By Neba-Fuh
Unbearable heat emanating from the unconditioned air in the corridors ushered an 'undesirable' element en route his homeland.
A tourist clung to his heavy luggage as he struggled to dust off his pullover that just fell on the perpetual uncleaned floors.
Stenchy restrooms repelled him from a simple answer to nature's call.
Green-clothed porters, reeking of sweat, anxiously cajoled and coached arriving passengers on how to bribe custom officials -never repentant of their corrupt practices.
This time, the yellow-coloured international vaccination booklet was handy, so how will they try to squeeze a franc from yours truly?
A taste of corruption is savoured at the doorstep of the country. Aggresive bribe-mongering customs stop at nothing to ask for 'duties' even on the basic personal effects no traveller can do without. Every official (police, customs, health officials, non-uniform officials, cleaners etc) at the airport exhibited the kind of lack of dynamism and inertia, the master oligarch has finally come to accept, after 27 wasted years.
Cameroon is the only country in the world that welcomes its citizens at its borders with extreme bizarre ways! How dare Mother hen closes its wings as her chicks race to find warmth?
This is Douala- a city that host arguably the worst international airport in the universe. Douala remains the nearest authorized gateway by air to my homeland-West of the Moungo. No luxury surmonts this yearly ritual of mine- going back home and communing with the folks back there and attuning myself to a country I would never like not to call home.
From Nyambaka to Akwaya, the story is the same. The thick forest of Djaglassi can not hide what has been exposed in the cold greeny grassfield of Nwa. All we have is our God-given beautiful landscape-beautiful indeed! Nothing left to bequeath to our children. They have stole everything and left the people constantly impoverished.
My readiness to throw the towel if there was any change in the status quo heightened my anxiety. I was all eyes, ready to submit to my critics, accusing me of phony hyperbolic views!
I failed! The Oppressed lingered around with desperate passion of surrendering to fate, irked by their every day struggle to cling to life. They seemed to have given in. Basic amenities like pure drinking water, medicine and electricity are still for a few. And even the 'few' have their tales of constant power cuts, from AES-SONEL, run by an American company that exploited the privatization 'crusade' launched some years back, extracting its own coins from a drunken regime.
What was I expecting from a regime in one year, that it couldn't achieve in 27years? I underestimated the regime's resolve to clean their dinner tables after eating, thus depriving even the servants of the left-overs. Or else, how can one explain the fact that it took the chiefs of the Southern zone up till 2009 to raise an alarm on the exploitation of their God-given resources at their backyard, without any of their sons playing the mean role of a porter? Motions turned to petitions. A rare display of pitiful emotions! Who really cares in Yaounde? A single petition in a drawer of motions of support is like pouring a drop of water in an ocean. SONARA is theirs!
Is this just a 'burst of emotions' or 'an exposure to reality often muted'? Which ever views you hold, the truth remains: we are still in this same system of things! A people's right to self determination is denied, justice is rationed, the public treasury is plundered, 93 percent of Cameroonians are living like serfs, waitng for destiny to push the right button.
Just as if to vindicate my conscientious hiccups, the news of the government reshuffle was served. A Prime Minister, who is in record for having asked citizens residing in his constituency to go back and vote only in their constituency of origin, during elections, was sacked. Humility will be his best friend during his march to humiliation.
The result of the reshuffle was an old clique installed to continue plundering. Philemon heads the choir, ready to sing the same song over and over again.
A man to watch is the the new Goebbels in-charge of propaganda-Issa Tchiroma Bakary. He thinks with his unbridled tongue, ready to glorify his master's 27years of despair and sanctifying a celebrated white-collar robber, whose portion of bounty exposed by an NGO from his main warehouse-France, is portrayed by the regime as sorcery , enemies of the nation etc.
Why not call him Saint Paul?
excellent!!
Posted by: The Man | August 21, 2009 at 02:25 AM