CCDHR’s Reaction to President Paul Biya’s 2006 End of Year Address to the Nation
Surely, many Cameroonian would form personal opinions on whether the President’s end of year address to the nation was satisfactory. CCDHR encourages such independent thought. As a public servant, the President’s actions obviously draw debates from every corner of the society. It is in this regard that CCDHR, an independent non-profit organization committed to the building of a strong and effective civil society in Cameroonian finds it an imperative public service to provide a fair and constructive reaction to the President’s address.

CCDHR is stunned at President Biya’s 2006 year end address and his hopes for the year(s) ahead. In an unabashed manner, the President stated that “the year 2006, [he] believes, [was] a good year for Cameroon”. He justifies this premise by stating that one of the two most important achievements of his administration is that his government’s efforts finally helped the country attain the completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) . This is clearly a shame. There is a serious need to educate all those who think and reason in similar fashion that there is nothing positive about taking a country backward in development.

CCDHR is surprised that the President takes prides in stating how he has systematically plunged this well-endowed country into poverty throughout his more than two decades rule. It is an embarrassment to find the President of a country ironically claiming responsibility for his poor performance, by boosting of extreme depletion of the wealth of a country he had ruled for 24 years. Isn’t it discreditable that the President is content with taking the country from “Good” to “Worse”, while his counterparts all over the world are claiming credit for development initiatives, wealth creation, increased literacy, improved educational and healthcare facilities, better road network infrastructure, increased employment, increased social services, and prosperity - most of which they have achieved as Presidents of their countries within a timeframe, half of what Paul Biya has been President of Cameroon?

CCDHR is concerned that the President’s speech, which was full of flowery languages does not seem to be backed by any real government policies, strategies, projects, or commitment to achieving them. Talks of “priority to the economy”; “rehabilitating public finances”; “improved governance”; “reviving growth”; “expansion of the economy”; "creating job opportunities”; and “curbing unemployment”; do not to reflect the realities on the ground. It is a mockery to the conscience of Cameroonians to claim today that the most urgent challenge is to “increase our energy supply” and “develope our basic infrastructure such as roads, railways, port facilities, telephone networks, the internet, etc”. CCDHR is amazed at how late the President is in his realization of the urgency of these needs. These services have been in ruin for more than a decade under this same President. Throughout its more than two decades in power, the Biya government has made no serious efforts to handle the urgency of these needs. More so, the conditions of these services are worse than what the President inherited 24 years ago, when he came to power in 1982. This is indicative of absolute neglect and disdain for the country and its people.

Meanwhile, the President seems conscious of the fact that the efforts of his government so far has been inadequate, but goes ahead to reassure fellow Cameroonians and his dear compatriots that this is just the beginning. The big question that looms then is, ‘the beginning of what?’ Is it the beginning of his efforts? The beginning of his Presidency? or ALL OF THE ABOVE? PICAM expected the President to use the end of year address to tell his fellow brothers and sisters about the concrete actions he and his administration have taken to make the country a better place, not as an annual forum for identifying issues which ostensibly drop out of his government’s priorities by the end of his speech.

The President further acknowledged the prevalence of organized banditry and robbery despite the unquestionable achievement of the forces of law and order. The forces of law and order have no doubt made significant strides in performing their tasks. But what about their effectiveness in extorting bribes; their effectiveness brutalizing plantation workers for peacefully demanding their rights; their effectiveness in killing university students for peacefully demonstrating against high-order corruption; their effectiveness in intimidating, arresting, torturing, and persecuting political opponents and critics of the government. The forces of law and order deserve full praise for ‘these good jobs too’.

Also, the President seemed outraged at the carelessness and recklessness of some drivers and the poor state of vehicles which has led our roads to claim several lives every year. He even vows that “we cannot afford to continue this way”. How good would it be, if the President had vowed and committed himself to the fact that we cannot afford to leave our roads in ruin? There is no doubt that faulty cars, drunk driving, and other reckless actions by drivers are responsible for some of the deadly accidents in the country. But to cunningly avoid mentioning the poor road network infrastructure as a fundamental catalyst to the many ghastly accidents in the country is incongruous.

Most provocative was the President’s allusion to the fact than the ‘limited’ consolidation of democratic institutions in the country was “an exceptional situation”, and “quite a rare privilege in our continent”. With due respect to the President, this is a scandal. It is not a privilege not to be tortured, ill-treated, and killed by government’s forces of law and order, IT IS A RIGHT (right to freedom of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment). It is not a privilege not to be jailed for criticizing government policies, IT IS A RIGHT (freedom of speech and expression). It is not a privilege to form and hold a personal point of view, IT IS A RIGHT (right to an opinion). It is not a privilege to choose to belong to a particular social or political group, IT IS A RIGHT (right to association). It is not a privilege to vote and have your vote counted in an election, IT IS A RIGHT (right to democratic participation). The sequence is endless. Therefore the President’s assumption that he has granted Cameroonians an array of privileges when in fact these are their basic rights is a serious misconception.

Besides, the institutions cited as evidence of consolidation of the rule of law in Cameroon are in large part rubber stamps of the government. With the notable exception of the New Criminal Procedure Code, recognized by CCDHR as a positive development (read press release); institutions like the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms have been intentional created weak so as to avoid any embarrassment to the administration. Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) on the other hand seems doomed to failure even before it begins operation. In reality, there is no clear difference between the discredited National Elections Observatory (NEO) and ELECAM. Meanwhile, noticeably absent from the list of institutions mentioned by the President was the Anti-Corruption Commission which he heads. Doesn’t Cameroonians deserve an update from their President as to the activities of the anti-corruption drive?

CCDHR is calling on the government to put into practice most of the objective stated in the President’s year end address. In particular, the government must maintain its commitment to respect the convictions of all Cameroonians while maintaining an atmosphere of tolerance and dialogue. The government must equally ensure that conditions throughout the country are favorable for the conduct of free and transparent elections this year and beyond. The government must also proceed to improve the business climate by providing economic operators with adequate legal security, fair taxation, and better guarantees for investment. This is pivotal to economic growth and development in Cameroon as it could go a long way to encourage Cameroonians, previously shunned by bad economic and taxation policies to reconsider investing in the country.

CCDHR is also calling on the government to commit itself to revitalizing the energy sector, and the major industries in the country so that “genuine transformation of our industries which may change the face of things in Cameroon”, as promised by the President can actually come to fruition. The government must also continue efforts at controlling the prices of basic commodities and services by persistently seeking to forestall unwarranted and speculative price hikes. Further, CCDHR hopes that the President’s mention of a road map to development initiatives intended to be carried out with resources of the HIPC Initiative is indeed one that will be implemented scrupulously and resolutely as attested, rather than a calculated strategy to gain the approbation of the IMF, the World Bank, and the international community as a whole.

Finally, CCDHR would like to concur with the President that we must “continue to rub salt in the wounds”. The problem here is the identification of the wounds. Are the wounds the people who continue to suffer year after year from government neglect, poor policies, violations of their rights, and extreme poverty, or are the wounds bad government policies and corrupt government officials who abuse power while looting the people and the country of its wealth? Until we are able to identify the CORRECT wounds, the salt we continue to rub may never cure the wounds that have made Cameroon the impoverished country it has become today.