On Saturday December 31 the Head of State, President Paul Biya, will be addressing the nation in his traditional end-of-year speech. It is hope that this year’s speech will not be the same “President’s Annual Rhetoric Speech”
Source: The Guardian Post Newspaper
Politicians often rely on spoken word to sway the massive towards various political agendas. They mobilise their supporters and convince people of the benefits that can arise from their leadership. Part of swaying the public is also educating the public on their socio-economic policies and how to achieve development.
The year 2022 came with a lot of jaw dropping news we hope the president will address in his speech. Some of these event worth noting are; the anglophone crisis now an armed conflict in the English speaking regions. Allege embezzlement of funds (COVID-19, AFCON), this is dub COVIDgate and AFCONgate. Boko Haram insurgence in the Far North. Other socio-economic problems are inflation, insecurity in towns (Les Microbe), persistent power and water issues, youth unemployment, political prisoners, among others.
Analysts hope these, among others, are the issues that the Head of State should address in his end-of-year speech and not the usual President’s Annual Rhetoric Speech.
Anglophone crisis, Boko Haram insurgency
As the nation enters 2023, the Anglophone crisis now a bloody conflict, will be entering a seventh year. In the same spirit, the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North region will be inching into a decade.
With these in view, President Biya, conflict experts have stated and rightly so, must use his end-of-year speech to open a new path for the nation in terms of addressing these conflicts. Thesame goes for the Anglophone crisis.
For some, the Head of State should, in addition to measures already engaged to pacify the English-speaking regions. Muster the courage to open a new window that will result in historic outcomes. Among these, experts are citing the need for a ceasefire. This will be the opening up of fresh negotiation lines with separatist leaders both in jail and Diaspora. There should be granting of clemency and ordering the release of all those jailed in relation to the crisis.
These actions, if taken will breathe a fresh air in other social projects such as the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development. This plan is set for the NW and SW regions. The disarmament programme and the reintegration of youngsters who were former separatist fighters.
The scores of former separatist fighters in the DDR centres in Buea and Bamenda are yet to be fully rehabilitated into society. This too, many say, is an issue Biya must address as a social emergency.
Analysts also say, the speech should address growing requests from local authorities in the NW/SW for more funding to boost local development. Regional Assembly officials have repeatedly appealed for more funding. This will give meaning to the special status provision in governing the former West Cameroon.
In the Far North region, issues relating to terrorist sects is alarming. They hope the president will be able to desuade young boys from joining these sects. In this guise, many are expecting Biya to announce more investment projects to also revive the crisis-hit region.
COVID-19 & AFCON embezzlement scandals
Another burning state issue which Cameroonians are anxiously expecting President Biya to address is allege embezzlement scandals. The funds meant to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and execute Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, projects.
Within the first quota of 2019 and 2021 respectively, allegations of mismanagement scandals concerning AFCON projects and COVID-19 funds went viral. Billions of FCFA, said to complete some AFCON projects, are unaccounted for or poorly managed. In same light, a total of 180 billion for COVID-19 pandemic with biggest contribution from IMF is unaccounted for by state officials. It is assume that a huge chunk was diverted to individual pockets.
Such alleged mismanagement scandals animated media debates, social media rumours and gossips, heightening tensions among Cameroonians.
Due to the intensity of the allegations, investigations to the how the fund was use by various officials was launched. The investigation caused many Cameroonians to heave a sigh of relief as there were hopes that the money, which might have been diverted to individual pockets, would be tracked and wrongdoers brought to book. The investigations had left many ministers panicking with some making last minute efforts to justify funds allocated them as they took turns to be grilled by investigators at the Special Criminal Court.
A leaked audit report from the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court made rounds months later. The report cited cases of gross overbilling of personal protective equipment said to have been purchased by some ministries, non-respect of public bidding for contracts, wasteful spending, improper accounting, non-procedural procurements, irregular allowances, conflict of interest, among others.
Over a year after the investigations results reportedly leaked, no action has been taken by the highest authority of the land to bring wrongdoers to book.
The silence at all levels in the state apparatus has left public conscience restless. Many have, for over a year now, been posing questions over what could be blocking the prosecution of members of government accused of having mismanaged money meant to fight COVID-19 and build AFCON projects. Cameroonians are now expecting President Biya to say something about the embesslements.
Persistent power and water issues
In 2022, the power and water sectors in Cameroon continued to suffer from constant and persistent outages.
Electricity for some Cameroonians has become a luxury they cannot afford. Complaints over utility bill prices due socio-economic challenges the country faces.
The grievances are the same with regard to water. This is due to the frequent interruptions in the provision of water supply. Water is often not available to some needy households and when it is, the quality is not good enough for consumption. It has been the primary cause of water- borne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid and even cholera.
Despite the setbacks, government, through the Ministry of Water and Energy, has initiated several
actions to tackle the irregularities of water and electricity supply challenges. But like Olivier Twist, Cameroonians are asking for more.
