Jean Marie Atangana Mebara’s latest opus titled, LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL DE LA PRESIDENCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE AU CAMEROUN ENTRE MYTHES, TEXTES ET REALITES (L’Harmattan, 2016), prefaced by Eric Chinje, is a loud comment on the web of intricacy, intrigue, deceit, underhand tactics, and make-believe drenched in an ethnico-tropicalised form of mazarino-machiavellian precepts of statecraft at the helm of the State.
It is written in a dialogical format (Part II), which makes for easy reading and ties in with “the ancient catechetical literary genre of questions and answers” that the author as a former seminarian is no stranger to.
Part I is quite informative because it provides a historical rundown of the evolution of the position of secretary-general at the presidency from the early 60s till date; past and current secretaries-general-directors of cabinet (Christian Tobie Kuoh, Zaachée Mongo So’o, Paul Biya, Samuel Eboua, Sadou Daoudou, Joseph Zambo, David Abouem A Tchoyi, Ferdinand Leopold Oyono, Jean Nkuete, Mbella Mbappe, Edouard Akame Mfoumou, Sadou Hayatou, Joseph Owona, Titus Edzoa, Amadou Ali, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, Atangana Mebara, Esso Laurent and Ngoh Ngoh Ferdinand with the shouting absence of any Anglophone) feature prominently including the various decrees and orders organizing and re-organizing the secretariat general at the presidency (which to the local imagination is the holy of holies that the author debunks).
The book is not an indictment against a personality, Paul Biya; rather it paints a glowing picture of mister president as focused, hard working, secretive, generous, fatherly, inscrutable, detached, well-informed and patriotic but with a jealous eye on power in the Mazarin sense tinged with a good dose of tribalism that the author handles deftly but dealt with rather dramatically by the late Ateba Eyene in Les Paradoxes du “Pays Organisateur”: élites productrices ou prédatrices: le cas de la province du sud-Cameroun à l’ère Biya (Edition Saint-Paul 2008) And then the one million dollar question: by this is the author surreptitiously asking the prince to look down with pity and release him from his shackles?
“La gestion de vérités variables!” is the president’s conception of politics. Managing various truths? In managing various truths that make of a bi-jural and bilingual Cameroon, the president adheres religiously to the following pragmatic precepts of Jules Mazarin in BREVIAIRE DES POLITICIENS: simulation; dissimulation; not trusting or relying on anyone; talk good of everyone and plan before taking action. As a pupil of Mazarin, he also applies to the letter, the former’s lessons (1) You must learn to monitor your actions and never let up on this (2) You must keep tabs on everyone, do not confide your own secrets to anyone, but do everything to know the secrets of others. Thus, keep an eye on everyone, and in any way possible.
For the length of time the author spent as secretary-general, from August 2002 to September 2006, he called the president only thrice! He gets in touch with his boss, most of the time, particularly when he is abroad, through his aide-de-camp! According to the author, the president has an elephant memory and a workaholic who likes treating files even when on long sojourns abroad; files are sent to him through fax.
On the social side, the head of state, contrary to popular opinion, does not even know how to play the game of songo! He can show emotion but fleetingly and on occasions savours good wine. Does he show concern? Verily, when the author informed him of Rose Fru Ndi’s health situation, he immediately gave instructions for the State to foot the bills. Another example is the case of Borroros in the North West Region that were convicted through the machinations of a native political baron and despite a pending appeal were forcefully transferred to Yoko maximum prison! The Head of State ordered the reversal of the deportation of the Borroros to Yoko!
Does he have a sense of humour? Indeed, he has seen the president split his sides and was quite amused at the minister who claimed that he has discovered the witch who makes John Fru Ndi win elections in certain regions of the country! When the said minister did not deliver, he was sacked!
The name Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon’s first president, was not taboo. On several occasions, mister president made reference to his predecessor, assisted his children but never talked about Germaine Ahidjo!
The president then was neither a mobile phone nor social media fan! He does not ascribe to a particular political ideology but to all intents and purposes he is a pragmatist. The author wonders aloud why the president who is quite bilingual does not often speak in English and why he shuns the media particularly the local media.
As a political crocodile, the president keeps a diary containing the names of personalities that he consults often. Are there persons within his entourage that are quite dangerous? An emphatic Yes! He divulged the names of such sinister persons to the author. When the latter asked him why he keeps them around him, he retorted, c’est de la politique (It is politics).
Apparently, the author unknowingly stepped on the toes of such cloak and dagger personalities thus precipitating his down fall and subsequent travails; for what explains the incarceration of a man that has been acquitted by the courts and cleared by his hierarchy?
In the closing chapters, the author makes recommendations on how the secretariat general at the presidency can be re-organized to meet the challenges of today. This is fundamental because the public and certain circles in the power structure erroneously believe that the secretary-general at the presidency is a demigod.
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