I am Cameroonian but I don't like the Reunification.

Side view of one of the tribunes built for celebrations

As we speak Buea, the host city of celebrations for the 50^th anniversary of Cameroons Reunification, is wriggling to the erratic rhythm of preparations for the said anniversary. As a Cameroonian and resident of the host city, I should logically be excited about the celebrations if for anything the developments this event will bring to the city. Permit me surprise you, I am not the least excited. As a matter of fact, I hate the entire event and all what it represents. I prefer the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. 

I hate the Reunification celebration but not for the reasons some might suspect. 

I hate the Reunification

So based on the foregoing I should be a supporter of all things, especially celebrations of the journey we have travelled so far as a political unit. I should be a ready-made cheerleader for all the moments of national merrymaking for the "high" notes we have hit as a people. I should but I am not. In blunt terms, I practically hate the long-awaited celebration of the 50 anniversary celebration of the reunification of the English and French-speaking components of Cameroon. I am not a neither a secessionist nor their sympathiser.

Why

To be sincere with you guys, I must admit that there is generally just one reason why I hate the celebration of the Reunification. I hate it because  rather than  being a platform for Cameroonians to meet and articulate courses of action for casting our unity in steel, it appears to me as the umpteenth crystallisation of all the ailments affecting our country and the most credible  explanation of why we are still marking time when our peers of yesteryears are   soaring. Let me explain:

1: Time consciousness and unfulfilled promises

Despite giving the impression with the setting of the 2035 time limit for emergence that it had now realised that time is of the essence, the current government of Cameroon has through its handling of the preparations so far indicated otherwise. The celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Reunification was first announced in December 2010 by  President Paul Biya. But three years later the host city is still to see the anticipation transform into actual celebration. Sure, construction works to accommodate the celebration are taking place but the actual promised celebration is still to take place. Do this disregard of time and its symbolism augur well for a country that is trying to play catch up in the development race? Is this silence with regards to the actual date for the celebrations not a setting the stage for low secessionist voices to become audible? The answer in my opinion to all these answers is yes. Celebrating such a major milestone in Cameroon’s political evolution belatedly suggests, if not is, a blatant absence of consideration for time as well as its symbolic significance. It also reminds onlookers of the regimes reputation of not fulfilling promises.

2: Development is the President and the President is development

Prior to the announcement that it would host the Reunification celebrations, the host city Buea was just like other Cameroonian towns in need of infrastructural developments. March pasts and other state organised public celebrations were held at Bongo’s Square with participants marching uphill tediously. But when the Reunification celebrations – to be presided over by President Paul Biya- were announced, two new tribunes will pop out of the ground. Some roads have at last received a coat of tar and some old ones are finally being marked adequately. Other construction works are taking place. This was the same scenario in Bamenda last year 2013 with the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Armed Forces where some constructions works took place. This approach to things begs one question: so if the Reunification celebrations weren’t set for Buea and the President wasn’t to preside, the town would never have gotten two new tribunes? Would its long wait for more tarred roads have continued? The situations suggest that only the announced presence of the President of the Republic can kick-start the construction of highly needed infrastructure in some towns. This possibility is pretty scaring because the development of the nations about 360 towns – if we go by the number of councils- cannot be tethered to the arrival or not of one man. This is a myth that must be crushed pitilessly because it justifies the mediocrity noticed amongst the President’s subordinates. Each government official needs to know that he/she can autonomously spearhead development at his/her own level. Development and President Paul Biya should not be even perceivably synonyms else regions which our  history or politicians haven't made natural host of some historically- significant event will have to continue their long wait for development. 

3: Another instance of sustainable underdevelopment

As I said, infrastructural developments are taking place in anticipation of the celebrations but these are nothing but temporal fixes to embellish regional circumstances since the world will be ogling Buea during this period. Roads are finally being tarred and the inhabitants are grateful but provision isn’t made for cables or pipes before the tar is poured even though we all know sooner and not later it will be necessary to embed some cable or some pipe for some reasons. When this need arises, the roads being tarred will be tampered with and its slow destruction will begin. Sometime in the future money will have to be allocated again to re-tar a road that had already been tarred. This is unfortunately the vicious cycle being witnessed. It is a disheartening instance of unsustainable development: developments that will soon demand repairs or replacement instead of addition and extension. This vicious cycle entails repetition and wastage.

4: Politics at the expense of the future of the youth

Under normal circumstances, the graduation ceremony of the University of Buea would have taken place sometime in early December 2013. But due to the not-yet-slated and but announced coming of the President of the Republic to Buea for the Reunification celebration, no date has so far been announced  for the graduation ceremony and in the meantime the students are  stranded. Those who wished to get even their attestations and move on to further academic pursuits or start the job-search odyssey are grounded because the date for the graduation has not been slated because (in the Vice-Chancellor’s words) of circumstances “beyond their control”. This makes you wonder what the graduation of a school has to do with an event whose actual date of celebration is not known. It also makes you wonder why the already bleak future of the youths has to be held hostage by politicians and their machinations. Wasn’t it known since December that it was impossible for the celebrations to be held in December since most of the major construction works were hardly halfway done? The Vice –Chancellor has sure issued a notice saying students should go get their certificates but the poor drafting of the notice and its confusing interpretations have only worsened the situation. 

5: The smell of corruption in the air

Unjustified rumours and prejudices aside, I won’t pretend to master the ebb and flow of financial management. I will only state that I recently heard a taximan say in his taxi that he had heard over the revered national radio’s flagship English talk show Cameroon Calling that the money underwriting these construction works weren’t planned for in the national budget. If the funds for these works aren’t provided for in the national, where do they come from? Are they from the rumoured unaudited “black box” at the Presidency from where money is freely taken to carter to sudden needs? These are mere allegations but they fuel perception and perception is said to be everything. There is the smell of corruption in the air.

Preferring the Race of Hope

As most patriotic and not jingoistic Cameroonians, I would like to like the Reunification Celebrations but then again it is hard given the circumstances. As such, I prefer the 2014 edition of the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. This is because I hear the prize money has been increased to 10 million CFAF for the first placed runner and this means this year’s race will be more exciting. Also its organisation has returned to the world-renowned brewery brand that made it famous. The race date has been  set for February 15, 2014 and the presence or absence of the President of the Represent won’t affect its holding. Most importantly, I prefer the Race of Hope because it will bring all Cameroonians- French and English speaking- together for a cause that unites us yearly and not only once every 50 years.