allAfrica.com: Cameroon: The Old Guard Caught Off-Guard By Generation '90 (Page 1 of 1)

Most of the young men that burned, ransacked, pillaged and grounded Cameroon for almost a week (23, 25, 26, 27 and 28 February, 2008) are below voting age but are ripe enough, by our statute books, to get married.

In other words, our governors consider politics too serious a business for them and matrimony a social affair with no political trappings. By this, our leadership is oblivious of the fact that all actors in a society are often buffeted by internal and external forces that inevitably unleash a chain of actions and reactions that usually take on a non-partisan political coloration.

Generation '90 did not witness Paul Biya's accession to power in 1982. Generation '90 merely heard of the 1984 abortive coup d'Etat. Generation '90 did not march for or against multipartism. Generation '90 did not witness the painful birth of multipartism in Cameroon.

Generation '90 did not live the flawed 1992 presidential elections. Generation '90 did not take part in the Villes Mortes (Ghost Towns) of the early 1990s. Generation '90 did not partake in the Tripartite Talks. Generation '90 was not part of the compromise that heralded the soon-to-be amended 1996 constitution.

However, Generation '90 has known only IMF structural adjustment programme, HIPC attainment point, biting poverty, unemployment, inflation, high cost of living, HIV/AIDS prevalence, poor health, housing and hygienic conditions, rural exodus, electoral malpractices, human rights abuse, tribalism, exclusion, hate literature, unfulfilled promises, bribery and corruption (Opération Epervier), feymania, football (Eto'o Fils), falling educational standards, no public role models (if there are like Victor Anomah Ngu, they are put on the back burner) and so on.

But Generation '90 belongs to the era of globalisation. The world is now a village and everybody, wittingly or unwittingly, wants to play at the village square. One of the major weapons of globalisation is information. Unlike other generations that saw events through the voice of journalists and commentators, generation '90 view and live events thousands of miles away as if it were next door.

Though, they may not be necessarily well-armed in the orthodox sense of education, they are well-informed through Television and the Internet of the happenings in the world. Hence, the greatest source of manipulation of our youth is the information superhighway that petty minds cannot censor with a stroke of a pen or a royal nod.

Thus, our youth draw and copy from peaceful/violent demonstrations, armed insurrection and terrorist attacks in Palestine, France, the UK, the USA, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Guinea Conakry, Mexico, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, India, China, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Congo DRC, Algeria, Israel, Lebanon, Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan and so on.

Inevitably, they copy the American, French, English, Arab or Nigerian way of life. Since there are no home-grown role models, our youth yearn to be like the bad or good personalities they see on Television or the Internet. Indeed, some of them would like to take after Eto'o Fils but others would like to go the Wild West Way or be like the Feymen or white collar thieves that ride in Pajeros and build fabulous mansions. There is virtually no love for "the salutary dirt of labour".

Besides the foregoing, there are other reasons why the old guard was caught off-guard by generation '90.

1. Leadership: Our leadership has a tailor-made vision. For example, the authors of the 1996 constitution did not take a long-term view of issues like succession at the helm of the State. In Cameroon, institutions are built around personalities. There is the general tendency to impress the president, the minister, the vice-chancellor, the director, the general manager, the publisher, the editor-in-chief and so on.

There is a pervasive culture of sycophancy. The upshot: our institutions are built on quicksand. In spite of the shortcomings of the Nigerian body politic, when former president Olusegun Obasanjo tried to fiddle with the constitution to prolong his stay in power, the strongest opposition came from his party!

2. Elite and intellectuals: The greatest calamity that can befall a nation is a complacent and conniving elite/intellectuals. Normally, elite and intellectuals should be societal watchdogs, even within political formations. Elite/intellectuals should extol "a revolutionary manière". On 20 March 2008, a cross-section of Beninese power and intellectual elite drew the attention of the government on the threats to democracy in Benin.

They pointed out obnoxious motions of support and marches de soutien and groupes de soutien (common currency in countries like Togo and Cameroon) that is about gaining ground in Benin. Benin is a reference of democracy in Africa and yet the elite and intellectual class is still on the lookout.

When elite/intellectuals collude with the political leadership there is often a disconnect between the top and the base. Information that gets to the top does not reflect what is on the ground because there is no common or national interest, only parochial interest. This is a recipe for social unrest.

3. No sense of history: A vox pop was once conducted over TV on the significance of 11 February. Almost all the youths quizzed did not know its significance! This might also be true of adult youths i.e. my generation (a lost one at that) and generations before mine. A sense of history is the basis of conscientism, dignity, awareness, patriotism and national integration.

Rudolf Douala Manga Bell, Martin Paul Samba, Ruben Um Nyobe, Ernest Ouandie, Felix Moumie, John Ngu Foncha, EML Endeley, Ngom Jua just to name a few as well as important dates in our history mean nothing to the youth!

The anger of our youth has died down but the ingredients of another explosion still stare us in the face. The judiciary particularly the bench still does not realize that it has a fundamental role in sustaining our nascent democracy and good governance policy. The summary and speedy trials conducted after the February mayhem discredit the judiciary in the eyes of the teeming youth.

The latter are quick to draw parallels between the attitude of the judiciary to patent embezzlers of public funds and the haste with which they were sent to jail without due process. In other words, if the youth cannot find justice at the law courts, they would look for it elsewhere and by whatever means.

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