Build-Up to the Publication of Press Freedom Index in Cameroon

The news that leaked in Cameroon this week of press freedom is that Bertrand Teyou is free. He wrote the book La Belle de la République bananière : Chantal Biya, de la rue au palais. Cameroon’s first Lady is overtly criticised in the book. An over-zealous administrative official took upon himself to raise hell about it.  

This reminds me of something. Cameroon challenged its classification on the World Press Freedom Index in 2010. Reporter without Border’s report angered the Minister of Communication in Cameroon. The country was shifted to the 39^th position in Africa, and129th on world classification. Issa Tchiroma Bakary was scandalised and almost denounced an international plot against the country. Nevertheless, he is the only one to have been caught off-guard. Indeed, the journalist Bibi Ngota died in prison. He was detained along side two other fellow journalists. For sure, it was not due to any press violation. They were charged for common law offences. But it remains that a journalist died in prison. Public authorities even tried to challenge him that he did not deserve the status of journalist. Indeed, Bibi Ngota was not awarded a diploma by any journalism or communication training school. However, Cameroonian law recognizes the status of journalist to any person who earns his living on information gathering processing over a minimum of 6 years even without any formal training. Actually, Pius Njawé is the sole Cameroonian who contributed to the Windhoek declaration. His legacy to Cameroon is a well established critical private newspaper and Freedom FM, a radio station with all technical equipment that has never been authorised to operate. Pius Njawé was trained on the job.  So was Bibi Ngota. To make things worse, the honour of the deceased journalist had been desecrated. It was officially reported that he died from HIV-AIDS.

Reporter without Borders’s next classification will be published in October, 2011. The same causes may have the same consequence. The Senior Divisional Officer of Mfoundi banned a festival on human rights under motives of possible public disorder, absence of authorisation from the Ministry of Culture and no receipt of holding a any public event. The festival was sponsored by the European Union. This ban marks the second conflict between the European Union and Cameroon in a few months. The first misunderstanding had to do with the grant for homosexuals. If in the last case mentioned, the Minister of External Relations was somehow right to react against the grant in a country where homosexuality is considered a crime by law, in the first one the administration gets it all wrong. It is even an insult made to the intelligence of Cameroonians to think that the screening of some movies, be they provocative, can cause revolutions. It is naïve to continue to believe that media have a powerful impact on people. The audience selects messages. It is not a sluggish mass that is ready to receive everything. Besides, the festival on human rights has caused the firing of the Director of cinematography in the ministry of Culture was fired. Johnson Wang authorised the screening of films such Revolution, mode d’emploi and many others. 

The administration has given another blow. The Sub-Divisional Officer of Yaoundé III has banned a documentary on banana. The police intervened. The organisers were blamed that they did not have an authorisation to hold a public event. Now, Frank Bieleu's documentary merely displays the working conditions and wage in the industrial banana plantations of Penja in the region of Littoral. All these bans, sorts of come-back to censorship, make cheap and good noise for minor events. The last big budget in film is the movie Les Saignantes. One of the best festivals in the country is Ecrans noirs. But public authorities hardly celebrate them.

The classification of Cameroon next October is going to surprise again. Now, it will just be a matter of perception and index. They do not measure absolute truth. Figures reign supreme in all classifications. But the quantitativism does not constitute the only axis that explains life. There is also qualitativism. It is up to the state to take advantage of figures that are made public to improve the living conditions of citizens. Always being ready to contradict the figures that are published is a waste of time when people are in need of moving forward.