Opinion: Take back our country.

Those are some of the reasons why Issa Tchiroma, the man who stands at the cusp of a seismic electoral victory- explains why he ran for Presidency. His explanations give me positive feelings that Cameroon is about to undergo a historic change under a Tchiroma administration.

Looking at the derelict state of our country’s infrastructure, Cameroonians have watched their standard of living deteriorate steadily under the CPDM regime for 43 long years. 

Our roads are notorious death-traps with large potholes, our public buildings are crumbling, our hospitals are in ruins, our schools are neglected, and the entire country is a heaving garbage which serves as the maternities for mosquitoes. 

It doesn't take much imagination to ponder why the country voted in unprecedented numbers for Issa Tchiroma. We are all suffering from the Biya-fatigue.

The Biya fatigue is a virulent strain of eye-popping ineptitude or simple cruelty. Take the issue of home addresses, for instance. It is ridiculous that Cameroon is one of the few countries in the world where individuals do not have verifiable home addresses which the citizens can use to locate themselves and send registered parcels to. 

It is no longer a funny cliché to describe the location of houses creatively by their proximity to geographical landmarks, like heaps of garbage, graveyards or mammoth trees. 

What does it take to fix that? How did this country, which once boasted the availability of red mail boxes on our streets come to lose one of its most enviable services? It smacks of breathtaking incompetence, but it only needs a little bit of political will to fix. And Issa Tchiroma is the man to fix it.

The lack of social amenities like cinemas, public libraries, and functional theatre halls now seem like a crime against a people. But it is not even comparable to the perennial lack of potable water in our towns and villages, the erratic supply of electricity, the epileptic nature of Internet in the 21st century- a service which is absolutely vital for the modern professional to function. 

It is simply incomprehensible. Look at our children and ask yourself: is this the life you want for the next generation for another seven years under this fossilised regime?

Everywhere you turn, there is a picture of decay and decrepitude. And it begins right at our filthy international airports where almost every staff seems trained to be hostile to passengers. 

One would think Cameroon remained frozen in the 1960s while the rest of the world moved on. It takes the audacious arrogance of a power-hungry tyrant to think only he can lead the country for half a century, even as he is limping pitifully into his centurion years.

This is not normal. After 43 years, it is irresponsible of us to allow ourselves to be bamboozled and hoodwinked into a state of inertia. While the majority suffer, 1% of the privileged few, loyal to the cult leader live in obscene opulence, feeding off the nation’s wealth and becoming preposterously prosperous. 

Ministers, senior security brass, heads of parastatals, and the parasitic clique of civil servants hovering around Biya have turned our national treasury into their personal inheritance of the highly favoured. 

One of the biggest mistakes the Biya regime made was to ostracise Cameroonians in the diaspora and treat them with contempt and hostility. His refusal to acknowledge them may be because he is one of them. He spends more time in Switzerland than in the country. 

That is a powerful community of skilled professionals with unmatched experience. It is inconceivable why the Biya government failed to engage with one of its most knowledgeable citizens, but knowing how intransigent it became.in the course of 43 years, there’s no surprise.

Tchiroma is calling on all Cameroonians to return and help build our country. He is calling on us to stand up and say: enough is enough. Things cannot be plundered ad infinitum. We must rise together to reclaim our nation, and, in doing so, to renew ourselves at all costs.

A Tchiroma government will be a government of renewal. A government of all talents at home and abroad. Renewal of our institutions and industries. Review of wages for workers. Renewal of quality education for our children. Renewal of our crumbling infrastructure, clean water, electricity, and Internet access. 

Renewal of national safety and security. Renewal of efficient waste management and clean, liveable cities. We’re taking back the country and we are never looking back.

Our vibrant village life of the past will return. We will invest in rural development, empower local councils, and revive our cultural traditions. We will support farmers by providing improved seeds and by restoring agricultural co-operative unions to buy their produce at fair prices. Once again, farming will become one of the proud backbones of our economy.

Cameroon’s renewal begins with us, and the time for that renewal is now. We are taking back our country, and leading it once more to its prideful place as one of Africa’s best. This is the rebirth of our nation.

By Charles Mambo: He is a political analyst with a Master’s degree in International Relations & Politics from Keele University, UK. He is also a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, known for his critical engagement with national issues & his commitment to making Cameroon better