our man in cameroon

If there’s a recurring theme to this blog, beyond my expat whining, it’s …what’s to be done about Cameroon and whocan force change?

It’s a county becoming steadily poorer and with any internal challenges or shows of dissent being quashed it appears that most people are simply waiting for the president to die and are hoping then that life will improve.

While their patience and peace-loving nature is to be admired – it’s hard not to believe that any status quo that goes unchallenged will change – even if the players do.

However in a continent that is so frequently troubled by war and famine, Cameroonians at least as it stands, largely have enough to eat and are free from bloodshed – even if poverty is becoming more acute and infrastructure ever declining.

It’s not unreasonable then for Cameroonians to look overseas for assistance  - firstly to the diaspora that have escaped the limited opportunities here, secondly to the media to highlight what is happening and thirdly to overseas governments.

There was an interesting piece in Afrik.com which reported the findings of  The Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development.  In particular it highlighted not only the huge wealth of the Cameroonian leader but also how his activities are tolerated by European governments.

According to the authors of “ill-gotten gains, who benefits from the crime”, Paul Biya’s family owns castles in France and Germany, as well as many timber and mining companies. The presidential couple through their many “looting sprees” are said to have caused “the bankruptcy” of a Cameroonian banking company (Société Camerounaise de bank).

Even more bizarrely:

The same head of state is also said to be a major financier of Osti (Sovereign Order of the Temple of initiation), an occult organization which is linked to the sect of the Order of the Solar Temple. In 1998, Raymond Bernard, the late founder of Osti (died in 2006), indicated that Paul Biya was a honorary president of a branch of the sect.

The Cameroonian President, reportedly, gave the organization 5.6 million French francs on 2 March 1990 and 11.2 million francs from 1992 to 1998. The funds are said to have been transferred through the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) in Cameroon.

Afrik.com reports the summing up as:

“What is disturbing with this study”, the authors write, “is not so much the volume of stolen assets”, but rather the inaction “despite repeated promises of wars on corruption, only 1% to 4% of stolen assets have been returned to the concerned populations”.

The report cites the example of France. When it comes to advocating the fight against crime, it is in the lead, but it is well among the last to be concerned with acting or returning assets and ill-gotten to its rightful owners, the document indicates.

This is the “real scandal”, Guy Aurenche, the President of CCFD, said Wednesday at a press conference. “In 2009, hunger is still gaining ground and the money could be used to feed people and to help develop those poor countries”, Guy said.

I can’t remember if I have written it here but it’s been a staple of my discussions with VSO volunteers and assorted international volunteers who have ended up in Bamenda, but it’s this…

It’s like accusing all men of being philanderers – sooner or later you have to ask..well who with?

It’s not enough for developed countries to point at Cameroon, and indeed the whole of Africa and making tutting noises at the level of corruption.

Because it takes two to be corrupt.  If people are taking pay-offs from companies – where are those companies from?  If people are embezzling money and taking it out of the country that needs it desperately – who is receiving it?

If people are spending their cash and hiding from the duties and responsibilities in their homeland then where is it being spent?

And likewise those of us, from those countries that are allowing this behaviour to go unchallenged, are also guilty.

Empowerment is a word that gets repeated ad nausea in development circles and it’s easy to tire of.  But the truth is people here are not empowered to make real political and democratic change.

It’s up to those that are – who have the freedom and the wealth and influence and opportunity – to remember that the people living with poverty and disease in Cameroon are not doing so because their country lacks resources – or that they are doing so due to war or famine or natural disaster.

They are doing so because they have no other choice and are powerless to stop and protest at,  not only rich and powerful individuals in their own country, but also against the complicit countries that turn around and call *them* corrupt.

As I have said before on here – none of us have the moral high ground.