How to Bungle a Healing Process

By Prof.Tazoacha Asonganyi

Rosa Luxemburg used to say that revolution is the only form of war in which the final victory is prepared by a series of ‘defeats’. To me, the end of the recent upheavals in Cameroon cannot really be taken as a defeat for the people, although the behavior of some barons of the regime is giving that impression. In each regime, there are always those who have much in common with that figure in Dicken’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ called Vengeance, who hover around and cause much harm to those they consider the vanquished.In politics like in sports, there will always be winners and losers. Following victory, the wounds inflicted on adversaries during the struggle to obtain victory have to be dressed; how best to heal the wounds of those victory casts as losers is fundamental to society. After all, it is one thing to win a dirty fight in politics; it is quite another to ensure that dirt is not hurled into the arena you control becauseof your victory.The outing of the so-called "elites" of Mfoundi has certainly hurled much dirt into the regime’s arena; sotoo the many deaths and the shabby treatment of those who were "arrested" in relation to the upheavals. The "elites" have sent a clear message that the Head of State has surrounded himself with second rate people, minions who would not puncture his ill-placedpolitics. The minions are in positions they are certainly least qualified to occupy. Those of them whoare dissociating themselves from their heinous outing are just the proverbial wolves in sheep’s clothing!Following his ‘victory’ over those who attempted to overthrow him by coup-d’état in April 1984, Paul Biya made a monumental mistake by leaving the fate of the vanquished to those who would have been hurt had the coup succeeded. They were the ones who prescribed punishment, and punishment they prescribed! Everybody knows about the mass graves in Mbalmayo, and the scars they left behind. One of the scars is his fear of the most important decision that faces him: letting go the presidency in 2011 as directed by the Constitution of Cameroon.Following this other ‘victory’, he seems to be in the process of making virtually the same mistake. Children are being pushed into prison as if there is no tomorrow. Prisons are not separate from our society; they are part of it. Prison is not a huge cupboard where we dispose of people we simply want to lock up and forget about. All prisoners except a handful that will die in prison or get shot will sooner or later be released into society. We all know that our prisons do not work, because most prisoners return to crime when they are released. The hundreds of our youths being sent to prison have to be prepared there for the jobs they were asking for through the upheavals. Their education there will not be a luxury; it is inextricably linked to the future safety of all citizens.As these injustices are being perpetrated, the public media built up during the era of the one party regime have set themselves up as a force opposed to the will of the people. On a daily basis, their editorial comments masquerade as news. They select ‘facts’ to support their predetermined point of view that the constitution of Cameroon should be given "a general touch" so that in the process, article 6.2 can also be touched to allow their man to face his fear of quitting! To strengthen this point of view, counter arguments have been silenced by closing up private media organs.The people are already locked in a fearful embrace with the regime, insisting on the opposite of what the regime wants. In seeking to extricate the regime from this embrace, there are plenty of shortcuts that can be used, but all of them are dangerous traps. Whatever shortcut the regime is dreaming up, they better think about what they would be putting at risk. They can win battles, but Cameroonians have their eyes on the final victory!