OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF CAMEROON

Open letter to the bishops of Cameroon

By P. Ludovic Lado, Jesuit - 11/21/2011

By P. Ludovic Lado, Jesuit

My Lords,
I first ask you not to take offense at the fact that one of your sons, a simple priest, is writing to you through this channel, and in a tone to which you are not accustomed.

It is not out of lack of respect for the ecclesial hierarchy, but rather in the name of the gospel of Jesus Christ which, moreover, you know better than me, and to which we are all supposed to bear witness in this country that is Cameroon. You will also excuse me for generalizing, it is for the needs of the cause. As you know, Cameroonians, and not only Catholic Christians, expect prophetic leadership from you in this country sick with multifaceted injustices. But what have you been serving us for almost two decades on the public stage? Inconsistency and cacophony! Let me explain.

About ten days ago, while I took part in a meeting on the conditions for the rebirth of democracy in Cameroon, the mobilization of all democratic forces in Cameroon was discussed at one point in the discussions. One of the participants spoke of the need to work with religious forces, including the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon. Another, a Cameroonian intellectual whose strength of convictions are often relayed by the media, retorted with a touch of humor: “The Episcopal Conference has become the umpteenth section of the CPDM.” This questioning of the neutrality of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the political game between the ruling party and the Cameroonian opposition gave me food for thought, because it echoed some of my concerns.

This open letter, provocative on purpose, will allow us, I hope, to open a debate on the positioning of the Catholic Church on the public scene in Cameroon. I hope, in fact, that it will be included in the register of a debate of ideas that could improve the contribution of the Catholic Church to the sanitation of political practice in Cameroon, both in the circles of power in place and those of the opposition. Because there is no real democracy without a real opposition. I am talking about debates of ideas, because, after all, we are at the school of democracy. And when bishops get involved in politics or public affairs, they must agree to leave the argument of authority to the sacristy to open up to the debate of ideas which makes it possible to build the city, especially since they are for the most part intellectuals.
I know that some of you did not appreciate one of my recent media outings where I expressed some reservations on the advisability of appointing two bishops to public functions, one to ELECAM and the other to the Constitutional Council. Allow me, my lords, to clarify that in reality, I was not against the principle of such involvement. I just had a problem with the timing! For seven years, you have observed, like me, the Party-State using legal channels to push back our young democracy. As a body, you have never said a single word publicly to support the opposition, certainly morbid, and civil society who were striving to demand a fairer electoral system, in particular the two-round ballot as well as the single ballot. You preferred to remain silent so as not to embarrass the regime in place where some of you have valuable and generous relationships.

You could have remained silent across the board, and you would have only been reproached for indifference. But your recent media outings have proven that it was indeed a very eloquent silence. What does this strategic silence tell us? Please note that it is two months before a visibly poorly prepared election that you send a pastoral letter to the Cameroonians in which you invite them to register on the electoral lists and to vote, without ever really raising the problem of the inequity of the electoral system in force. You certainly make recommendations in the direction of progress of democracy, but too late. Furthermore, you did not fail to take up the campaign speech of the ruling party on peace, which had become a real blackmail. Peace at all costs, yes peace, even at the cost of democracy. And yet the social magisterium of the Catholic Church that we have all studied reminds us that there is no true peace without justice. If you really want lasting peace in Cameroon, commit to justice and pay the price! The Master tells us: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:10).

During the campaign and during the elections, you remained silent, as if everything was fine. Yet we could clearly see the masquerade coming. As in the past, the party-state put state resources at the service of the CPDM, mobilizing senior administration officials for its campaign. But after the elections, on October 20, you reacted again, with astonishing speed, by calling on Cameroonians to remain deaf to the call from opposition leaders who called for street demonstrations to protest against the results that were looming on the horizon. Among other things, you said: “any demonstration slogan given by the leaders of certain political parties is irresponsible” or even “the voter’s striking force is the ballot paper. The choice of voters takes place in the polling stations and not in the street. It is a fight at the ballot box and not a fight in the streets.”

