(Book Review) Political Power Without Development: The Paradox of the South Province

Reviewed by Dibussi Tande (originally published on Scribbles from the Den)

"Quel est ce pays organisateur qui ne peut pas s’organiser?"

Ateba-Eyene, C. (2008). Les paradoxes du "pays organisateur": Élites productrices ou prédatrices : le cas de la province du sud-Cameroun à l'ère Biya (1982-2007). [Yaoundé́]: Editions Saint-Paul.

One of  the most controversial books published in Cameroon in recent years is Ateba Eyene’s “les Paradoxes du pays organisateur” (The Paradox of the “host country”: Productive or Predatory elite: The Case of the Southern Province during the Biya Era, 1982-2007) which seeks to understand why the South province is lagging behind in all development indicators in spite of its “numerous and wealthy elite”.

For starters, “Pays organisateur” is a term borrowed from international sporting competitions such as the FIFA World Cup where the “pays organisateur” or host country benefits from privileges not generally extended to other participants; “direct qualifications without going through eliminatory rounds, home turf advantage, indulgent refereeing, financial incentives, etc. In Cameroon, the term is used to refer to the Beti-Bulu of the Center and South Province whose elites have controlled the levers of political power in Cameroon since 1982. In his book, Ateba Eyene has narrowed the term exclusively to the South province, president Biya’s province of origin.

Les paradoxes… paints a picture of the South province or region which is quite different from what abounds in popular imagery. What he shows us is not a province spoiled rotten by its favorite son, Paul Biya, and its elite who have had a stranglehold on the Cameroonian state for the last 27 years, but one that is poor, backward , underdeveloped and neglected. 

Stranglehold on the State…

Off the bat, the book confirms what other Cameroonians know about the South, i.e., although it is one of the least populated provinces in the country with about 600,000 inhabitants, the vast majority of Cameroon’s ruling class have come from here since 1982. For example, between 1982 and 2007, the South produced:  

• 42 Directory-Generals and Assistant Director-Generals of public corporations
• 22 cabinet ministers and officials with rank of minister 
• 19 Secretary-Generals of Ministries and the National Assembly
• 17 Board Chairs of public corporations;
• 10 heads of Professional Schools and University Faculties
• 7 provincial governors
• 8 University Chancellors
• 6 Vice Rectors
• 5 Army Generals
• 5 Secretary-Generals and Assistant Secretary-Generals at the Presidency
• 2 Directors of the President’s Cabinet

This list does not include the hundreds of Senior Divisional Officers and Sub-divisional Officers, dozens of ambassadors,  etc.

…But As Backward as They Come

Ateba Eyene however asks his readers not to rush to judgment because these mind-boggling statistics belie a more sinister reality; the presence of sons and daughters of the South province in the corridors of power has not brought development. The majority of inhabitants in the South still live in abject squalor, misery, and poverty. Ateba Eyene puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of the province’s elite whom he accuses them of betraying the president:

“President Biya thought he was creating a leading elite, but this elite neither understood nor conceived (political) power as a service. These sons of the South are insolently rich, drive posh cars and are owners of vast estates. But there are no roads, portable water remains a luxury, the kerosene lamp is still used to light up households. These sons of the south are rich but there are no schools, hospitals or medicines to improve the standard of living of the population.”

Thus, rather than being agents of development, the elites of the South have become predators sucking the nation dry of its wealth while forcefully grabbing vast expanses of land from local peasants in the South. In short, they have abandoned the South and its people to their own devices. No wonder the South is littered with stillborn projects that were supposed to transform the province economically and socially. Some of these projects include:

• The Ebolowa agro-pastoral show ,originally scheduled for 1987 but which was postponed indefinitely after investments worth billions of Francs CFA , including the construction of an ultra-modern agric village which was eventually pillaged by local authorities;
  
• The 110,000 hectare Mengame gorilla sanctuary , a huge eco-tourism draw created in 1997, which is in a state of perpetual take-off;
  
• The Memvele hydroelectric dam announced by Biya himself in 1991 and which is still not a reality nearly two decades later;
  
• • The Kribi deep seaport and gas factory.
  In a passage that will come as a surprise to Anglophones who believe that the government has always wanted to transfer the Limbe seaport project to Kribi, Eyene laments that:
  “Everything indicates that this is what the Anglophone Prime Ministers wanted [i.e., to construct a deep sea port and gas factory in Limbe]. During this time, the elite of the South were asleep. Who does not know that these two projects were supposed to transform the South economically and socially? What are the chances of the youths of the south being employed in corporations run by Anglophones and which are, moreover, based in Limbe... This is once again the fate reserved to projects in the South under the New Deal.”

