Emmanuel Konde
Having outlined the dominant position of the CPDM in Cameroon politics, our attention should now be directed to its affiliate organs abroad.
CPDM members in the USA (c) CPDM USA Blog
Overseas CPDM Sections have a critical role to play in politics of Cameroon as long as the party remains in power. More than any other body, overseas CPDM Sections are the natural catalysts of change that may enable the party to thrive in the coming decades. Currently, however, many overseas CPDM Sections have not risen to to play the roles for which they were created.
It is my humble opinion that the roles of overseas CPDM Sections need to be redefined. As purveyors of new ideas, these Sections of the party should not be organized along the lines of the party in Cameroon. Some degree of autonomy should be allowed in the organizational structures of these overseas sections, so that innovations peculiar to each locality can be imbued into their internal structures. For example, the officers of overseas sections of the party ought not to be elected to serve five-year terms. As a point of fact, these offices should not be named after similar offices in Cameroon. Overseas sections should be permitted to adopt, and adapt to, the practices and usages of the political systems of their localities. The recycling of the leadership cadres should not be permitted, and the recall of incompetent elected officers after two years of abject performance should be the order governing ascension to and retaining of leadership positions.

Here in the United States, it is apparent from all indications that the CPDM-USA Section is an abject failure. Its elected leaders seem not to know what to do, thus plunging the Section into an abyss from which they cannot extricate their Section. Caught in this morass of decrepitude, in this intricate web of inertia, of non-movement, CPDM-USA must undertake the arduous task of reorganizing itself. This is one important reason why various Sections of overseas CPDM should be permitted to adjust to the political practices of their host countries. In as much as some native Cameroonians resident in America think of themselves as Cameroonians, when it comes to politics in particular and culture in general, they are Americans through and through. Consequently, Cameroonians in America cannot be expected to transplant the political system operational in Cameroon to the United States. It won’t work; it cannot work. It is phantasmal to think otherwise.

Assimilation of Diaspora Cameroonians
Cameroon needs new wine in new bottles and not the usual recycling of old wine from old to new bottles. I am inclined to think that change in Cameroon will have to come from without, from her children now resident abroad, who have learned new ideas, new things, and new ways of applying acquired knowledge. I think serious consideration and adoption of anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski’s concept of “culture change” would serve Cameroon well. By “culture change” Malinowski meant the process by which the existing order of society is transformed from one type to another. Accordingly, Malinowski noted that culture change can take place in one of two ways: through what he called “independent evolution” or through “diffusion.”
Independent evolution occurs when the factors of change spontaneously originate from within, while diffusion takes place when change occurs through contact with different cultures. The European colonizers had inaugurated the first culture change in Cameroon through “diffusion”. Diaspora Cameroonians are uniquely poised to contribute a new kind of change that combines “independent evolution” and “diffusion” because they are from within but on the outside and reentering their natal society with new ideas. Their new ideas will have to be amalgamated with traditional ideas to form a combustible admixture that would propel social change.
This rare combination of being Cameroonian by birth and yet foreign in at least political culture, so to speak, is an asset that must be exploited for the benefit of the Fatherland. But this change will not come from the rancor, rant, and rile of many who have no tradition of political participation and toleration of competing viewpoints. The use of incendiary language against the current leadership of Cameroon, which is struggling to guide a largely illiterate citizenry, cannot serve the needs of the country. In fact, many who have never run a successful soup kitchen are prone to present themselves as potential presidents of Cameroon. I caution them to tone down their rhetoric and start thinking of constructive ideas that will eventually bring about change to the Fatherland.
Connecting the Cameroon Diaspora to the Fatherland has to be a well-planned and systematically executed. This can begin in three stages as outlined here below:
- Stage 1: The government of Cameroon should extend to Diaspora Cameroonians the opportunity to invest in Cameroon tax-free for 10 or more years as is traditionally extended to foreign investors.
- Stage 2: Diaspora Cameroonians should have elective representation in the National Assembly.
- Stage 3: The first appointment of a Diaspora Cameroonian to the Government of Cameroon should be to the post of Anti-Corruption Czar.

