126 SCNC arrested in Buea

I went to Buea yesterday Sunday to witness it first hand and actually talked with some senior police officials. Those arrested are actually not in the cells but are kept within the confines of the police premises. 126 is the number at the Mobile police unit alone.  Many more are at the central police office and then some at the Nigeria consular. As of this morning, all of them are still within the police compounds. No food has been served to them by the state. Relatives are however allowed to bring food to those arrested.  This morning, they were requested to enter the police truck for transportation to a new centre but they all refused instead opting to walk to wherever they wanted to take them to.  I tried to find out where they were being taken to but no police official will comment.  But by the time I was leaving the station this morning, all of them where still at the different police stations.

Just next to the same police station is a group of old men and women who are former workers of the Cameroon tea estate bought over by Ndamolo some years back. These estranged workers are demanding payment of their dues which the government and the buyer of the estates promised to pay years ago.  It is sad to know that while these poor men and women have been sleeping in the open for weeks under the biting cool of Buea, the same guy who owes them donated over 100 millions to Biya’s campaign.  The same Biya’s campaign took place few meters from where these helpless Cameroonians where and no one paid any attention to their problem.  When I extended a hand of sympathy this morning by offering 50,000F CFA to help them buy some food, they greeted this with tears of joy and I felt so bad to see this in a nation flowing with milk and honey.

I think this nation need a fearless and sustained governance program outside the window dressing programs of the state to start exposing and addressing some of these ills.  I will never run away, I will be here until the sun shines for all to see and celebrate true freedom and sense of national belonging. Mindful of the short life we all have to live, I pray God should allow me to be born again in Cameroon if I ever had the chance to be born again. It is more fulfilling to be where there are problems to solve than wasting in affluence knowing that there are unsolved problems in the world.