Water and electricity are a major factor of economic development to every nation. But in Cameroon, the impact of power and water rather affects Gross Domestic Product, GDP, negatively.
It is imperative that this issue is address. The short- age of power and water seriously affects the healthy development of the economy and can cause large eco- nomic losses.
More so, there have also been strategic calls for change of Focus to Renewable Sources. Cameroonians are looking forward to improved power and water supply in 2023. They also expect the Head of State to address this in his end-of-year speech.
Insecurity in major cities, towns…
In 2022, insecurity in the country’s cities and towns grew in scale and sophistication. Summarily, no town or city was spared of the growing wave of insecurity.
While no region in Cameroon is immune to violence, security governance in the country’s North West and
South West regions was particularly worrying.
The significance of the Anglophone regions to national development cannot be ignored, but the armed conflict there risks destabilising the area’s economy.
The dramatic surge in the activities of the criminals described as ‘unknown gunmen’ has not occurred in a vacuum. It’s a result of separatist agitation and associated repressive state responses.
The deterioration of security comes amid a campaign for the creation of a breakaway nation known as Ambazonia. Their desire for an independent state is fuel by a feeling of marginalisation and historical grievances against the government.
The government has responded to separatist agitation through aggressive militarisation, security crackdowns and mass arrests of supporters and youth.
Hundreds of persons were killed in 2022 alone while thousands have been forced to flee their homes this year.
After a relatively calm period, this year, the Anglophone regions witnessed a violent twist with frequent clashes between security forces and armed separatist fighters fondly called Amba fighters.
While the violence continues to be witnessed in major towns and cities of the North West and South West regions, the country’s main cities of Douala and Yaounde also observed a surge in acts of insecurity. At least two Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, exploded in Yaounde in the year about ending. The first explosion occurred at the Mokolo market in Yaounde in the afternoon of July 2, 2022.
Initial reports indicated that the blast, caused by an Improvised Explosive Device, resulted in an unknown number of injuries. There was no claim of responsibility. Barely two weeks after, another bomb explosion was recorded again in the same Mokolo market. This time around, the blast left one person injured. The incident took place at around 3.00p.m. June 12, in the same area where the first bomb blast occurred. According to eyewitnesses, an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, was detonated few metres away from the Firefighting Unit Office at Mokolo Market. Eyewitnesses said the explosive was inside a black plastic paper.
“The blast was terrible and it sounded like a thunder strike and pieces of nails came out of the black plastic where it was placed,” an eyewitness said. It wasn’t the first time that Yaounde was experiencing a bomb blast. In 2020, several bomb blasts left many injured in Damas, Etoudi, Nsam and other areas.
Meanwhile, in Douala, acts of violence carried out by a notorious gang known as ‘Microbes’ was on the rise this year. At least 14 young men, accused of terrorising several neighbourhoods in the city, fell into the dragnet of the National Gendarmerie recently.
The suspects were arrested Monday December 14, 2022 after they had reportedly gone on rampage in the Bepanda neighbourhood, terrorising the population. They are said to have invaded the streets, destroying property along the road side, breaking windscreens of vehicles, as well as other
businesses, before the population alerted elements of the National Gendarmerie, who immediately arrived the scene and laid hands on 14 persons, most of them in their mid- twenties.
The attack came after the “Microbes” group had staged another attack in October in the Ndokotti neighbourhood, causing enormous damage before forces of law and order could arrive the scene though at least two persons were later apprehended.
The city of Bafoussam also witnessed violent attacks during the year about winding up.
Early this year, a suspect of an alleged rape case, which led to the murder of an internally displaced lady in Bafoussam was taken into custody by security forces. Ngafi Faith was attacked in her house, raped and mur- dered in Bafoussam. She was later buried in Binka, Donga Mantung Division of the restive North West region. At her burial, hundreds of persons staged a protest, ask- ing that her murderer be found and justice served.
In May 2022, still in the same city of Bafoussam, students and teachers of Government Bilingual High School Bafoussam were thrown into panic following the death of Francois Xavier Ghoda. The student in the class of lower sixth science was on his way back home from school when he was attacked and stabbed. It was not immediately said why Ghoda decided to leave the school premises during class hours or why he chose an isolated path to return home.
It is while on the said path, in the Bamendzi neighborhood, which is on the borders of a forest known to be sacred by people of the area that he was attacked and stabbed in the
back. Inhabitants of the area are quoted as having said delinquents frequently come around and were probably trying to get a mobile telephone from Francois Xavier Ghoda before the unfortunate incident occurred.
From the foregoing, it is imperative that President Biya addresses the issue of insecurity in major towns of the country.
Inflation & rising cost of living
During the 2022 financial year, more and more Cameroonians joined the ranks of those living below the poverty line; unable to afford three square meals a day, as they saw their purchasing power dwindling and the cost of basic commodities skyrocketing.
Inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the aver- age citizen. So, keeping inflation down in 2023 could be one of the best things that President Biya could offer many Cameroonians as the nation enters the New Year.
Officially, government blames the hardship Cameroonians are facing on multiple factors, including the war being waged in Ukraine by Russia. The war, many analysts say, has disrupted distribution chains for basic commodities like grain that are used as staples in many developing countries; especially wheat, whose flour is used by the rest of the world to bake bread. Bread also happens to be one of the basic foods of many countries across the globe, including Cameroon.
Added to the war in Ukraine, government also drums into the ears of those who want to listen that Cameroon also faces disruptions in key of its productive sectors. Because of the crisis in the North West and South West regions; as well as the Boko Haram insurgence in the Far North region of the country.
Not forgetting the influx of refugees from neighbour- ing countries, exacerbated by the political conflict in neighbouring Central African Republic, CAR.
Specifically, the National Institute of Statistics proj- ects that during the 2022 business year, Cameroon’s inflation rate hiked to 4.6 percent as against three percent in 2021.
But in reality, prices of basic consumables like rice, sugar, milk, vegetable oil, fish, meat, and so on have more than doubled during the year 2022.
This is evident in the downgrading of Cameroon’s economic growth rate by experts. The 2022 growth rate, which they forecasted at six percent in 2021, was reduced to barely 3.2 percent as the year draws to an end. Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, continue to support the government to enable it rise abovethe challenges posed by the hostile home and global eco- nomic climate.
Both institutions project that the inflation rate in Cameroon all through the coming year, 2023, will hover around three percent. A figure they consider moderate, compared to other countries in the central African sub-region.
This is also an indication that Cameroonians are looking forward to another year of hardship, if government does not do something concrete to cushion the effect of rising cost of living due to spiralling inflation.
Youth unemployment
There is no gainsaying that the active participation of the youth of any country is condition sine qua non for any meaningful development of that country. According to the World Bank projections, Cameroon’s population stands at over 27 million with majority being of the youth.
Going by economic indications, in spite of govern- ment’s effort to tackle unemployment, it has been on a steady increase over the past few years with 3.84 percent in 2021, up from 3.64% in 2019.
This skyrocketing unemployment rate should be one of the key issues to be addressed by the Head of State.
During his end-of-year address to the nation last December 31, 2021, President Biya acknowledged the need to create conditions for more inclusive and employment-generating growth. Particularly for the country’s youth who are and remain the “primary benefi- ciaries of ongoing reforms in various areas”.
In the same address, he had urged the youth to shun indoctrination attempts by secessionist groups.
But with the rising unemployment amongst Cameroonians, experts say, they risk being lured into armed groups in the English-speaking and northern regions that have been facing security challenges for the past years.
Several construction projects are ongoing in the coun- try in the sectors of road, dam, port and building constructions. Yet, the sons and daughters of Cameroon are yet to fully reap the benefits of such projects in terms of employment.
In most of these project sites, the nationals are employed for general labour while the technical aspects of the projects are limited to expatriates while those trained in the different public and private schools contin- ue to pile up without opportunities to be gainfully employed.
The President and vision-bearer of the country’s emer- gence vision must be keen to address this troubling phe- nomenon which continue to encourage brain drain.
In his address during the 2022 National Youth Day, the Head of State re-echoed his ambitious programme. This programme is to encourage the country’s diaspora to invest back home, create employment opportunities for the youth. And contribute to the national economic fabric. Many in the diaspora hope for a more enabling environment to invest, which requires the urgent attention of the president.
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Political prisoners
Many are suggesting, and rightly so, that President Biya, in his end-of-year address to the nation, should ease the political tension in the country by reducing the prison terms of those considered as political prisoners being held in prisons across the country, which will subsequently
lead to their release.
The political atmosphere in the country in 2022 remained tense. Supporters of some opposition political parties, particularly the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC, as well as Cameroon Progressive Party, CPP, are being held in detention facilities across the country.
Some top brass of the MRC party, including its treas- urer, Prof Alain Fogue, spokesperson for the party presi- dent, Olivier Bibou Nissack, are among supporters of the party who were handed a seven-year jail term in December 2021 for engaging in protests and demonstra- tion which were banned by government.
Government crackdown on supporters of this party who multiplied series of protests and street demonstrations. Ever since their party leader, Maurice Kamto, declared himself winner of the October 2, 2018 presidential election.
The MRC supporters defied a ban on such demonstrations by administrative officials and went to the streets, protesting against what they said is electoral hold up. They called for a reform of the electoral code and the put- ting in place of a consensual electoral system.
Supporters of this party also demonstrated against killings in the crisis-hit North West and South West regions and also an audit of funds which were allocated for the Africa Nations Cup, AFCON, which Cameroon hosted in 2022.
While some members of this party, who were arrested, have regained their freedom, several others remain behind bar. Calls have intensified for those still being detained to be freed and some Cameroonians believe that onlyPresident Paul Biya has the solution.
