Elvis Tah
17 April 2008
opinion
I have been wondering aloud why there is a heavy deployment of soldiers in our cities. Does it mean President Biya is being haunted by his deeds?
If amending the constitution to make him life president was the right thing under the magnanimity of all Cameroonians, the heavy deployment of troops into our major cities was uncalled for. Or, is he using military diplomacy as oppose to democracy to rule this country?
I think Cameroonians have exercised a lot of fortitude and President Biya and his cronies have taken this fortitude for debility. It has never dawned on President Biya that he can also relinquish power to another person just like his predecessor handpicked and conferred powers on him.
It is no secret that when a performer stays on stage for too long, his spectators shall leave the scenario. How can Cameroonians come to terms with the fact that a particular clique of egocentric individuals would take a country hostage and deprive them of their entitlements?
For 26 years, there has been economic stagnation, the only thing Biya can boast of is the 'relative peace' that exists, thanks to the availability of beer which is the opium used in drowning the plight of fellow compatriots. After these 26 wasted years, shall we fold our arms and watch out for another set of wasted years to come?
Biya has rubber stamped the parliament just like James II did before the escalation of The Glorious Revolution of 1789 in Britain. If my history doesn't fail me, you will agree with me that the all mighty James II whose reign was described as the naked rule of the sword, was overthrown with the help of his cronies.
Come to think of it, when Mobutu Sessesseko of the then Zaire thought he was omnipotent, what happened to him when he least expected, happened. What about Hissene Habre of Chad, Charles Taylor, Ibrahim Babangida, and what have we? One thing Biya fails to understand is that you can never prevent a volcano from erupting, so if he thinks he can rubber stamp the parliament, use the army to cling onto power, history will one day prove him wrong.
A free thinker once posited that you can fool some people some times but you cannot fool all the people all the time. If man made forces cannot take their course, natural forces shall prevail. When Biya decided to revise the constitution in 1996, to increase his mandate from five to seven years, renewable once, little did he know that time flies and that every passing of time has something to be accounted for.
Today he has called for another revision, this time not only to grant him an unlimited term of office, but also to grant him immunity. Can a man whose hands are clean seek for fortification? Only a man who has sullied his hands with blood will resort to "Otomopo". Let's be informed that even Biya's cronies and hand clapping parliamentarians shall one day stand against that same constitution, except they want to pretend that amongst them there is nobody who is also nursing interest to sit at the palace of Etoudi.
Could we, by any means, imagine that a CPDM parliamentarian would stand up one day and challenge the Speaker of the Glass House? It is no secret that besides Hon. Adama Modi, there are other CPDM MPs who are also nursing the desire to become the house speaker and why not CPDM barons who are also eying the presidency?
One day, they shall unshell their cocoons and that is when they shall realise that the same constitution they were advocating for is bedevilling their aspirations and what will happen next, of course, your guess is as good as mine.
President Biya should be rest assured that Cameroon is a time bomb and when the time will come, even the unexpected will be possible. This country shall one day change either by hook or by crook.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
