Kini Nsom
17 March 2008
opinion
Magic FM radio station in Yaounde remains closed after heavily armed gendarmes stormed its Essos headquarters last February 28.
Led by Colonel Emmanuel Tchinda of the Mfoundi Gendarmerie Legion, the gendarmes brutalised journalists and carted away broadcast equipment. They swooped on the place when the station's critical programme "Magic Attitude" was going on.
Given that it was a call-in programme during which listeners commented on the speech President Paul Biya made on February 27, the gendarmes accused the journalists of inciting the population to rebel against the Head of State.
The attack on Magic FM was the second most brutal act on the press. The Minister of Communication, Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam, had earlier banned the Equinox Television in Douala.
Although the Minister said the authorities of Equinox Television had not paid the government any money in order to obtain a license, observers say the closure was not unconnected with the media house's critical stance on the Biya regime.
Equinox authorities are said to have recently paid FCFA 50 million to government, but the Minister has not budged. This lays credence to the accusation that the Minister is on a mission to gag all media organs that are critical of the regime.
Although it is clear that no private television station has paid the required amount of FCFA 100 million, the Minister claimed in an interview with RFI that only Equinox Television had not hearkened to the conditions that would enable it operate regularly.
He played Pointus Pilate over the Magic FM affair, saying he did not know who sent gendarmes to carry away broadcast equipment from the place.Observers, say Biyiti Bi Essam wants to be seen as protecting the Biya regime by silencing the critical press.
His overzealous attitude makes him seem to be more Catholic than the New Deal Pope. But one Yaounde commentator warned that people who claim to be more Catholic than the Pope usually end up being excommunicated from the church.
This is apparently why Biyiti bi Essam's name is mentioned in the list of the Ministers who are likely to kiss the dust when Biya eventually nods for a cabinet shake-up.
Insulting The Cardinal
In an attempt to put the truth in the doldrums, CRTV has resorted to treating anybody who speaks the bitter truth about the Biya regime an enemy.When the venerated Cardinal Christian Tumi spoke to RFI about the recent transporters' strike, it was nothing but naked truth. That tickled the bile of the regime.
That is why one journalist at the CRTV radio, Francois-Marc Modzoum, was ordered to run a commentary on the 1 pm news in which he virtually insulted Cardinal Tumi. In a commentary broadcast on March 5, he insinuated that the Cardinal was dishonest, had natural hatred for the regime and sympathises with the opposition.
CRTV that had apparently begun bowing to the dictates of competition and objective journalism not long ago has slipped back to its hitherto one-party editorial policy. Its journalists are now forced to practise "the gospel of good journalism" according to Biyiti bi Essam; this means insulting "enemies" of the regime and ridiculing them on the air.
Small wonder that after Minister Marafa's press statement on the strike, CRTV journalists had a field day stigmatising SDF Chairman, John Fru Ndi and Bamenda for being the hoodoo behind the violent strike. The Francophone journalist, who covered Marafa's press briefing, unleashed a spate of invectives on Fru Ndi and cursed Bamenda for always being the cauldron of violent acts of vandalism in the country.
The authorities seemed to have been so determined to stigmatise Fru Ndi that they ordered one Anglophone journalist to put in more invectives into a story he had earlier done to paint the SDF Chairman black.
Ever since Biyiti bi Essam was appointed Minister of Communication and Board Chair of CRTV, censorship has fully returned to the house. CRTV and Cameroon Tribune journalists are in chains. Hardly can any journalist go on the air with a programme that has not been censored by the Minister.
One CRTV reporter who complained bitterly to this reporter said, "Journalists are born free, but everywhere they are in chains". In his overzealous attitude, the Minister is said to be virtually usurping the functions of the Editors-In-Chief of CRTV and Cameroon Tribune.
Caution
It was not for nothing that one of the most dreaded dictators and soldier, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte said he "feared the press more than a thousand bayonets." It was not also empty talk when the founding father of the American nation said he would prefer the press to a government.
These aphorisms lay credence to the claim that "no regime no matter how powerful it is can win a war against the press". The ambition-blinded conservatives in the Biya government who behave like the English Cavalier Parliament, that claimed to be more Episcopal than the Bishops and more royal than the king, are enemies of the regime.
By attacking the press, these enemies are digging a grave where the regime would soon be offered to the worms. It is the biggest irony that the regime has launched a debate on the amendment of the constitution and does not want the media to highlight contrary opinions in the press.
Cameroon now has very menstruated records as far as press freedom is concerned.We subscribe in toto to CACOJ President, Randy Joe Sa,ah's call on government to sanction all those who are gagging the press and victimising journalists.
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