Biya is Wasting Cameroon's Time

Paul Biya, Cameroon's president for nearly 30 years, cannot be reformed. Addicts may be reformed in rehabilitation centers but there is no place where dictators are reformed. They are only removed. I have watched with amazement how his hands have been forced to perform one trick after another on Cameroonians, giving a veneer of reform and, perhaps, fooling some Cameroonians in the process. Biya has learned the art of being a dictator, from the time of his apprenticeship as Prime Minister in the Amadou Ahidjo autocracy to date. There is nothing in his resume that remotely suggests that he can be a reformer. That is why the various changes he has been making to various elements of Cameroonian life has been aimed at entrenching his power. When he saw that his term as president was to end this year, he changed the constitution to remove that clause; the removal of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt forced him to lie that he was going to hire 25,000 Cameroonians; he has been toying with the so-called Election Commission of Cameroon and has stuffed it only with people who are hellbent on entrenching Biya's power; he has banned night transportation in Cameroon because he is scared that some may enter the country under cover of night to threaten his power. These gimmicks are intended to waste the time of Cameroonians, delaying the transformation that people desire.

Biya is like Hosni Mubarak who claimed ghostly legitimacy just before people poured onto the streets to remove him. Like Mubarak, Biya has manipulated the electoral process to people Cameroon's parliament with representatives of his party so that they may rubber stamp his autocracy. The latest gimmick is that Cameroonians abroad will be given the opportunity to vote during the presidential election; these votes would take place at Cameroon's consulates and embassies abroad. However, given the fact that the votes of Cameroonians in the country do not matter to Biya, one may wonder whether it is the votes of Cameroonians abroad that will matter to him. He has a track record of stealing votes, especially as was the case in 1992. When I watch the macabre dance of death which Biya is dancing with Cameroonians, I cannot help but conclude that he is simply wasting the time of the people so that he may get decrepit and die in power. But by wasting the time of the people, he is wasting his own time and his name will go down in infamy.