By Adolf Mongo Dipoko
I sincerely crave the indulgence of my many readers, for suddenly cutting off the mutual link that we had established for some time now. However, after several months of silence, I have decided to refill my pen with the ink in my blood, to face once more the critical issues of the times. Having taken this decision, all I have to say is in the tradition of those who take up offices to serve the people. “So help me God”
The truth is that the machine stopped, and by the machine, I am referring to the human mind. This is what happened to me. My mind ceased to see through a dark blanket that had enveloped the horizon. The nation was bleeding with wounds sustained from our inability to reason with one another as brothers, that we have been condemned to be, and to live together as one. In our political parlance of the day, the phrase keeps occurring whenever we are in the mood. “One and indivisible”
As if in a trance, I saw some hand writing on the wall, which awakened me, only to caution me that we as a nation are in the midst of very critical times. And that the times very much need critical minds to create a balance. Then I remembered that I had one rare quality that measures-up to something very close to a critical mind. For more than fifty years, in the practice of Journalism, even before reunification, I have successfully put on paper, millions of words, which, though not up to the standards of real prophesy, have been able to caution, or even indicated certain pitfalls on our way in this our long trek, in the hope of finding the real nation, Cameroon, to which we belong and, with pride, we can say we have arrived at our destination.
This therefore means that, in the entire course of my attachment to the Press, both in my native Cameroon and out of its borders, my writings have made valuable contributions to issues, about which I can feel proud to believe, that I am one among many who have been endowed with critical minds capable of facing the challenges of the critical times, which ought to have landed us on the shores of a stable people free from squabbles, had those contributions been taken seriously.
I would like to refer my readers as a point of contact about all what I have just said, to my Book, The ANGLOPHONE SAUL, published a few years back. In that book, the contents of which were drawn from my experience, through the eye of a critical mind of all times, I did record my analysis of our step by step movement to where we are today. And this started more than fifty years ago. It was a crooked journey from the beginning and it takes critical minds to admit this. All what the country is passing through today was not just told in that book but also predicted that the insensitivity of the regime will produce sparks that will justify what has now become known as the Anglophone problem. It was a gracious co-incident that the United Nations Centre for Human Rights for Central Africa, chose as Theme for this year’s Press Freedom Day “Critical Minds for Critical Times”. I would want to believe that though the theme laid special emphasis on the conduct of media men during elections, it has a broader based perception. Obviously this demand for critical minds should be absorbed by the consciences of every Cameroonian, mostly the political leaders, leaders of communities, leaders of the Church, and even tribal chiefs.
Let us therefore bear in mind that the nation is desperately in search of critical minds in critical times.