By Ireneaus Chia Chongwain
Of all kinds of poverty, mental impoverishment is the most dangerous. Uncanny politicians have tested and confirmed that to keep people docile and servile, they have to tele-guide them, giving them the impression their survival depends on how closely attached the governed remain to the governors’ dictates- mental dependency, call it.
President Biya has just celebrated 27 years of his accession to power amid a deluge of déjà-entendu verbiage. On the occasion, reaction from his party militants has been the same as in previous years- unbridled fidelity to the man and his ideologies. But scientific logic posits that a wrong hypothesis invariably leads to a misleading finding.
Perhaps party militants and sympathizers’ line of thought is guided by the ultimate political goal- the quest and conservation of political power, not political achievement or political morality. Whereas political achievement ensures continuity and credibility, political morality, many believe, is euphoric and therefore unattainable. But, is political morality really more of a myth than a political reality? The Church believes political sainthood is attainable and it is in this light that the Beatification of one time Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere is on course.
Besides celebrations and merry-making, anniversaries are usually moments of stock taking and evaluation with a view to consolidating gains and correcting the things that were not done right. Evidently dissatisfied with the automation with which things were done within his party ranks, President Biya recently called on his militants to guard against dancing more than they reasoned. Though greatly applauded, the effort involved in reasoning may be frightening many who still prefer to dance than get involved in the arduous but rewarding reasoning exercise.
Though the New Deal philosophy is anchored on the enviable axiom of “Rigour and Moralisation,” this country has never been more in need of rigour and moralisation than it is now. There are scary reports of “award winning” embezzlements at all levels, inertia continues to blight the public and private sectors, those who have retired continue to go for months without their pension, doctor-graduates are on strike pressing to be integrated in the public service in a country where a majority of Cameroonians are yet to have access to decent health care, the country’s crime wave keeps soaring as many have to steal to survive, roads in many towns are in a sorry state as the State and municipal authorities are unable or unwilling to maintain them and despite having the second largest hydro-electricity potential on the continent, Cameroon continues to suffer from vexing energy shortages. The list of ills is inexhaustible, yet we celebrate!
Intellectuals, who would have mapped the way forward in such trying moments, have become more servile than those who once looked up to them, consequently becoming part of the problem than the solution. When a country opts for intellectual dishonesty it indicates how far down the drain it has gone. It happened in Hitler’s Germany! When we know something is wrong, but say it is right, blinded as it were, by our egocentricities, it is the most despicable form of dishonesty. Everyone is tip toeing round the problem as if it has become a “sleeping-god” nobody should disturb, while, at the same time, desperately trying to share in the little that has been done right through a process of still dishonest association.
As one of our local musicians says, you cannot be in the toilet and keep asking what smells. Every revolution starts in the mind. If Cameroonians keep reasoning the way they do now, Cameroon will remain where it is as the same actions produce the same results. The blame culture, where every other person except us is responsible for our ills, should be weeded out and replaced by the quest for excellence at an individual level. We are not morally bound to accept the things we do not like. Moral idealism, the dismissive would say, yes, but if many things previously considered impossible are being invented today, then what of a mental revolution, you, more than anyone else, have control over?
It is easy to blame President Biya for all that is going wrong in Cameroon, when we are unable to manage our own homes. We see Ondo Ndong as one of the biggest thief in the country, when we cannot account for the association’s money we have been given to keep. Could we not have grabbed even more if we were in Ondo Ndong’s position? We blame teachers for what our children do not know, whereas we never assist our children in revising. We never do what we have to do, yet another person, except us has to take the blame.
If there is one thing this country needs most at the moment, it is a mental revolution. While many continue to lay the blame on all that is going wrong in this country on President Biya, we ignore the extent to which our own inertia is contributing to the filth. Is there someone you will like to change for the better? Why not start with yourself, since you than anyone else, will reap the benefit. Mental impoverishment, than anything else, is holding back Cameroon’s progress.
Perhaps party militants and sympathizers’ line of thought is guided by the ultimate political goal- the quest and conservation of political power, not political achievement or political morality. Whereas political achievement ensures continuity and credibility, political morality, many believe, is euphoric and therefore unattainable. But, is political morality really more of a myth than a political reality? The Church believes political sainthood is attainable and it is in this light that the Beatification of one time Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere is on course.
Besides celebrations and merry-making, anniversaries are usually moments of stock taking and evaluation with a view to consolidating gains and correcting the things that were not done right. Evidently dissatisfied with the automation with which things were done within his party ranks, President Biya recently called on his militants to guard against dancing more than they reasoned. Though greatly applauded, the effort involved in reasoning may be frightening many who still prefer to dance than get involved in the arduous but rewarding reasoning exercise.
Though the New Deal philosophy is anchored on the enviable axiom of “Rigour and Moralisation,” this country has never been more in need of rigour and moralisation than it is now. There are scary reports of “award winning” embezzlements at all levels, inertia continues to blight the public and private sectors, those who have retired continue to go for months without their pension, doctor-graduates are on strike pressing to be integrated in the public service in a country where a majority of Cameroonians are yet to have access to decent health care, the country’s crime wave keeps soaring as many have to steal to survive, roads in many towns are in a sorry state as the State and municipal authorities are unable or unwilling to maintain them and despite having the second largest hydro-electricity potential on the continent, Cameroon continues to suffer from vexing energy shortages. The list of ills is inexhaustible, yet we celebrate!
Intellectuals, who would have mapped the way forward in such trying moments, have become more servile than those who once looked up to them, consequently becoming part of the problem than the solution. When a country opts for intellectual dishonesty it indicates how far down the drain it has gone. It happened in Hitler’s Germany! When we know something is wrong, but say it is right, blinded as it were, by our egocentricities, it is the most despicable form of dishonesty. Everyone is tip toeing round the problem as if it has become a “sleeping-god” nobody should disturb, while, at the same time, desperately trying to share in the little that has been done right through a process of still dishonest association.
As one of our local musicians says, you cannot be in the toilet and keep asking what smells. Every revolution starts in the mind. If Cameroonians keep reasoning the way they do now, Cameroon will remain where it is as the same actions produce the same results. The blame culture, where every other person except us is responsible for our ills, should be weeded out and replaced by the quest for excellence at an individual level. We are not morally bound to accept the things we do not like. Moral idealism, the dismissive would say, yes, but if many things previously considered impossible are being invented today, then what of a mental revolution, you, more than anyone else, have control over?
It is easy to blame President Biya for all that is going wrong in Cameroon, when we are unable to manage our own homes. We see Ondo Ndong as one of the biggest thief in the country, when we cannot account for the association’s money we have been given to keep. Could we not have grabbed even more if we were in Ondo Ndong’s position? We blame teachers for what our children do not know, whereas we never assist our children in revising. We never do what we have to do, yet another person, except us has to take the blame.
If there is one thing this country needs most at the moment, it is a mental revolution. While many continue to lay the blame on all that is going wrong in this country on President Biya, we ignore the extent to which our own inertia is contributing to the filth. Is there someone you will like to change for the better? Why not start with yourself, since you than anyone else, will reap the benefit. Mental impoverishment, than anything else, is holding back Cameroon’s progress.
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