Imhotep: The Collective African Blog

CNN is on Steroids

By Innocent Chia

How else do you explain the robotically senseless commercial interruptions plaguing newscasts, interviews and almost every program that is aired on CNN? Yes, even commercial breaks now seem to be interrupted by the shows and other news programs of the renowned cable network… Right in mid-sentence or question the interviewee or interviewer is brutally and unprofessionally cut-off the air by an ad and, several precious minutes and missed sentences later, the show continues unapologetically. Evidently, there is some bugged programming software for time management that is on rampage and someone at CNN better save the day!

The Waterloo of Democracy in La Republique du Cameroun

By Innocent CHIA

Avid observers of the political drama called La Republique du Cameroun are now poised to make another certain prediction: President Paul Biya will be made “President a Vie” by CPDM parliamentarians and a system that overwhelmed the populace with a combination of known and unknown titanic fraud schemes at the twin polls of July 22. While the pundits have been right on mark about the irregularities that are the hallmark of the democratic process in Cameroon, there always seems to be renewed surprise at the scale of impunity with which the ruling regime perpetrates its unabashed rape of popular will.

The Law of "Diminishing Returns" and African Leadership

By Innocent Chia

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, former President of South Africa and its first to be elected in fully-representative democratic elections, may have been the one leader that the world and his people would have readily forgiven if he had chosen the transgression of holding on to power. After all, it was before the eyes of the world that the anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African NationalCongress (ANC) served 27 years of his life sentence in prison, much of it in a cell in Robben Island, for sabotage after he went underground and began the ANC's armed struggle. But after five years of presidency, 1994 to 1999, the cultural icon of freedom and equality knew he had given enough of himself and passed the relay baton for someone else (Thabo Mbeki) with a fresh set of eyes to either change or continue with the same trajectory.

Holding Parents Accountable: A New Paradigm for African Development?

Innocent Chia

It is déjà vu all over again in Africa: A public official is appointed or promoted today and the public knows that it is just a matter of time before their rags become riches. As a matter of fact, the public has become so cynical of this fact; it is not only an expectation, it is an imperative. Family members, including the spouse and kids, feel the moment and take appropriate steps to adapt to the nouveau riche lifestyle of decadence and opulence. Close and distant relatives, friends and foe, community and village know that salvation has come to one of theirs.

DIVIDED WE STAND: The language of Annexation and Poverty

Innocent Chia

Dividing a people to conquer is so old a political ploy, it predates modern history. Yet most every leader makes the solemn public promise to unite those people under their leadership.
 
The Glory Days: An Elder & Fyffe Ship being loaded with Banana exports at the once bustling Tiko seaport in 1959.

As far as the politics of the West-Central African country of La Republique du Cameroun goes, its two life presidents (the late Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya) are responsible for systemic dogmas that preach national unity or national integration but practice just the opposite.

DIVIDED WE STAND: La Republique du Cameroun vs. Southern Cameroons

Innocent Chia

Shame on me if anyone can point to any major speech addressing Cameroonians, either by the late Ahmadou Ahidjo or by Paul Biya of La Republique (Unie) du Cameroun, in which both Presidents fail to explicitly or implicitly call for “l’Unité Nationale”. Yet, on the eve of golden jubilee celebrations marking its Independence in 2010, the Cameroonian society is more factionalized and fragmented than the “divide-and-rule” policy institutionalized by the white colonialists.

On the one hand, one can argue that given the long-lasting impact of slavery and colonialism on Africa, it will be foolhardy to expect that current leaders would be able to undo these crippling centuries-old practices and policies a mere four decades after independence.

"Sweet Mother": A Son's Reflections on Mother's Day

By Innocent Chia

A song about motherly love has never sprung the well of tears, which I fight to hold back each time that I listen it, like Sweet Mother by the late legendary Prince Nico Mbarga. It was not always so... not until the kiss of death passed through ovarian cancer to invite my beloved mother to take her seat by God’s side in December 2000. Some time after laying her remains to rest and returning to Madison-Wisconsin, I attended an African event marking the Independence of one of the neo-colonies.

Cameroon: The Politics of Decomposition

Innocent Chia

The rot at the Douala International Suffocation Airport… Shoulder-deep potholes housing dust and mud as the dry and rainy seasons alternate… Human-sized rats and other rodents going about their business willy-nilly in broad daylight… A dilapidating Mungo bridge on an endless see-saw break with drivers and other users…

The Mungo Bridge

This shortlist is by far an incomplete playbook that the CPDM Government of President Paul Biya has apparently utilized with great success since the advent of multiparty politics in La Republique du Cameroun.