THE PRINCIPLE OF THE LESSER EVIL IN CHOOSING BETWEEN BIYA AND TCHIROMA.
The Principle of Lesser Evil states that when trapped in a moral dilemma, the agent should choose the Lesser evil. Cameroonians are caught between a tyrant named Biya and an erudite liar named Tchiroma. What if Tchiroma says tomorrow that he lied about asking for forgiveness due to the intimidating presence of the Mob? Tchiroma, like any politician, will promise you a bridge where there is no river. The Choice in the coming Presidential election is not a choice between good leadership and bad leadership. Rather, it is a choice between the Lesser evil and the greater evil, like a drowning man who catches at a snake. The question is, trapped in this moral dilemma between a tyrant and an ardent liar, what should the people do? Surely abstention out of voter apathy is an inside since refusal to choose is a choice. The pragmatic solution in the present Cameroonian political muddle is voting for Tchiroma for the following reasons. 1. The frustration of the people seems to find vent in his extroverted utterance. Just the fact that he dares to publicly denounce a tyrant and articulated the people’s anger, Tchiroma could be warrior and not a windbag.2.Considering his Islamic belligerent faith, Tchiroma may be ready to defend his vote if cheated unlike Fru Ndi who used myopic interpretation of Christian forgiveness to chicken out.3.The fact that Tchiroma had been in the system, he may know the tactics of neutralizing the snake by using its venom to cure its poison.4. The unit of the North couple with their pan islamic militancy may have support from foreign forces.5.The Ahidjo factor may play to the advantage of Tchiroma. These are the considerations that led to Tchiroma being a lesser evil than Biya in tomorrow’s Presidential election. The principle of the Lesser evil, though not acceptable to Christian theology, has, of recent, been blessed by the call of the Bishop of Yagoua for Cameroonians to choose a devil instead of Paul Biya. This Episcopal audacity to bypass the moral teaching of the Magisterium in Rome shows how desperate the Cameroonians have been to change. CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT
By Bawe Louis
