Cameroun - Man no Run: Making the Dream come True

Senior minister, Marafa Hamidou Yaya's new letter to Cameroonians: "Making 2018 a useful year for Cameroon ... began with his usual understatement that “some want to push me out from the political debate." Senior minister Hamidou Yaya is undoubtedly referring to the “Sun Tzu’esque” approach of Mr. Paul Biya to clear the political field from any credible political alternative for his unproductive and crumbling regime of the past 35 years.

Indeed, Senior minister, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, curriculum vitae, integrity and experience are impeccable. He was Secretary-General to the Presidency of Cameroon and Senior Minister for Territorial Administration and Decentralization of Cameroon (2002-2011). He is now arbitrarily detained in Biya’s dungeon during the past five (05) years in total violation of the United Nations Human Right Conventions and opinion. It is without a doubt that senior minister Marafa’s sacrifice is due to the knowledge that he is considered the most credible and feared potential successor to the dictator of Yaoundé.

Let us be honest for once. No normal ordinary Cameroonians or human being, for that matter, liked how the Biya’s regime treats its citizens but have just ignored it over the years to “stay out of trouble.” But, the drastic failure of the Biya’s regime has now got to a point where, even an apparatchik of the Biya’s regime, recognizes the needs to start looking at Cameroon as one of these “shithole countries” that Trump referred to, in that this is how the country actually treats its citizens and how those in power use that power.

To be honest once more, we are not even sure how Biya thinks he can get us out of this mess, or even if he actually really want to?

Let's not forget, being born Cameroonian is a blessing and a curse. For the majority, life will start and end with nothing and in between you will have nothing. As senior minister Marafa points out, the unemployment rate for young Cameroonians is over 50%. So, it is not about having a dystopian attitude, chances for ordinary Cameroonians at being successful remain nil.

The best chance of Cameroon had in a century or more to become emancipated was wasted. Why? It's not that ordinary Cameroonians lacked guts. Sadly, many of us had the instincts and intellect to realize that resistance was useless, you can't give it to the man, even when you are the man.

Hence, the distinctive features of our spiritual blackout are threefold:

- First, we normalize mendacity and naturalize criminality. We make our lies look like the normal order of things. And we make our crimes look like the natural order of things.

- Second, we encourage callousness and reward indifference. We make mean-spiritedness look manly and mature. And we make cold-heartedness look triumphant and victorious.

- Third, the soul. When you think about human freedom from the perspective of the soul, the soul yearns for limitless freedom and justice, not just in one isolated spot but throughout human experience.

Therefore, no need to seek false 'leaders' who promise to save us from this 'swamp' of poverty and corruption and other dangers as these very 'leaders' rely on exaggerated images for their propaganda. The tactic of totalitarian systems is to stoke fear and simultaneously proclaim itself as savior to its enthralled and brain washed followers. Any criticism by their democratic host societies which by the very nature of their openness allowed their rise in the first instance they will twist into presenting themselves as 'victims' and thus incite further outrage amongst their followers.

Hence, ordinary Cameroonians need to demand more from our election process. We understand that with our pay to play that is so corrupt that many voters are demoralized. The changes needed for the betterment and uplift of society must come from ordinary Cameroonians alone and not career politicians of the CPDM.

The concept of “Man no Run” serves as the tangible validation for one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s favorite sayings – "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" – that needs to come in the form of millions of ordinary Cameroonians to honor that civil rights activist's life and vision, all defiantly hopeful, yet with a unanimous understanding that a just outcome is never guaranteed, but rather dependent upon the persistent work of all humans united despite any perceived differences. How people – as individuals, members of a diverse but in many ways still disparate Cameroonian community, and the larger global village – can continue contributing to the achievement of Dr. King's dream. Hence, we all need a spirit of unity, everybody coming together for our democracy and civil rights. Everyone has their own battle to fight, and unless we lock arms and join forces [on issues], we’re going to continue to crumble.

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