Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam. That name does not ring a bell in the minds of Cameroonians who have been on the forefront of the fight for democratic change in Cameroon.

He took over as Communication Minister from Ebenezer Njoh Mouelle, which is a familiar name in Cameroon politics. Njoh Mouelle was once Secretary General of the CPDM Central Committee. The appointment of Njoh Mouelle came after the sacking of Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, who considered a crackdown on the press the appropriate means of settling scores with newspapers that included his name in the unenviable list of homosexuals.

Biya terminated the delicious morsel of revenge before he began to savour it. The bill he tabled which would have taken away Cameroon's hard-earned press freedom was withdrawn from Parliament. Like the proverbial Humpty Dumpty, he soon came tumbling down from his prestigious ministerial post.

Biyiti The Johnnie-Just Come

Press freedom is not a gift from Biya. Cameroonians arm-twisted his regime and got it and whatever is obtained through hard work is bound to be jealously kept. This explains why news about the closing down of Equinoxe Television and the censorship of the popular CRTV programme "Morning Safari" was received with so much fury and indignation. This was followed by a raid of its station by the police.

The excuse was that the TV station was operating illegally. Biyiti bi Essam was later to declare during a press conference jointly held with the Ministers of Trade and Transport that Equinox TV had not fulfilled the required financial conditions to operate. This explanation was anything but convincing and whether the Minister believes it or not, the violence that characterised the recent strike action in Douala was provoked, especially, by the closure of Equinoxe TV and radio.

The Communication Minister's hangmen at CRTV are Alain Belibi, Director of information and Celestin Boten, Director of Programmes. Belibi is the one who banned Fru Ndi's views on the on going debate on constitutional amendment, while Boten proscribed the playing of Longue Longue's song "50 ans on pourvoir" on January 31.

The most brutal form of the new censorship policy is the kidnap and incarceration of journalists critical of the regime. The abduction and holding in captivity of Jean Bosco Talla and Herve Kemete, Deputy Editor and reporter of Le Front Newspaper, for filming the mansions of some top members of government from Zoetele, is a move to discourage investigative journalism targeting pilferers of State resources.

The censorship of CRTV's most popular English Language programme and closure of Magic FM is intended to kill debate on Biya's mandate extension. The President's silence on the issue signifies consent. It was probably this silence that pricked US Ambassador, Janet Garvey, to come out so forcefully last week against the regime's muzzling of the press.

Divine Approval Of Free Expression

The right to freedom of expression, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is upheld by the Bible. For instance, Satan, God's chief adversary is not only allowed entry into heaven, the Almighty allows him to express his views about Job, a devoted servant of God. God even permits Satan to carry out an experiment to test Job's loyalty to God (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6).

When Jesus asks his Apostles "What do men say I am?" he was in effect allowing them the freedom to access him as a leader. A regime that suppresses freedom, is not unlike the former Soviet Union, or that of Big Brother in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The Biblical story of Balaam's donkey may not be a popular one, but is a good allegory on oppression. Balaam beat his donkey with such brutality that God opened its mouth and it rebuked the master for his cruelty (Numbers 22:23-30)

By preventing Cameroonians from expressing themselves, the Biya regime is demonstrating the same tyranny as some parents who try to stifle the cries of the same children on whom they had meted corporal punishment.

Sigmund Freud's theory of the Talking Cure is of immense importance in modern therapy. The story of King Midas and the Ass's Ears is another allegory on the dangers of suppressing. The barber, who in the process of shaving his master discovered that the King had the ears of an ass promised never to divulge the secret.

But he almost lost his senses and had to dig a hole and shout it out. Of course, plants that grew there and birds that ate their fruits got the secret.Historians would surely recall what happened to George III of England in the 18th century. The King tried to frustrate the parliamentary bid of John Wilkes and not only incurred the wrath of the pro- Whilke north Briton Newspaper, but also the ignominy of being lampooned in the anonymous Letters of Junius".

The death of Dele Giwa, legendary investigative journalist, through a letter bomb didn't prevent the dissemination of the information he intended to publish. The irrepressible nature of information, has been aptly summed up by 18th century Robert Brinsley Sheridan in The School For Scandal, "Cut Scandal's head off, yet the tongue is wagging" Tracts do just what Sheridan is describing.

A "Modest" Proposal

Censorship laws are like fetters on the mind. Such laws are intended to curb and restrain the free flow of ideas in the same manner as bodily movements would be restricted if the Ministry of Culture were to enact a law stipulating that all Cameroonian musicians must dance in chains.

If the Biya regime really wants censorship to work, Thought Crime like in Orwell's book should be included in the New Criminal Procedure Code after which police should be planted besides the beds of all sleeping

Cameroonians and ensure the arrest of somnambulists that criticise Biya's mandate extension bid in their dreams.Finally, to terminate once and for all the flow of ideas, the regime should ascend and set up a panel in heaven to censor or even gag the Almighty God Himself.