Konde, the functions of these so-called oversea leaders are well defined; which is to assemble Africans ( from any nationality) and distribute CPDM T-shirts and offer them some tokens to clap for Mr Biya during his visits to that part of the world.
Posted by: Bob Bristol | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 03:30 AM
The so called Oversees CPDM not not organise. They can still be organise at anytime when the PAUL Biya is in Europe or USA just to get their own share of the stollen money. You need to know the President of Cameroon in in this part of the world then you are just there with your CPDM uniform, then you are served or given an envelope. You know cameroon is one of the highest country when it comes to Scamming. They also Scam their president Paul Biya by telling him I will organise the Cameroonians here snd letter inform who ever is there that the Cameroon head of state is around and they pass by as supporters.
Posted by: angel christy | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 07:05 AM
Dear Prof. Konde,
I wish to start by thanking you for acknowledging the fact that the Cameroonian Diaspora has a role to play in helping our Fatherland/Motherla nd reach its optimum potential. However, I wish to draw your attention to the following realities:
1) Most Cameroonians in the Diaspora left their country of birth for "greener" pastures abroad because the current CPDM government has failed in their more than 2 decades in power to deliver these opportunities back home. It would be ironic to believe that these very same people will become strong supporters of the CPDM while abroad.
2) I refuse to believe that the CPDM government at home does not understand the problems the country is facing or how to solve them - hence needing "new ideas" from the CPDM Diaspora. They have simply decided to ignore the suffering of the majority of the Cameroonian people and nurture the selfish and corrupt attitudes of the few elites in their click. For example, when Cameroonians decided to go on strike to protest against high food prices, the army & police descended on them with great impunity resulting to a massacre of many young lives. So is this the government who listens to its people?
3) Lack of strong leadership from the CPDM has led to corruption and mismanagement eating into the heart of the Cameroonian society. These are just some few examples of this lack of leadership:
a) How many financial institutions have been made to collapse by the current government? e.g. Cameroon Bank, BICIC, Marketing Board, Credit Agricole, etc.
b) Admissions into professional institutions (ENAM, EMIA,CUSS, etc) in Cameroon are not done on merit. People have to either be members of a CPDM click or bribe their way into these institutions! even qualified candidates have to still "buy" their place!
c) The government who is still the main employer (with a poorly developed private sector) has heavily politicised employment opportunities. They choose to ignore the fact that they are supposed to be the government of the people irrespective of their political affilliations. It is no doubt that the quality of service and performance of our public institutions and companies have been declining rapidly as our best brains are being kept out of the system.
d) Development projects have also been heavily politicised by the government. It is now common norm that if you don't have someone senior in the government, you cannot hope to have basic services and infrastructure like roads, hospitals and schools developed or maintained in your area or neighbourhood!
So as you can see, Cameroon, once deemed the bread basket of Central Africa is now a basket case because the CPDM led government has chosen for the past 27 years not to listen to the people! So it comes as no surprise that many of us in the Diaspora have chosen for a long time now to support a party (SDF) that at least listens to our worries. We will use the small resources that we have to help make our voices heard by the people of Cameroon and come 2011, power shall return to the People!!!!
The struggle continues...
Paul Nkamankeng
Provincial Secretary
SDF South Africa
Project Manager
Anglogold Ashanti Corporate
Strategic Projects Planning
Tel: +27 11 637 6769
Fax: 0866 231 263
Cell: +27 73 063 6404 / +27 82 688 6172
Email: pnkamankeng@ anglogoldashanti .com
Think before you print.
Posted by: Paul Nkamankeng | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 07:53 AM
Dr Konde. A court historian?
Posted by: Ma Mary | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 08:12 AM
CPDM people are generally in it for the neat little envelopes, not for belief in the system. It is all about graft.
Posted by: Ma Mary | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 08:41 AM
I think the CPDM diasporra is not interested in Cameroon being deveoped or the wellbeing of cameroonians.
