Cameroon, under the grip of military-backed President Paul Biya since 1982, has seen large numbers of its professional population leave the country, fleeing economic and political woes. This exodus will continue unless the government shows some goodwill to turn around the current conditions.

ex Ponto Magazine, nr.2

Cameroon has suffered a prolonged economic drought. Recruitment into the civil service, the major means of employment for people with a diploma, had been stopped. College and university enrolment had dropped as poverty skyrocketed. Economic reforms imposed on Cameroon’s beggarly government by the Bretton Woods institutions had failed woefully.
By the end of 1992, the flame of hope that was ignited by the struggle for democracy had petered out. Many people came to the bleak conclusion that there was no possibility of a bright future in Cameroon. More than a decade later, little has changed. Although official figures have portrayed sustained annual economic growth of about 5 percent in the last decade, the bulk of Cameroonians have seen their income and standard of living plummet year after year.

Biya’s iron grip
President Biya’s government, blamed by most people for the country’s woes, has increasingly consolidated its stranglehold on power. While elections are held every seven years, there is no limit as to how many seven-year terms one president could serve. Unfortunately, opposition in the country has not been effective because they are infiltrated and corrupted by the incumbent regime. Dissatisfaction among the people has led to civil movements and protest, but the heavy hand of the government and the military clamp-down has led to a lot of deaths and people leaving the country as they fear for their lives.

At the end of every year, Biya talks about the catalogue of problems plaguing Cameroonians. He hardly ever points out what action was taken - or would be taken - to stem those difficulties, only talking about ‘personally monitoring developments’. Biya aptly diagnosed what ails Cameroon. ‘Our main enemy,’ he says, ‘is not the lack of means, human resources or even financial capacity. It is inertia. That is what we have to fight if we have to move forward.’ But inertia is exactly the chain which has shackled the government. He concedes that ‘I am fully aware that the lofty goals I have set will not be easy to attain.’ Yet, he seemed oblivious of the fact that there are subterranean rumbles of discontent and disenchantment that could explode at any time.

Professional exodus
The number of people attempting to travel abroad shoots up after each election. Cameroon is currently losing its muscles and brains to the West every single day. The situation is so bad that the minister of public health, Urbain Olanguena Awono, lamented during a graduation ceremony of medical doctors in 2006 that more than 5,000 medical doctors have fled the country for greener pastures abroad. This, sadly, is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the Cameroon Medical Council, all of the remaining 3,000 doctors are likely to exit Cameroon by 2009. Doctors in this country are poorly paid and have to work in hospitals which lack modern medical equipment.

Over the years, the Cameroonian government has shirked its responsibilities and reduced a once proud people to the status of international beggars. If the government still values its professionals, then it must radically chance the country and start laying the foundation towards a prosperous Cameroon. There should be debates whereby ministers can contribute ideas which could pull Cameroon out of its present stagnation. The cabinet should become a stage to debate and find solutions for crucial issues, not a platform to sing praises.