Reflections on an elite against the people

By Franck Essi

—

On 18 June 2025, seven prominent figures from the South, the region where President Paul Biya was born, signed a solemn appeal calling on the people of their homeland to withdraw their support for his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election. This is a powerful act. Powerful. Even if, historically speaking, it is not unprecedented. It is part of a long and painful history of dissent in southern Cameroon. A story woven with courage and loneliness, betrayal and silent, unsung heroism.

It is a history that should be remembered with reverence for figures such as Abel Eyinga and Marthe Ekemeyong Moumié, tireless resisters against the betrayal of promises made to the people and against the authoritarian order that has been entrenched at the top of the state for several decades.

What makes this appeal unique today is that it comes at a time of maximum political deadlock, proven democratic regression and orchestrated identity tensions. It is a symbolic crack in the Head of State’s ‘granite base’.

What makes it striking is its ability to crack the image of a community that is supposed to be unanimous, even symbiotic, with the government. It reveals a long-hidden truth: in the South, too, there are dissenting voices, critical minds, and people who offer alternatives.

The signatories of this appeal – members and supporters of the opposition to the CPDM – embody this tradition of dignity that does not give in to regional blackmail or the comfort of silence. The reaction of Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of State, Secretary in charge of Communication for the RDPC and pontiff of the Biya system, was not long in coming.

On 19 June 2025, in a statement steeped in monarchical rhetoric, he accused the signatories of ‘parricide’, likening them to a form of filial betrayal towards a head of state elevated to the status of a sacred patriarch. This rhetoric is not only excessive: it is revealing. It reveals a system of domination based on the personification of power, the tribalisation of political debate, and the sacralisation of submission.

Behind this clash of arms lies an essential question: what is an elite, and what does it mean to be one in the Cameroon of the CPDM?

The word is used everywhere, yet its meaning is rarely questioned. And yet, I believe that the fate of our political future depends largely on its redefinition. In this respect, we must also decolonise and cleanse our imaginations of certain viruses that are colonial, neo-colonial and endo-colonial in nature.

—

Where does the term ‘elite’ come from and what does it mean?

In our country, the word ‘elite’ is omnipresent, often honorific, rarely questioned. Yet in classical sociological thought, it carries a heavy burden.

In his Treatise on General Sociology (1916), Vilfredo Pareto defined the elite as a minority of individuals who are the most successful in a given activity. He distinguished between two categories: the ruling elite (those who exercise power) and the non-ruling elite (innovators, artists, thinkers, entrepreneurs). For Pareto, the stability of a society depends on the ‘circulation of elites’: when the elites in power no longer allow the most competent individuals from the so-called lower classes to rise, degeneration and replacement become inevitable.

Gaetano Mosca, another Italian thinker, adds to this vision: every society is ruled by an organised minority called the elite. This organised and coherent minority is responsible for structuring the whole of society. The issue is therefore not the existence of an elite per se, but the way in which it is constituted, reproduced and held accountable.

Antonio Gramsci, finally, adds an essential critical dimension. He contrasts ‘organic intellectuals’, rooted in the working classes and agents of change, with ‘traditional intellectuals’, aligned with the established powers. It is this distinction that allows us to understand the gap between the visible elite and the legitimate elite.

These contributions show that being part of the elite is not a status, but a responsibility. It is not defined by membership of a caste, but by an ability to think, enlighten, guide and defend the general interest. An elite is only valuable if it is useful to the community, if it enlightens the present, prepares for the future and embodies a higher standard of responsibility. It is only legitimate if it raises standards.

It ceases to be a reference point if it is content to exist merely to preserve its rank.

From this brief reminder of the original meaning of the word ‘elite’, three lessons emerge:

1. Every society produces elites.
2. These elites must serve, not serve themselves.
3. When they become a caste, they betray their mission.

What about the elites under the CPDM?