If the diasporra are interested in Cameroon then they would have surported the president by asking him not to send huge sums of money for party uniforms. They would have advice the president that they have enough and he should use the money for uniforms to surport some hospitals, schools, or even help the needy. Instead of you taking water from the sea to the river, water was inStead taking from the sea to the river. The close to 48 million frs that was sent to France just for logistics.
Posted by: angel christy | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 08:56 AM
Felix Moumie and Um Nyobe have more enduring legacies than Ahmadou Ahidjo! Konde...Konde! Ahmadou Ahidjo, the same guy who masterminded a United Cameroon by incapacitating Bumboklaat Foncha and rasclaat Muna, and compelling them to put their consciences on the balance? Come on man, are you conscious? Are you bloodclaat crazy? What sort of history are you teaching man?
Moreover, your scheme for connecting the Cameroon Diaspora and the Motherland is blatantly half-baked.
Lastly, the only legacy quislings can leave is that of shame and acrimony. Therefore, black heart traitors like Foncha and Muna who sold their consciences to amass enormous fortunes for their progeny shall all but sweat in Jah blazing fire. Fire burn dem all!
Posted by: Ras Tuge | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 03:10 PM
Tribalist Rasta don come again oh... Fire go burn Konde before e burn Muna and Foncha [RIP]
Posted by: Hahaha | Wednesday, 12 August 2009 at 04:41 PM
Konde, you have the potentials of a good writer, but you must apply your mind properly and focus. You seem to want to stir controversy inorder to be known. The only word you had correct in the title of this article is Change!
1. 98% of Cameroonians i the diaspora will work hard for change in Cameroon but not through the CPDM.
2.The CPDM leadership is not yearning for change; they are short sighted, egoistic and enjoy the status quo.
3. These people in the diaspora will welcome a change in the entire CPDM leadership.
4. Cameroon needs a fresh start, so that should have been your only recommendation.
5. That fresh start should be a team from the diaspora that will do clean house.
6. All from within are seriously tainted to muster any change.
Posted by: Mr. Man | Thursday, 13 August 2009 at 12:25 AM
Change will not come through the diaspora. Have you forgotten that some of the so called diaspora came here through fraud? Some had dubious scholarships because their parents or guardians kissed Biya's ass. How then do you think those same persons who jorneyed from Belgium,Germany, Britain to meet a master thief like Biya would change the very ideas of their mentor or god father? It would be economic suicide. Imagine what Biya would do to Achidi Achu if his relatives abroad were seen by the CENER agitating.The freebies will dry up.
Posted by: Massa Moyo | Thursday, 13 August 2009 at 12:19 PM
Good point Massa Moyo. But when we talk of people in the diaspora who can seat at the table, discuss serious matters that affect millions in a beloved country, the beneficiaries of corruption, offsprings of corrupt lords and cheats will naturally not be able to sustain such discussions. They may be part of the diaspora by definition, but those are not the people we are talking about.
Posted by: NHF | Friday, 14 August 2009 at 09:55 AM
"the Good Lord who, in his infinite wisdom determines the affairs of each man and of each people, has preserved me long enough to have the opportunity of pleading before the Cameroon Nation for the correction of the wrongs which have been done, over the past three decades and more, against an unsuspecting and trusting people that I, acting in good faith and as a Cameroonian patriot, led into what I was assured would be a union of equal partners, but which has since turned out to be an arrangement for the annexation, subjugation and domination of one of the partners by the other..."
That was Foncha apologising during the all anglophone conference in 1993. So,guys let's forgive him.
Posted by: The herald | Friday, 14 August 2009 at 01:20 PM
Bumboklaat Foncha shall burn in the most wicked fire man, as a matter of fact that unwitting quisling was never fit to be any leader in the first place. Acting in abject stupidity in the name of good faith, Foncha actually enabled, if not sponsored the utter and horrendous subjugation and annihilation of the Southern Cameroons.
No man can go against the virtuous will of the Most High by such blatant acquiescence to enslavement, and thereby subjecting a free people to such unwarranted captivity, seen? It is a horrific error for a statesman to show such pitiful ignorance.
