My Beauty Best Teacher

Dibussi Tande writes in African Path about the impact of educational systems that do not foster ingenuity,resourcefulness and invention amongst other things.Quoting the World Bank:

The ability of a society to produce, select, adapt, commercialize, and use knowledge is critical for sustained economic growth and improved living standards. Knowledge has become the most important factor in economic development.

And comparing Cameroon to India

Today Cameroon is where India was some two decades ago – and it has the potential to become what India (or even Mauritius) is today. However, unlike India, Cameroon is crippled by the “civil service mentality”, and it lacks a crop of creative economic and political visionaries similar to those who transformed Bangalore from a sleepy backwater Indian town into an IT outsourcing and software Mecca.
Nowhere has that absence of vision been most manifested than in the country’s higher education system which was established primarily to train administrators for the post colonial government. Time has not changed the focus of Cameroon’s higher education system even as the world has moved on.

He alludes to a point made in the The Entrepreneur

The deficit of knowledge and learning is killing Cameroon and Africa softly. Despite a proliferation of schools and colleges, the lack of true learning and creativity has held the African captive to underdevelopment. In Cameroon we have graduates who are just producing what they were taught in school, instead of producing new things…This has left Cameroon with millions of qualified illiterates and graduates who are failures as far as life and service is concerned. A Master's degree holder moves with little or no creativity. Thousands of poorly educated Cameroonians only wait for opportunities to work where others have worked. Few are involved in the creation of new things. The outdated education they received then gives birth to confusion.

And brings to our attention a critical piece of analysis by Jeremy Weate on his observations about Nigeria.

The longer I live here, the more I realize that technological interventions or money pumped in by donors will do little to transform, unless there is a primary focus on business processes (whether in the commercial or the public sector)… Nigerians enjoy the benefits of cars, laptops, mobile phones and other modern technology, but live in a society which does not understand the discipline and rigour it takes to produce such technology. This creates an alienated culture where technology and modern industrial processes are seen as a mystery. No one seems to be able to solve the aviation crisis. No one seems to be able to create value-added manufacturing processes; no one seems to stem the tide of an import-economy, turning into an export-economy. So few technological interventions (in any sector) meet with any kind of success.

Truly intellectually curious,technologically innovative and self sustaining societies cannot be built off a bedrock of reactive thinking coupled with disinterest and indolence .The challenge is to disrupt these ossified ways of thought and catalyze the forces of creativity.

Run by a sit-tight dictatorship, Cameroon exemplifies much of what is wrong with Francophone Africa. A couple of posts via Global Voices provide us with a rare view.Firstly a post from Eduardo Tamba:

Cameroon’s human rights record remains poor and government continue to commit numerous human rights abuses year-in-year-out. Government backed security forces commit numerous unlawful killings; engaged in regular torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and prisoners with impunity. On the other hand, Prison conditions remain harsh and life-threatening while authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained anglophone citizens (SCNC) advocating secession, local human rights monitors and activists, other citizens and above all journalists. Furthermore, there are disturbing reports of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy rights...[continue reading]

And a further reference to the countries first “Liberation Theologian”:

Jean-Marc Ela’s theology was largely shaped by his 14-year stay among the non-Muslim Kirdi population of Northern Cameroon whose life was characterized by misery, marginalization and exploitation by the state. As a result, according to Sundkler, “no one else expressed the 'cry of the African' with as much prophetic pathos as Fr. Jean-Marc Ela”...[continue reading]

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• Cameroon prison guards kill 16 escaping inmates

The Fomunyoh Foundation (TFF) on Paul Biya,Cameroon's long term dictator:

...he has systematically undermined Cameroon's legal and political institutions to perpetuate his own rule. He has minimized the role of the legislative and judiciary branches of government and totally ignored input from opposition parties and civil society. He has also co-opted most of the traditional authority in the country, where 55 percent of the population lives in rural areas under the influence of powerful chiefs and lamida.

George Ngwane reports on the memorandum regarding Independent Candidates in Cameroon:

So far party – centered elections have only favoured an old generation that has monopolized the political arena in Cameroon. Independent candidature would therefore provide the young generation with the opportunity of bringing a new vision and fresh agenda to the body-politic of our country. Indeed Independent candidature is now regarded as an antidote to gerontocratic politics and a rite of passage to generational democracy

Prisoner of Conscience-Lapiro de Mbanga:

Early in 2008, angered by high living costs and a constitutional change that would allow the president to stay in power indefinitely, people in Cameroon took to the streets. Amid nationwide strikes and mass demonstrations, popular singer Lapiro de Mbanga, who had demanded that the president resign, was arrested and charged with inciting youth unrest. In September he was jailed for three years...Lapiro has become a symbol of peaceful resistance to the erosion of democracy in Cameroon, but has paid a big price: imprisonment, deteriorating health and financial bankruptcy. The song, Constitution Constipée, expresses Lapiro's and many fellow Cameroonians' strong objections to the constitutional amendment which will allow President Biya to stay in power after 2011. Previously the mandate was limited to two seven-year terms-Freedom to Create

From a review of Cameroon to Paris Mousgoum Architecture In and Out of Africa:

The kind of extraordinary domed house constructed by Chad and Cameroon’s Mousgoum peoples has long held sway over the Western imagination. In fact, as Steven Nelson shows here, this prototypical beehive-shaped structure known as the teleukhas been cast as everything from a sign of authenticity to a tourist destination to a perfect fusion of form and function in an unselfconscious culture.

