On Saturday November 5, 2016 (the eve of
Biya's 34th anniversary as president),
the National Strategic Team of Popular Action Party, PAP gathered at the
Yaounde residence of their Secretary General, Akoson Raymond. Paul Biya’s performance as president in the
past 34 years in office was fairly assessed and his Report Card is hereby
published.
The PAP team comprising mostly youth
politicians evaluated president Biya on both the Domestic and International
Affairs. On Domestic Affairs, nine elements were considered namely: the
Economy, Education, Health, Democracy, Energy, Security, Transportation,
Communication and Sports. On Foreign Affairs, Biya was scored on International
Cooperation.
On the whole, the youth politicians
scored Biya a Grade F and asked him to Resign.
ECONOMY
In most of 1981, Cameroon’s GDP growth rate stood at 17.1%
(Source: ReSAKSS, based on World Bank 2014). This means President Paul Biya
inherited a very healthy economy from his predecessor on November 6, 1982. Despite
richly blessed soils and fertile lands on which all manner of agricultural
products [coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, bananas, oilseed, grains, cassava
(manioc, tapioca); livestock; timber] do well, and endowment of enormous
mineral resources [Oil,
hydroelectric power, natural gas,
cobalt, nickel], in 2016, the economy has nose-dived to the
neighbourhoods of 4% GDP growth rate.
What’s worse? Little can be seen in economic growth terms from
all the loans we have taken. According to the Autonomous Amortisation Fund
(CAA), the public organisation in charge of managing public borrowing, Cameroon
reached FCFA 4,502 billion during the first quarter of 2016 (3,480 billion representing
the external debts and FCFA 1,023 billion of domestic debts).
The
unemployment rate is 30% while that of underemployment stands at 75%
(International Labor Organization). Our human potential (mental capacity) is
fleeing the country for jobs and better options elsewhere. President Biya has
failed woefully in the business of reducing unemployment by industralising our
economy; create industries that transform raw materials into finished products
for national, regional and international exportation. There’s no concrete
framework to encourage youth entrepreneurial spirit with accompanying flexible
loan structure.
Increase in agricultural production and the rise in
the per-capita income of the rural community, together with industrialisation
and urbanisation, lead to more
increased demand in industrial production. President Biya just doesn’t know
this.
PAP therefore scores him F for a missed opportunity and
wasted 34 years in office!
DEMOCRACY
To fairly score President Biya,
Popular Action Party, PAP of Justice AYAH Paul splits democracy into five
different elements namely: Personal Freedoms, Press Freedoms, Political
Freedoms, Political Equality, The Rule of Law, The Common Good, Human Dignity,
Being Informed and Getting Involved, and Respect. Before we make an analysis of
these elements, it is worth mentioning that contrary to what some say, that
Biya ‘gave Cameroonians democracy’, this is completely false! On February 19,
1990, officers from the CENER, Cameroon’s national intelligence service, raided
the home and office of Yondo Mandengue Black in the city of Douala. They
arrested him and confisticated a draft document titled “Coordination Nationale
pour la démocratie et le multipartisme” (National Coordination for Democracy
and Multipartyism). And in Bamenda on May 26, 1990 Fru Ndi defied government
ban and organized a rally where the SDF was launched … the lives of six
Cameroonians ushered in democracy to Cameroon.
·
Personal
Freedoms: Freedom of assembly for religious purposes
has been good but such is hugely undermined by freedom of individual expression.
Biya’s men in uniforms has mightily clamped down on individuals who’ve voiced
personal opinions on burning political issues in the country. Biya scores a D on this.
·
Political
Freedoms: Though it is easy to form political
associations in Cameroon, PAP notes that the proliferation of political parties
is a Biya design to weaken the opposition. The intelligence unit of the PAP
Strategic deciphers four categories of opposition political parties: satellite
parties erected by Biya to spy on and weaken the opposition (some now called
presidential majority), political parties for Business purposes (to enjoy
campaign funds), real opposition political parties (those that are consistently
banned such as PAP from public manifestations), parties that originally had
good intensions but now cooperate with Biya’s CPDM to colour Cameroon’s
democracy in the eyes of the international community;
-
Skyrocketing
amounts are fixed for ordinary Cameroonians to cough out to register to run for
council, parliamentary and presidential elections thus making the dividends of
democracy for the rich only!
-
Election
managing bodies (MINAT, NEO and ELECAM) are designed to rig elections for Biya;
-
Intimidation
at the polls and vote buying: Vote buying is the norm. Citizens who stand up to
the status quo are intimidated. There are clear and documented cases of elites
protecting the regime getting into polling stations with guns and knives. These
cases are not isolated. PAP scores Biya an F on EMB;
-
Protest
Groups: No allowance for political manifestation against the regime.
PAP scores Biya an F on
political freedoms
·
Press Freedoms: There’s
systemic clampdown on the press and the media in general. Twitter has
consistently been shut down and press organs critical of the government are
either severely sanctioned or bought over. PAP scores Biya an F on
Press Freedoms.
·
The Rule of Law: For the sake of justice, everyone
must adhere to the same laws. These laws are known, predictable and impartial
(unbiased). However, the justice system in Cameroon is highly rigged; justice
is bought, the police and the magistrates/judges are the most corrupt in the
world. Generally, the system is characterized by arrest without due process,
endemic corruption, long term detention without trial, inhuman treatment and
torture of citizens etc. PAP
scores Biya F
on the Rule of Law.
PAP therefore scores Biya an F on
Democracy.
To make this publication brief, we
will provide explanatory notes for the reason behind the grades of every element.
Find below grades per element:
|
Elements
|
Score (%)
|
Grade
|
|
Domestic Affairs
|
|
|
|
Economy
|
15
|
F
|
|
Education
|
21
|
F
|
|
Health
|
20
|
F
|
|
Democracy
|
20
|
F
|
|
Energy
|
25
|
F
|
|
Security
|
30
|
E
|
|
Transportation
|
15
|
F
|
|
Communication
|
28
|
F
|
|
Sports
|
41
|
D
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign Affairs
|
|
|
|
International Cooperation
|
40
|
D
|
Akoson A. Raymond,
PAP Secretary General
Communications & Public Relations,Popular Action Party, PAP
National Working Secretariat,
P.O Box 333 Buea, South West Region,
Cameroon.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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