Cameroonian patriot! Union of equal partners! Annexation! Herald or whatever you call yourself, have you ever stopped for a moment to think about where the Southern Cameroons would've been today had the bloodclaat riffraffs not sold their consciences?
Apologising for foolishly aggrandizing himself! Yea, and what has happened ever since then? I get fucking upset each time i hear anybody mention that Bumboklaat Foncha name. I'll shed no blood for the egregious blunder of such callous and scandalous criminals. Rather, i'll get a good rope and hang the traitors and their progeny just like the fate that Saddam and his seeds met.
Posted by: Ras Tuge | Friday, 14 August 2009 at 03:58 PM
To err is human and to forgive is divine.
Posted by: The herald | Saturday, 15 August 2009 at 03:34 AM
"Reuniting today people of both French and English Expressions, Cameroon will be a veritable laboratory for an African Union which will unite people who speak these two languages. She will be a bridge between these two Africas, and her role can only be increased in forthcoming African assemblies".
That was Ahmadou Ahidjo during reunification in Octorber 1961.So,Ras Tuge you see now that it needed a soothsayer to predict or forecast what the future held for us.Which was to be one of betrayal,subjugation,marginalisation,torture,annihilation and even assimilation.Has this union turned out to be otherwise things would have been different.
Posted by: The herald | Saturday, 15 August 2009 at 04:47 AM
Herald, well yea man, Ahidjo was a very sly goatherd if you may. He had his vision, and he did his homework impeccably. Visionary leadership is instinctive, and clearly Bumboklaat Foncha's utter lack of apprehension speaks volumes of the invalid that he was.
The price Southern Cameroons have been paying for that stupidity is costly, and shall live to haunt Anglophones in tears and blood. Why!!! The more i think of this, the more i want that insane fucker to burn. Man, you beta na talk to me about dat magga dog any more.
Posted by: Ras Tuge | Saturday, 15 August 2009 at 07:30 AM
"There is disillusionment; discontent and frustration are sinking and spreading. There is nothing so calculated to wring and crush the human spirit, before a lofty enterprise, as to know what should be done and yet to have to stand by impotent and see the opposite taking place. This desperation has become explosive."
That was Dr.Bernard Fonlon lamenting in 1964 barely 3years after reunification.Frankly,if these patriots acted in good faith as decreed by Foncha above,something could have been done as young as this marriage was in 1964.I think devorce was one of many options.This could still have been possible today as time does not right a wrong but for the so called anglophone patriots who have been bought over to wait for crumbs that fall from their master's table.Ah!Cry the beloved country.
Posted by: The herald | Saturday, 15 August 2009 at 08:10 AM
all of you guys including the man in southafrica
are mother fucking stupid. ask your self is paul biay reads or speak the language you are writing? ASSUMING you are from west cameroon, ie british southern cameroons.
facts clearly shows that this country is under paul biya colonial rule. why not atleast ask him to withdraw his illegal military and french sponsored administration, soo , southern cameroons citizens can rebuild?
is that much to ask? after all southern cameroons and french cameroun have nothing in common, except the name cameroon, but congo, guinea, etc all have the same shared name but are all independent countries.
Posted by: DANGO TUMMA | Thursday, 03 September 2009 at 09:28 PM
The Social Connotations of the Word "Graffi"
by Emmanuel Konde
The word "Graffi" is a concept that defines a
particular kind of Cameroonian- -neither necessarily
nor exclusively of Northwest origin, even as it refers
to characteristics exhibited by those from the
Cameroon Grassfields who settled on the coastal
lowlands. Although the word "Graffi" may have been
derived from the nomenclature "Grassfields" , as a
social concept its meaning transcends regional
boundaries and is applicable to Grassfielders and
non-Grassfielders alike and to a multiplicity of
situations. Some of these situations are derogatory
and others laudatory. I do not propose to do justice
to he varied uses to which Graffi is applied; I will
only attempt to infuse some degree clarity by
outlining a few examples based on my personal even if
limited experience.
