My vision of the Cameroon to be built

By Franck Essi

In this period of acute crisis and growing difficulties, I would like to invite us to free our imagination and consider what we have the possibility of building and accomplishing.

Such an exercise is necessary from time to time when the horizons seem to be blocked and the country is at an impasse.

As Thomas Sankara suggested, ‘Let’s dare to invent our future!’…

.

Let’s imagine that in our country, education makes it possible to prepare the best human resources in the world.

⏺ People steeped in their history, their culture and the values that make them agents of change within their society and in the world.

⏺ People with the aptitudes and mentality that make them solution providers, innovators and inventors.

⏺ People who combine imagination and creativity with cutting-edge technical skills.

⏺ People who are accomplished citizens and patriots because they are aware of their rights and duties on the one hand, and determined to complete the work of their predecessors on the other.

….

Let’s imagine that we are the best-managed country in the world.

↗ The country where every public penny is allocated to the right people and to solving priority problems.

↗ A country where appointments are objective because they are based on criteria of excellence and processes known to all.

↗ A country cited everywhere as an example for the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending.

↗ A country where citizens willingly pay taxes because they consider them fair and well spent.

↗ A country that embodies transparency and accountability to the governed in the eyes of others.

….

Imagine that we become a country where people can effectively receive healthcare regardless of their social class, ethnicity, level of education and geographical area of residence.

➡ A country where our own medicine is at the centre of the healthcare system, having reduced our dependence on the dictates of the therapeutic, financial and technological modalities of Western medicine.

➡ A country where, thanks to various prevention and treatment mechanisms, people are doing well and are among the healthiest in the world.

➡ A country where human life is sacred and the healthcare professions are a vocation.

➡ A country where health centres are more hospitable than leisure centres for wealthy foreign tourists.

….

Let’s imagine a country where full employment and decent work prevail.

✓ A country where work is, in most cases, chosen and not imposed.

✓ A country where workers have their rights respected and functional means of redress to enforce them.

✓ A country where social democracy is a reality.

✓ A country where the essential professions in education, health, food and the supervision of people in difficulty are valued.

✓ A country where retirement is not a scary prospect.

✓ A country where work pays, where merit is recognised and effort rewarded.

….

Let’s imagine a country where people feel more and more integrated.

▶ A country where we live together better and better, in which everyone feels taken into account and respected.

▶ A country where the consensus on values, principles, standards and institutions deepens and intensifies every day.

▶ A country of which we are increasingly proud.

▶ A country where difference is not perceived as a threat but as an asset.

▶ A country where positive assumptions prevail and encourage people to work together.

▶ A country that, without denying ethnic affiliations, has succeeded in becoming a Nation.

….

Let’s imagine that we are a country where real history is taught.

📌 A country where the wounds of the past are constantly being healed through collective therapy.

📌 A country where cities, buildings and streets are built on the foundations of our history and named after our most illustrious figures.

📌 A country that does not deny its past, but relies on it to manage the present and constantly dare to invent a brighter future.

📌 A country where the continuum is not broken between past, present and future generations.

….

Let’s imagine a country where the leaders are representative of the People.

⚫ A country where the latter are elected in regular, transparent and consensual elections.

⚫ A country where the elected are not only those with big degrees, big bank accounts or privileged ancestry.

⚫ A country where young people, women, people with disabilities and other minorities are well represented and at the heart of the decision-making process.

⚫ A country where leaders compete in their desire to transform the lives of the population in general, and the most disadvantaged in particular, as profoundly and as quickly as possible.

….

Imagine a country where the art of prevention and peaceful conflict resolution is taken to the highest level.

– A country where diplomats, negotiators and experts from all over the world come to study ways and means of resolving social and political crises.

– A country where peace of heart and mind is a constantly deepening reality.

– A country that is a provider of solutions on a continental and global scale due to the quality of its leaders and the initiatives they undertake to solve major contemporary problems.

….

Let’s imagine a country where the synergy between generations is both a culture and a tangible reality.

✅ A country where young people do not see themselves as the adversaries of the old.

✅ A country where the old do not fear the young.

✅ A country where the experience of the old is increasingly combined with the energy and sense of innovation of the young.

✅ A country where both the old and the young feel that they are taken into account.

✅ A country where young and old alike can lead, because age is no longer, in absolute terms, just a quality or exclusively an obstacle.

….

Let’s imagine a country where the forces of law and order (police and gendarmerie) and the defence forces (army) are at the service of the citizen.

▪A country where honest citizens are not afraid of the police.

▪A country where the fear of the police is a real fear for crooks, delinquents and criminals. A country where honest citizens feel safe.

▪A country where those responsible for security are experts and defenders of fundamental human rights and freedoms.

▪A country where a citizens’ protest is supervised and not feared, stifled or brutally repressed.

▪A country where the army builds major social infrastructure and works alongside the population to manage disasters.

….

Let’s just imagine that we are a country where most of the inhabitants do not consider changing nationality or immigrating out of desperation.

✓ A country whose citizens are welcomed everywhere in the world.

✓ A country for which the red carpet is rolled out for its leaders, intellectuals, artists, workers and citizens alike.

✓ A country whose citizens from other nations want en masse to acquire its nationality.

….

Let us simply imagine that Cameroon, our country, could become a place where the current generations are convinced that they will live better than their parents.

▶ An optimistic country, where the community is convinced that it can overcome all challenges.

▶ A country where people feel at ease.

▶ A country where history once again has meaning, that of the realisation of an ideal of justice, social progress and solidarity.

….

I don’t know about you, but I believe it’s possible.

Our country, Cameroon, could become that country. But the first condition for the realisation of this project is to believe, to work and to keep this goal constantly in our sights.

It is our mission to realise such a vision. It is our duty to give our all to make it possible. It is essential, in these very dark and tragic times we are going through, not to give up this vision of the best we can become.

Disorder as well as order are products of the human mind. If we want to, we can always be, do and have better and more.

As the saying goes: ‘Shame on those who do not do better than their parents.’

Our challenges and our dreams are great! They demand greatness from us.

Let us dare to invent this country, let us dare to invent our future!

Franck Essi

African from Cameroon

Political activist