BY DR NICK NGWANYAM, MD. SUNDAY
OCTOBER 8, 2017
Dr. Nick Ngwanyam |
Good morning dear
Brothers and Sisters,
‘Brothers and sisters’
refers to all Cameroonians irrespective of region, color, language and creed.
The nation has been going through a lot of pain and we all have to rise up and
solve the problems generated under the banner of the Anglophone Problem. We have
been faced with a lot of challenges that will not be going away any time soon.
We
have the capacity to solve the problems if we choose to.
We can fight and kill ourselves if that is what we want to do. But wisdom calls
us to address ourselves intelligently and lovingly to our problems and solve
them now once and for all. We have to lay a solid foundation otherwise we set
the stage for more turmoil tomorrow when our grandchildren will come of age.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES WE HAVE IN CAMEROON?
● The Anglophone problem is top on
the list.
● Our neglect of the youth; caused
and enhanced by a poor educational system that has failed to build our
capacities for solving personal and community problems. Our certificates are
like fake currency with no intrinsic value. Our heads are full of theories and
our hands lack skills.
● Corruption, non-respect for merit,
inertia, lack of accountability; favoritism and tribalism have eaten the nation
down to her soul (poor governance).
● Greed, individualism, lack of the
sense of common good is settled in our DNA. This is second nature to us.
● Generalized poor infrastructural
development all over the country and a failed private sector are not helping
matters.
● A Failed Agriculture (we import
most of what we eat, rice for instance).
● Failed Economy (we depend only on
sales of natural resources, we produce nothing and import everything else that
we need).
● Violence, Boko Haram, crime and
many other evils are generated by lost hopes in the people.
● We suffer from a chronic disease
called inferiority complex so we care more for ego than productivity. Ignorance
and irresponsibility crush us daily. (Do you know who I am? Do you know whom
you are talking to? Do you know my connections in Yaounde?)
Well and above all, we
do not FEAR GOD in this nation. Even some churches have turned into money
making rackets and some men of God steal. We have forsaken God’s ways. We look
for quick miracles and quick fixes and we blame our failures and lack of
self-discipline, diligent work after proper training on witchcraft and the
Devil. Thus we cast and bind everything
with the blood of Jesus. We lead our lives with human wisdom and lean on the
devil, money, power and materialism for support. Oh men of little faith! How we
as individuals and the nation perish for lack of knowledge about the Kingdom of
light.
We
are spiritual prostitutes. We are not aware of our souls and the Spirit of God
that yearns to dwell in us; to lead and guide us daily in our travail and
existence.
HOW DO WE FIX THE COMPLEX PROBLEMS?
We certainly need a
magic wand that will do the trick for us.
Primo, we need a God consciousness in the nation.
It is not about a God
of Miracles, Free Meals and Healings. It has nothing to do with double portions
of blessings because of our tithes.
This money for miracles
is armed robbery; deceit and a misrepresentation of God and how his Kingdom
operates.
He is not bought and
sold. His blessings are free. Seek ye
first the Kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added unto you.
It is simple. You need no other doctrine. It is free. All you need is your
personal commitment to the Kingdom and the King.
Just
TRUST HIM, LOVE HIM, COMMUNE WITH HIM.
Love your brother as yourself; if you did, you will not kill others. We
kill for bread. What a shame. God does
not need your money to bless you. He needs your FAITH, TRUST and TOTAL
SURRENDER TO HIM. We need TRUTH for Truth is GOD.
We should not lean on
our understanding nor on our lands, gold, silver, armor, guns and chariots.
Secondo, we need a new form of the state to help us manage and
develop better.
The United Nations
recently wrote to say that the territorial integrity of the state should be
maintained and that there should be true and frank dialogue in the nation. We
cannot do anything and succeed if we do not follow the instructions of the
United Nations. Some people call it a toothless bulldog. That is a huge
mistake. You dig your own grave when you neglect her.
