Unlocking the Key to Democracy in Cameroon IV: Gerontocracy Hinders the Development of Democracy

 Emmanuel Konde

Rewind!  Two years ago on March 3, 2009, Dibussi Tande wrote an interesting article entitled “Gerontocracy in Cameroon—The Old Men Who Govern Us” and proceeded to defend his thesis by way of discussing in more detail the ages and longevity in power of the men at the apex of power in Cameroon.  Not long after, I wrote something not so much in response to Dibussi’s article, but as a broad explanation of the place of gerontocracy in Cameroonian society. 

In “Gerontocracy: An Indigenous Constitution of Cameroon,” I argued that gerontocracy was an institution indigenous to Cameroon and could be seen everywhere in our traditional and modern systems of political organization. What I did not emphasize then was that gerontocracy is an offshoot of kinship.  As an integral part of Cameroon’s tribal and now its national political culture, one cannot expect to have gerontocracy in the periphery (traditional governments) and have something different at the center (national government). 

In as much as some have erroneously berated me for equating the traditional system of government with the modern national government of Cameroon, it would be difficult for them to deny that it is the periphery (traditional) that feeds the center (national); and that all Cameroonians are socialized to accept and actively participate in the kinship system from which gerontocracy ensues.  Therefore, the distinction that some would like to make between the chiefdom and the state cannot but be consigned to abstraction.  Such a distinction has no grounding in reality.  The chiefdom and the modern state of Cameroon are fused in a symbiotic relationship.  The existence of the one depends on the existence of the other, making the chance of the intrusion of democracy a far-fetched political proposition.  For democracy to have a chance in Cameroon the marriage between chiefdom and state must first be brought to an end.

Gerontocracy
Gerontocracy is commonly defined as rule by old men.  It was a system of political leadership that ran across all indigenous cultures of pre-colonial, and still runs in all traditional cultures of contemporary, Cameroon.  As an institution, younger men and women were in principle, or theoretically, excluded from it.  In practice, however, allowance was made for younger men and older women to become part of gerontocracy, albeit with the blessing of male elders.  Hence, on occasion women past menopause, mainly those related to the male-dominated ruling class, would be co-opted and integrated into that institution. 

Among the peoples of the western grassfields there existed a female political title of “queen mother” or mafo, among the Bamiléké, na among the Bamoum, and ya among the Nso, etc., etc.  These were women made exceptional in male-dominated society by the same institution that guaranteed male control of the levers of power.  But it was among the Bamiléké people that the position of “queen mother” (mafo) found its highest level of dignified expression.  When, for example, the mafo participated in the deliberations of the kamué, the administrative council of the chiefdom in which she took precedence over the chief himself, she dressed in masculine attire.  Her status was like no other Bamiléké woman’s:  She owned her own property, could undertake any commercial activities, choose her own husband, and could commit adultery with impunity.     

Significantly, gerontocracy was intrinsically tied to kinship obligation, which mandated that younger kinfolk should defer leadership to elderly men.  As a point of fact, gerontocracy went beyond the political: it also entailed elderly men controlling ritual knowledge (religion or spirituality) and the sexuality of young people of both sexes.  Until the elders gave their consent, the young man could not marry and start his own household, and was doomed to remain a dependent.  As for women, gerontocracy insured that a young woman would pass from under the supervision of one man to another throughout her life: from under the control of her father at birth, to under the control of her husband in marriage and, as was too often the case, to yet under the control of other men after successive intervals of widowhood.  Male authority over females was all but complete in traditional society.   

Democracy vs. Gerontocracy?
Politically speaking, gerontocracy is perhaps the most enduring vestige of kinship in contemporary Cameroon.  It is probably the only traditional institution that has transcended its tribal origins and penetrated the fabric of modern national politics. Gerontocracy has not been transformed an iota; the modern political system has adjusted itself to meet the requirements of gerontocracy as defined by kinship relations in Cameroon.  Yes, gerontocracy stands astride alongside the major political structures of the modern Cameroonian state. In so far as the exercise of political power is concerned, the nation-state gerontocracy is supported by the tribal autocracy.  

Among all the traditional institutions of the societies of Cameroon, gerontocracy is the most resilient at both the tribal and national levels of government.  It plays in nearly every facet of Cameroonian society, as age and knowledge of the world are seen as inseparable, and are assigned to the elderly.  No sooner a young man challenges an elderly man than the younger person is reminded of the age of the person he is challenging.  Knowledge and power are therefore a preserve of the old.  Creativity and innovation, the avenues where the individual agency of social change resides, are effectively scuttled by the monopoly of knowledge and power by the old. The most sinister aspect of gerontocracy is the control of ritual knowledge by the elderly.  Ritual knowledge entails expertise on culture-history and manipulation of natural forces.  Some call the ability to control the forces of nature witchcraft, which the old employ sometimes in a cold-blooded manner against the aspiring young.

