Cameroon Clergy Side with an Oppressive Regime against the truth
An Open Letter to Archbishop Andrew Nkea regarding Statement urging Cameroonians to “leave the Bishops to preach their gospel” Thursday, January 8, 2026.
By Prof. Januarius Asongu, Chancellor, Saint Monica University, Buea, Cameroon
Dear Archbishop Nkea:
Greetings! Your statement urging Cameroonians to “leave the Bishops to preach their gospel” profoundly misses the point. The Gospel is Christ’s—a public truth demanding ethical witness. Neutrality in the face of corruption is not fidelity; it is complicity in what our theology calls structures of sin.
The Church’s history is written by prophets and martyrs who contradicted unjust power. Today, a damaging “unease” with this prophetic role has taken hold. Critical Liberative Theology identifies this as institutional fear disguised as prudence, where neutrality in conditions of injustice always sides with the status quo.
This crisis is palpable in Cameroon. We witnessed bishops visit the presidential palace to “pray for peace” before elections. Yet, following credible fraud and lethal state violence against protesters, there was no comparable return to hold power accountable. This selective engagement suggests that the Church is trading prophetic distance for political proximity.
We would have loved to see you rebuke the government with the same force used to rebuke the citizens. This disparity undermines credibility. Furthermore, nowhere in the Canon Law text you cited does it state that bishops cannot address corrupt electoral processes, denounce state violence, or stand with people demanding self-determination. The silence of the law on these points is not a prohibition but a space for prophetic discernment—a space the martyrs filled with their lives.
St. Oscar Romero did not seek favor with the powerful; he named their crimes. Writing letters while refusing to confront power directly renders those words almost useless. The people ask not for partisanship, but for consistency and courage. A Church that appears in palaces only for prayer, and not after violence, risks betraying its own mission.
The martyrs teach us that true witness requires risking privilege. To recover its soul, the Church must choose solidarity with the crucified over silence with the comfortable. We implore you to embrace this prophetic mantle fully.
