Renewing the Promise: A Review
Tameh Valentine Nfon*
Renewing the Promise by Julius Nyamkimah Fondong is a 154-page storied history of Cameroon’s failed attempt at yoking together its disparate peoples into a nation with a common, consensual destiny. Driven for sure by the same spurs that inspired the celebrated Chinua Achebe of blessed memory to pen his thin but profound The Trouble with Nigeria, Julius N Fondong in Renewing the Promise analyses the reasons for Cameroon’s dysfunction as a nation-state in a relentlessly, cogently, objectively no-nonsense style whose delectability pushes the reader to devour the pages right to the finish at first touch.
In broad brushes, the artist-writer paints the sorry story of Cameroon’s broken promises, promises made and broken by the main actors in the political arena since the country’s Reunification – the broken promises of the Foumban accord, with its ensuing failed federation attempt; the unpopular unitary state sequel bid of 1972, with its botched attempts at banishing ethnicity and consolidating national unity; finally, the 1984 unilateral reintroduction of the status-quo at independence/reunification with its lofty sounding but equally hollow promises of a New Deal to usher in a professionalized an ethically-driven civil service.
It is these botched promises that slowly, progressively provoked the discontent that in turn led to the full political effervescence in the country today, marked by strikes and demonstrations and ultimately to the armed conflict of attrition that rages on unabated. Six well-crafted chapters take the avid reader through vistas of the conundrum Cameroon, vistas at once enlightening and freshly enriching.
This close examination of the Cameroonian situation, in the words of the renowned Dr Sam Amadi who writes the foreword, captures the pathology of the African state order while properly contextualizing his voice (the author’s voice, of course) so that he can speak meaningfully to the peculiarities of the Cameroonian condition.
Julius N Fondong’s Renewing the Promise, however, is not exclusively a jeremiad; yes, it is not just a tale of woes. He offers the fumbling actors a life-line: decentralisation of power, reformation of the public service and reinvention of political leadership, while at the same time debunking some of the half-truth and lies that present day revolutionaries hankering for power rostrums are using to radicalise indignant, foolhardy young ones to pick up arms with disastrous consequences.
Procure a copy of this exciting re-telling of what you already know and you will be thrilled at the fresh and delicious repast that Nyamkimah has served you with of a story that ordinarily would be déjà-vu. I wish you “bon appétit.”
*Tameh Valentine Nfon is the Regional Inspector Coordinator, Letter, Arts and Languages in the North West Region, Cameroon
