That is where the problem lies: they all want to claim the mantle of Um Nyobe without the responsibilities and risks that he took.

In Cameroon today, we all want to become nationalists without any commitment to our fatherland, without sacrificing anything. Our nationalism begins with “An Open Letter to President Biya”, and that is where it also ends. None of those who claim the mantle of Um Nyobe, and indeed none of us in Cameroon today is fit to wear the mantle that he wore. Um Nyobe was first of all a champion of the exploited and the down–trodden, which is why he was a trade union leader. Secondly he was a champion of freedom, which is why he fought for the freedom of the oppressed and colonized people of Africa. Thirdly, he was a nationalist, which is why he fought for the unity and independence of our nation Cameroon. In all this he committed his mind, his body and his soul, and that is why he died fighting for the cause he believed in.

Those who claim Um Nyobe’s mantle must think twice because to wear his mantle, they must ensure that they possess all the qualities that have been enumerated above.

Are they championing their own causes or are they championing the cause of the poor, powerless and exploited Cameroonians?

Are they fighting to be elected leaders or are they fighting to free the down–trodden and oppressed people of Cameroon?

Are they fighting for all Cameroonians in all the ten provinces or are they fighting to promote the interest of their tribal homelands?

I am not going to give an answer to these questions because if I do, I would have had to judge them and I do not think it is my place to judge any political leader. Instead, I will ask all the members of the many different factions and tendencies of the UPC to submit themselves to critical self–examination and look at their different factional leaders and in so doing answer these questions themselves.

I may not be fit to judge the factional leaders of the UPC as I have said above, but the one thing that I can do is to make a statement about what I believe Um Nyobe would do if he was alive today. If he was alive today, he would not belong to any of the factions of the UPC because he believed in the unity of the people and of the nation. He most probably would have been working to galvanize the trade unions because he had understood long ago that if workers do not unite, they can not progress. If Um Nyobe was alive today, he would be a champion of dialogue. In his time, the UPC was kept united because of the tolerance of other’s views and dialogue. I doubt that he would still be in the “Maquis” because his rebellion was against the colonial oppressors and not against other Cameroonians.

It is therefore important that those who claim the right to wear his mantle today should first ask themselves what Um Nyobe would have done today if he were still alive.

 How would he tackle the political issues of today?
 How would he tackle the question of democracy and human rights?
 How would he tackle the question of multi–party politics?
 How would he tackle the question of good governance, corruption and the embezzlement of public funds?

One thing I am sure of is that whatever way he would have tackled the issues listed above, he would always have put the people first because Um Nyobe’s fight was not about power but about the people.

Workers rights; that is putting people first.
Freedom from oppression and exploitation; that is putting people first.
National unity – unity is strength; that is putting people first
Fighting against corruption and the embezzlement of public funds; that is putting people first.

He would have been a leading politician, fighting not for power but to change Cameroon for the better by changing the attitudes of Cameroonians. I am told that when the UPC started up, their first commitment was to educate Cameroonians, especially those in the rural areas and villages, teaching them simple things like crossing the road. Little and simple as it may now seem, it was very important in an age were motor vehicles and trucks were beginning to invade the tranquillity of the Cameroon countryside and villages.

Um Nyobe would have been teaching the people about the importance of their vote in this age of democracy and not asking the people for their vote.
Um Nyobe would have been teaching the people about how to select good and honest candidates and elect them into parliament and not about rigging ballots or selling of votes.

Um Nyobe would have been teaching the people about how to be committed and make sacrifices for a better Cameroon and not how to use politics to exploit Cameroon and Cameroonians, and for self–enrichment and self–aggrandisement.

I can go on and on, but I prefer to end here for now.

Let all those who claim Um Nyobe’s mantle think again.
 
Do they only want his mantle so that they can use it to manipulate Cameroonians into believing that they are what they really are not OR do they have the same commitment to the People’s Cause to freedom, democracy, honest government, self–sacrifice and equality as Um Nyobe had?

If they have the same commitment and engagement as Um Nyobe had, then they do not need his mantle. His mantle was tailored for pre–independence challenges and not for 2008. In any case, there can only be one Um Nyobe. He came, he left his message and he passed on. We cannot resurrect him, but if we truly got his message and understood what he stood for, then we can pass that message on, dressed in our own mantle: a mantle tailor–made for each of us, a mantle tailor–made to meet the challenges of today.