Prayers for return to peace in Cameroon: The missing link!.

16/05/2023

Cameroon is in a mire of perilous crises. There is the bloody fighting in the North West and South West Regions. Boko Haram is wreaking havoc in the Far North Region. The media is replete with fatal crimes with unexplained killings and kidnappings.

The country has been bedeviled by a series of misery, poverty, unemployment, favouritism, tribalism, in short, "moral decadence in all its forms", to borrow a quote from Douala-based international lawyer and peace crusader, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle.

Peace has been replaced with insecurity, timidity, fear and suspicion. Politicians protected by bullet proof vests and armed bodyguards have found no solution.

Religious leaders and some God-fearing personalities, believing that "with God, everything is possible", have over the past six years been burning the midnight candles praying for peace in Cameroon.

Last Sunday, government authorities converged on the Basilique Marie-Reine- Des-Apôtres in Yaounde, for the 8th edition of the "Mass for the Nation". It was officiated by Mgr Jean Mbarga, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Yaounde.

Celebrated under the theme: “Communion of cultures”, he said it was to pray for Cameroon to remain united in diversity.

The prayer session was particularly focused on the preservation of peace and national unity. 

Mgr Jean Mbarga entrusted the protection of Cameroon to the Virgin Mary so that she should “intercede with her son, Jesus Christ, for peace and unity in Cameroon...Let us pray that our country becomes a communion of cultures”. 

The Mass was held in the presence of some members of government. There was conspicuously the Minister of State for Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, who represented the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute.

It was the eighth such religious service since Cameroon was beset with multiple challenges. There have been a series of other prayers. 

In June 2017, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle, in his widely publicised "Prayer for God’s intervention for peace in Cameroun, Africa and the world", went on his knees and begged God for peace. 

"God of all consolation, You know best those difficulties that Cameroon is going through; especially the turmoil in the North West and South West Regions, which has paralysed educational activities and family activities, insecurity in the Far North Region as a result of the Boko Haram phenomenon which has taken away so many of your children…", he prayed. 

Several religious leaders in Cameroon also prayed for peace at the opening of the Major National Dialogue in Yaounde in 2019.

Before the conference, Pope Francis, whom Catholics believe is "holy", also offered prayers for the success of the dialogue in the hope that it would bring peace.

Addressing thousands of people at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, the Pontiff expressed his closeness to the people of Cameroon and asked the faithful to pray for lasting solutions for peace to return.

“Feeling close to the sufferings and hopes of the beloved Cameroonian people, I invite everyone to pray so that this dialogue may be fruitful and lead to solutions of just and lasting peace, to the benefit of all,” the Pope had said.

He also prayed for peace again when some Catholic priests and Christians were kidnapped in Manyu Division, last year. Those who go to churches or mosques in Cameroon would testify that during most services, their religious leaders pray for peace.

But why is there no tranquility of peace and security after all the prayers; especially given that the Head of State is a Catholic and other members of his government both Muslims and Christians?

Religious leaders, nonetheless know that God is not a cosmic genie who promises to answer every request if those praying just believe strongly enough in His power. There are qualifiers applicable to all religions. Unconfessed sin as it is said in the Biblical book of Isaiah 59-1-2 block prayers: “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ears too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear”.

So, if the people stirring the powers that be do not confessed their sins, how can the prayers of the faithful be answered for peace to return to Cameroon? Those in power continue to be suspected of embezzlement, tribalism, hate speech and favouritism which are all sins in the eye of the Lord as preachers will attest.

They are also unforgiving of those who have committed political crimes like the jailed leaders of the Anglophone crisis. 

“When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may answer your prayers and forgive you your sins”. That is what the Bible says in the Book of Mark 11: 25.

Even if the power wielders were as "holy" as the Pope, they are not the once that have been praying. They need to apply action by showing compassion, forgiveness, repentance and justice before the prayers being offered by religious leaders and civil society faithful for peace to return to Cameroon are answered by the Creator.

Prayers and the might of the bullet are no common bedfellows. That is why multiple prayers being offered since Cameroon slouched into the nadir of challenges have not brought peace.