Granted, the word Graffi, as I know it, was
used to designate the peoples of the Bamenda and
Bamileke Grassfields who migrated to the coast with
behavioral patterns at variance with those of coastal
peoples. The descendants of these migrants born on
the coast, even though of Graffi ancestry, were never
considered Graffi because they were nothing like
Graffi.
In Victoria, the word "Graffi" referred to the peoples
of the Bamenda and Bamileke Grassfields. Graffi
attitudes, customs, and general comportment were
markedly different from those of the coastal peoples.
They dressed differently, spoke differently, ate foods
that were different from ours, and seldom mixed
socially with coastal people. These differences
separated the coastal peoples from the Graffi peoples.
Consequently, any coastal person who tended to
behave like the Graffi people would be chastised with
these words: "I beg commot me de with dat Graffi
fashion." (Notice that my Pidgin English is also
markedly different from that of my compatriots who
grew up in the Bamenda hinterlands. ) Graffi, in at
least this sense, did not refer exclusively to people
from the Grassfields.
There is another important distinction that needs to
be understood. People like Mr. Bernard Somdah and
others who had assimilated the coastal culture were
not considered "Graffi". There is something
intricately nuanced about who is and who is not
Graffi; when and when not to call a person Graffi.
That something is just there and those who know it
will always discern it whenever it pops up. The
simplest way to explain that something is the presence
or absence of "savior faire", a touch of coastal
sophistication civilization, in the manner in which
one conducts himself or herself…. It has nothing to
do with level of education… nothing to do with
expensive clothing or cars. One simply had that
coastal sophistication or one did not have it.
There are some very positive aspects to the
designation Graffi. These include thrift and
industriousness. Thrifty and enterprising coastal
peoples have always been referred to as "Graffi" by
their own brothers and sisters as well as some of
their Graffi friends because the Graffi outlook on
life was from the coastal outlook. There is no
denying that the word "Graffi", as a social concept,
is loaded with both negative and positive meanings.
It is not surprising that those who have never seen
the Atlantic Ocean have a different take on the word,
are one-dimensional, and can only see the derogatory
side of its usage.
In the past, a lot of negativity was attached to the
word "Graffi" as a social concept that was employed to
the task of defining all people. For example, ugly
and fat were always associated with Graffi people
proper because that is what was perceived. Today,
however, a lot has changed. Some of the most
beautiful people are of Graffi ancestry. The mixing
up of our peoples, as well as nutrition and
miscegenation, are partially responsible for this
transformation.
For those of us who understand the multiple meanings
of Graffi, we are able to distinguish its negative
from its positive connotations. We are also able to
discern Graffi in terms of attire (such minute things
as color of tie, socks, handkerchief) , mannerisms,
speech pattern, and even word choice in postings on
this forum. Take for example, a coastal person knows
the difference between "bestow" and "bestore," "coast"
and "coos". And this is not a problem of just
pronunciation but writing. A Graffi would write
certain words the way he mispronounces them; a coastal
person may mispronounce but will always write the
words correctly. Lastly, a Graffi is tenacious even
in error; a costal person is always willing to eschew
his mistake and learn from them.
My take is that the word "Graffi" has a
multiplicity of meanings which have changed and are
still changing with the changing times. But the
defining distinction has not changed much over the
decades perhaps because many Grassfielders who settle
the coast are conscious of the distinction and are
therefore resistant to change.
I once got into a heated argument with friends
in Boston because I dared to tell the truth about the
derogatory side of the word Graffi. I was branded by
compatriots because of my candor. I hope this
exposition will be received as a "pedagogical"
instrument by Dr. Lillian Yengi & Co. and that none
would rise to accuse me of "vendetta".
Posted by: VA Boy | Tuesday, 08 September 2009 at 08:36 PM
VA Boy, could you please direct me to where Konde's comment that you reproduce here was originally posted?
Posted by: Africana | Saturday, 17 July 2010 at 01:55 AM
It was on camnetworks and camnet, both yahoo groups. If you subscribe, you can search the archives.
Posted by: Va Boy | Saturday, 17 July 2010 at 12:03 PM