More Here
via Toyin Adepoju

Village Diary seeks to overturn traditional inheritance customs within Cameroon that disenfranchise children and widows:

In our region of Cameroon, when the head of a household dies it is common to see family relations (brothers, uncles, etc.) or members of the community claim rights over the property of the deceased. Without legal wills testifying to the contrary, homes, farm plots and related property are often usurped by others. This property should pass to the rightful heirs, namely the widow and her children, to safeguard their future.

Village Diary seeks to overturn traditional inheritance customs within Cameroon that disenfranchise children and widows:

In our region of Cameroon, when the head of a household dies it is common to see family relations (brothers, uncles, etc.) or members of the community claim rights over the property of the deceased. Without legal wills testifying to the contrary, homes, farm plots and related property are often usurped by others. This property should pass to the rightful heirs, namely the widow and her children, to safeguard their future.

Global Voices reviews Chez Gangoueus (fr) A blog about French African literature by Réassi Ouabonzi. Answering a question about literary trends he declared :

...in Congo, a new generation of writers is budding, inspired by award-wining writer and intellectual Alain Mabanckou. In Sénégal, I'm struck by the current emergence (empowering) of women writers, in the wake of  best selling author Marie Ndiaye. I notice writers from Cameroon write with the same “in your face” directness and energy that they are are famous for. I must confess that I am in awe of Nigerian writers,  like the great Chinua Achebe. Among francophone writers, I could mention so many: Abdourahman A.Waberi from Djibouti,  Jimi Yuma from Congo, Patrice Nganang and Leonora Miano from Cameroon…

Ken Silverstein writes in Harpers about another failure of a Top Down development project:

Back in 2000 construction began on a $3.7 billion pipeline running from oil fields in southern Chad to the Atlantic coast of Cameroon. An international consortium led by ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco, promised the project would be a model for Third World energy projects, and would alleviate poverty in Chad and promote political reform and stability.The controversial project proceeded with the enthusiastic backing of the do-gooders at the World Bank. “World Bank involvement will ensure greater public consultation, local participation, and attention to environmental and other socio-economic issues,” said a rosy statement released during the project’s early days.The project was completed a few years ago and there appears to have been little or no poverty reduction in Chad since the oil began flowing, governmental corruption is worse than ever, and there’s been no political reform.

Blessing-Miles Tendi writing in the Guardian:

The standard explanation offered by Africans opposed to gay rights is that homosexuality is alien to their culture and was introduced to Africa by European colonialists. A good deal of African-American homophobia relies on the same justification. But late 19th-century records on Africa and African oral history show that homosexual practices existed in pre-colonial Africa. One case in point are the Azande people in the north-east of modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where it was acceptable for kings, princes and soldiers to take young male lovers.
Further evidence for the existence of homosexuality is that pre-colonial African ethnic groups ascribed tribal classifications to gay people. While some of these categorisations had negative associations, many had neutral connotations. Certain tribes in pre-colonial Burkina Faso and South Africa regarded lesbians as astrologers and traditional healers. A number of tribal groups in Cameroon and Gabon believed homosexuality had a medicinal effect. In pre-colonial Benin, homosexuality was viewed as a boyhood phase that males passed through and eventually grew out of.

More here

Dibussi Tande analyses the sit-tight ineffectual Cameroon presidency.

Paul Biya failed to transform his nationalistic and progressive political vision into reality. By the end of the 1980s he had jettisoned all the key principles of his "New Deal" doctrine that had won him widespread national support and international acclaim early in his presidency...Unlike Ahmadou Ahidjo who was able "to frustrate somewhat the appetite of Northerners in order to stabilize his personal power" by carefully "cultivat[ing] ties with every ethnic group and [by] placat[ing] all the provincial elites with access to state resources," Biya "demonstrated less ability to control corruption and rent-seeking than Ahidjo had." He therefore allowed the "Beti barons" to increase "rent-seeking, corruption, and patronage beyond what Ahidjo ever allowed," and in the process, established a political system based on "ethnoclientelism".

via Pambazuka

"...Football Made in Africa demonstrates all the creativity and dynamism of the peoples obliged to deploy a fair amount of cleverness and resourcefulness on a daily basis to be able to indulge in their passion: football...Every episode offers an original angle on a story, a slice of everyday life, where football is present everywhere. From the production of goals in the outskirts of Maputo to the atmosphere in bars where matches are aired on tiny TV screens, the harvesting of rubber tree waste to make balls or the beaches of Cameroon where fishermen use their nets to play. The films are funny and poetic snapshots that reflect the unique imagination and energy of the African continent..."-website

Photo courtesy of TakeFive
via African Digital Art

From Africa is a Country

The German shoe and sportswear company, Puma, sponsors at least 12 African national football teams–five of which qualified for the 2010 World Cup. To commemorate the World Cup year (and because it is good PR and to sell shirts), Puma commissioned artist Kehinde Wiley to create four new works of art inspired by the football stars Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast

via Bombastic Elements

Cameroon becomes a tourism destination-Global Voices
"Copycat Dictators and Cartoon Democracies..." Alemayehu G. Mariam in Ethiopian Review
"Formal education is not advancing Africa"-Nana Yaw Asiedu
Ivory Coast's descent into madness-Richard Dowden
Taking a look at Land 'Grabs' in Africa-African Arguments
African Export Successes by William Easterly & Ariell Reshef

Energy Biz Insider reports on the uphill task of reforming AES Corp, a privatized state owned utility company in Cameroon.
Jean-David Bile:

is rooting out corruption at the electricity company, cracking down on customer theft, improving the flow of electricity -- and ending the practice of hiring people to satisfy the demands of politicians and traditional chiefs. His achievements don't always endear him to his fellow Cameroonians

He stated...

"To implement dramatic reforms you have to be tough on your own people, or you'll never make it,"

via PSD Blog