Change in continuity as Biya shuffles government

Ireneaus Chia Chongwain

After months of futile speculations over the naming of a new government, the Head of State, Paul Biya, caught political bookmakers off guard when on September 22, without any signal, he carried out a slight overhauling of his government. The new team, which is still headed by Inoni Ephraim, remains faithful to what keen political observers can qualify as a reflection of President Biya's political eccentricities.

The new team is conceived along the lines on which the previous was designed, that is, a CPDM dominance, the maintenance of the presidential majority, the pursuance of the contestable and contested notion of ethnic, sociological and regional representation and the absence of members of Cameroon's main  political opposition party, the SDF. 
Prior to the naming of the new government, speculation was rife and anxiety high to the extent that some newspapers came out with contradictory versions of the expected team. Some of those earmarked for sacking were effectively sent packing while some of the names cited as potential nominees were ignored.
Generally in Cameroon appointments, either to ministerial portfolios or to senior government positions, are discretional and the exercise of naming potential ministerial candidates has become a lobby weapon, used either to project some personalities to the spotlight or used with the malicious intention of frustrating the political careers of other aspirants.
The new government remains plethoric with well over 60 ministerial portfolios. It was being whispered that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had instructed that the number of ministerial positions be cut down to a number that reflects the country's economic reality.
That too, turned out to be just another fruitless babbling, as there was a systematic replacement post by post and region by region of the ministers who were fired. The new faces or those who have staged a spectacular political comeback include Njoh Mouelle Ebenezer, the former Secretary General of the CPDM, who is now Minister for Communication; Nkuete Jean appointed Minister of State in charge of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sindeu Jean Bernard Minister for Water and Energy; Etoundi Ngoa Laurent Minister for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Mengot Victor Arrey Nkongho Minister in charge of special duties at the Presidency of the Republic,  Essimi Menye Lazare Minister Delegate in the Ministry of the Economy and Finance in charge of the Budget, Yaouba Abdoulaye Minster Delegate in the Ministry of Planning, Programming and Regional Development, Bokam Jean Baptist Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the Gendarmerie,
Abono Moapamb Paulin Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Works and Ndanga Ndinga Babel, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Transport. The new team equally includes those who have simply swooped positions and they are, Mebara Atangana Jean-Marie who has left the Presidency as Secretary General to the Ministry of External Relations in his new regalia as Minister of State, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle who has left the Presidency as well as the Minister For Special duties to become the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife, and Tchatat Clobert who has been moved from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Urban Development.
The casualties are Moukoko Mbonjo, Lekene Donfack Charles, Mbarga Mboa Philip, Achu Egbe Hillman, Amama Amama Benjamin, Okouda Martin Aristide, and Engoulou Henri, who were fired for a multitude of reasons. Although these reasons were not explicitly stated, they can be easily deciphered for those who have been keeping track of the way things have been unfolding in the country recently.
These reasons range from insubordination, through corruption to bad governance. Amama Amama Benjamin was reputed for disrespecting instructions handed down by the Prime Minister especially within regards to the conflict over the admission of students to the School of Administration and Magistracy.
Although he stated clearly he was fighting corruption, the President may have considered him as working against the much heralded but hard-to-apply concept of government solidarity. Mbarga Philip's tenure at the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education was marked by a series of dismal performances, the most spectacular being the failure of the Indomitable Lions to qualify for the  final phase of the 2006 World Cup competition which took place recently in Germany.
He will also be remembered for having dragged the President of FECAFOOT, Iya Mohamed to court for embezzlement, sparking an acrimonious relationship between FECAFOOT and the Ministry of Sports. By so doing, he might have been considered as exposing the government to public ridicule, by bringing to the public arena an issue that the government will hate to discuss in public.
Another significant change that took place last September 22 was the sacking of retired Colonel Etonde kotto as the Government Delegate to the Douala Urban council. He has been replaced by Toné Toné Fritz. Colonel Etonde kotto was one of those summoned to Yaounde in February as Public Security officers were rounding up some senior government officials suspected of embezzling public funds.
One of those arrested was the former Minister for Water and Energy and the former Director of the Douala Port, Siyam Siewe Alphonse who was dismissed from his post shortly before being picked up. Etonde Kotto is, or should we say, was the President of the Board of Administration of the Douala Port.
No connection, however, has been made between these two incidents, at least not officially. While Cameroonians await another cabinet shake-up, at a time none but the President will decide, many have come to see the truth of a statement Amama Amama Benjamin once made, that, "People are like leaves: while some grow others fall."

Comments

[Fritzane Kiki]

Biya is thesame yesterday,today and tommorrow.Nothing goo can come out from the reshuffle cabinet which is full of friends and welwishers,classmates and henchmen of the CPDM Ewondo clan.No one is to be taken for fools.Cameroonians are all aware of the malaise plaguing the La republique but there will be time for an uprising when Biya will give an account of all corruption practices and financial misappropriation of state funds and properties.

Fritzane Kiki
Hong Kong