“Daddy’s Boys” on the Rampage

Another peculiarity of the South, according to Ateba Eyene, is the existence of a special class of Southerners, the so-called “fils a papa”, the “Daddy’s boys” who have become rich and powerful thanks to their well connected parents who are more interested in creating “family dynasties” than in spreading their “good fortune” around. “History will remember that during the New Deal, each elite tried to place his or her children at the top.” These children are awarded juicy government contracts, many of which they never bother to carry out, are imposed as mayors and Members of Parliament, etc., and don’t even bother to work with the youths of the province.  Eyene laments that this experiment has been an unmitigated disaster for the South because these spoiled brats have “pillaged the state” and brought nothing but dishonor to the South province.

Oath of Ormeta

Ateba Eyene also lashes out at the law of silence that the elites of the South provinces have imposed on the inhabitants of the province, requiring from them a blind and unwavering support for the CPDM and the Biya regime. As he points out, “Under the new deal the people of the south had only obligations (towards President Biya and the CPDM) and very rarely did they have rights (to development).”

"During Paul Biya’s reign, the children of the South were barred from thinking lucidly… [they] were barred from questioning how the province’s budget was executed, or from pointing out that they could not receive CRTV signals in the province. They were barred from raising the issue of abandoned projects, of schools without teachers or desks… the people of the South must remain quiet between the false promise of elected officials, the traffic of influence of the powerful elite, and the manipulation of public opinion."

The ultimate losers in this charade, according Eyene, are the people of the South who have little to show for 27 years of Biya rule even though they are constantly demonized by other Cameroonians on the false premise that they have been the prime beneficiaries of the New Deal. As he prays that a future regimes would not abandon the province, he nonetheless wonders whether it will “be possible tomorrow to differentiate between the children of the South who “ate”, who went hungry and those who were starved”. His conclusion? The people of the South might end up paying for the crimes of their venal elite.

Whatever one makes of Ateba Eyene’s unapologetic support - or promotion - of what some have described as “tribal politics”, one cannot help but concede that Les Paradoxes… is an eye-opener that takes the reader into a very revealing journey through the South Province. In fact, this is a book that could only have been written by a native of the South province and by someone whose political allegiance to the CPDM and President Biya is without question. This has spared the book the fate usually reserved for “subversive” publications – even though it has infuriated the Southern elites, some of whom tried to have the book banned. 

The Bigger Issue – Looking beyond the South

The book also raises questions about the role of the state elites in local development: Are their state offices personal preserves which should be used to develop their hometowns and villages? Are the elite the ones to “bring development” to their hometowns rather than the state? Should local development be contingent on the quantity and quality of “sons of the soil” who occupy high office at the national level and their willingness to bend the rules in favor of their kith and kin? Or should there be a more rational basis for distributing resources from the center to the periphery?

In Cameroon and other neo-patrimonial states in Africa, appointments to high ranking positions in government and the civil service are a game of musical chairs, part of an elaborate ethno-regional balancing act used by regimes to control the elite and ensure the support of the periphery. As Van De Walle pointed out over a decade ago [ "Neopatrimonialism and Democracy in Africa"], the Biya regime has institutionalized ethnicity as a frame of reference through a tacit or explicit encouragement of "the establishment of ethnoclientelist networks that link public functionaries to their sectional constituents in an instrumental and reciprocal fashion," thereby transforming state elites into ethnic brokers rather than national leaders.

From this perspective, Ateba Eyene‘s indictment of the elite of the South province for failing to “deliver” is in line with the political reality in Cameroon– even if this reality is one of the main reasons for the country’s continued inability to pull itself out of the socio-economic and political morass.

So, until there is a systemic change with regards to the role of political elites in natioanl life, this game of smoke and mirrors will continue with regional elites using the local population as bargaining chips in their bid to secure their positions at the national level or to catch the attention of the “prince” – a game which benefits only the elite and not the masses who are forced to “toe the line” supposedly for the common good.

Comments

[Asafor valentine]

Ateba Ayene has been spiting fire for the past three years.However i see Ateba as a little confuse fellow who want his own fair share of the national cake.Time often Ateba has been a guest at the Crtv morning show popularly known as Morning Safari.The Crtv morning safari has done much to unvail some of the hidden agenders of the ruling government.Thanks to atebas book we now know that the government of paul biya is structured to take the form of ethnocentrism.I have the privilage to remind Atebas that,the Center,South,and Eastern provinces have an exploitative culture,(chop broke pot)Where as the graffis, Bamis,and a part of the sawas have an accummulative culture.In this light we were brought up the hard way, thus we learn to maximise the little we could take forcfully from the government of the south.