Speaking of irresponsibility, Gentlemen, it is easy for you to characterize the opposition in this way. But you seem not to see that it is the botched organization of the elections that is truly irresponsible. We have known for seven years that there would be presidential elections in 2011, but we still rushed them, exposing Cameroon to violence. This is true irresponsibility, and you must tell it to the head of state. But you preferred silence, a very eloquent silence. Now let's come to the polls and the streets. Don't forget that people are taking to the streets because here, the fight at the ballot box is still a farce. The recent presidential election demonstrated this again. One of you, one of the few to still have the courage to tell the truth, confirmed this again recently in an interview on RFI: “According to the report that I received from Catholic observers, it tells me that these elections, this vote, must be described as an electoral masquerade. They were the ones on the ground, and they were approved by the State. » However, we did not sense in your post-election declaration a bit of sympathy for the opposition as well as for all these thousands of Cameroonians frustrated by the flaws of our electoral system. In fact, you invited Cameroonians to accept the results, whatever they may be, for the benefit of peace. What peace?

And as if that were not enough, here you are the day after the results in the corridors of the palace to celebrate the victory, the victory of an unjust system over the thirst for justice of the Cameroonian people. But the icing on the cake was the ecumenical celebration at Yaoundé Cathedral the day after the swearing-in. In a fabricated liturgy, we saw the cream of the Catholic hierarchy enthrone the prince. It feels like the Middle Ages when bishops enthroned kings. Gentlemen, since when have you been chaplains of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon? And assuming that you were, the political neutrality of the Church would have required a minimum of reserve and discretion in a context like ours where Cameroonians are divided on the legitimacy of the victory of your protégé. But this liturgy concocted for the occasion was broadcast live by the state media, also held hostage by the party-state. Did we really need this staging? I wonder what you have asked God for in your prayers. Certainly peace, yes still peace. But let's see, God cannot give us peace without justice. God cannot listen to these prayers if you do not tell the President of the Republic the truth about the injustices of his regime. Cameroonians are suffering. Just look at our schools and hospitals, if you seek treatment there. You will have a lot to tell him about the billions that we spend under this regime on trivialities or that we misappropriate with impunity.
My lords, let us be clear: I am not against the principle of praying for a head of state, whether he is a democrat or not. Every human being has the right to prayers and St Paul, who bore witness to the Gospel at a time when the Church was particularly persecuted by political leaders, strongly recommends it: “I insist above all that we pray prayers of request, intercession and thanksgiving for all men, for heads of state and all those who have responsibilities, so that we can lead our lives in calm and security, as religious and serious men. This is a true prayer, which God, our Savior, can accept, because he wants all men to be saved and to come to know the truth fully. » (1Tm2, 1-4) But this spiritual charity must be deployed against a backdrop of truth about the injustices from which Cameroonians suffer. Because we live under a subtly violent regime which has succeeded in degrading public administration executives by making them slaves of the system. So, they are no longer at the service of a country, but of a system, of a party, of a man who makes and unmakes them at will. We cannot build a country with slaves.

My lords, remember often that in the positions of responsibility that you occupy, you represent an institution, the Catholic Church thus dragged through the mud. It is time for you to distance yourself from any political regime, that of today and those to come, to assume your prophetic function which the prophet Jeremiah reminds us in these terms: “Every time I have to speak the word, I must shout, I must proclaim: ‘Violence and plunder!’ All day long, the word of the Lord brings insult and mockery upon me. I said to myself: ‘I will no longer think of him, I will no longer speak in his name.’ But there was a devouring fire within me, deep within my being. I exhausted myself in mastering it, without succeeding” (Jer 20, 8-9).

My lords, know that your cacophonous inconsistencies on the public stage confuse and divide Christians. Please reconsider your way of navigating between God and Caesar. This is disastrous for our Church. I cannot end without apologizing for having annoyed you with this imposture. Please believe in my good faith. And if I am wrong, do not hesitate to correct me in this debate of ideas that I am launching on the role of the Catholic clergy in the progress of democracy in Cameroon. God bless Cameroon and its political and religious leaders!