By Tazoacha Asonganyi in Yaounde.
Nkobena Boniface Fontem recently launched a book of 175 pages titled, "Sarcedotal Politics and Systems Sustainability: The Paul Biya Paradigm". The book published by "Presses Universitaires de Yaoundé" and going for 10.000 FCFA a copy, is arranged in nine chapters as follows: Chapter one: The theoretical framework: contending approaches; Chapter two: Some historical insights: ideal type leaders; Chapter three: The task ahead: patterns of social deviancy; Chapter four: Policy goals: towards eradicating deviancy; Chapter five: Policy instruments and implementation; Chapter six: Policy outcome metrics; Chapter seven: Towards explanations; Chapter eight: Implications: findings and relevance; Chapter nine: Some perspectives: what ought to be done.
Science is part of a shared humanity. As a fraternity of enquiring minds, it has evolved into a universal language of hypothesis-testing and self-correction. This is probably why "to give a scientific content" to the book, the author provides a hypothesis for his "study" as follows: "that there is a strong causal relationship between leadership quality and systems sustainability; that sarcedotal politics is isomorphic with idealist precepts which are sine qua non for systems sustainability; that systems sustainability is a function of sarcedotal behaviour; and that systems sustainability is a function of leadership quality".
The scientific method does not allow the adoption of a sloppy methodology to test hypotheses in order to arrive at pre-determined answers to research questions.
The author sets the stage for the testing of his hypothesis, by reviewing some historical intellectual figures which he presents in the "idealist school" (John Locke, Rousseau, Bentham, Kant, Durkheim, Mill) or the "realist school" (Thucydide, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Richelieu). He also reviews the lives of some historic political figures "whose vocational life incarnates sarcedotal behaviour" (Mahatma Ghandi, Luther King, John Kennedy, de Gaulle, and Mandela).
In order to "test" his hypothesis, he uses what Stephen Covey would describe as "Character Ethics", and which the author describes as "ten qualities that characterise President Biya’s management style" (experience, patience, tolerance/dialogue spirit, discretion, humaneness, resourcefulness/rigour, liberal-mindedness, moral rectitude, legal-mindedness, foresightedness ... and the role of his spouse). There is no control group (or society) as such, but it can be assumed that the group of historic political figures cited above is his control group against which he measures his hero! Following the "testing" process, he places Paul Biya squarely in the idealist school, and in the same league with these political figures!
History teaches us that well-intentioned people are not a safeguard, as highlighted by the statement of John Steinbeck that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Good intentions have to always hinge on a social contract that binds society and allows good-intentions to be fulfilled. Another serious weakness of the book is that much of the testing process is based on the expression of good intentions, divorced from a strong social contract – strong institutions in a constitutional framework accepted by all. The author falls in the class of those who depend on the whims and caprices of "strongmen" rather than a strong institutional dispensation that protects the rights of individual citizens so that they can seek the good as they see fit.
Choices and actions must be rooted in social circumstances. Therefore it is foolhardy to invoke schools of thought and the choices and actions of historical political figures who acted within the ambit of strong institutions, to compare them with choices and actions in a society characterised by weak and repressed institutions. When there is little or no trust, good rhetoric and good intentions make no difference, since they cannot provide a foundation for permanent success.
Intellectuals are people who live in the world of ideas, books and writing. They hold up a mirror to those in authority, to allow permanent self-examination. They occupy the moral high ground, work for the good of society rather than the good of the few, live in truth and speak the truth to the prince/princess. Although some intellectuals are academics/experts, they should never be confused with the academics/experts that work for factions in society, live in half-truth, and tell the prince/princess what they want to hear.
Economists usually emphasise the outcome of choice; psychologists, the process of choice. Politicians should emphasise both. These are judged by a process of "legitimation", which, according to Jurgen Habermas, is an enquiry that considers whether one’s decisions enhance our social world and enrich our interactions with one another. The book under review is an effort at the legitimation of 26 years of Paul Biya at the helm of the Cameroon state by an academic/expert. The author exploits intentions expressed by Paul Biya and third parties, and describes the opposite outcomes of the intentions in the Cameroon society as the consequence of "political, economic, socio-cultural and administrative deviances" that he seems to consider to be independent of his hero’s will!
Faced with the "good intentions" he acclaims and the opposite outcomes he cannot ignore, the author states that "People hardly imagine what it would mean for a Head of State, an individual human being to personally go round every corner of the nation to track down defaulters; what it would mean for him to personally thrash every defaulter". He does not seem to know that the legendary politicians he cites in his book as his hero’s league mates, did not need to personally go round their countries to seek defaulters; decentralised, strong institutions lighted the torch in all corners of their societies!
Quoting Thucydide, the author says, "I have written not for immediate applause but for posterity, and shall be content if the future student of these events…finds my narrative of them useful".
Interestingly, although he talks about posterity and the future, he seems to view "sustainability" as a process in Paul Biya’s lifetime, even if the Brundtland Commission provided the world with the following definition of sustainable development: "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Politics being the key to development, and judging by the outcomes of Paul Biya’s choices in our society, I doubt that either this book or the legacy of Paul Biya would enjoy the sustainability claimed by the author.
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