CAMEROON: FOOLS ARE THE MAKERS OF RICHES

By AYAH Paul ABINE
At the moment of writing these words, a group of persons in Great Soppo are busy collecting 15.000 francs CFA from each inhabitant of the area in the name of “Great Soppo Water Supply Project”. The population of Great Soppo should be 100.000 people plus. If the team succeeds in collecting 15.000 from 100.000 persons, they will amass the colossal sum of 1.500.000.000 francs. If only 50.000 persons are cajoled into paying, the total collection will be 750.000.000. What a giant project!

In the context of Cameroon, nothing is absolutely wrong with the initiative per ser. Many are similar projects that have successfully been undertaken in various parts of the country, especially in the neglected countryside. But there is something highly questionable about the case of Great Soppo for a number of reasons and antecedents. One can hasten to suggest that the alleged project is only another fraud on the public in a country where the law is the low business of the weak and lowly.

A project of that magnitude, in the first place, needs public discussion, followed by technical study and careful planning. After establishing the estimated cost of the project, the funding population and the estimated cost are juxtaposed. The rate of contributions is then publicly determined, taking into account the two factors. Sufficient sensitization about the collection follows as the next step. Finally comes the actual collection. The consent of the population must be sought and obtained at every stage of the project. In a democratic community, every inhabitant of Great Soppo reserves the right to opt for water from CDE or from the new project in the alternative.

Again, Great Soppo is one of the quarters of the seat of Buea Council. Those collecting the money are not unaware that the former mayor of that council started a water supply project with the catchment situated apparently within Great Soppo. We all know that the objective was to supply water to the lower part of the municipality where Great Soppo lies. That project is still pending completion. The collectors have to convince the inhabitants of Great Soppo that there is honest reason to renounce that project, and hastily embark upon the building of water supply exclusively for Great Soppo.

Thirdly, the seat of Buea Council is largely covered by water supply managed by CDE. The water supply in question had earlier been managed by PWD; and then later by SNEC. If water is now rationed in Buea, the entire municipality so covered is affected. Sufficient proof must therefore be provided that the Great Soppo community suffers special hardship; and that that justifies the necessity and the urgency to carry out a project of that magnitude specifically for Great Soppo. Such proof seems either not to be forthcoming, or it is yet to be disclosed to the ordinary man.

Another indispensable factor is that the collection of the money must be done in a coordinated manner, and in all transparency. Every citizen must part with his money of his own volition. No-one should therefore offer self-serving vicious threats intended to intimidate the ordinary man into submission. We know no law in Cameroon which empowers any group of persons to compel members of the public to pay taxes to private individuals taking refuge under cloudy projects dressed in the apparel of public utility.

What is all the more relevant here is that few serious persons acquainted with the recent past of Great Soppo Traditional Council would honestly hesitate to impugn their probity. Not long ago, the said council got into collusion with the then Divisional Officer of Buea, and they perpetrated a fraud on the public. The so-called “representative of the Head of State” issued an edict enjoining the inhabitants of Great Soppo to pay a tax of 1.000 francs each for the coffers of the council. That was in foolhardy spite for the celebrated principle that there is “no imposition without representation”.

If in the end the council succeeded in defrauding 100.000 persons, they unlawfully collected 100.000.000 francs for themselves. As easy as that! Just half of that number of persons and 50.000.000 francs was up for the grabbing. Characteristically, they got away with it with embarrassing impunity. That, without more, is enough ground to speculate that, encouraged by the success of their previous fraud on the public, the council in question is now up for a bigger deal under the opaque banner of “Great Soppo Water Supply Project”. That is but consistent with my contention that “a taste of the forbidden is a second transgression”!

The unlawful state of affairs in Great Soppo leads one to legitimately wonder aloud how far we are from the status of a failed state. Isn’t the foundation of a failed state the existence of such lawless groups operating independently of and in defiance of the authority of the central government?

Whatever be your answer, the incontrovertible fact is that the first step towards a failed state is “disregard for the law”. And failure or neglect on the part of the central government to act in check adds fuel to the fire without fail. No-one of course nips a conflagration!

If some Cameroonians are so fantastically rich, there surely are so many foolish Cameroonians. Fools are the makers of riches!