The update on the University of Buea is not good. Classes have yet to resume. There have been additional clashes between gendarmes and students. Students are still being detained. Students are still protesting several issues involving the new medical school. I had hoped that the calm indicated some resolution, but it does not. Friends are hoping that classes will resume on Monday but I am not hopeful. Please check the Post for regular updates.

www.postnewsline.com

Last week I had an adventure in Douala. Douala is the economic capitol of Cameroon. It’s a coastal city with all the amenities and challenges of a city – congestion, traffic, dirt, noise, street children, small calm oases, potholes – a jumble of contradictions and surprises. On the way to meet a friend, the driver, who didn’t know the city well, turned onto a small street that turned out to be one way. Of course, we were going in the wrong direction – at a corner which housed a small satellite police station. The policeman met us with an outstretched arm in the middle of the street. “Halt!” He took the driver’s license and the vehicle documents off to his small office and then summoned the driver. My friend accompanied the driver and I remained (trying to be unnoticed) in the back seat of the car. A few moments later my friend returned with the news that the policeman wanted 15000 fcfa (a little over $30 now that the dollar has dropped to an official exchange rate of 498 fcfa). This he said, was the fine for driving the wrong direction on a one way street. An expected request might have been 2-3000 fcfa, so 15000 was quite unexpected. I immediately telephoned a contact in the Embassy Branch Office in Douala to get advice. Should we pay? Wasn’t that too much? My contact told me that the fine should be about 6000 fcfa and that we should request a receipt. I could also reveal the fact that I’d spoken to an embassy contact who would complain of harassment on my behalf, if necessary. I hate being a rude and unfriendly US American at any time, but some times it can be necessary. So I calmly informed the policeman of my contact’s suggestion that we be taken to police headquarters so that we could get a receipt for our payment of the fine. The policeman informed me that he was in fact, doing me a favor by asking for only 15000 – that if we went to the HQ, the fine would surely be 50,000 cfa. I told him that this would be fine so long as I got a receipt for the money. He also told me that HQ would only issue a receipt to an embassy official, not to me. I told him that he was welcome to call the embassy to find out whether or not they would support me. The policeman still did not think I was from the US, but his colleague who had been observing me was pretty nonplussed. He decided that it would be best to simply let us leave. After all, why should they tempt fate? I might be telling the truth. So he told his partner to allow us to leave. The first policeman wasn’t ready to do so just yet though. He made one more plea. This time for mimbo – drink, palm wine, alcohol – to assuage the noonday sun. He was right. It was a very hot and sticky day. But he shouldn’t have been greedier than the ordinary policeman to whom I would have gladly given 2000 cfa. We thanked the wiser partner and left – this time going in the right direction. We were able to meet another friend for a cool soft drink at the French Cultural Centre (which has great artwork) and we still beat the unforgiving traffic jam that was sure to develop on the approach to Bonaberi. That was the adventure in Douala.


I’ve made fun of a persistent problem in Cameroon – that of corruption. It is endemic at every level of society. The government has recently taken a number of measures aimed at stamping out corruption. Several parliamentarians have had their immunity stripped so that they can be tried and a conference is taking place in the capitol this week to discuss the implementation of anti-corruption measures. While these public efforts are to be lauded, it is also clear here that corruption has become such a way of life that not much gets done unless the necessary “dashes” are offered. Some people simply refuse to complete ordinary tasks without that dash. Everyone wants his or her share. Of course there are many reasons why this culture developed – too many to explain here – and many that are in fact somewhat legitimate in some ways. For example, there were time periods during which civil servants weren’t being paid by the government but were still expected to work. Requesting payment was for them the only way to make sure they had some form of income. But things have changed – at least for some. But the concept of being paid by a client has not gone away. And the notion of doing a job simply because it is your job is not shared by everyone. Let me be clear – not everyone participates in this collusion. Many people do not. But those who do contribute mightily to the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies that hinder progress in this wonderful country. Those who are making the effort to change the culture of corruption are to be applauded.