Gerontocratic Co-optation of Women and Young Men
Power is never so expertly and sweetly exerted as when potential adversaries are co-opted and integrated into the existing power structure and made to serve it.  This is how gerontocracy operates with respect to succession to hereditary leadership by young men, and the integration of older women into that all-male dominated institutions. The example of the mafo's participation in the kamué is instructive of our understanding of gender and power relations, and is particularly telling of where real power resides in most of our traditional polities. By adorning herself in male garbs, the mafo effectively strips herself of her feminine attributes and becomes one of the old men who constitute the power structure--the gerontocracy. 

The same applies to the young man who is selected by the kwifon to succeed a deceased fon.  By the act of selecting, made legitimate by the composition of the selectors, it should leave no doubt that new fon, though young, was co-opted by the kwifon into the power structure controlled by the old men, the gerontocracy.  The young fon and the mafo, upon integration would into the power structure would automatically lose their old attributes and assume the attributes of the gerontocracy.  Gerontocracy, like patriarchy, though specifically noted as social institutions dominated by old men, have women supporters in them because these are first and foremost relatives of members of the kin-based power structure.  The staying power of gerontocracy is derived from its ability to function in myriad ways.  Any society based on kinship-approved gerontocracy can never transition into a democracy until it severs relations with primordial gerontocracy.

For democracy to take root and thrive in Cameroon, a total transition or evolution from the tribal nature of our societies (in which the individual is held in check by the group) to a nation-state (in which the individual is at last freed from corporate bonds) must be affected.  This process entails dismantling all outdated institutions with trappings of political influence, so that in the new Cameroon “only a sense of tribal identity” would remain as a holdover, a cultural relic, to be deposited in the grand museums we must construct to house them. 

(To be continued)

Comments

[limbekid]

Besides culture, I think gerontocracy has prevailed in Cameroon for the following reasons:

- Certain sectors of the economy have yet to be developed and as such politics and administration have remained the main roots to power and influence.
- Career advancement has for the most part been determined by traditional trajectories (ENAM, ENS, IRIC...)

However, the youth are progressively drifting away from the traditional structure and seeking independent routes towards personal advancement. This change could be attributed to: a more sophisticated youth; new media; demographic changes (children born out of Cameroon) and even the "bush faller" phenomenon.

The development of certain sectors (sports, entertainment, hi-tech...) were youth endows comparative advantage, will eventually accelerate the drift away from the current power structure.

[J. S. Dinga]

The truth is that Cameroon has got to choose whether to be part of a modern world and live by its developments or remain perpetually in the past. The country's singular problem results from the paradoxal desire to live in the present and still be in the past. It cannot happen. All of us who left home and went to school did give up some cherished cultures to acquire the new and be part of the mainstream. It is an aberration to saddle classmates with a thing that obviously does not harmonize with current or future orientation.

Each of us is aware of the fast changing pace of our world. In every single domain, new knowledge is being churned and animators must adapt to them. How can we adapt so well with soccer (football), play according to rules, rise to continental and even world level and do so well but when it comes to politics, we begin to speak in terms of contextualization, our euphemism for refusing to adapt to what is ostensibly the new? Look around and see those heavyweights who decried democracy and labelled it "imported models". See what type of vehicles they drive around - ultramodern SUVs! Is anything wrong with imported models, whether in sports, politics or education?

Failure to develop our infrastructure is often blamed on lack of means. Are we that poor? And how do we fund the multiple brief stays abroad, some of which crippled our lone airline? Does "gerontocracy" prescribe the use of decrepit facilities? Why can't the leadership of Cameroon imagine that the good things it enjoys around the world -good health care, good academic and honorary degrees conferred upon it - can equally be available in the good triangle? Why does the head of state go out to have degrees awarded to him when he preaches the consumption of home-made products? Why can't Yaounde, Douala, Buea, Ngaoundere or Dschang universities confer honorariums on the president of Cameroon? Why can't the Central Hospital treat him when he is sick? The truth is that we make our beds and are ashamed to lie on them!

One day, the Almighty willing, Cameroonians will rise up and be counted. The day government ceases to want to be the main employer, releases the pressure on the private sector, allows some degree of healthy competition from nursery school upward, Cameroon society will begin to rejuvenate. No society can survive without competition. Monopoly stymies healthy growth! Watch the way some insiders make the head of the CPDM a providential ruler - without him no one else can be leader. Under such a climate, may be the poor guy wished to take a deserved rest; he is forced to accept more and more mandates to rule. Who is fooling who? Why force people to retire since the example from the top is that of imortality?

[Business Loans]

This blog makes me realize the energy of words and pictures. As always your things are just gorgeous and I am grateful that you let us look in! Keep coming up with ideas