Snapshots: An X-ray of Cameroon’s Democr

Sam-Nuvala Fonkem

• Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9789956791774
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9789956791804
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Journalism
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

In the 1960s and 1970s, Third World governments prescribed and imposed a certain kind of journalism variously called ?objective? journalism or ?development journalism?. They understood this as journalism restricted to reporting ?facts? as dished out by their propagandists and did not tolerate the questioning of government policy. By ?development journalism?, they meant the mere reporting of government efforts to provide services, amenities and infrastructures and the singing of praises anytime a bridge was inaugurated, irrespective of whether it was well-built or whether the contract to build was awarded according to the norms of transparency and probity. This one-sided journalism was prevalent especially in state-owned media and media practitioners in the few private news publications that existed who did not toe the line were subjected to constant harassment and incarceration. However, with the coming of well-trained journalism graduates into the scene in the 1970s and the advent of global liberalization in the late 1980s and 1990s, daring journalists like Sam-Nuvala Fonkem thought it was time to take the bull by the horn and start taking a more critical look at government pronouncements, matching policy statements with real action in the field; in short, moving from ?objective? journalism to interpretative and investigative journalism. This collection of Sam-Nuvala Fonkem?s writings is a sampling of the fruit of that new spirit to dare where angels hitherto feared to tread, to hold public officials to account and to expose the falsehood cached behind the political masquerade of the ruling class.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Suggestions for an Ambazonia Caucus
• 2. What future for Cameroon integration?
• 3. Parliament’s Queer Sense of Patriotism
• 4. Western Conspiracy against Cameroon’s Democratic Transition
• 5. The Falling Standard of English: A Political Perspective
• 6. End of the oil monopolies?
• 7. Epitaph for Papa John
• 8. The Falsehood of the Northwest-Southwest Divide: Mola Musonge disappoints admirers
• 9. Resignation of Titus Edzoa: The Demystification of a Mystic
• 10. Presidential Election: A Most Uneventful Event
• 11. SDF’s Dilemma: To dine or not to dine
• 12. From ‘stolen victory’ to ‘moral victory’: Euphemisms for emasculation or capitulation?
• 13. Bakassi Blues: Random Notes
• 14. Fun of Fons: A Cautionary Word about Fondoms
• 15. Give Peter Acham a Chance
• 16. Biya at Non-Aligned Summit: A Regurgitation of Pious Platitudes
• 17. Epitaph for Ebssiy
• 18. The Epitaph: A Milestone on the Hard Road to Democracy
• 19. ‘Pa Foncha was a Freedom Fighter’
• 20. Journalism, Watchdogism and Alarmism
• 21. BOBA Today Special Cameroon Protestant College, Bali (C P C) Golden Jubilee Magazine 1949-1999 Memory Lane: Tribute to Reverend Gordon
• 22. Liberalisation of audio-visual media: A grudging step towards plural democracy
• 23. BBC/CRTV and the Anglophone Problem
• 24. Restating the Southern Cameroons Question
• 25. From Unitary State to Annexation
• 26. The Anatomy of Terrorism
• 27. Terrorism and War: The Ugly Equation
• 28. Poem by Sam-Nuvala Fonkem
• 29. CDC and the Privatization Palaver (I)
• 30. CDC And the Privatisation Palaver (II)
• 31. The Invalidity of Unitary State
• 32. Pros and Cons of Coalition Government
• 33. Of Deprivation and Primitive Accumulation
• 34. The Omenology of St. Cloud
• 35. Mamfe This Time Yesterday
• 36. Will Fru Ndi short-circuit political career?
• 37. April Cabinet Shake-up: Biya’s Royal Nod or Jolt from Slumber?
• 38. G.W. Bush Jnr’s Betrayal of Democracy
• 39. 2004 Presidential Campaign: Time for people’s verdict is now!
• 40. Coalition Split Revisited
• 41. 45th Anniversary of Southern Cameroons Independence: Southern Cameroons Struggle at Crossroads
• 42. Economic Sabotage
• 43. Morning Safari Takes Us for a Ride
• 44. Bridge over Troubled Waters
• 45. Dan Kisob Goes Marching In
• 46. Looking Beyond July 22
• 47. Violence Begets Violence
• 48. Lion Man, Lion’s Share
• 49. Stop The Pretence! Boycott Parliament!!
• 50. To Go or Not To Go
• 51. Where Is The Oil Money?
• 52. What Good Is University?
• 53. Motions of Commotion
• 54. How Far, 2011?
• 55. When Silver Begins To Rust
• 56. Street Power versus State Terrorism
• 57. Red Carpet for Monkeys
• 58. S.O.S Santa Isabelle
• 59. The Soft Underbelly of the African Union
• 60. The Travails of Southern Cameroons
• 61. El-Bashir’s Problematic Intransigence
• 62. 1st October Frenzy
• 63. Soft-Selling Biya’s Ambition
• 64. Bilingualism: A Badge of Honour or Shame?
• 65. Pharaoh, Let My People Go!
• 66. Technocracy, Technology and Technopoly
• 67. No Peace without Justice
• 68. Too Little, Too Late
• 69. When Dialogue Is Meaningless
• 70. China’s Verbal Acrobatics on Sports and Politics
• 71. The Bolloré Mafia and French Imperialism
• 72. Bakassi and the Principle of Derivation
• 73. Had Barack Obama Been Born a Cameroonian
• 74. Reinforcing Transparency and Accountability
• 75. Agenda for Pope and Paul
• 76. The Audacity of Obama
• 77. 26 Years of Agony
• 78. Memories of Miriam
• 79. Bali Boundary Disputes: Lessons From Bakassi
• 80. Bawocks- The Unruly Friends of Bali-Nyonga
• 81. Stop These Agents of Confusion: The Farce about British Northern Cameroons
• 82. A Crisis of Ethics and Credibility in Cameroon’s English- Speaking News Media: An urgent need for critical self-examination.
• Back cover