Cameroon National Election

 
Cameroon National Election
Even before we ever arrived in Cameroon we were a little concerned by the idea of a Presidential election scheduled to happen here only a couple weeks after our arrival. For more background information about the political nature of life here, you should read a few pages in Joan Baxter’s ‘Dust From Our Eyes/An Unblinkered Look at Africa’. As you may already know, Joan is a Nova Scotia author and journalist who spent more than twenty years working and living with her family in Africa, including the Cameroon. She is now a resident of Colchester County in the vicinity of Tatamagouche.
This picture is our road with our apartment building in the background (left side). In the foreground is a poster advertizing Paul Biya for President. A taxi is going to pass the joggers! You can see the gate to the Catholic University and church to the right of the second sign. Our first view of Bamenda was from the hills that surround Bamenda.
The first big event for us during the campaign was the President’s visit to Bamenda. The large viewing stand on Commercial Avenue was built some time ago for just such events as this and now was decorated with ribbons, banners and streamers. From our IDF office window on the fourth floor of the Co-operative Building we could see and hear the escalating activity. It was quite the fanfare as the President arrived mid-afternoon and we could see the excited crowd and feel the hype. Then there was suddenly a torrential downpour and most everyone scattered except the uniformed policemen who stayed at their posts. The President’s entourage promptly left after their party got rained on. A short while later after work we used a taxi to get us through the hordes of onlookers and home safely.
Just two days ago it was now post-election fanfare and we viewed another major drive-by right down below our apartment’s balcony. All the shiny black government cars sped by with flags flying, horns 2
blaring and lights flashing! There were probably 10 VIP cars in the group and they probably were coming from the mostly unused airport in Bamenda. That airport seems to be used by the President but not by other citizens who are required to travel at least six hours by bus or car to get here from Daouala the commercial capital or Yaoundé, the political capital.
Below is a picture taken on our walk to work of the moto taxis waiting for passengers.
As Oussematou our host client puts it, people get very excited here when it comes to an election. So many interesting things appear to happen! The streets became even more interesting as October 9th, the election day neared. Below shows a group of people in front of a board where the daily newspaper is posted. This is a daily event that happens just across from our office building. 3
When election weekend arrived, we were given serious directions from IDF (Oussematou) not to leave the apartment. So we followed orders and there were no problem. Lots to do/lots to be interested in including what we see going past our apartment on the street. Having the ‘stick’ for dial up internet (really the equivalent of a high tech dial up system) can be frustrating but it sure is nice to have internet sometimes at the apartment. Lydia tells Allan the best time is the middle of the night but between 3 and 4 a.m., but that isn’t necessarily so bad when one goes to bed with the chickens.
Saturday, the day before the election, there was lots of activity going past our apartment. Army trucks filled with soldiers, seemingly excited groups travelling on their motor bikes in a cavalcade supporting one party or the other. Then Sunday, total quiet. That was election day. So Monday arose a new day and it was business as usual. Home free we thought but unfortunately ‘twas only a piece of cake’ to that point.
Our ears perked up when a few people told us it would take several weeks to count the results. Finally, last Friday we heard that later in the day the election results would be announced. Most of that day we were in a Plan workshop in Bafut/Foyre (Foyre is a community of Plan, what we’ve all known in the past as Foster Parent’s Plan) and returned to Bamenda late that afternoon. At that point even the taxi driver Stephen and John the Baptist from IDF had the hair rising on the backs of their necks. Commercial street, normally bustling with activity, was totally quiet, not a taxi cab in sight. At the corner turning onto Commercial Street and at several points thereafter there were groups of riot policemen wearing full body protection. Lydia is very careful about taking photos and for sure in this situation there were no photos! When we arrived at the apartment, there was no question about what we would be doing overnight and maybe even all day Saturday. Shops had been closed, it seemed everyone had been sent home and our home here indeed seemed a good place to be!
All along we had been noticing increasing numbers of armed military personnel on the streets around Bamenda. That same weekend, we were into the hotel Ayaba for a beer, just a short walk down the road from our apartment, when three of these soldiers came in and sat down at a table right next to us and more or less threw their guns down on the floor with kind of a resonating ‘crash’. They too were in for drinks, on this occasion Fanta orange from supersized bottles while they watched BBC World News on the big screen TV next to us. Rather surprisingly, we did feel quite safe here at the Ayaba, this government owned hotel which we later realized was housing our soldier friends while they were here in Bamenda. At this point we hadn’t seen any TV for three weeks and managed to see the bodies of Mohammar Gaddafi and his son at rest in the Sert meat cooler. We also had quite an in depth visit that evening with the (French speaking) accountant for the hotel who explained that the President was a good friend of Gaddafi and had travelled to Libya on one or more occasions for a state visit. Humm.....!
So, the election results were announced to more or less empty streets. Of course everyone knew what they would be but nevertheless we did listen in on radio to some of the long awaited results. What was especially disconsoling was the number of zero votes consistently reported for the opposition in the various ridings. 4
On Saturday we ventured out to the market to procure some needed supplies of vegetables and fruit. Canned goods here are virtually non- existent, possibly excepting a very limited selection of canned meats and fish from France, Holland, Tunisia, Portugal and Brazil. All root crops are prepared at home beginning with the removal of soil, then thorough scrubbing .

