Open Letter to President-Elect Maurice Kamto and the Argonauts
Friday, 1st May 2020
Mr. President-elect,
In spite of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic that has a devastating impact on the world at large and particularly in our beloved country Cameroon, it is with a heart filled with hope that we address this letter to you.
The economic and political outlook of Cameroon is a dire one; because of that, we, the people who share your views are often asked : "Why do you care? What are you hopeful for?” Our answer to them is that in the midst of the darkness, shines since the year 2018 a beam of hope diffused by you and the Argonauts.
Come rain or shine, the argonauts and yourself work tirelessly towards the goal you have set for yourselves: the advent of change in Cameroon.
Mr. President-elect, how many times have they –people who have submerged Cameroon into darkness for the past 37 years, tried to extinguish this beam of hope? What have they not come up with in order to turn Cameroonians away from it? Didn't they hold you hostage along with the Argonauts for almost 9 months to accomplish this despicable scheme?
As the dignified advocates and representatives of mediocrity, they did not succeed!
It was once again demonstrated for everyone to bear witness during your last trips to Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, Maroua, Tokombéré, Paris, Washington D.C, Toronto... that, their devious manoeuvres only contribute to intensify the beam of hope that you portray. Whenever you arrive in towns and villages, the Cameroonian people come out massively to welcome the one they elected as president. And as they put it themselves, "It is not for a loaf of bread and sardine."
After the 1992 presidential election that left them with nothing but the feeling of bitterness and disgust, an ever-increasing number of Cameroonians - moved by the vibrant political landscape you have created and continue to maintain - are getting involved in politics. They have now rejected the cynical "How we go do" attitude, to hop on the train of Cameroon's renaissance. The clothes you put on do not concern them. Neither does your ethnicity. They are joining you on that train because they recognise themselves in the ideas you champion and in the project you carry.
Ideas and a project that go far beyond your humble person; which is why Mamadou Mota, Albert Dzongang, Laure Noutchang, Penda Ekoka and all the other Argonauts did not hesitate to risk their lives to make them flourish.
Your watchwords for the 2020 legislative and municipal elections boycott, that was overwhelmingly followed by Cameroonians, will undoubtedly remain one of the most defining moments of Cameroon’s political history. With bodies still piling up - more than 3000 lives lost according to the International Crisis Group (I.C.G) – and gunfire still crackling in the North-West and South-West regions every day, with the decision to boycott these elections, you refused to accept a de facto partition of our nation. Before any new elections can be held in Cameroon, you have called for a peaceful resolution of the on-going conflict in the North-West and South-West regions and for the adoption of a consensually reformed electoral system. James F. Clarke once said: “The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman think about the next generation.” Mr. President-elect, you undeniably are that second kind of man.
Recognising the difficulties faced by Cameroonians as a result of the Covid-19 health crisis, you initiated on April 3rd 2020, the S.C.S.I (Survival Cameroon Survival Initiative) and made a worldwide appeal for contributions in order to come to the help of your fellow compatriots. Thousands of Cameroonians around the world, in response to your appeal, combined their efforts and raised over 500,000 € (327,993,500 FCFA) in just 7 days. This fundraiser, whose success continues to grow, proves that Cameroonians, regardless their origins, are very much capable of acting together in unity to defend what they believe is right. The Biya regime accomplices, who have always endeavoured to disunite instead of uniting them, promptly sought to break this solidarity chain. One would have thought that, given the government's insufficient and inadequate means to deal with this crisis, they would have reached for the hand you extended to them; but no! They grovel in baseness. Motivated by the desire to harm you and all that you do or initiate, they have not ceased to put obstacles in the way of the S.C.S.I. How far will they go? Do the lives of Cameroonians not have value to them?
In the program La Vérité en face, of December 1st, 2019, broadcasted on Equinoxe Tv, you declared: “I wasn't born with the words President of the Republic written on my forehead. I am fighting so that my ideas may triumph. And if my role is to pave the way for others to carry these ideas tomorrow and come out victorious, then I would have won."
We want you to know that, whatever happens, we will carry your ideas and continue the fight.
One wonders why some people persist, even today, in saying that you have created a cult around you; perhaps they will claim that it was you who asked us to write this letter. If ignorance is curable, dishonesty is incurable. We hope that these people suffer from the first evil and not the second.
For you, the end does not justify the means; unlike those who, since 2016, determined to maintain a failing centralised state, oversee the massacre our compatriots in the North-West and South-West regions. You have repeatedly told us: "I will never walk over the dead bodies of Cameroonians to gain power." Hannah Arendt, in ‘What is Politics’, teaches us that: "If political action that is non-violent does not achieve its goals... it does not lose its purpose or meaning. It cannot be stripped of purpose because it never pursued one, having only been geared more or less successfully towards the achievement of goals. It is not meaningless either, for it is the dialogue (words) - between men and peoples, states and nations – that gives birth to a space (field), and maintains that space in a reality in which everything will subsequently be played out". Thank you for birthing the space where the future of Cameroon will be played out. We are grateful to you and to all the argonauts for reminding us that politics is a noble art; that this stable of Augeas that the Cameroonian political class has become for decades must be cleaned up.
Mr. President-elect, you have taught us so much in such a short time. You taught that it is important to have love for people in order to be in politics. You also taught us not to leave today’s fights to our children as inheritance.
To the individuals who spew all kinds of lies and insults at you, you have said that even if they do not love you, you love them, and you do not need their permission to love them. Though they chastise the people who want to deliver them from oppression, while singing praises to their oppressors; you have told them that the Cameroon for which you are willing to sacrifice all that you have, including your own life, will also be theirs.
This profound act has enabled us to grasp the very essence of this quote taken from Max Weber’s work in ‘The Vocation lectures’: "Only someone who is sure that it will not destroy him if the world, as he sees it, is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer it, and that he is capable of saying, in the face of all this, “nevertheless!,” only such a one has the “vocation” for politics."
"I will never betray you!" you said. You gave us your word, and so far you have not failed. We believe it is our turn to make you a promise, Mr President-elect: no matter how hard the struggle becomes, we will never give up. We will never abandon you or any of the Argonauts on the battlefield.
In his eulogy to Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral said: “Nkrumah was killed by the cancer of treason”. Under no circumstances will we allow what happened to Nkrumah, to happen to Kamto.
Please receive, Mr. President-elect, the expression of our highest consideration.
Arnold, Juanita, Parfait, Nathalie,
and all the Cameroonians who identify with your ideas.
To download the PDF version of this letter click here ⬇️
Open letter to the President-Elect and the Argonauts (PDF)
P.S: We call on all the Cameroonians who recognise themselves in your ideas, to use the hashtag #whyiSupportKamto to make posts on all social media platforms, to share with the world why they support the President-elect Professor Maurice Kamto and the argonauts.
We also invite them to donate massively to the S.C.S.I (https://cameroonsurvival.org/en/dons/), to support Cameroonians in the fight against Covid-19.
