HERE COMES ANOTHER GOVERNMENT!

By Tazoacha Asonganyi,Yaounde.
Cameroon has been in suspense for over a year, waiting for a new government। The arguments for a new government were many: the PM seemed to be bugged down by rumours about his involvement in the Presidential plane scandal – the so-called albatross affair – and actually had sessions with the judicial police; rumours about deals in Bakassi that led to the death of many Cameroonian soldiers, including the DO of Kumbo Abedimo; the helplessness of government as Limbe was taken control of and ransacked by an armed band that went scot-free; the February 2008 uprisings fuelled by a mixture of anger against constitutional amendments and generalised price hikes...

There was also the Pope’s visit and the subsequent fall-out of the millions that ended up in the private bank account of a government Minister; the glamorous visit of Chantal Biya abroad and the resultant tactless press outing of the Minister of Communication that led to the press turning him into a Lilliputian of the communication world! As it is with the nature of governments, these forces of error, doubt, clumsiness, rumours and despair turned the government into a sort of lame-duck government – waiting to exit। And no true leader can afford to keep such a government for too long!

And yet Paul Biya waited... until the straw that broke the camel’s back came: the publication by French-based NGO "Comite Catholique Contre la Faim et le Development"(CCFD) on the fortunes of Paul Biya's family and his close collaborators. Then, like on 22 September 2007, a "new" government emerged on June 30, 2009. Some would describe it differently, but June 30 can be considered as an initial starting point for new ministers, and a "new" starting point for the old ones. And in any case, all of them are starting afresh, under a new "Prime Minister, Head of government"!

Looked at broadly, the government seems to be just an effort to wind time; to hang on and wait for the unknown... Indeed, one can ask what the recycled old faces that sowed the seeds of the demise of our society will do of significance this time around that they could not do in the past?

Borrowing from Shakespeare’s measure for measure: our doubts are traitors; and make us lose the good we oft might win; by fearing to attempt! This seems to fit the "Biya Code" that has recently been in the news! Nursing doubts, he prefers people whose attitudes are dictated by opportunism rather than by real determination to serve; people whose natural instincts seem to be to shake any fruit tree within reach to get some fruits off it! He remains faithful to his failed policy of creating vacuums, inefficiency and ineffectiveness by dashing out ministerial posts as political rewards to several of such opportunists. By opting for another change that will lead to no progress, he loses the good he might have won by stepping out of his over-beaten cul-de-sac.

We are in need of a new set of people from civil society and other forces, clean enough, and with imagination and principles, capable of envisioning and devising an enduring system of government to replace the present one marred by corruption, inefficiency, generalised lack of transparency and accountability. Such would have provided the launching pad for the transition which is no longer too many years away. This flag-end-type of government whose lifespan we know to be just around two years would have been the ideal, if he did not fear to attempt!

Changing governments in the wake of impending political battles is usually a risky issue. In this case, the risk is removed because of the prospect of recycling; or the possibility of landing in jail on cooked-up or real charge of corruption; and by the certainty that ELECAM can do nothing to change the nature of elections in Cameroon! So the "disgraced" ministers can continue to wait in respectful expectation of recycling, and become even more zealous than they were in government.

It is the sovereign individuals - the sovereign people - that live in society that institute the state and consent to its authority. State power is managed by government. In Cameroon, it is constitutionally the President of the Republic that defines the framework of government. This being the beginning of another cycle, Paul Biya will issue the usual redundant rules of engagement for the government, before he leaves the new "Prime Minister, Head of government" to ensure their implementation. But since every member of government is thanking only Paul Biya for his/her appointment, they are fully aware that the redundant phrase "in consultation with the Prime Minister" is just as hollow as the force of the Rule of Law in Cameroon.

As the "new" government gets ready to engage in the characteristic new deal "Rule of Ministers" in place of the Rule of Law, they should remember the natural law that, all that goes up must come down. As they get ready to violate the spirit and letter of article 66 of the Constitution on the declaration of their assets and property, like their predecessors did, they should keep in mind that change must one day come to Cameroon.