—

The making of elites under the CPDM : between loyalty and showmanship, the great factory of docility

In Cameroon, from the single-party era to the present day, the concept of the elite has been methodically distorted. The official elite is not the one that thinks, proposes, or disturbs. It is the one that toes the line, recites, applauds. It is the product of a system of co-optation and loyalty, not a process of merit or dedication.

The mechanisms are well known: clientelist appointments, ethno-regional management of public representation, social promotions based on voluntary silence and/or blindness.

In this system, the elite is not accountable to society. It responds to a court logic.

Forums, the famous motions of support, and the grand republican gatherings are the stages of this political theatre. They do not reflect a debate of ideas. They demonstrate a desire for collective submission, overt loyalty, and the domestication of differences.

For several decades, the CPDM regime has therefore systematically created elites without substance or impact, namely silent academics, inactive but disciplined MPs, loyal notables, entrepreneurs dependent on public contracts and indifferent to taxes, and docile and often corrupt civil servants. Being recognised as part of the elite often means being visible, well connected and promoted – but rarely useful to the people.

—

An elite without vision, memory or prospects

Faced with the multiple crises affecting Cameroon – education, health, security, the economy, social cohesion, etc. – the voices of the so-called elite are either absent or, worse still, reassuring. They explain, justify and accompany the decline. The official elite seems to have given up thinking. It is content to comment, defend, gloss over or even embellish a painful reality. With it, the norm is discarded and the deviation is normalised.

In this context, intellectual, professional and academic institutions have become corridors of silent management. Debate is marginalised. Innovation is viewed with suspicion. Criticism is criminalised. Courage becomes an anomaly.

The elite no longer enlightens. It darkens. It no longer takes risks. It avoids them. It does not build. It preserves itself.

—

The elite against the people: a breakdown of trust

The direct consequence of this fabrication is the loss of connection between those who govern and those who are governed.

This elite does not listen. It does not represent. It does not report. It does not experience the everyday suffering of the people. It lives in a parallel universe, in forums, hotels and secure residences. It knows nothing of hospital queues, water cuts or dilapidated schools.

Above all, it does not speak the language of the people. It speaks in diagrams, in talking points, in presidential liturgy. It does not speak in shared truths, in lived pain, in collective hopes.

—

When the call disturbs the system

It is in this context that the appeal of the seven southern figures takes on its full meaning. It is not a revolution. But it represents a breach. A challenge to the monopoly of speech that the system has granted to a designated elite. It is a resumption of the citizens’ voice. It is an act of fundamental political disobedience.

The symbolic violence of Minister Fame Ndongo’s reaction is not insignificant. By speaking of ‘parricide’, he is not responding to an opinion. He is defending a dogma: that of eternal loyalty, of enslaved identity, of the unbreakable link between ethnic belonging and political loyalty. The elite must represent the ‘father’, not the truth.

This reversal of roles – from the notable who serves the leader to the public figure who speaks for the people – is what the regime cannot tolerate. For it removes the mask of representative fiction.

But that is not all…

—

The elite as the key to identity withdrawal and community lockdown

Indeed, one of the most pernicious mechanisms of the current system is identity assignment. Everyone is asked to represent ‘their’ region, “their” tribe, ‘their’ people. Republican universality is replaced by ethnic clientelism.

Thus, when a son of the South criticises the President, he is not accused of political error, but of family betrayal. Political debate is replaced by emotional blackmail, a dramatisation of filiation. We talk about ‘parricide’ to ward off any dissent. This word alone is enough to reveal the extent to which public debate has been confiscated.

But this strategy is dangerous. It essentialises affiliations, fuels interregional resentment and prevents any national solidarity. It turns the nation into a frozen mosaic, incapable of projecting itself forward.

From now on, there is only one question before us: what can and must we do?

—

Change the regime, rebuild the elite

Cameroon must change. And it will change. Sooner or later. Under the combined effects of the force of circumstances and the actions of those who resist, who say ‘NO’ and who dare to invent another future.