One of the key areas
that have to be looked at would be the form of the state which will help us
fight corruption, create jobs, grow our economy and bring development more
rapidly. We have two options here. We are faced with either decentralization or
federalism.
I will try to describe
a form of government that you have probably not heard of before. Necessity is
the mother of invention and I was looking for an acceptable formula that will
address all or worries and appeal to the 250 tribes in Cameroon.
Our new state should
have Federalism and decentralization principles combined as explained here
below.
FEDERAL
CONCEPT
● There
should be two federal states (East and West Cameroon).
● There
should be a federal capital city (Yaounde)
● The
capital of West Cameron should be Buea.
● The
Capital of East Cameroon should be new and built on the banks of the River
Sanaga on the way to Bafia.
ADD
DECENTRALISATION TO THE FEDERAL CONCEPT
If you leave East
Cameroon as it, the 8 Regions will still suffer the weight of the centralized
government in Bafia.
It is therefore,
necessary to cause decentralization within the federal states. That way, the
people of the South West Region will not be threatened or feel marginalized by
the North West brothers.
The federal structure
protects the Anglophones from the crushing Francophone majority and the
cultures would not be clashing ever so often again.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
FEDERATION.
Many
ill-intentioned people have argued that to have two governments is
expensive. Our current government has three
times the number of ministers and high level functionaries of the same status
than we actually need to be effective and efficient. Check with France and
Germany.
The
excuse about expense is a ploy to derail. This is not true. It is to maintain
the centralized government in which there are no checks and balances, no
accountability where favoritism and corruption abound. Those that have the
right connections to sip into the nectar love this arrangement and would fight
toe and nail to protect it. It is difficult to abolish a productive farm.
Some
say that Federalism is a step away from secession. This is another
ill-intentioned reason to create fear and confusion in the people for no good
reason. Germany, Britain, America, Canada, Belgium are all Federated and well
developed. The UN is the guarantor.
MANAGING THE ADMINISRATION, ECONOMY AND BUDGET IN THE FEDERAL
ARRANGEMENT
FUNCTIONS
OF YAOUNDE ( Federal Capital City).
It takes care of the
army, Foreign Affairs, Ministers (state policy), Presidency and National
Assembly (National Laws and Policies).
Yaounde is responsible
for major infrastructure like damns, major road networks of the nation,
telecommunication, airports, seaports; collecting and disbursing the national
budget.
FEDERAL
STATES
They carry out local
development; they run schools, hospitals, and other ministerial departments at
their levels. They pay civil servants and sort out retirement issues etc.
THE BUDGET ( hypothetical case).
Let us say that a total
of 4000 billion is raised by Yaounde for a fiscal year.
1000 billion of this or
so is retained by Yaounde to run her own programs as above.
About 1000 billion is
set aside and redistributed to the other Regions in the country that have
generated the budget. This avoids the kinds of problems that the Nigerian
government is facing with the Delta communities that produce oil, but do not
seem to enjoy from the proceeds. Thus people of the East Region would benefit
from their wood, gold and more. Those of the Centre would benefit from their
cocoa, timber and people from the South west will get a cut from their oil and
the CDC.
The rest of the 2000
billion is shared to the ten regions almost equally. However, a little
mathematical bias is introduced to take care of the population size,
development needs and more. This way, the extreme North will have a little more
than the South Region.
CONCLUSION
This is a template I am
putting out to help us think our way through the impasse. It might not be
perfect. It could be misunderstood and would probably be rejected by people on
both sides of the divide. Again, this is just to help us to be reflecting as we
forge ahead.
We need to think our
way through this difficulty and I hope that the Church and the United Nations
plus some good will Cameroonians that are God fearing will join the government
bench in the near future for this frank
and open dialogue that has been prescribed by everybody as the way
forward. There should be no taboo subjects during the dialogue.
It is understood of
course, that we need a new government in place; that people can trust before
such a dialogue can take place.
In case I have inadvertently
offended you, please, ‘kill’ the message and not the messenger.
Sign
Dr. Nick Ngwanyam,
MD. www.stlouisbamenda.com
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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