Eggs are sold loose in a thin black plastic bag and then contained again in another similar type of bag. And yes. Lydia does wash them again after we get home from the market. Furthermore, it’s not unheard of for us to arrive home with chicken feathers still on the eggs. And sometimes there are little surprises in the eggs themselves, like the signs of a fertile egg or even a developing embryo.
The produce is beautiful and bountiful. The best of bananas, papaya, oranges, mandarins, some pineapple, plantain, okra, egg plant, carrots, cassava, yams, Irish potatoes, melons, green pepper, hot pepper (ask Allan to tell you about that one/he can only call it a ‘very unpleasant experience’), fresh basil, freshly dug dirty peanuts,peanuts washed in their shell , lightly cured peanuts, boiled peanuts, roasted peanuts, peanuts in bags, peanuts on burlap bags, peanuts in recycled bottles, sugar coated peanuts (home made) but NO PEANUTBUTTER. In this land of peanuts (ground nuts so-called), no peanut butter reflected as a total lack of processed food.

So, it’s Saturday last and if we don’t shop, we don’t eat and Lydia calls Stephen, our very reliable driver. Yes Mama he says, and picks us up at the apartment and we make a plan. We would go and park at the near end of the market next to the New Life Store (has soya milk and usually Diabetic Style Bread) and

get our required fruits and vegetables from this end of the market. We gave Stephen the list and money and followed him from stall to stall as he chose, bargained and bought.
Protein for us is canned tuna, sardines, occasionally the forbidden Spam (high salt) and mostly real nice charcoal barbequed fish imported frozen it appears from Portugal. We pick up this fish (barbequing done right before our eyes) each night on our walking trip home. Our guy normally knows exactly what we want but this past week we went all out and bought a barbequed bass that Lydia picked apart and curried. It was so good! We don’t buy unrefrigerated pork or beef sitting at the stalls in the hot sun. There is a cold store inside of which is filled with large chest style freezers, all filled with frozen ungutted fish of various descriptions. We’ve decided however that we prefer the barbecued fish from ‘our guy’, Thanks!
So, Saturday passed, very quiet and then Sunday. Our apartment is right across from the Catholic University and its Mancom Cathedral. There are three masses each Sunday morning. The 6am one is the best with drums and is in English. At 9:30 is a service in French and then at 11am another service in English. Furthermore, each Sun am we are blessed with continuous beautiful music drifting into our apartment from just across the way. Our favourite (and they do this every Sunday) is Jesus Joy of Man’s Desire. Later on Sunday, just as we have done each weekend since our arrival, we enjoy a lovely walk up the hill to the cathedral and around the circle with its lovely view of the surrounding mountains. Clouds can tend to be quite majestic appearing here and the sunsets are framed by the Catholic University’s Mancom Gate.
We went to work Monday thankful that the weekend was spent peacefully, the election over, the results announced and all seemingly well with the world. Monday we left work at our usual time around 4:30 p.m. This departure normally gives us time to walk in daylight, pick up our barbecued fish, plus a 6
Guiness and Beaufort Light and still get home before dark. Down we come 92 steps from the 4th floor to see all hell broken loose on the street. Motorcycles, hundreds of them, literally flying up and down the streets with people lined up along the sidewalks and down the center divider of the avenue. The motorbikes really were quite out of control; no hands, passengers standing up on the bikes, operators driving like maniacs through the crowds. We knew what we had to do! Just walk as fast as possible towards home and don’t stop for anything. As Allan seem always to be ahead he found it a job to pace himself and keep Lydia close by. The whole trip, usually a thirty minute walk, was really crowded and at some point we had to cross that crazy street. We went to the last possible spot, waited, watched, ran to the center, waited and watched again and then finally ran to the opposite sidewalk. By the end of the avenue the crowd was thinner but the motorbikes continued to whiz by as if they were one. We were some glad to get home. We heard the next day that there were two people killed, one beaten to death and another in a motorbike related accident. Exactly how this relates to recent political events we don’t yet know, though likely there is a connection.
Oh yes, parked beside our usual water supply store on that horrendous trip home was an army truck filled with riot police in full gear, waiting for the scene to calm down so that they could get to the heart of town. In monitoring the traffic past the apartment, Lydia saw an army truck, open back with tear gas equipped policemen . Another truck looking sort of like an assault vehicle (tank) filled with soldiers caught our attention as it went by.
One theme of the pre- election campaigning was Pray for Peace. Here is an English website about the Cameroon : http://www.leffortcamerounais.com/
So, in spite of the recent election, all appears well and we are enjoying the richness of our experience here in the Cameroon.
- Allan & Lydia
October 30, 2011
PS. We have been able to upload three videos to U Tube. Search U Tube:
Menchum Waterfall
One School One Soccer Ball
One School One Soccer Ball Part 11.
Download Real Player .The movies were made using Windows Live Movie Maker