September 20, 2006

And now, for the first time and completely unedited, Becca speaks:

Ok, so if no one else is going to comment, I will. Evan's been saying for a long time that I should be a "guest blogger" once in a while anyway. So here goes.

Evan wrote, "What Bec's colleague says Cameroon needs is for the ... donor countries to walk into the Godfather's office, say we're tired of this nonsense and demand changes. Would that be effective? I don't know. That's essentially what's happening with World Bank debt relief right now, and you know what, I don't think it's working."

Actually, what Evelyne said was more complicated than that. She said all the things Evan recounts, including the part about how Cameroonians have tried to change things in the past and it got them nowhere. But her point was more that these same diplomats would be outraged if one of their nationals was taken into custody and had to sit in jail until the judges came back from their three-month annual vacation (I kid you not). They would march right in and push the governmant to change, and that person would be released right away. Yet if over 70% of the population of the population of Yaounde's main prison is still awaiting final sentencing, that doesn't keep them awake at night. They look to the Cameroonians to change that, even knowing the reasons they can't.

Second, I think the verdict's still out on the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative. It's certainly not the whole solution, but at least they're doing something. Change is slow unless it's a revolution, and there are few examples of those making people much better off in the short- to medium-term.

Finally, a broader point. Evan points all the time to all the problems of bad governance and corruption here, and I would be the first to agree. At the same time, it's overly facile to suggest that everyone should just stop choosing to be corrupt. For those at the very top, yes, they should just shape up and pay the country back for all they've stolen. For the vast majority, it's not that simple. Choosing to behave a certain way implies that one has an idea of the options and that other options seem realistic. It's easy for me, coming from a background where I was encouraged to consider all the choices and where I saw alternative ways to behave, to say that one can choose not to participate in corruption. What if you've never seen it work? What if the options are to pay the principal or not send your kid to school? Or if your salary just doesn't cover your living costs? Even more importantly, what if you've never really known someone who chose integrity and still had a decent life? As much as I don't deny the aspects of personal choice that keep a bad system going downhill, it's more complicated than Evan sometimes suggests. It's a giant collective action problem, where no one wants to be the one to stop cheating when everyone else keeps going. How do you get enough people to shape up at the same time? I don't know, and I don't think the Cameroonians do, either. That - along with all of the vested interests I concede people here and abroad have in keeping Cameroonians poor - is what makes it so hard to turn around. Not just a couple of bad apples at the top.

Off my soapbox now, and back to work. Hello to everyone patient enough to read all of this, and my regards even to those of you who weren't!

Rebecca