Subject: Re: Democracy...
is something we take for granted. And the only time you appreciate it, is when you see lack of.
Cameroon on the whole doesn’t show any signs of upheaval or unrest. But a democratic state, is certainly not what I’d call this. Paul Biya has been president for donkey’s years (since 1982, I think) -- and he won (??) theelections(??) last week. But the elections were a real farce and as I heard some people say, "a waste of money".
For weeks prior to the elections, I searched for signs of campaigning -- anything that would lead me to believe that elections were round the corner. I saw none. At most I saw an occasional banner and heard sparse coverage on the news. The general public showed absolutely no interest and the voter turnout was incredibly low (the figures are not out yet/or are being suppressed).
Most of the people I know (a very well educated lot) either didn’t bother to go to vote, or hadn’t received their cards, needed to vote.
Angeline, the cleaning lady did go to vote, but they refused to give her any card other than that of RDPC (Biya’s party) – so what did she do? She cast in her vote for Biya’s party!
"Heureusement, il y a la mort" (Fortunately, one dies), said a colleague while talking about Biya. (tho’ honestly, I think there will be another Paul Biya, or worse still, his son)
It seems that they’ve accepted the fact that Biya will rule till he dies and that they won’t vote till then and maybe after that too. But they seem to have reconciled to their inability to vote, express anything against the president (in the media), stop his son from killing the forests...
Sometimes I don’t know if I feel sorry for them or envy their ability to accept everything...
more later...
ruta
is something we take for granted. And the only time you appreciate it, is when you see lack of.
Cameroon on the whole doesn’t show any signs of upheaval or unrest. But a democratic state, is certainly not what I’d call this. Paul Biya has been president for donkey’s years (since 1982, I think) -- and he won (??) theelections(??) last week. But the elections were a real farce and as I heard some people say, "a waste of money".
For weeks prior to the elections, I searched for signs of campaigning -- anything that would lead me to believe that elections were round the corner. I saw none. At most I saw an occasional banner and heard sparse coverage on the news. The general public showed absolutely no interest and the voter turnout was incredibly low (the figures are not out yet/or are being suppressed).
Most of the people I know (a very well educated lot) either didn’t bother to go to vote, or hadn’t received their cards, needed to vote.
Angeline, the cleaning lady did go to vote, but they refused to give her any card other than that of RDPC (Biya’s party) – so what did she do? She cast in her vote for Biya’s party!
"Heureusement, il y a la mort" (Fortunately, one dies), said a colleague while talking about Biya. (tho’ honestly, I think there will be another Paul Biya, or worse still, his son)
It seems that they’ve accepted the fact that Biya will rule till he dies and that they won’t vote till then and maybe after that too. But they seem to have reconciled to their inability to vote, express anything against the president (in the media), stop his son from killing the forests...
Sometimes I don’t know if I feel sorry for them or envy their ability to accept everything...
more later...
ruta
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