But it will not be enough to bring down faces. Practices will have to be brought down. In this order, a political transition worthy of the name will have to include a complete overhaul of the notion of the elite. This will involve:

• Breaking with co-optation and restoring citizen suffrage in all its dimensions.
• Rehabilitating merit, competence and courage.
• Guaranteeing the independence of social, academic and cultural institutions.
• Promoting figures from the grassroots, selfless commitment and the construction of the common good.

This overhaul of the concept of the true elite will require the definition of a few specific criteria for identifying them.

—

What is a good and true elite in the context of a Cameroon that needs to be reinvented?

In our view, in our context, it is a legitimate elite. This legitimacy is assessed on the basis of the following characteristics:

• Proven competence: mastery of a field and rigorous action.
• Integrity: consistency between what one says and what one does.
• Community roots: recognition for being in touch with social realities.
• Courage to speak the truth: knowing how to say no to those in power when necessary.
• Political creativity: proposing, inventing and daring to implement new solutions to the major collective challenges facing our society.
• The symbiotic relationship with the people: an ease in blending in with the people, learning from them while showing them the way, in a mutually enriching dynamic through strong bonds that lead to an ever more effective realization of the general interest and the common good.

Obviously, these criteria are neither dogmatic nor exhaustive. But the fact remains that, in our view, a true elite is one that rises not above others, but to the forefront of collective responsibilities.

I am convinced that, in our context, a genuine and legitimate elite is necessarily a ‘Mpodol’, that is, a person who speaks for his people. He is a sincere and visionary spokesperson, as was the incorruptible and immortal ancestor of the future and father of the Cameroonian nation, Ruben Um Nyobe.

—

Citizen discernment, a prerequisite for the emergence of a new elite

In order to clearly distinguish between true elites and false elites, citizens must also refuse to allow their voices to be silenced and their minds to be clouded. To do this, they must question those who claim to be part of the elite by asking them the following basic questions:

• Are they speaking on their own behalf or on behalf of the people?
• Do they serve institutions or a leader?
• Do they inspire trust or impose fear?
• Do they have a project or are they loyal to someone?
• Do they resist or adapt to everything?

It is through this ongoing critical work that Cameroonians will be able to bring clarity to the current semantic chaos. And above all, to remove the false elites from the scene. Because sometimes change can come from below, from the people.

—

What Charles Ateba Eyene told us

This controversy between the signatories of the letter to the Sons and Daughters of the South and Minister Fame Ndongo reminds us of Charles Ateba Eyene.

In his book Les paradoxes du ‘pays organisateur’ : élites productrices ou prédatrices – le cas de la province du Sud-Cameroun à l’ère Biya (1982–2007) (The paradoxes of the ‘organising country’: productive or predatory elites – the case of the South Cameroon province in the Biya era (1982–2007)), published in 2008 by Éditions Saint-Paul in Yaoundé, Charles Ateba Eyene paints a scathing portrait of the Cameroonian elites. Particularly in the southern region. He described a system of land grabbing, reproduction of mediocrity and betrayal of the public interest.

Sixteen years later, this book remains essential reading. It reminds us that titles do not make values. That appointments are no substitute for commitments. And that criticism remains the only possible way to rebuild a just society.

—

My firm conviction: There can be no rebuilding of our country without breaking with the false elites

The real crime against Cameroon is not criticising Paul Biya.

It is not thinking differently.

It is not disobeying fear.

The real crime is continuing to pretend.

The false elites will not fall on their own. They must be replaced, removed, even ousted. By the power of example. By the courage to say no. By rebuilding a political bond based on merit, service and responsibility.

In this sense, any critical words of this kind are a welcome first step.

Let us never forget: this country will not change because its leaders want it to, but because its citizens refuse to remain silent.

When people rise up, things change!

Franck Essi

#WhatIBelieve

#WeHaveTheChoice

#WeHaveThePower

#Let’sTurnOnOurBrains

#CitizenshipEducation