LOOKING BEYOND THE NEW LOOK OF THE CRTV

(THE POST, No. 0187, July 07, 2000)

Since Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo became minister of communication, there has been a lot of talk and restless activity at and about the CRTV. The professor is an extremely smooth operator and good talker. The way he can coin, juxtapose and weave together words and concepts is truly remarkable. He just falls short of being a complete and absolute juggler of and charmer with words. It is quite surprising that JFN (not the famous book seller of Bamenda this time around, but the remarkable professor under focus) has not assumed the title of porte parole du gouvernement, like one of his predecessors in office. This latter raised the amateurish game of official mendacity to a professional art and achieved marvels with it for the New Deal regime in its most difficult and trying moments. He got his handsome rewards, which seem to be so preoccupying and satisfying that he has virtually retired from the professional art of loquacious disputation, creating the nonexistent ex nihilo, boldly denying the undeniable, standing opposing arguments on their very heads. Today, anybody could mistake the erstwhile verbal pugilist for a taciturn and shy gentleman.

Jacques Fame Ndongo is not just a good talker. He seems to be really quite honestly convinced about everything he says and, very often, he is convincing, even to doubting Thomases of the caliber of yours truly. More than that, he really tries to translate his words into concrete action. Under JFN’s chairmanship of the CRTV board, the CRTV seems to be honestly trying to sit up and to create a ‘new look’. Being one of those who has repeatedly and consistently declared in the past that the first signs of genuine democratization and liberalization in this country will be apparent from clearly recognizable mutations at the CRTV, I am extremely interested in what is presently going on there. Good talking and empty platitudes have never been lacking at the CRTV, but, this time around, one has the feeling that something really serious and earnest is beginning to happen there.

From the fruits we shall know and confirm or disconfirm our initial impressions. Actions speak louder than words! Until Mouchipu Seidou was arrested and locked up, did anyone believe the government was quite serious, about fighting corruption? The only problem is that, ever since that courageous and convincing action, others who even out-did Mouchipou in the art of diverting public funds into private pockets have continued gamboling around freely, before our very eyes, thereby lending credence to the suggestion that the real crime of the imprisoned ex-minister of P & T was not corruption as such but that he must somehow have stepped on the sensitive toes of someone higher up the power ladder.

I could easily become an enthusiast, if not a praise-singing fan, of JFN and the new look CRTV, but I have some lingering doubts and serious reservations. What are these? Good question! Although JFN likes putting his cards on the table, there is one card that has never come out from under the table. This: granted that the professor is a multi-talented and prolific individual who deserves or merits several top level posts at once, how can he possibly combine the duties of Minister of Communication with that of Board Chairman of the CRTV? The two posts are basically contradictory! As minister of communication, one of his duties is to ensure justice and fairness between the various media houses and organs in a liberalized democratic environment. As chairman of the board of the CRTV, his duty is to make sure that the CRTV has the upper hand and advantage in any competition with all actual or potential rivals. It is clearly impossible to combine both duties and perform them well, because they are basically contrary in their demands. In this situation, JFN is like a referee who is also the team manager of one of the competing teams. How come he doesn’t seem to realize this? In my humble opinion, JFN is better suited, given his excellent credentials, as chairman of the CRTV board than as minister of communication. In fact, without prejudice to the weighting of posts, he seems to be one of the few Cameroonians best suited for the post of General Manager of the CRTV. What about the indomitable professor presently occupying that seat? Well, if possible, let them just exchange seats.

Gervais Mendoze is equally a multi-talented and prolific genius. No bout adoubt it! You name it and he is there: conceiving, writing, composing, singing, choir conducting, acting, directing, praying, preaching, devotion to the Blessed Virgin, etc., etc. But, after nearly two decades as the GM (General Manager) of the CRTV, what has he actually achieved? Well, he has become synonymous with the CRTV! Yes, when you want to say Gervais Mendoze (GM), just say GM (General Manager - of the CRTV). Within less than two decades, GM has built a formidable personality cult, to the extent that all producers and presenters at CRTV constantly chant his praises, even without the slightest pressure or prompting, and put down his name as the original conceptor or general supervisor of all their own productions. In the meantime, all the best journalists the CRTV has ever had have escaped into exile, at home or abroad. I can intone the litany for you, limiting myself to only the Anglophones: Ben Berka Njovens, Kenneth Komtanghi, Eric Chinje, Julius Wamey, Larry Eyong Echow, Boh Herbert, Patrick Siene, Mary Ngu Ekukole, Vennessa Sona, Emmanuel Wongibe, Akwanka Joe Ndifor, Annibom Munju, Francis Ngwa Niba, Asonglefack Nkemleke, etc. etc.

There are two important issues that we all tend to conflate and confuse: (1) state monopoly of the audio-visual airwaves, (2) government monopoly of the CRTV. Democratization and liberalization call for the breaking of both monopolies. The first monopoly has already been broken with the recent audio-visual decree, although it will surely take decades before any other outfit could muster enough resources and facilities to be able to rival the CRTV, funded, as it is, from public coffers through special direct taxation. That is why the second monopoly also needs to be broken and is, in fact, much more important than the first. It is so important because the public is not synonymous with the state, the state is not synonymous with the government and the government does not always mean the government of the day or ruling regime. Every tax-payer is a share holder of the CRTV. In a recent interview on the pages of this Newspaper, Nyoh Moses said something very important, namely, that journalists should be reporters and not supporters. But he spoiled everything again by saying that where views differ, the government’s view must always prevail. It is too credulous to believe or expect that the strangle hold of the ruling regime, nay, the ruling party, over the CRTV would be voluntarily relaxed by those who have so far fully personified it. Why put new wine in old bottles?

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