Fog light on nation in decay!.

In Greek mythology, Pandora lifted the lid of a box, exposing all miseries, just like The Guardian Post has done, which inspires hope.

Men of God; from the Bishops of Cameroon, to the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Pope at the Vatican, have all prayed and enjoined Cameroonians to have hope.

Dr Pierre Mila Assouté, former ruling party frontline member, who later decamped to form his opposition Democratic Rally for the Modernity of Cameroon, RDMC party, has also called for a “Cameroon of tomorrow without chaos,” as the country “is at a turning point”.

As Dr Assouté writes in the media, “behind the rhetoric lie cash flow difficulties and questions about the State's ability to honour both its external debt and its internal obligations”. 

Over-indebtedness is not a solution. When it is unproductive, it impoverishes the country and traps future generations in a cycle of dependency, social emergency and crisis of values, especially as Cameroon has a large youth population, often with degrees, but without jobs or local prospects.

Public debates are saturated with speculations: power vacuum, the Head of State's long stay abroad, election postponements, clan rivalries, and egoistic ambitions, as The Guardian Post pointed out yesterday and eve before.

It is dangerous combination of lack of job opportunities, poor economic growth, a growing youth demographic and a government laden with inertia, delegation of power and at times from foreign land.

The country, endowed so generously by nature, with abundant resources, is projected as “Africa in nature”, some say it is “the Continent,” but on the ground, it has just been too much noise, too little clarity and too little achievements commensurate to the resources and qualified manpower.

At the heart of the problem are many unanswered questions: What future for the youth, who, with degrees, still depend on poor parents to provide pocket money?

What hope for the people? What greatness for the nation other “small” countries in the CEMAC zone look up to it?

The nation is questioning its governance, its future, and its ability to transform its wealth into concrete and efficient social amenities and infrastructure.

The path forward lies not in rumours, lies, warp logic, brainwashing, propaganda, threats, unfulfilled promises and abandoned projects.

The roadmap should be a clear pragmatic national vision, which has been well articulated but deficient in energetic, credible, invigorated and competent personalities to reflect Regional and even Divisional equity that shun tribalism and nepotism.

The current challenges transcend any political outfit. It is a matter of rebuilding trust, defining a long-term vision, and making it a reality on the ground.

How can that be done under a system, where the government is in limbo, with six empty ministerial seats, trained magistrates loitering about as courts are congested and prisons packed like sardines, and old people lacking evolving innovations sitting on the same jobs for decades?

The answer is with the man who has the knife and the yam, and with his aura everywhere. He is President Paul Biya, who as human, will be outlived by the country. 

He will not be “reinvented,” as the Minister of Higher Education and Communication Secretary of the ruling CPDM party, erudite Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, is on record to have said.

Cameroonians are waiting for a government with energetic young men and women of probity, integrity and competence; without compromising Regional and even Divisional balance.

Time is long past to reshuffle a government by shifting ministers from one portfolio to another, which is just like putting sour old wine in new bottles will not purify the decay.

Above all, the sweeping reshuffle the country anxiously awaits should be accompanied by the declaration of assets, as the main weapon of fighting corruption, which has contributed significantly to put the nation in a state of decadence, needing purification sooner than later.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3876 of Wednesday August 12, 2026