By
Christopher Ambe
When
Ekema Patrick Esunge, on October 16 2013, was elected as the Mayor of
Buea, this commentator, in fairness to the new mayor, penned a commentary
titled “Mayor Ekema Patrick, Fight The Good Fight! The article, which was published
in The Recorder of October 28, 2013, was a piece of advice on how Mr.
Ekema can make great strides in his new
office and keep the trust of the public.
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| Mayor Ekema Patrick: Will he revise his communication policy? |
The piece
advised Mola Ekema to “work in collaboration with all
development stakeholders within his reach who have the modernization of the
municipality at heart if he must transform his victory into concrete project realization”.
The development stakeholders mentioned
above include the independent and public media. After all, one of the surest ways
for an elected public figure to be accountable to the electorate is through the
media. Many a political observer had thought that, Mola Ekema would maintain a
warm relationship with the media -so to communicate his executed projects and
his blue print, as his predecessor Charles Mbella Moki (now Senator) did for
years and won public confidence.
Mayor
Ekema himself admitted to have read The Recorder commentary, which also
cautioned him thus: “There is no doubt that [you] will face challenges in the
performance of [your] mayoral functions. Like it or not, there are people
surrounding you and pretending to be friends, who will be secretly pulling you
down. But a development-focused manager has the moral duty to identify his
challengers and transform them into admirers”
But that is not the case as Mayor Ekema -certainly
ill-advised by some of his closest but pretentious supporters, has reportedly
opted to cut links with the vibrant private press purportedly because some media
institutions have always spotlighted his setbacks. This CPDM mayor too rarely
makes himself available to the official media especially CRTV even when serious
allegations are leveled against his person and or management style.
If there is one thing a public
office holder must do very often in this ICT –conscious era, it is for that
officer to mass-communicate his actions and plan of actions to the public, his electorate.
That is accountability, which is what is expected of any public figures-no
more, no less!
As a public figure,
Mayor Ekema should know that he has –knowingly or unknowingly opted for public
scrutiny of his activities and his lifestyle. In fact, he is under the public
scanner. He must learn to live with this,instead of thinking that, any criticism
about his leadership by some newspaper has been sponsored by his detractors.
Mayor Ekema must be informed that, democratically –elected leaders
fall in love with the media and not the other way round. When the media criticizes a leader constructively,
it is helping him/her to take correctional measures for the common good. That in another way is free consultancy
for him.
In
appreciating the important role of the media in the development of society, Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President
of the United States of America and the spiritual father of the US Bill of
Rights, on January 16, 1787 said,“…were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government
without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a
moment to prefer the latter”
Recently, a drivers’ syndicate in
Buea filed a complaint against the mayor telling how he had pulled out a pistol
and threatened to shoot members for trying to operate in the town .As serious
as the allegation was, journalists tried to get the Mayor’s re-action to the
allegation but he deliberately maintained sealed lips
As tension mounted and many wondered
why he was not arrested, the mayor had a second thought and then refuted the
allegation over the state-owned broadcaster CRTV and elsewhere, claiming it was
the handiwork of his detractors.
In Cameroon, the private media is
more vibrant than the public media and Mayor Ekema knows this too well that,
millions of Cameroonians rely on the former for information and critical analyses
of the country’s socio-economic and political landscape.
If the Mayor was initially reluctant
to speak out on the gun issue, at least his Communication Unit would have
issued a statement. But unfortunately, the communication unit of the Council
did not. What kind of Communication office that does not communicate to the public?
The duties of the communication unit
of any public office include helping the boss reach out to the public. But that
of Buea Council has little or nothing to do with the Media. The Journalists
working in the Council’s Communication Unit, according to my investigation, are
not allowed to do their job when the image of the Council is at stake, on
suspicion that they may not be loyal to Mayor Ekema.Yet, they are paid !
There is no doubt that since Mola Ekema became
Mayor of Buea he has launched a war against the vibrant Independent media,for
their critical reports on his leadership. Several Journalists have complained
how apparently on instructions of the mayor they have been chased away from the
office of the mayor as they try to have access to him. What a shame!
The Mayor should be informed that Law no.90/052 of December 19,
1990 on Freedom on Mass Communication gives Journalists the right to access
information. Section 48 (1) of the above cited law states “Unless otherwise provided by law and regulations, Persons shall be
free to have access to official documents. Section 48(2) defines the
documents concerned as
“files,reports,studies,minutes,statistics,directives,instructions,circulars,memoranda
and all documents relating to acts of positive law"
How
can the media perform its duties well, when the mayor-a public figure has
blacklisted some media organs making it rather too difficult for them to report
on the Council activities?
Surprisingly, as the Mayor’s
communication policy is failing, Dr. Ngange Lyonga kingsly, a communication
consultant and journalism lecturer (of the University of Buea) is one of the 41
councilors of Buea. Why can the mayor not ask him to develop a public relations/communication
strategy for the Council, instead of ignoring him? Dr. Ngange Lyonga, I think, is an added
advantage to the Mayor, in so far as public relations and public communication
are concerned.
Charles Mbella Moki (now Senator) who
was Mayor of Buea for 11 years was a true friend of the press. He was
constantly in the news not only because of his successes; some media outlets
sharply criticized his leadership style, yet Mola Mbella Moki never launched a
war against any media house. Instead, he drew lessons from his media critics to
forge ahead with his blue print. And he succeeded to modernize the city of
Buea, now known as the Town of Legendary Hospitality
Isn’t it time for Mayor Ekema to
revise his communication strategy and start reaching out to the public, instead
of paying attention to so-called friends and advisers, who want to see him fail
by encouraging him not to work with the Media?
This commentator thinks it is time Mayor
Ekema put a full stop to bad advisers who pass for his supporters but are
envious of his position. Mr. Mayor, “Time flies and waits for no body!”
The venerated Abraham Lincoln once
said, “The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time”.
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