Unemployment, excessively high cost of living and future prospects constantly contradicted by ineffective and insufficient methods of governance, Cameroonian youth is losing its bearings and is experiencing a deep malaise between shattered dreams and lack of support from public authorities. But in view of its importance in the announced emergence projects, there is no doubt that in its downfall it will involve the whole nation.
On February 11, 2023, Cameroon celebrated its flamboyant youth as usual. The theme chosen this year is: “youth, moral, civic and entrepreneurial rearmament, pledge of discipline for the construction of a united and prosperous Cameroon”. A theme that wants to be galvanizing like the 56 others that preceded it, but just like these unfortunates, the expected results will be long overdue. Because the Cameroonian youth, spearhead of the nation and hope for the future, seems to lead its boat far from the expectations announced here and there by the government. From her, one claims morality, discipline, work and ambition. But if man is the fruit of the environment in which he evolves, then Cameroonian youth is a fruit that is rotting.
Models are almost non-existent and this at several levels of society. On social networks abound a lot of erroneous information, published by individuals whose sole objective is to win an approving click or not, it is the gesture and it is the attention of the public that counts. Diverted from their primary function, they are unfortunately misused by certain individuals who use them to share content intended to amplify ethnic struggles, sexism or even disinformation on important political and economic issues that deserve to be better understood by the populations. However, the problem does not seem ready to be solved as there are few initiatives aimed at educating Internet users on the judgment of content broadcast on social networks. The evil is therefore known and no real solutions seem to be truly effective and conscientiously applied to treat it. And for a youth lacking in bearings, it is difficult not to get carried away.
An endlessly blurred future
After long and tedious years of study rewarded with a diploma, baccalaureate plus 3, 4 or 5, it is more and more difficult to take the road to work every day with an unemployment rate of 6.1% in 2021 according to a report by the African Development Bank. The resourcefulness Thousands of young people gain every year, reasoned by the arduous daily life. What else can be done for this youth, however so determined, if not to chain jobs without a future, than to be abused by employers with precarious jobs who take you, use you and make you waltz, the replacement does not isn’t it at the bottom of the door? Paradise seems to be for the others, those who have been without pensions or unemployment for decades.
With a private economic sector that struggles to flourish by creating enough jobs or wealth as well as an overloaded public service that stirs up all the desires, it is at the height of the day to win. The ambition of this Cameroonian youth, open or secret, has become uniform – reluctantly, certainly – to have a civil servant number. Guarantee of a regular and eternal income, some even manage to perceive it as the firmament of social success, but this epidemic ambition remains above all the translation of a certain mediocrity constantly pushed to its most morbid entrenchments.
The malaise is incessant, the evil is installed in depth. In the cities, the villages, the youth no longer has any illusions, resignation can be read on the faces and is felt in the languages. A resignation tinged with bitterness and resentment as the evil is installed. In truth, Cameroonian youth is in continuous suffering. Society’s violence towards her, coupled with the deep contempt of the ruling class, the disregard and abandonment of those who are supposed to protect and uplift her, render her lost. We expect a lot from youth, but when everything has been taken from you, what do you have to offer if not your own life? If it still belongs to you.
Young people are drowning in alcohol and freedom of expression is being lost
Condemned, it seems, to suffer in silence, the youth wants to escape. The exit doors are apparently numerous but yet so dangerous. Among them, alcohol holds a sadly important place. To forget, young people drown in alcohol, party and dark night. The problem is known and extremely serious, but once again nobody seems able to give the miracle solution. The situation is to be taken seriously, because in addition to causing a strong dependence and seriously harming health, alcohol sometimes causes the financial ruin of those who unfortunately indulge in it body and soul. But what else to do but suffer in silence? Some know it and sometimes experience it at their own expense. The game is risky. However, the expression of one’s opinion is a fundamental right for every citizen and, well beyond, a duty. The blood of democracy is and remains freedom of speech.
But here it is, it sometimes happens that for little that one gives his opinion or that one carries an interest based on the management of the administrative affairs, that one ends up six feet under the ground. The truth is difficult to convey to some individuals. Martinez Zogo, journalist violently liquidated for having exercised his duty as a citizen learned it the hard way. Nevertheless, the culprits of this grisly execution will face the hopefully exemplary consequences of their treacherous acts. Despite everything, fear seizes the city, rightly or wrongly.
Young people, collateral victims of clan warfare
The deleterious climate that has been setting in for a few years does not seem ready to give way to a radiant sun. We are told of clan wars, battles of succession with as main protagonists the highest personalities of the government, following the example of the minister of finance, his counterpart of the ministry of justice passing by the general secretary of the presidency of the republic to quote only them. In the midst of this atmosphere reminiscent of a celestial confrontation of mythological gods, the young people who remained on earth, haggard, receive only the shards of sharp blades and the rain of acid which finish annihilating them. Unfortunate victims of a war for the hypothetical succession of President Paul Biya, the fire consuming from end to end all sides of the ship is felt in the lives of all as well as the impression that the nation is on automatic pilot. Inflation (around 6% in 2023), high cost of living, harped on everywhere and constantly, these words are currently in themselves the expression of the malaise in the city. Let’s not forget corruption, nepotism, racketeering, mismanagement and so many other evils representing the metastasized cancer that plagues society. Who to cure the evil even though the country is drifting before everyone’s eyes because of the incalculable number of problems that find no solution? What does the future envision for our nation? Thorny questions to which the thick fog which veils the perspectives does not suggest any answer. However, all hope is not lost, as Cameroonian youth are strong and hardworking. After the rain, the good weather, we must continue to believe in it and fight for a better Cameroon. With heads held high and dignity in mind, we remain confident that our country will recover from its fall and finally move forward, for real and forever, towards all-out development.