On a lighter note, Cameroonians love to sing. Have I mentioned this before? Anywhere you go, Cameroonians are singing. Little children sing on the way to and from school. Men hum, women sing aloud. Boys sing hymns and girls mimic the latest U.S. American and European pop stars. In church, the entire congregation sings with enthusiasm and follows cues that I as an outsider have yet to decipher. They know when to pause, then continue, change the rhythm of their clapping, when to stand or sit. The church choirs I have heard, produce some of the most beautiful choral music I’ve ever heard – a musician’s dream. But believe me, not everyone here can carry a tune (not that I can either). But it doesn’t seem to matter. What matters is that they love to sing. I think that in my home culture, singing for pure joy is discouraged unless you can really “s-a-n-g” – that means sing with the voice of an angel. If your tune is a little off or wobbly, your folks will look at you sideways and say “please...” – that means “please, be quiet.” Here, however, people sing for pure joy. This past weekend, I was reminded that Christmas is approaching by a neighbor who sang “O, Holy Night” from beginning to end beautifully. What a mood lifter. And even now, a little girl in the house next door is singing a song I don’t know. I think I’ll miss all the impromptu singing when I go home. There’s something to be said for expressing the joy of life.

Some of you may have heard about the student strike at the University of Buea. The past week has been confusing, inspiring, infuriating, disappointing, upsetting and more. As I’ve said before, there is so much potential in Cameroon – human potential most importantly. And what I’ve seen with the strike is the government’s inability to harness the potential of its young people. The country is suffering from the pains of growth and rapid change. The government, of necessity and external (economic) pressure, has liberalized appreciably since I was first here in 1995. There is evidence of democratization – NGOs, civic associations, local governments with the power to take certain kinds of decisions, a more open press than has been operational in the past, among other signs of change. The government has put in place a human rights commission and uses the language of human rights and democratization openly and freely. In spite of the government’s efforts to liberalize, it has yet to decentralize to the point of allowing professionals to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. This is clear in many spheres of Cameroonian life, not only at the university level. And I write here with some apprehension – I have friends and colleagues who work at every level of higher education in Cameroon. And I am an outsider. But in the few short months I have been here, I see that the centralized system will either drown itself, or kill any hope of innovation and advancement.
The striking students had a point. They witnessed an action which they interpreted to smack of collusion, corruption, or at least cronyism. [I will not recount the facts here but will include links to several news sources below.] Rearing its head again was the Anglophone question. The students’ initial complaints might have been met with an invitation to dialogue. But the government, as in the past, asked the rhetorical question “who are these students to question government?” To be fair, representatives of the government at various levels, made efforts to hold discussions with the students – and did. Others stymied these efforts. And I wonder if the discussions that actually took place were satisfying to any of those involved. While the setting is calm, tension and dissatisfaction remains high. Students have capitulated basically because of the use of force. Several students have been injured, two were killed, others have been detained and at least as of Tuesday (5 Dec), were still being held. University officials have requested that the students be released but higher government officials have refused.
I am skirting some of the deeper questions here. What I will say is that the government has lost an important opportunity to demonstrate a real commitment to embrace the perspectives of all Cameroonians in this concept they call “unity in diversity.” They lost an opportunity to prove to the next generation of leaders that their views are welcomed and appreciated. That their voices count in this political milieu. On the eve of parliamentary elections and in the midst of discussing/structuring an independent electoral commission, it would seem important to impress upon skeptical Anglophones that the education of their children is as important as educating all other Cameroonian children. While the violence has ended and students have resigned themselves to the government’s initial position, the government has only succeeded in proving to Anglophones (and many Francophones) once again (at least those to whom I am speaking) that they are welcome to participate in the political process as long as they support the “correct” positions.

http://www.lemessager.net/details_articles.php?code=44&code_art=15872

http://www.postnewsline.com/2006/11/disturbances_at.html

http://www.postnewsline.com/2006/11/yaounde_imposes.html

http://www.postnewsline.com/2006/11/the_university_.html#more