Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
Nkendem Forbinake
1 July 2009
Due process is the name of the game. A kangaroo court situation will never be accepted by the people of Cameroon.
A judicious exploitation of the taxonomical concept of the conditional tense leaves very little room for a story to be given any stretch of credibility. Prosaically put, the conditional sense can even be said to weaken any investigation which wants to be considered as such. In ordinary journalistic practice, editors will consider this writing style as the top from the bottom in making choices over which story should be considered for publication.
Many of our professional colleagues who must have found meaning in this investigation on the fortune of President Biya", were legitimately rushing for the scoop; every kind of story a newspaper worth its salt will gun for.
But unfortunately, in this struggle for prominence and "bearing the truth", several newspapers too often undermine the rules of the game.
From a purely grammatical point of view, the Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary says the following of the conditional tense in ordinary language:
" a sentence or clause that begins with "if" or "unless" and expresses a condition". The French language, in which the text accusing Paul Biya was delivered, is even more expressive. The bottom line is that anything stated in the conditional tense is not to be taken hook, line and sinker. And more specifically in an area as delicate as corruption, the illicit or illegal accumulation of wealth and, above all accusations affecting a personality entrusted with the supreme responsibility of ensuring the welfare of all Cameroonians. Mentioning Paul Biya's name in a corruption scandal has a clear media effect. And many people, not least of which are heavily-impoverished Cameroonians, would have been interested in knowing if their Head of State had disappointed them to the extent of keeping for himself, some of the rare financial resources of the country in a foreign bank.
The « Comité Catholique contre la faim et pour le développement » is a relatively unknown NGO on the national scene. Little wonder all its work is essentially a compilation of a number of newspaper articles that have been written on corruption in Cameroon with particular regard to corruption by officials in high office. Its conclusions do not seem to be based on any unimpeachable evidence found by itself or any of the numerous reports it quotes. Quite remarkable is the fact that numerous newspaper articles in the wide variety of Yaounde and Douala tabloids are the prime source of information. And here in Cameroon, we know, only too well that many of such "big revelations" in the media smack of "regléments des comptes" or smear campaigns within the political élite class. And the current "Operation Sparrow Hawk", initiated by the President of the Republic to track corrupt officials, stem wrongdoing in high office and improve governance is not there to help matters. Any imaginable mudslinging initiative is being taken to divert attention by saying the President himself is not completely shelved off from accusations.
The issue here is not about saying that the President is a church rat of sorts: that would be too foolhardy to believe for someone who has held high public office uninterruptedly for nearly 50 years, with 26 as president of the Republic and thus insulated from want.
The issue here is about giving Cameroonians credible stories obtained from credible sources, especially at a time Cameroonians are united to cut off the ugly head of the corruption monster and taking a new road of honesty which will necessarily put the nation on a path of prosperity. The sparrow Hawk initiative is not a witch-hunt. It is a legal framework, backed by all legal guarantees to ensure that everybody, irrespective of social or political standing, is held responsible for his or her deeds.
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