Press freedom is under attack in Cameroon. Journalists know the names of those stifling their freedom, they have the evidence but no one dares speak up against them. Not even using all the professional means they have to do so. Besides many journalists have lost the moral authority to denounce evil perpetuated against the press because they are the vehicles through which the oppressors of press freedom sustain their noose on fellow journalist’s necks.
Ever heard of enemies in the house? The real enemies in Cameroon’s media landscape are journalists themselves. Journalists who dine and wine with oppressive powers not for the sake of the profession but for the sake of their pockets, journalists who easily compromise on their values of integrity, objectivity and professionalism to help especially politicians without conscience to paint black into white.
Just like Clive Owen acting as Dalton Russel in the 2006 American crime thriller movie Inside Man says “I’m no martyr. I did it for the money. But it’s not worth much if you can’t face yourself in the mirror. Respect is the ultimate currency. I was stealing from a man who traded his conscience away for a few dollars. And then he tried to wash away his guilt. Drown it in a lifetime of good deeds and a sea of respectability. It almost worked, too. But inevitably, the further you run from your sins, the more exhausted you are when they catch up to you.”
The inside men in Cameroon’s media landscape can be sure that posterity will soon catch up with them and all they will feel will be guilt when they look in the mirror. No amount of good deeds will erase the harm they caused an entire generation of Cameroonians through lies telling, twisting and manipulation of the truth and staying quiet in the face of injustice. Are you the inside man?
Like Thomas Sankara said “We must choose either champagne for a few or safe drinking water for all” I choose to speak out for the good of all than stay quiet for the good of a few. Injustice against media professionals is not acceptable. Killing Martinez Zogo was never necessary. The justice system in Cameroon should have been allowed to do its job. The law should never be violence and death in the hands of some powerful individuals waiting to rub on whoever “makes noise” about their merciless looting of public coffers.
The Pharisees asked Jesus during his triumphant entry to Jerusalem in Luke Chapter 19:39 to tell his disciples to be quiet, Cameroonian journalists are repeatedly told to be quiet through various releases from government officials and threats of arrest and conveyance to the military tribunal. The Pharisees stifling Cameroon’s press freedom have penetrated the media landscape through some unscrupulous journalists who are making the job of keeping journalists quiet very easy.
But Like Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke chapter 19:40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”… “Stones” like Moustik le Karismatik a Cameroonian comedian whom many would least expect to be an advocate for press freedoms have been raised to cry out.
If the journalists themselves will not cry out, “stones” (Comedians) will cry out on their behalf. I will use this reflection to appraise the ingenious work of Comedian Moustik le Karismatik, a Cameroonian comedian I had not been able to really appreciate his comic works until October 2023 when I met him at the residence of the Belgian Ambassador to Cameroon. I had been invited by the European Union to do a presentation of the Diagnostic Study of the Media in Cameroon carried out by Medias et Democratie. It was my first time to meet him in person but the way he introduced me when it was time for me to mount the rostrum was speaking of a true professional whose comic works cut across all spheres of knowledge and influence.
It’s been one year after the brutal and macabre assassination of Amplitude FM journalist Martinez Zogo and his family is yet to have justice. Those linked to his death are well known and like the state machinery that grinds very slowly, one can only pray that his justice is not delayed until 2035.
While we journalists have stayed quiet and are going about our business like nothing happened, waiting for the next victim, Moustik le Karismatik has put out what I can term the most patriotic, intelligent, objective and most soul touching call for press freedom any one has done so far.
In his 3 minutes standup comedy presentation titttled “le_baillonement_ne_fait_pas_taire_mais_rebelle_la_verité” (gagging does not silence but rebels against the truth) aired on Balafon TV and posted on his Facebook page at 4:20PM on February 8, 2024, he brilliantly evokes the anecdotes surrounding the Martinez Zogo murder.
Moustik brilliantly and comically makes analogies to the “Black Prado” involved in the abduction of Zogo and accusing the Prado of having the potential of causing “l’ambouteilage” yet another analogy to the radio programme Zogo ran which led to his assassination. He intelligently fuses in the “Stop a la vie Cher” campaign for which Bruno Bidjang is believed to have been arrested for championing.
Transitioning from his subtle “Stop a la Vie Cher” campaign strategy which he has been advocating for, he makes yet another analogy to the Anecdote Group as he says he is making important “anecdotes”, opting to Keep the Bruno Bidjang Campaign aside and to focus on the important “anecdotes”. (Remember the controversy of the Anecdote Media Group in the Zogo case)
In a typical sense of patriotism, Moustik le Karismatik is lamenting over three caskets donned with the Cameroon flag. While one of the caskets refer to one of the teachers killed recently in Cameroons schools by violent students, another represents Martinez Zogo who had chosen his voice to speak high and loud and to serve as the voice of the voiceless.
He laments as he asks, “should someone who speaks too much be forced to shut up? Should someone who raises his voice be gagged? Because you shout, should your mouth be shut? Even if you mouth is to be shut, should it be shut beneath the earth?”
We all are as helpless in this situation as our dear brother the comedian. However he earns a huge chunk of my respect when he dishes out lessons to journalists which journalists themselves have refused to give themselves.
He laments that the journalism profession has been made vulnerable through negligence, leaving it open for every sort of imposters and “reposters”. Taking us back to nostalgic days of great journalism with Pius Njiawe, Madeleine Soppi Kotto, Moise Banteke Pascal Fouda and other great journalists. He regrets that we did not know of all this “tintamarre” or hurly burly in journalism.
He rightly indicates that today in our jackets of bloggers, whistle blowers, “blaguers” or clowns, journalism has become just anything. “Why do you do this?” He asks. “Is the radio a courtroom? Is the journalist a judge? He quizzes on, calling on all journalists who are not dead yet to rise up go look for the right journalism costume, wash it clean and rid it of blackmail, gossip, vilification and journalism of mercantilism.
He urges us to “Chase it away because it is this kind of journalism that drags this noble profession in the mud.”
Personal development should be a thing of every journalist. We can’t ignore the lessons we learn in journalism schools as well as the very practical lessons we learn from hands on training and from the great minds that have thread before us like Charly Ndi Chia, Victor Epie Ngome, Peter Esoka, Gwelem, Francis Wache, Nobert Wasso, Gideon Taka and many whose names do not immediately come to mind.
We must be conscious of what legacy we want to leave behind. Our children will question us tomorrow. Prepare to answer their questions with raised shoulders and heads high not in sighs and regrets with faces looking down to the floor in shame.
By Sah Terence Animbom
Investigative Journalist,
Communication Consultant
US Gov. Exchange (CSP) Alumni.
