Editorial: Cavaye & the "devil in power" challenge.

File photo of Hon Cavaye (Centre) presiding over opening parliamentary session

A video has since last Sunday, January 19, been trending on the social media showing National Assembly Speaker, Rt Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, addressing a small group of CPDM supporters around him. 

They were cheering and pouring campaign encomiums on President Paul Biya, as he got under the skin of Bishop Barthelemy Yaouda of Yagoua, for daring to say he would prefer a "devil in power" after the October presidential election, than the incumbent Biya.



The outspoken Bishop had, in expressing the frustrations, sufferings and hardship faced by Cameroonians under the Biya regime, said during a service that he would prefer a democratic change even if it meant the "devil in power".

Cavaye, who has been Speaker for over three decades, did not take kindly to the opinion of the prelate. 

In a social media video, Cavaye, in his rambling diatribe, said the Pope should summon the Bishop to the Vatican for an explanation.

“Catholics should summon this Bishop to Rome so that he can show us the devil. Otherwise, it means that all Catholics are saying the same thing. No one has seen the devil yet. Even the pagans have never seen the devil. No one has ever seen the devil, it is only this Bishop who knows where the devil is,” Cavaye said. 

Cavaye was only reiterating what the CPDM spin mill had rolled out before, in measured tongues. 

However, that has not deterred the Man of God.

On the sidelines of the Bishops Annual Seminar in Buea, the Bishop of Yagoua reiterated his stinking criticism of the CPDM regime in an interview with Radio Veritas.

He affirmed that: “Let us be crushed once. I am very angry...the lack of justice and dignity in the daily lives of Cameroonians are causing unbearable suffering. People don’t eat; we don’t have roads; at school we don’t have what we need. Do you want us to be quiet? No! Our place is not only in the sacristy. We are also here to talk about others, to talk about poor Cameroonians”.

His "personal opinion" is not different from that of the entire Bishops of Cameroon. It is only the terminology that differs but the context and contents are the same.

At the Bishops' seminar, they urged leaders to address “scandalous impoverishment”, highlighting inequality and expressing concerns over President Biya’s potential re-election bid amid widespread discontent in the country. 

“In 1990, we called on all Cameroonians to reflect on the severe economic crisis facing the nation,” the Bishops wrote. 

“Now, 35 years after that warning and 65 years after independence, we are still trapped in economic and social stagnation, with an uncertain future ahead,” they added. 

The Bishops pointed to rising taxes as a major source of hardship, especially for the most vulnerable. They criticised the tax system as unfair, saying it burdens those with little purchasing power while sparing the wealthy. “Can a nation be built solely on taxes,?” they questioned.

"Our country is rich in forests, water, fertile soil, and minerals, yet these resources are being misused and plundered through questionable agreements,” they wrote, urging the government to implement Article 66 of the Constitution on declaration of assets.

While The Guardian Post holds no defense for the Bishop of Yagoua, his referring to the devil was just a figurative expression.

For Cavaye to demand that he should explain to the Pope about the parable of the "devil" taking over from President Biya is out of the issue. 

By their calling, and commitment in the educational and public health development in Cameroon, they are free to speak out on elections and other socio-economic and political issues.

Unlike other denominations, the Catholic church, with over 30 percent of Cameroonians as its Christians, has a "legal legislative status with rights and duties” and in the words of Archbishop Bettencourt, the Papal Nuncio: “Church institutions are recognised in Cameroon as agents of public utility. Within the framework of the agreement and Cameroonian law, Cameroon has also benefited from the services provided by the Catholic Church to all strata of Cameroonian society, even in the most remote regions of its territory”.

The fact that the Catholic church in Cameroon has legal status puts it in a better position to cooperate with other international institutions to better serve Cameroonians, the Nuncio is on record as having said so.

Cavaye, being one of the longest-serving members of the CPDM regime and swimming in wealth, certainly would not like a change, no matter the sufferings of the people of his Region, which is one, if not the most under-developed in the country.

He has the liberty to defend his lavish and sumptuous trappings, even in Parliament, as he has done in over three decades. But he should also know, especially not being a Christian, that it is one of the ordained missions of Bishops to speak out for the people Frantz Fanon calls the "wretched of the earth," in Cameroon for their betterment.

 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3347 of Thursday January 23, 2025

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