An Open Letter to Christian Cardinal Tumi

Your Eminence, In October 2005, you told us that you had written your shortest letter ever, to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI in which you asked for retirement. On Tuesday November 17, 2009, precisely four months after, I read that the Holy Father had officially put you on retirement after about 18 years at the head of the Archdiocese of Douala. For decades, you have stood behind the voiceless and oppressed. You have stood your grounds and taken positions, which many in your position though expected to defend the defenceless, have instead sided with the oppressor for material and financial gains. You stood against the massive killing of Cameroonians, you have spoken against repeatedly rigged elections in Cameroon and other things, which you have said and done for the good of your people. You took the Archdiocese of Douala from a divided, rich but highly indebted Archdiocese to a now vibrant rich archdiocese in terms of economic wealth, spiritual growth, the increasing number of Christians and parishes and more unity among Christians. The educational and health services provided by your team for Cameroonians are virtually unparallel in that part of the country. On the contrary, Cameroon has been impoverished by, not only incompetent rulers but also, a bunch of selfish neo colonial megalomaniacs and kleptomaniacs. You have repeated turned down continuous calls to stand for elections in Cameroon. Your eminence, let me remind you this, please the people of Cameroon need someone on whom they can trust. They need either someone who will usher a peaceful alternation at the head of the country or someone who will prevent another handing of power to children of deceased president as it is currently the case in Africa. Some may argue that I am in no position to talk for Cameroonians. However, I must admit that after haven worked with you for sometime, read about you in the press both English and French and above all, talked to various Cameroonians about you, I think you remain one of the rare, if not, the only person on whom Cameroonians both Francophone and Anglophone, Muslims, Christians and animists can rely on for meaningful change in the country. You remain the only person that can mobilise all of the grand North. You are the only person who can make the Southwest and Northwest region rally behind one person. You are the only person who can drum up unflinching support from the Littoral and West regions and again the only person who can get significant votes in the East Region and a few others in the Centre and South regions. Your Eminence, in my humble opinion, I think your mission on earth would be incomplete if you do not listen to the people. I am not asking you to stand for any elections because I think you are indispensable but because, I know you are the only person who can drum up national support and I am convinced you can make a good choice of your closest collaborators for the better management of the country. Given that you may be going in as a unity and transitional candidate, you need to unite Cameroonian of different political affiliations for the much-needed change in Cameroon. Give our country a sense of direction. We need a leader who will give meaning to the lives of Cameroonians; make us happy to use our talents in our country, make our resources for the sole purpose of developing of Cameroon. Someone who will implement justice, meritocracy and development. Above all, a leader who will be able to strike a balance between his actions and that of his team to the interest of Cameroon and Cameroonians and who must be ready to listen to his people. That said, Your Eminence, if you still insist on not standing, something, which we beg you to ponder again on, you can as well rally people behind a candidate of positive change for Cameroon. Nevertheless, if you decide to throw your weight behind a supposed candidate for change, you must be very cautious. It should not be someone who wants to bring American, European or Breton woods solutions to our problems. They would fail woefully. It must be someone vested with the reality in Cameroon and not someone who can only boast of sporadic visits to Cameroon though he or she may have a high international profile. I thank you AGENDIA ALOYSIUS