Rigour, moralization and the failed decentralisation

By Ngoko Monyadowa By November 6, 2022, 40 years would have elapsed since President Biya mounted the podium as undisputed leader of Cameroon. By a stroke of Ahidjo’s pen, he became the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The frenzy that accompanied this indiscretion has remained unprecedented given the authoritarian and arm-twisting governance that had held sway prior to Ahidjo’s exit from power. In the event, refrains like “rigour and moralization”- the quintessence of “Communal Liberalism,” a book detailing a new political ethos whose authorship had been erroneously ascribed to President Biya, became the swan…