Cameroon-Gagging the Press: Vintage Issa Tchiroma

By Asonganyi Tazoacha

Europe is faced with citizens that seem to be getting increasingly frustrated with their established political elites. This is evidenced by the rise of populism, and the increasing popularity of far-right extremist political parties.

      As a consequence, politics is being reinvented, so to say, to address the disillusions, frustrations and uncertainties. Europe is engaged in what all societies should do: constant reflection on who they are and what type of society they want. This is because they have since established themselves as plural societies with inherent divisions and tensions; as societies that are constantly engaged in self-reflection and self-critique to generate the new.

     Europe is not banning the expression of any opinion – there are racists, sexists, religious zealots and types of extremists; they are allowed to express themselves. Differences of opinion are a consequence of liberty. They have since known that to destroy liberty by silencing the voice of a faction in society is “worse than the disease (of plurality of opinion)” as James Madison famously put it.

      Belgium, the USA, Italy, France, Germany, the UK and some other western countries have since recognized the grievous crimes they committed against Africa. The crimes have contributed to Africa’s lamentable image of the laughingstock of the world. The crimes involved interference in the “sovereignty” of African Countries, for the selfish interests of the western powers. They involved enslavement, murder, theft, deceit, brigandage, and much more in the political, sociocultural and economic domains. The sorry image is the specter that is haunting Africa today; it is the albatross that is hanging around the neck of Africa.

     Interestingly, this sorry image of Africa seems to be accepted by the present generation of African leaders and governments because they have lived comfortably – sometimes proudly – with it, since their “power” derives mainly from the asymmetric and detrimental relationship. And so frustrations have accumulated in Africa over a long time due to the suppression of freedoms, usually to satisfy vested foreign interests.
    Such suppression of freedoms and liberties, like IssaTchiroma Bakary has engaged in recently, is usually through the breach of the trust of popular sovereignty – the right given in trust by citizens to a group of people to guide the activities of the state – to muzzle the opinion of factions in society. By claiming that our “laws” protect leaders of the foreign countries that have raped the African continent for so many centuries and continue to do so, and by using state power abusively to block the flow of opinion, he aims to prevent society from engaging in public reflection on our particular condition. Indeed, by such contempt of liberty, he hopes to ensure that we remain perpetual servants of foreign powers.
      IssaTchiroma and his kind should know that the present generation that has created the present condition of servitude for Africa, is not the same that will create a future of dignity and integrity for Africa and Africans. That future will be created by the next generation, through a self-reflection, and self-critique of the particular condition of the Africa we have allowed foreigners to create and perpetuate. Only such interactive examination of our condition can lead to the creation of a new Africa. It is foolhardy to think that we can prevent by any means at all, the public reflection that will engender the “common sense” – the receptivity - that will be arrived at through hearing our voices, seeing our actions and sharing our views in a public space that should never be closed by government
      The present condition of Africa and some other parts of the world are to blame for the chaos in the world. Invariably, it is the result of the pervasive influence of vested interests, most of the time foreign. We run political systems that emphasize friendship with foreigners at the detriment of national solidarity and our self-worth. And so it takes a simple frown from a foreign partner for our governments to dream up repressive regulations to suffocate us the more
     The present immigration crisis - represented by Africans dying in the high seas like flies while escaping from economic woes and repression, and the crowds forcing themselves into European countries - is an indication that tolerance of the particular condition of Africa and other regions is reaching its tipping point. It is like the fulfillment of a well-known natural law that says that for every action there is a reaction.
      IssaTchiroma should know that his attempt to prevent us from talking about our woes is a recipe for all types of reactions to vent pent up frustrations. I hope he will recognize the reactions when he sees them.

Europe is faced with citizens that seem to be getting increasingly frustrated with their established political elites. This is evidenced by the rise of populism, and the increasing popularity of far-right extremist political parties.

     As a consequence, politics is being reinvented, so to say, to address the disillusions, frustrations and uncertainties. Europe is engaged in what all societies should do: constant reflection on who they are and what type of society they want. This is because they have since established themselves as plural societies with inherent divisions and tensions; as societies that are constantly engaged in self-reflection and self-critique to generate the new.

     Europe is not banning the expression of any opinion – there are racists, sexists, religious zealots and types of extremists; they are allowed to express themselves. Differences of opinion are a consequence of liberty. They have since known that to destroy liberty by silencing the voice of a faction in society is “worse than the disease (of plurality of opinion)” as James Madison famously put it.

    Belgium, the USA, Italy, France, Germany, the UK and some other western countries have since recognized the grievous crimes they committed against Africa. The crimes have contributed to Africa’s lamentable image of the laughingstock of the world. The crimes involved interference in the “sovereignty” of African Countries, for the selfish interests of the western powers. They involved enslavement, murder, theft, deceit, brigandage, and much more in the political, sociocultural and economic domains. The sorry image is the specter that is haunting Africa today; it is the albatross that is hanging around the neck of Africa.

     Interestingly, this sorry image of Africa seems to be accepted by the present generation of African leaders and governments because they have lived comfortably – sometimes proudly – with it, since their “power” derives mainly from the asymmetric and detrimental relationship. And so frustrations have accumulated in Africa over a long time due to the suppression of freedoms, usually to satisfy vested foreign interests.

      Such suppression of freedoms and liberties, like IssaTchiroma Bakary has engaged in recently, is usually through the breach of the trust of popular sovereignty – the right given in trust by citizens to a group of people to guide the activities of the state – to muzzle the opinion of factions in society. By claiming that our “laws” protect leaders of the foreign countries that have raped the African continent for so many centuries and continue to do so, and by using state power abusively to block the flow of opinion, he aims to prevent society from engaging in public reflection on our particular condition. Indeed, by such contempt of liberty, he hopes to ensure that we remain perpetual servants of foreign powers.
      IssaTchiroma and his kind should know that the present generation that has created the present condition of servitude for Africa, is not the same that will create a future of dignity and integrity for Africa and Africans. That future will be created by the next generation, through a self-reflection, and self-critique of the particular condition of the Africa we have allowed foreigners to create and perpetuate. Only such interactive examination of our condition can lead to the creation of a new Africa. It is foolhardy to think that we can prevent by any means at all, the public reflection that will engender the “common sense” – the receptivity - that will be arrived at through hearing our voices, seeing our actions and sharing our views in a public space that should never be closed by government.
      The present condition of Africa and some other parts of the world are to blame for the chaos in the world. Invariably, it is the result of the pervasive influence of vested interests, most of the time foreign. We run political systems that emphasize friendship with foreigners at the detriment of national solidarity and our self-worth. And so it takes a simple frown from a foreign partner for our governments to dream up repressive regulations to suffocate us the more.
    The present immigration crisis - represented by Africans dying in the high seas like flies while escaping from economic woes and repression, and the crowds forcing themselves into European countries - is an indication that tolerance of the particular condition of Africa and other regions is reaching its tipping point. It is like the fulfillment of a well-known natural law that says that for every action there is a reaction.
      IssaTchiroma should know that his attempt to prevent us from talking about our woes is a recipe for all types of reactions to vent pent up frustrations. I hope he will recognize the reactions when he sees them.