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In Cameroon, we have heard of Tchollire, Kondengui, Mantum and New Bell. It is said that Tchollire no longer exist. If that is true, then it is good news. But more especially if that is true. Then it is perhaps the best indication that our budding democracy is begining to a healing hatred for brutality and other forms of inhuman practices. Torture is a dirty practise and nothing warrants or justify it, except of course our mad haste to return to the early state of animality. Civilised people don’t torture; democratic systems don’t torture. Cameroon, like all the modern nations of today is a signatory to the United Nations Charter on Human Rights and Freedom. With satisfaction, Cameroon is consciously engaged in the fight against tortured, mainly through its Human Rights Commission.
These are all good points for the state of Cameroon. But one major corollary of this situation is the extended peace the country is enjoying, even if there is a sense in which we can question the quality of the peace. Cameroon’s Human Rights records are not bad but it can be perfectible at the triple level of politics, education, and interaction.
a) Politics: Torture and democracy are antagonistic. The higher the democratic culture and practice of a system, the lower its torture quotient.
Cameroon needs to step up and entrench its democratic practice. It needs to move away from excessive theorizing and into concrete practice. The secret of democracy is the independence of the three arms of government. The Executive, the judiciary and the legislative. Once, this independence is guaranteed, democratic practice can easily take off.
In Cameroon, unfortunately, this independence is more theoretical than real. One good thing about Cameroonians is that they know what is right; but one very irritating thing about them is that they never want to do what is right even though they know what the right thing is.
A proper democratic culture will make the system less nervous and therefore less prone to acts of repression which is the expression of insecurity. In a proper democratic system, elections will be managed by an independent electoral commission answerable to the electorate and to nobody else. That way, results will not be contested because tailored to suit certain interests. And because election results are endosed by everyone, there will be no need to unleash troops on a dissatisfied electorate like was the case in Bamenda, Cameroon after the proclamation of the Cameroon’s People Democratic Party as winner of the first presidential election in the early 90’s. The constitution will be respected and there will be no need to entrench oneself in power by force. It is such things as the abuse of constitutional rights and the rigging of elections that we see the seeds of illegitimacy which can only succeed through repressive dictatorship. And torture is the weapon of such systems.
b) Education: By education, we mean civic formation. This dimension of the fight against torture is in actual fact an out crop of the democratic culture we have earlier mention, and this expresses itself in the form of a heightened respect for human beings. Public officials, civil servants, soldiers, gendarmes, warders, tax collectors but especially the police have a crucial role to play. As executors of state policy, these officials MUST be educated in the importance of respecting human rights and freedoms. And such an education will start with the respect of the people’s right to language like in the case of Cameroon. It is a serious breach when a policeman of French expression is posted to an English speaking area and made to communicate with the locals of the area in a language they posted him to the wrong place with the wrong language tool. All officials with national duties must be trained by the state to know that they are either in a bi-cultural country and should respect the language specificities of each culture. That way hostile statements like “je ne comprend par votre anglais la” and “le Cameroun est bilingue” will no longer be uttered because officials will adopt the language of communication of the people they serve. These are policy issues and not matters for individual choice.
c) Interaction: Here is essentially the social principle of human intercourse. What are the basis upon which society regulates this intercourse? Do people and view on another as enemies or as citizens with equal rights? A country like Cameroon, with its peculiar colonial heritage, must treat these grounds of human intercourse with exceeding care. Much of the bitterness we observe in society, and which invariably results in human rights abuse stems from our inability to clarify the nature of our relations with one another. There is usually too much in the air, too much desire to oppress and repress, to exploit and victimize especially in Africa.
People must understand that the countries of Africa do not belong to one particular group of people. It belongs to all the group of people that make up a country. And it does so to the same measure.
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Akwalla Johanness
I am a young development activist who believes that for youths to be successful, we need to come together and share ideas that are beneficial to the whole of humanity.
I strongly believe that for Africa to come out of the political hostage its finds itself, our leaders must stop to consider themselves as traditional rulers. We all know that traditional rulers rule for life, and power is passed on to their descendant. And I think that once our leaders stop to think of themselves as such and concentrate on development by investing into the education and basic health care and social services, then can we say we are on the right path to human development.
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