HAS MINISTER AMA TUTU MUNA BURNED HER FINGERS?

HAS MINISTER AMA TUTU MUNA BURNED HER FINGERS?

By Tikum Mbah Azonga

There is a crisis brewing within the Cameroonian Ministry of Arts and Culture for a couple of months now. The substance is that elections were held to choose the Board Chairman of the Musical Arts Corporation, SOCAM, and a chairman was duly elected and applauded but the Minister of Arts and Culture blocked the victory of the  winner, Prince Ndedi Eyango, to the effect that she had received petitions according to which Eyango had a double nationality and could therefore not be chairman of SOCAM.

The minister acted in writing and addressed a letter to Eyango in which she urged him take the appropriate action so that the way could be paved for fresh elections. The letter was published in the media, although it is not clear whether it was intentionally made available to the media or it was illegally leaked to them.

Among measures taken by the minister are a request she reportedly sent to the Cameroonian ambassador in Washington asking him to verify Eyango`s nationality status. It would appear the Ambassador replied that Eyango had an American passport.

Frankly, this is a matter that could have been sorted out from the beginning. But it was not. Instead, it has escalated. But what is Eyango accused of? It is basically that while Cameroon does not recognize dual nationality, Eyango who ran for the post used his Cameroonian nationality without renouncing his American nationality as required by the law? Did the texts that governed the election specifically say that people with dual nationality were illegible or did they simply say candidates must be Cameroonians in which case Eyango could vote as a Cameroonian?

But another question is why those who complained after the election did not do so before the exercise. Secondly if dual nationality was not allowed, then did the Committee that vetted candidates do its job by verifying the nationality of candidates before allowing them to stand for election? If it did and found Eyango out of order, why did it then not cry foul before the election? If it found out later, then why did it and the minister not accept the blame for negligence and apologize to Eyango?

If it is true that the Minister of Arts and Culture wrote directly to the Ambassador in Washington and the Ambassador replied to her directly, then was protocol not broken? Since this matter is a legal one, why was the Minister of Justice not involved by his colleague of Arts and Culture? Why did the Arts and Culture Minister not contact the Ambassador through the External Relations Minister?

Why did the minister choose to be physically present at the SOCAM election when she should have known that her mere presence as boss of Arts and Culture could create some undue influence? Does that presence now mean that each time an arts corporation is holding elections she will be there? She could have sent a representative.

So far, Ama Tutu Muna has done a good job and a lot of people like her. I believe I personally know her well because like her, I am also a Translator-Interpreter. We were once both special guests during a social evening which the Taxation (I think that was it) Family of the North West held its annual come together in Bamenda, at the time Emmanuel Otteh who later became a cabinet minister was the regional boss.

To say the truth, I think Ama Tutu Muna is spending too much time on only a few aspects of her ministerial department to the detriment of the majority of them. One definition of Culture “the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Today, in the United States as in other countries populated largely by immigrants, the culture is influenced by the many groups of people that now make up the country.”

So, while Muna has done a lot about music, the other components are still wanting. These include the equitable and regular payment of authors` rights. Also not much talked about are the other arts such as painting, drawing, sculpture, weaving, pottery, carving photography, film and cinema and others.  We have not seen the valorization of the many beautiful royal palaces we have or much encouragement of traditional annual dances.  We have not seen much display of Cameroon`s inordinate number of traditional dishes. We have not seen her really bringing out the unparalleled rich linguistic background of Cameroon – a country which in addition to two official languages also uses pidgin and around 23 national languages. Within the context of a pilot project, some of these languages are now being taught in primary schools. Where and when has the minister really stood up and been counted in the project? Culture is so important that it ought to be taught in schools; it is linked to etiquette and morality and could be used to fight corruption. But is that being done?

The minister could identify some far away and forgotten parts of the country learn a few greetings in the language of that place and when there she could thrill them by greeting them in their own language. She could spend a weekend in a distant village and on Saturday morning she is seen going to the farm with a hoe and using it to till the farm. On Sunday morning she could make breakfast for everyone in her host family before church time and actually accompanying them to church and making her offertory too. Any family anywhere in this our beautiful and friendly Republic would be prepared to host her. Has she done it?

One of the loudest cries from our artists is that of piracy because a lot of people are illegally exploiting their works but they the producers and creators and not benefiting from even the crumbs. This is a serious problem, Madame Le Ministre. There is also need for the minister to limit the amount of foreign music played in our television stations and radios. This would serve to protect and project home music. Do those countries whose music we play so much, also play ours in the same manner?

Obviously, the debacle with Ndedi Eyango is a storm in a teacup that could have been avoided. Nonetheless, it has been blown out of all proportion. What I think the minister can do is try to work with both the Eyango team and the opposing team. It that way we would all be in a win-win situation. But if the minister goes ahead with legal action and Eyango responds with legal action (as he has affirmed he will), then the result may be the great fall of Humpty Dumpty whom even all the kings men could not put back together. We do not want that to happen, do we?

THE END