Mwalimu George Ngwane
10 November 2008
opinion
Cameroon is no stranger to Pan African diplomacy. Situated within an enviable central geographical axis, and endowed with a multicultural pluralism, Cameroon has prided herself of being "Africa in miniature" Her formative years of post-independence were characterised by an Afrocentric presence that culminated in the respect of her leadership in Pan African discourse.
Granted, if Amadou Ahidjo did not choose the moderate Monrovia group as opposed to Nkrumah's visionary wing of the Casablanca, history would have recorded that today's attempt at rekindling Nkrumah's candle of Pan Africanism within a United States of Africa is part of Cameroon's success story.
Yet Cameroon's early leadership made such a muscular and vocal diplomatic offensive on African Affairs that the country did not only produce two Secretary Generals of the Organisation of African Unity (O.A.U) but became the quintessence of what was then called "the African epoch".
Under the New Deal, Pan Africanism as an institutional ideology has relatively petered out. Apart from hosting the O.A.U summit in 1996, the Pan African commitment in Cameroon has almost paled into diplomatic timidity.
The New Deal can be credited for its annual African Liberation day celebrations (25th May) during which the Minister of External Relations invites African diplomats resident in Yaounde to work hard towards strengthening the achievements of the African Union.
It can also take credit for the fact that it honours its dues in the African Union Commission and more particularly in the last few years Cameroonians have been elected to posts of responsibility within the Union. These include Dr Mrs. Dorothy Njeuma who is a member of the African Peer Review Mechanism, Mrs. Elisabeth Tankeu who is the Commissioner of Trade and Industry in the African Union Commission and quite recently Barrister Akere Muna who was elected as President of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union.
On the flip side no one can forget that after Cameroon hosted the O.A.U in 1996 her President not only boycotted the next summit in Zimbabwe in 1997 but sent her Prime Minister to pass over the relay baton to Zimbabwe. No one can forget that in one of the rarest outings to the African Union summit and more so the summit that was determinant to the creation of the United States of Africa the New Deal took the cautious stance of gradualism.
A stance that is at variance with the aspirations of the 800 million Africans who want a fast-tack continental integration process and which mellows down President Paul Biya's thinking in his book Communal Liberalism where he says "aware of the fact that a disunited Africa cannot hope to change anything in the world order, we believe that Cameroon should muster all its force so as to contribute to the strengthening of African Unity at regional and Sub-regional level" (1987:134).
No doubt, the Central African sub region remains a cog in the wheel of its own integration and continental integration. Yet Professor Ali Mazrui's argument that if Africa is to jumpstart its pan African integration then some countries which he calls pivotal or development states should serve as a magnet for their neighbours is still relevant.
On October 22, 2008, three sub regional organisations (E.A.C, SADC and COMESA) representing twenty six African nations met in Uganda and resolved to create a free trade zone among them - a recipe for a common economic market.
Cameroon has all the potentials to rally a pan African platform around her and change the timid leadership role that has become the drum major of countries in the sub region of Central Africa. For this to occur Cameroon needs a fresh Pan African commitment that would involve institutional innovation, attitudinal changes, aggressive Afrocentric policy and grassroots outreach/interface programmes.
First, there is a possibility of creating a Ministry for African integration in Cameroon as it obtains in Mali, Senegal, Libya etc or the reinforcement of the Department of African Affairs in the Ministry of External Relations.
Such a structure would not only help disseminate the ideals of the African Union, but would in partnership with Pan African civil society organizations, develop activities that bring the Cameroonian people closer to the vision of the African Union. Some of these activities include pursuing the African week programme (1st week of July), instituting African Union clubs in schools, organizing African Arts and Culture events, encouraging Pan African youth Summits as it is in Zambia and Tanzania and focusing on endogenous development initiatives.
Second, Cameroon's top leadership needs to be actively present in all African rendezvous. It needs to lend its voice in areas of conflict management, governance paradigms and development agendas in Africa. The mature approach of Cameroon's leadership in addressing the Bakassi imbroglio and the Equato - Guinean friction, attests to the wealth of peace building strategies (the palaver theory) inherent in our African political mindset.
Third, Cameroon needs to reconnect with the Diaspora by reaching out to the bulk of Cameroonian human resources lying fallow and under. It was a courageous step President Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali took when he invited his country people in the Diaspora to a national forum so as to transfer wealthy expertise into the country's wanting experience.
Our Embassies need partnership coalition networks outside of the country with those genuinely interested in Cameroon's human development. Economic romance with Bretton Wood Institutions has failed to take us out of the woods.
Fourth, Cameroon's geopolitical location in both the Central and West Africa Sub-region makes her a potential pivotal state capable of enhancing trans-African transport and communication infrastructure, facilitating intra-African trade, eliminating transfrontial security harassments, and maintaining a hospitable attitude towards non-Cameroonians of African stock.
Fifth, Cameroon is imbued with an intellectual and professional wherewithal if only an enabling environment is provided to curb brain drain and attract both domestic and African investors.
Vocational, technical and agricultural training still remains the backbone of Africa's economy. If we have to switch from a consumer state to a producer nation, if we must be counted among the emerging industrialised nations like Botswana, Maurice Island, and Ghana; if Cameroon must identify as one of the African cheetahs running against the Asian tigers then we would have to invest in blue collar training and adopt the time tested theory of producing what we consume and consuming what we produce.
Lastly, diplomacy, like charity must begin at home; a country cannot offer what she does not have. In her legitimate pursuit of Pan African diplomacy, the New Deal's internal diplomacy must first and foremost drink deep from the fountain of Africa's indigenous democratic and development entitlements. Let me just mention three of them.
First is the South African "Ubuntu" philosophy that emphasizes empathy not sympathy. Ubuntu philosophy underlies the statement of collectivity - "I am because we are". It places the interest of society over that of the individual. Second is the Lesotho "Lekgotla" or the Ghanaian "efie nyansa" style of discussion which focuses on disagreement without being disagreeable.
Both concepts represent community parliament where matters of the nation are discussed using emotional intelligence, home wisdom and global knowledge. In both the politicians do not arrogate to themselves the monopoly of knowledge; instead they derive their orientations through divergent perspectives from the civil society.
Third is Julius Nyerere's "ujamaa" concept of development which is informed by the cooperative economics of sharing not accumulating, of self-reliance not dependency. Ujamaa is the cousin to what Paul Biya calls in Communalism Liberalism "m'bangsuma" which is the Cameroonian practice whereby two or more people are moved by the feeling of solidarity to pledge never to eat anything without sharing it with the other pledgers (1987:119).
Indeed the New Deal's legitimate quest for Pan African solidarity must start with a genuine Pax Cameroona humanism.Africa is overhauling its economic integrative machinery and only countries with an affiliative and pace setting leadership, strong internal synergies and bold pan African visions shall survive.
*Mwalimu George Ngwane has just published a new book called "The Power in the Writer or Collected Essays on Culture, Democracy and Development in Africa", 196pp, 2008 by Langaa Publishers.
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