Now that the always worse-than-we-could-even-have-imagined regime of Paul Biya has moved to lock up Patrice Nganang in Kondengui, many of us are beyond shock when it comes to the lows to which this regime will stoop to prove its “democratic” credentials. It now looked like we could finally rest assured that there is no bottom.

It is hard to stomach a regime which has lost all kinds of credibility acting with a holier than thou attitude. Everything about the travails of Dr. Nganang reeks of intolerance, cruelty and hypocrisy the regime of Yaoundé has accustomed us for the past 35 years.

Okay, let us talk about it:

Dual citizenship?

The president spent so much time in Switzerland, he might as well be a Swiss Citizen. There are many members of his governments and entourage who are on record to hold dual citizenships. This is an open secret in Cameroon, a country where many folks hold dual citizenship but only one person gets to be charged and it happened to be Nganang, what a coincidence? All this “investigation” into Nganang’s dual citizenship looks vindictive and petty from a government known to be vindictive and petty.

The Biya’s regime is chasing down a rabbit hole here. There are millions of travelers, including the president, coming and going and many of them hold dual citizenship. It is actually unlikely and impossible to prove that a Cameroonian hold dual citizenship because that kind of disclosure is often voluntary. More, by denying ordinary Cameroonians dual citizenship, the regime has de facto politicize the question. Hence, dual citizenship in Cameroon is a political not a criminal question. Holding two passports can be seen as sign of protest against an unjust law.

Violence?

Then, the question of death threats. Who actually believes that a hyper-educated middle age man with no history of violence can suddenly turn into a killer? The real question is that who is actually stoking violence in Cameroon? Who is murdering ordinary Cameroonians in the Anglophone’s regions? Who stood up in the senate and asked his own son to commit genocide in the Anglophone regions? Is that Patrice Nganang?

As a writer, artistic practices are known to be autonomous and sovereign and that explains General De Gaulle’s argument that Voltaire cannot be jailed. As a writer, Patrice Nganang is protected by his freedom of speech and creative license.

Nganang’s post is what he does which is to tell stories and create cliffhangers. It is clear that most of what he does is fiction but the attacks on him are not, particularly, for a regime not know to respect artistic work and the free press.

More, politics often make artist stupid even more so in Cameroon. Biya and his tonton macoutes make everything boring because all their rituals are empty and void. Art in Cameroon cost intelligent people a few IQ points as we have seen with Nganang and Achille Mbembe and their inability to avoid violent imaginary in a country where violence is real. It only adds to the ambient incivility.

Obsession?

This is a regime obsess with its own enemies- real or imagined-. It is a regime that runs on weaponized distrust where every single Cameroonian is susceptible to be imprisoned without due process. It is a government that has an entire government in prison. More, these arrests have nothing to do with politics. The CL2P has recorded how all these arrests are actually personal. More, this obsession also provides entertainment for a government with no achievement to be put on record. Putting people in prison makes it looks like the government is doing something.

Otherwise, why should Biya still care about what people say about him on Facebook? Why would he give a much-needed attention to his opponents to contradict his cultivated and affable persona of the “appeased democrat?” Why does the president need to keep locking up political and people perceived to be political opponents? How a man with more than 50 years of public service is still sensitive about his record and cannot still manage to transcend his “political opponents?” When is he going to finally declare victory? After 35 more years in power?