Just like in many African
countries, there is a lot of laxity in the management of public affairs in
Cameroon. This situation is perceivable in almost all sectors of life.
Government officials and their collaborators do not take public management or
governance seriously, thereby paving the way for a plethora of abnormalities in
various domains of public life. Some of these domains are, namely,
transportation; education; public service; health; legal and judicial system;
democracy; housing and town planning; public contracts; sports and
bilingualism.
The domain of
transportation in Cameroon is experiencing a good number of conspicuous
abnormalities. I shall highlight just two. The first one concerns the
disreputable attitude of some drivers (especially cab drivers) and some commercial
motorbike riders. They are not polite to other road users and their passengers.
They are always impatient on the road. Another conspicuous abnormality deals
with the laxity in the issuing of road-worthiness documents for vehicles. Some
of these documents are worthless since they are issued on the basis of unconventional
road-worthiness tests.
As concerns
education, the educational system in Cameroon is displaying some conspicuous abnormalities.
I shall spotlight just three. The first deals with the very low salaries or
incomes of Cameroonian teachers at all levels (primary, secondary and tertiary)
of education. Their efforts and professional statuses are not given the esteem
they deserve. Secondly, the educational syllabuses in Cameroon do not adequately
adapt to the professional, social and moral needs of the Cameroonian society.
Their outcome, in terms of personal responsibility, is a far cry from Forbi Stephen Kizito’s Perception
of Personal Responsibility.
Lastly, the Cameroonian educational system is one of the most corrupt in Africa
and the world. Corruption (bribery) is omnipresent and omnipotent at all levels
(examinations; the admission of students; the recruitment of teachers; etc).
The public service in
Cameroon is replete with cases of conspicuous abnormalities. One of them is the
lack of a streamlined career profile for the various professional corps.
Members of these corps work without depending on any reliable career profile,
thereby paving the way for a situation of total disorder in terms of promotion,
etc. Another glaring abnormality is the high rate of corruption or graft. Many
officials in Cameroon’s public institutions are very corrupt. They rely on
bribes to make ends meet. Other abnormalities involve nepotism, tribalism,
favoritism, etc in terms of recruitment, appointment, etc.
Cameroon’s health
system is replete with cases of glaring abnormalities. This is a system in
which patients who are unable to pay their hospital bills are taken hostage by
hospital authorities. This pathetic
phenomenon is rampant in a good number of health institutions in Cameroon.
Furthermore, many public service doctors devote a considerable part of their time
to private practice, thereby depriving, to some extent, patients in public
hospitals of their services. This situation is due to the meagre
salaries earned by these doctors. These two cases of glaring abnormalities
constitute just the tip of the iceberg.
The legal and
judicial system in Cameroon is very unreliable. A good number of its verdicts are
violated or not implemented. This despicable situation obtains even when the
verdicts of the highest court in Cameroon (the Supreme Court) are concerned.
Some judgements passed by this court have been
trampled upon by some top officials of Cameroon; senior ruling party members;
etc. Moreover, the Constitutional Council showed beyond reason doubt that some
members of Cameroon’s legal and judicial system could be very insensitive to
the daily plight of Cameroonians. This point was exemplified by Barrister Ikome Ngongi’s utterances in this
council in 2018.
In terms of compliance with the constitution, this legal instrument has a very
strange or weird provision, a provision which states that the new institutions
provided for by the Cameroonian Constitution shall be set up progressively or
gradually.
The practice of
democracy in Cameroon is a far cry from orthodox democratic practice. It
encompasses all sorts of shabby phenomena inherent in obsolete democracies. I
shall mention just two of them. In Cameroon, there has never been any genuine
dialogue between the ruling party and opposition parties. The former believes
in Machiavellian politics. It adores outsmarting its rivals at the expense of
its people. It is not willing to heed and implement rational proposals such as
the one presented by Linda Ankiambom and Gilead Nkwain. Furthermore,
Cameroon has more than 300 political parties. Most of these parties are
involved in at least one of the following condemnable phenomena: obstructionism
in parliament, etc; political treachery against the Cameroonian people; stomach
politics; etc.
In Cameroon, there is
no proper implementation of conventional or acceptable housing and
town-planning policies and programmes. Most Cameroonian towns depict the fact
that Cameroon does not care about the said policies and programmes. A glaring
example of this situation is the lack of enough access roads in all towns and
cities. Many neighbourhoods have paths in portions
which are meant for access roads! The lack of access roads renders it difficult
or impossible for some activities such as rescue operations to take place
smoothly.
The world of public contracts
in Cameroon is very controversial. It is full of conspicuous cases of
abnormalities. In some of these cases, the procedure for the award of the said contracts
is hardly respected. A good number of them go to friends, relatives, etc. In
other words, the mechanisms for the award of public contracts in Cameroon are
flouted by those who award them. Furthermore, many public contracts in Cameroon
experience overbilling while others are not executed by those called upon to
execute them.
In the domain of
sports, Cameroon displays quite a good number of glaring abnormalities. One of
them deals with the remuneration of sportsmen and sportswomen. Some of them
spend several months to get paid. Moreover, most of their salaries are derisory
or ridiculous. Another glaring abnormality is the lack of respect for games
schedules. A good example, here, is the lack of respect for the opening
schedules of Cameroon’s First Division and Second Division Championships. They
are always postponed!
The practice of
bilingualism in Cameroon is still far below expectations despite the fact that
Cameroon is a bilingual country. Notwithstanding the existence of some positive
steps taken to improve upon the despicable state of this practice, a state Denis
Atabong refers to as “ a mighty
fraud against the people of Southern Cameroons”, there still exist some glaring
abnormalities in the said practice.
These abnormalities include the use of only the French Language by Cameroon’s
President (Paul Biya) when addressing Cameroonians.
He scarcely speaks in English! Another glaring abnormality is the publication
of some official documents solely in French (no English version!).
Finally, the
conspicuous abnormalities discussed in this work constitute just the tip of the
iceberg. Cameroon displays these abnormalities in practically all domains of
daily life. There is need for all Cameroonians (government workers and officials;
ordinary citizens; intellectuals; non-governmental institutions; etc) to devise
ways and means of convincingly addressing and redressing this deplorable
situation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Cite this Article: Kijem, JY (2023). The Omnipresence of Conspicuous Abnormalities in
Cameroon. Greener Journal of Social Sciences, 13(1): 70-72.
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