Cameroon’s US-based good governance champion and democratisation expert, Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, has suggested the blueprint of what he says the country’s next Head of State needs in order to clean the mess of the current regime.
The Senior Associate and Regional Director for West and Central Africa at the National Democratic Institute, NDI, recently proposed the model, which he says would further solidify the shaken bonds of national unity.
Dr Fomunyoh’s proposed governance model is the content of a recent interview he granted Douala-based television station, Dash TV
His proposal comes amid mounting pressure from Catholic Bishops and CIVIL SOCIETY actors for the 93-year-old Head of State not to seek another term of office after he subtly declared his intention to seek re-election in his traditional end-of-year address to the nation.
The erudite governance icon, it should be recalled, has repeatedly expressed readiness to put his decades-long experience at the disposal of fellow compatriots to push for change that would liberate the country from the shackles of the CPDM-led regime.
Post-Biya era vision
Speaking during the interview with Dash TV, Dr Fomunyoh was unequivocal that the post-Biya era would need an awake and hardworking leader to put the country back on the rails of development, unity, social cohesion, and peace.
Addressing the systemic challenges facing the country, he said this can only be possible if Cameroon’s next leader is guided by “The three Rs of Reforming, Reconciliation and Rebuilding”.
“The country needs a strong visionary leader who can undertake massive reforms of the multiple sectors that are currently broken and that are in disrepair across the country,” Dr Fomunyoh stated.
The vocal democratization expert was firm that the country at the moment needs a leader “who can reconcile and embrace national reconciliation as a national priority”.
Prioritizing reconciliation, Dr Fomunyoh explained, is given the “excessive polarization, excessive fragmentation, disaffection between even citizens and the State, the lack of functionality of various State institutions”.
Dr. Fomunyoh went further to state that the country at the moment needs a leader who will “rebuild our communities, our regions, and who can rebuild the country”.
He insisted that such a leader would revive the country’s economic fabric and “lift it, not just at the level of where it was even 10, 20 years ago, but lift it to be a leading nation on the African continent and a major actor on the global stage.”
Dr Fomunyoh was clear that any leader who can meet these three criteria would be “my preferred choice for the next president of Cameroon”.
Using the challenges that the country faces at the moment to further buttress his points, Dr Fomunyoh stated: “…the country needs a leader who would be awake and hardworking 24 on 24 all seven days of the week”.
He said if the ruling CPDM decides to renew their trust in 92-year-old Biya as a candidate for the party in the forthcoming polls, “they should be prepared to live with the consequences”.
The good governance icon urged Cameroonians to reflect more within the present context as it is still “uncertain if President Biya will seek re-election”.
“Whether he runs again or passes the baton to a new leader, the hope is that the next Head of State will address the country’s pressing challenges and usher in an era of renewal and progress,” he said.
Cameroon’s democratic process broken
Quizzed on whether he will accept multiple calls by political parties, civil society organisations, and the media, for him to run for the office of Head of State, Dr. Fomunyoh, said his interest lies with addressing the fundamental challenges facing the country and not about him as an individual.
The multiple calls for him to seek election, Dr Fomunyoh explained, are due to his works on advancing the democratic process around the world or across Africa.
He said it is the fruits of such works that other compatriots are thinking it is time for him to “join efforts with other compatriots to lift the country into a better place than it is today”.
“However, I think the subject matter is still premature, and the alignment isn’t quite there…I feel honoured that some of my compatriots think along those lines. There are multiple ways in which I could continue to contribute to lift our country from the current situation in which it finds itself,” he stated.
Dr Fomunyoh said messages that he receives from compatriots point to the fact that the “democratic process in the country is broken, that the security situation in the Far North with Boko Haram requires vigorous action, and that the crisis or conflict in the South West and North West Regions of the country warrants maximum attention and resolution”.
Dr Fomunyoh suggests governance model for post-Biya era.
