Julius Fondong’s Renewing the Promise
A Review
By Samira Nlatane Edi-Mesumbe*
This book is an illuminating window and an epic in education, as Julius Fondong writes incisively on the current situation in Cameroon. The writer’s modest pitch, which is almost apologetic, is an invitation to the reader to stand on this vista and gaze upon the nation, now on the brink of a disaster. A country whose true potentials would otherwise have placed it at the cusp of greatness—if only the promises made had been kept. Thus, Fondong is trying to elicit a genuine conversation about the nationhood of the country, using the most decorous, elegant and subtle tone with which to reflect on why those fervently established principles have been so cruelly betrayed.
Deceptively compact in a small volume, Fondong’s gripping treatise is a wide-ranging, thoroughly-researched dissection of the country, as he mirrors Africa-in-Miniature to the world, warts and all, while opening the national crypts to let tumble out the skeletons of its past, which continue to haunt its present, and threaten its future. In this vivid analysis, he cleverly lures the reader to accept the lofty challenge, by couching his ruthless indictment of those who have failed in their duty to fulfil the promises made to the long-suffering citizens, (60 odd years in the making,) in very polite verbiage. And that is the mark of a good read—a book that writes itself in the language that’s appropriate to the subject, with no deliberate frills or magniloquence.
Arguably, any writer who takes on the arduous task of tackling the subject matter called Cameroon; its history, its politics and its anthropology, usually embarks on an unenviable and a lonely stretch. It is a rarity of an audacious mission on a road infrequently travelled because they stand the risk of running counter to some headwinds, in the form of Communication gaps and the paucity of information.
The reason being that despite all pretences to the contrary, Cameroon remains comparatively an information black hole. Regardless of the notions of the country posing as a developing African nation, making tottering steps into the realms of democracy and modernity, like its neighbours, it is often incredibly difficult to obtain official facts, figures and data about the country. In the geopolitical scheme of things for which this point is relevant, events may sometimes occur within its borders and Cameroonians at home may only hear about them from sources abroad.
It therefore takes some brilliance, dedication and a thoroughly forensic research to produce a work about Cameroon as compelling as Julius Fondong’s, to lay bare an unbiased narrative that engages the discerning reader. This point was succinctly made by the author himself right in the preface of the book to illustrate how the country became a blinkered sphere of corruption and intolerance which comes with peculiar problems:
“The nation has gone from a two-state federation to an overly centralised, Jacobin, 10-region unitary state model in which power is concentrated in an Executive Presidency.” The resultant fallout being that the citizen’s voice and participation in “the decision-making process have been stymied, corruption has become endemic, civil liberties curtailed, political space is shrinking…as the State becomes more and more repressive. Confiscation of power by an increasingly intolerant elite…have led to the weakening and then to the capture of institutions of the State.”
How does an intellectual, politically concerned citizen, carve out a niche in which to think freely and express his opinions, under such ascetic conditions, without fearing any repercussions?
He writes!
In his factual analyses, Fondong eloquently navigates the reader systematically and chronologically through the meandering miasma of the country’s history. He plumbs the sinews which led to the higgledy-piggledy founding of the country as a geographical entity, before it metamorphosed into various identities by name-change, during 3 core dates: 1961 and the Foumban Conference being a point of reference where the country was birthed as The Federal Republic of Cameroon. Then the 1972 Referendum, which created the country’s unitary status and a new name; The United Republic of Cameroon. And finally February 4th 1984, in which the new New Deal government took away the “United” state from the country and left it with its most contentious nomenclature, The Republic of Cameroon. Each of those dates made a new promise which effectively abolished the previously unfulfilled one.
Cameroon’s political history is an extraordinary story with painful echoes. With so many promises unmet, every new policy establishes the notion of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It almost replicates the identity crises of an identity thief. Multiple mutations through the name changes simply got the country confused to know what it really is, to the point of fighting against itself for survival, and for what it wants to be known by. Is it a federation, a united republic or a decentralised federation of a republic? Self-governance? Renewing the Promise tells the reader why the country is still gripped by the perils of its own making, started by its colonizers. Cameroon was fermented out of the spoils of war. It was seized from the Germans and freely offered for adoption to France and Britain; two European nations which speak two different languages and whose stewardship engendered two different visions, which ended up creating the clash of two cultures existing today. The fudged unity is by sin of omission and commission a hodgepodge of unfulfilled promises.
Fondong commendably captures the essence of his theme, without overloading the reader with a glut of data. But he manages to offer a bite-sized, easily digestible version without compromising on details.
This is where stock-taking becomes complicated. Despite Fondong’s visceral aversion for the kind of leadership from which the country quakes, watchers of Cameroon will be forgiven if they were misled to think that the book monsters the current incumbent – Mr. Biya, an opaque figure, who emerged out of the ashes of his predecessor Mr. Ahidjo. Fondong makes a convincing case why the promises which were made to the Anglophones and the country, beginning with the Foumban Conference of 1961 became no more worth than the paper on which it was signed, and how as a collective, the nation betrayed itself. From a vantage position, once an inside man—serving as a Civil Administrator in the government, (D.O,) Fondong was an eyewitness to the systematic disintegration of the country, institution by institution after it was successfully captured by a coterie of self-serving elite, who made these institutions subservient to their whims at the expense of the entire nation. This group more than any other, has brought the country to a standstill in almost every sphere of human development.
In his proposal to renew the promise, Fondong does not however, apportion blame on any single individual for the country’s woes. Instead he demonstrates how the absence of an epiphanic moment by the citizens, who failed to question if the various changes were propitious to their wellbeing as a nation, are co-conspirators to their own indigence. Without fulfilling the barest minimum to enrich their lives, every new change was greeted with enthusiasm by a compliant people; a sign of their incipient subservience to an increasingly heavy-handed government, with an illusion of peace being the substitute for prosperity. Fondong shows us why such passive complacency engendered a national malaise of ineptitude and eventually led to entrenched widespread corruption.
Having tested the people’s weaknesses, the increasing government overreach would result in the further curtailment of their rights and freedoms which developed into a crisis over bread and butter issues.
After demonstrating in each chapter, the misalignments between the lofty promises and non-fulfilment which resulted in the chaos we find today, Fondong proposes a new paradigm as a way forward to redirect the country back to its apex position as a geopolitical powerhouse in West Africa. The author does not leave the reader without hope. His concluding chapter gives some interesting reflections on civil service reforms, national security, health, education, the judiciary and political leadership. These are very edifying proposals which if implemented, could once again place the nation on the path of progress. And so, there it is. Fondong has placed his opening gambit for a national conversation. It’s your move next!
