil and gas exports, and how it will diversify its exports mix more broadly and develop an integrated infrastructure.
High levels of corruption undermine development. Last year, the Transparency International Corruption Index showed that Cameroon was the world’s 28th most corrupt country.
The country is deeply patriarchal. Customary law is the real law in most rural areas.
Cameroon has a mushrooming civil society sector. One of the bodies, the Dynamic Citizen (Dynamique Citoyenne), monitors the implementation of public policies, fights corruption and pushes for good governance. The Biya government has arrested Dynamic Citizen activists on several occasions.
The country is divided into eight French-speaking regions and two Anglophone-speaking regions, with the latter feeling excluded, which has sparked calls for secession.
Biya’s autocratic leadership is the main reason for these secessionist calls, and for the rise of Boko Haram Islamist extremists in the country.
He is nicknamed “President of the Hotel Intercontinental” because of his extended stays at the Geneva five-star hotel. In March, he held his first cabinet meeting since 2015.
Cameroon needs a two-state federation to accommodate the English-speaking regions, more inclusive development and more democratic government, or face continued instability, violence and secession threats.
The government must stop banning and arresting civil-society and opposition activists.
It must release those jailed for opposing Biya and those held for fighting for the rights of Anglophone speakers. The government must also give amnesty to opponents who fled into exile.
Biya needs to step down and allow for younger, fresher, more democratic leaders. But whoever governs must do so more inclusively, accountably and prudently.
Claims have emerged of ‘ghost’ observers’, individuals masquerading as observers, declaring the election free and fair