[Asafor valentine]

Eyene has failed to expose the dangers that awaits paul if he dares file in his candidature for the up coming presidential election.My people say (cow wea he no get tail na God de drive he fly)In 2006 the government recruited 7000 police and out of the 7000 recruit,5000 was from the Center,South,and Eastern provinces, the rest of the seven provinces took 2000.yet nothing good will come from that direction.It suffices anyone driving on the street to note that the official languuge the police use in communicating is bulu,beti ethnic languages.What a mess?.However,the idea paul had was to impower his clan men so they can protect him to stay in power for life.dear brothers and sisters god is not a sleeping God he has a solution for every problem.They shall eat their flesh and drink from their blood.Those are the group of idiot who have plunge the country into deep shit,

[Asafor valentine]

Atebas Eyene did not mention the corridors of the public service.pay a surprise visit at the corridors of the public service and you will be shocked with the level of corruption perpuatrated by the daddy boys.Some of our parents from the anglophone area will served, go on retirement,and died without the taste of a retirement benefit because of the unsuccessful stories attached to their files in yaounde.Files that are being controlled by the daddy's boys, contracts that will never be accomplished are all awarded to the daddy's boys,what a shame? we will keep on praying, please let us act and rescue the immage of the beloved country that has collapsed.wake up my people.The world is watching at us.Who cares? Chairman what has become of you,wake up daddy.

[Abakwaboy]

Asafor. My regards but permit me ask which Chairman are you talking about. If it is Fru Ndi my very good neighbour at Ntarinkon, then I will say forget and change the topic. That guy is now one of the corrupt political gang leaders. His mouth is full off sacrificed blood of the real SDF days and the cash Biya has silenced him with. My Boy, it is time for something more than SDF and mere opposition parties. Any opposition party in Cameroon which to me there is none at this moment will need to rebrand itself and propose something new that will demolish the current deadlock in which Cameroonians find themselves. Till then, lets keep fingers crossed and pray for peace in our "Pays".

[Bob Bristol]

I know on the whole, Cameroon is suffering from infrastructural decomposition or something close to a complete zilch. However, there is a strong feeling that the English speaking regions in general and Bamenda in particular has been abandoned (developmental wise) by the regime. The above review will obviously make some folks to rethink.

However, as Southern Cameroonians, our animousity comes from the fact that if we had been left alone, we could have been a small El Dorado along the West African Coast and Africa in general. We had a positive attitude toward life. Our governments were legitimate. Our vision was toward a progressive direction.

[Kumbaboy]

Ateba is writing in a Cameroon mold and fails to see that development does not necessarily mean cars, roads, TV signals and so on. Ateba sounds like seeking largesse from the top.

Development to me as an Anglophone is about whether any Cameroonians can make the things needed by people to create jobs and wealth.

Riding a Mercedes car in Africa does not mean development - it usually means Jungle VIP.

[Emmanuel Jacobs]

Ateba Eyene is the first Beti to tell the truth as it is. To come to the US, I used the road from Yaounde to Ebolowa then Gabon and off. What I saw made my stomach to turn. Mamfe Road in August is not bad at all. The Governor's office is like the D.O's in Kumba. The Betis need reeducation on civilization. Wearing Pierre cardin suits in the humid South and driving posh cars in muddy roads is a testimony of buffonery.
As for Fru Ndi changing things, forget it. That book seller ate is pie and yawned wide. Woungly Massaga would done something for Akwaya if he had the chance than that useless Fru Ndi.

[Walters]

Kumba Boy,

Ateba is actually telling other Cameroonians that development is not equal to high ranking government appointments, posh cars and mansions. That is why he has written a book showing that the South is NOT developed in spite of all those things that other Cameroonians use to judge the province and its inhabitants. As he says:
"But there are no roads, portable water remains a luxury, the kerosene lamp is still used to light up households. These sons of the south are rich but there are no schools, hospitals or medicines to improve the standard of living of the population.” That is the development which he wants for the South, not "predatory" elites who only know how to "chop broke pot"

[Emmanuel Jacobs]

I have a feeling that Biya and most of the elite from the South originally come from Equatorial Guinea. The manner they run the country is similar to their cousin Teodore Obiang. My only problem is that Fru Ndi deceived the anglophones and other francophones who pinned their trust in him. Although not in power, the SDF has become the party of the Ntarikon mafia.He is so dictatorial. Poor Cameroon. there is non to trust these days.

[ambe]

My grandfather called them chop broke pot and their ideology is called chopbrokepotology.

[Pa Musa]

Ateba's book is quite revealing and mind boggling. This is tribal politics of extreme proportions. How could he(Ateba) had done differently had he been landed one of these
top jobs in a system with zero transparency and
accountability? Or had the South Province been transformed into a little Paradise at the expense
of other Provinces, will that had bothered him?

[felix]

A good Question Pa Musa, but I think its wrongly asked, as dirrected to Ateba.
Ateba is exposing what is worng with the elite of the south and the whole government run by them.Given the present opportunity, he is trying to say that charity begins at Home.
If you can not transform your immediate enviroment, how do you transform the whole Country?