Commercial Ecstasies, Tears Of Presidential Election
Ernest Ndukong
It is interesting to have twenty-three persons vying for the country’s top job- the President of the Republic of Cameroon. Could it mean that as many as fifty-three and now twenty-two have noticed Biya’s shortcomings and want to correct and do better? It is splendid if the response is affirmative.
The twenty-three candidates all have diverse strategies of achieving their set goals and the goals are many and different.
From the build-up characterised by decamping, meetings to determine parties’ candidates, registration of voters, campaigns and campaign funds to Election Day and now waiting to hear the winner, there has been enormous commercial occurrences.
The media has been particularly concerned with the Presidential Elections as they owe a responsibility to serve their readers, viewers and listeners sufficiently and reliably. A good number of these media organs have become very popular resulting from their coverage and the consumers’ judgment of the truism in the information they present.
It has been, undoubtedly, established that many of these media organs have witnessed a boom in sales and turnover during this period. In as much as this period presents better and higher proceeds, a newspaper manager recounts that turnover depends on the strength of publications and how reliable news is.
Politicians also bought pages in newspapers and air/video time on radio and television to pass their parties’ messages to the Cameroonian populace, to request for confidence and their votes. Despite some politicians’ good fate in conveying their manifestos, others used some unscrupulous media organs to destroy their opponents. The question in most lips is ‘what reputation would these unethical media organs have after the elections?’
The nation and its people have also been exposed to the outside world thanks to foreign media organs and the new media. Africa 24, for instance, has been broadcasting from Yaounde for a while now while other foreign houses pay exacting focus on our election. Online publications, facebook, twitter, Skype and YouTube have had significant hits in Cameroon and by Cameroonians in the Diaspora. This will largely help in setting the minds of our Diaspora friends who will participate in this year’s elections.
It is worthy to specify that most of the Presidential Election debates and analyses were from the private press for the reason that the government suspended all political oriented programmes on State media. Whether or not it is a correct decision, most Cameroonians quip that they needed even more political oriented programmes at this time to be abreast with happenings in and out of the country.
Still in line with communication, local and international telecommunication organs have had increased revenue during this period. Appointments, discussions, suggestions and even resolutions were mostly on the phone as only two weeks were allocated for campaigns.
Transport communication equally experienced a peak with movements be it by land, air or rail. Twenty-three presidential candidates and innumerable campaign teams toured the nation and even beyond in two weeks to deliver messages, policies and promises to execute when given the opportunity to occupy the Etoudi palace.
Cameroonians have moved towns and regions to vote where they registered, some run back home in fear of any political turbulence that may result from the elections. All and sundry in the transport sector experience an upsurge in activities and thus an upsurge in earnings though some did not make absolute profits due to reasons like short-sightedness in business, fear of hierarchy and inadequate planning.
It was reported in the media last week that a political party commandeered a partially filled CAMAIR-CO plane to the Northern part of the country while there were ordinary passengers and other political parties stranded at the Yaounde Nsimaleng airport.
Some pundits argue that it was a near suicidal mission to meet Cameroonians in all the administrative units of the country and others abroad considering the time campaigns were launched to the voting day.
When many people travel, hawkers along the way benefit from increased turnover, toll gates have higher returns and filling stations experience a boom in litres pumped.
When people migrate to different various places, hotels, snacks, bars, tourist sites and wenches observe an amplified market resulting to profits. People would need places to spend the night or nights, they would need food and drinks, need to relax and have fun and fun. This would be intense if it is a delegation of, say, a political party.
Church services on Election Day were reduced to about just two instead of about four for some churches and attendance was not at its best or as on other normal Sundays. The fewer the number of Christians, the smaller the amount generated from offerings and tithes, everything being equal.
Activities and work in offices and companies were almost completely halted or postponed till after the elections. One could find very few senior government officials in their offices as most had travelled out or were in the field to canvass for votes for the ruling party. Contracts in companies were practically postponed till after the elections for reasons difficult to associate with a presidential determination exercise.
The Promises
Many consider politicians as liars because most if not all have said things which they end up not fulfilling. During this presidential period, the twenty three candidates said many things which fall under sectors like economy, health, education, defence and national sovereignty. Their dreams are good to the ears but the fear of them becoming a nightmare is not absent in the minds of Cameroonians. Cameroon should be a paradise if the eventual winner taps from the ideologies, policies and objections of the twenty-two vanquishes or even inviting them to be part of the ruling team as we saw Barack Obama appointing Hilary Clinton Secretary of State in the United States of America.
Campaign Funds
The State treasury swelled by FCFA 265 million as registration by 53 initial presidential hopefuls and it is expected that FCFA 690 million would be paid to the twenty three remaining candidates even though some have rejected the amount claiming it is not commensurate to the work expected of the presidential aspirants and teams. Contributions and donations in kind, cash and cheque at home and abroad were also made for most parties in preparation of a successful poll for respective parties.
