Just before the last masquerade called the 2004 presidential elections, I decided to profile the prominent so-called opposition leaders (Fru Ndi, Ndam Njoya, Bello Bouba) in the best-unbiased manner possible. The befitting title I came up with for their profiles was: "THE LAST GASP OF CAMEROON'S POLITICAL MEGALOMANIACS. I decided not to publish those profiles.
The biggest mistake made during the last phase of the struggle was to invest
overwhelmingly in individuals rather than the ideal of the struggle. It was the
easiest route to power, but a disaster in waiting when those individuals become
powerful and lose their heads (by having delusional fantasies of wealth, power,
and/or omnipotence). That is what happened to the above figures while in the
opposition, a condition already suffered by Biya after he was given power and
survived coups.
Leaders for a cause are promoted, like products. And the image makers in the
early days of the SDF did a good job. Fru Ndi, Ndam Njoya, and Bello were not
the smartest in their parties, they did not confront danger more than
everybody, they did not pay the highest price (lives, property, family, etc.)
more than everybody, and they were not the major brains in the scheme for the
successful expansion of their parties or the biggest contributors to the
party’s ideologies. Dedicated people to the cause pushed their names to easily
sell the party and to win popular support in order to assume power.
Unfortunately, the populace buys the myth of the leader. It is however the
responsibility of the new leader to balance the myth built through expectations
and publicity, with reality.
But then, often in history, the leaders come to believe that the image
projected of them is the reality of their true selves. And it is worse when
they are made to see and think that way by those close to them who have a
vested interest in them being delusional. Nero, Caligula, Idi Amin, etc.
suffered those fates. Initially blessed with overwhelming public support that
arose from the situation at the time, they later fell into the
psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power,
or omnipotence.
Those who contributed to these pathological egoists become targets to be rid
of because they spoke contrary to the leader's wishes. In the blind quest to
leave a legacy based on the myths, these political megalomaniacs end up
destroying the forces (party, country, army, organization)that gave them power,
wealth, and omnipotence. So, is there a future for CDU? No. there is no future.
It would die with Ndam Njoya. Is there a future for NUDP? No. It would die with
Bello Bouba. Is there a future for SDF? The best that can come out of it after
Fru Ndi is that it would be a pale shadow of its former self. And the CPDM? It
would be wrecked by havoc after Biya and die the day it ceases to be the
ruling party.
So, what is the future? Many will ask. The future is a new force built
around tested advocates of change who never folded under the last phase of the
struggle, and advanced representatives of the embracing ideology for the new Kameron
that embodies its union nationalism and revolutionary path.
Janvier Tchouteu, author of
