🚀 go-pugleaf

BY TANSA MUSA

YAOUNDE, JUN 15 (IPS) - A NERVOUS GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO
PREVARICATE OVER OPENING UP THE AIR-WAVES TO PRIVATE OWNERS, FOUR
YEARS AFTER PASSING THE NECESSARY LEGISLATION.

DESPITE THE GOVERNMENT'S BREAST-BEATING OVER ITS LAW ON SOCIAL
COMMUNICATIONS -- WHICH LIBERALISED THE MEDIA -- THE PRIME
MINISTER'S OFFICE IS SITTING ON A DRAFT DECREE PREPARED BY THE
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS WHICH SETS OUT THE CONDITIONS FOR
PRIVATE RADIO AND TELEVISION OWNERSHIP.

SPEAKING IN YAOUNDE THIS WEEK, THE SENIOR MINISTER IN CHARGE OF
COMMUNICATIONS, AUGUSTIN KONTCHOU KOUOMEGNI, EXPLAINED THE
GOVERNMENT'S RELUCTANCE TO SIGN THE DECREE.

"THE COUNTRY IS GOING THROUGH A CRITICAL PERIOD IN ITS
POLITICAL EVOLUTION AND IT WILL BE IRRESPONSIBLE TO THROW THE
GATES WIDE OPEN, ESPECIALLY IN SUCH A SENSITIVE AREA AS RADIO AND
TELEVISION," HE SAID.

THE MINISTER ARGUED THAT AFTER ONLY TWO-YEARS EXPERIENCE OF
MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY, THE MEDIA NEEDS TO GO THROUGH A PERIOD OF
APPRENTICESHIP.

PART OF THE CONCERN FOR THE EMBATTLED GOVERNMENT IS THE ROUGH-
RIDE IT HAS HAD AT THE HANDS OF THE PRIVATE PRESS SINCE
LIBERALISATION.

"JUST LOOK AT THE PRIVATE PRINT AND OBSERVE THE MANY ABUSES
THAT HAVE BEEN MADE OF PRESS FREEDOM," KONTCHOU SAID. "OUR
IMPRESSION IS THAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT MASTER THE RULES OF THE GAME
AND NEED SOME TIME TO BE EDUCATED ON THEIR DUTIES AND
OBLIGATIONS".

BEFORE 1990, THERE WERE ONLY ABOUT 10 PRIVATE NEWSPAPERS
OPERATING IN CAMEROON WITH LIMITED CIRCULATION. THE PRESS WAS
DOMINATED BY THE STATE-OWNED DAILY, THE 'CAMEROON TRIBUNE'.

BUT WITH THE LAW ON SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS, WHICH GUARANTEED A
FREE PRESS, THE NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS MUSHROOMED TO OVER 65, MOST
OF THEM WEEKLY TABLOIDS.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE RAFT OF NEW PUBLICATIONS AND THE
GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA HAVE BEEN ROCKY.

THE SURGE OF INDEPENDENT PAPERS, AFTER DECADES OF CENSORSHIP,
HAS SENT THE CIRCULATION OF THE 'CAMEROON TRIBUNE' PLUMETING FROM
45,000 IN 1988 FOR THE FRENCH EDITION, TO 2,000 IN 1993.


THE GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ABLE TO KEEP THE VOICE OF THE
OPPOSITION OFF THE STATE-RUN RADIO AND TELEVISION NETWORK, CRTV.

BIYA, WHO TRANSFORMED HIS ONE PARTY STATE INTO A MULTI-PARTY
DEMOCRACY AND WON CONTROVERSIAL ELECTIONS IN 1992, WOULD PREFER
NOT TO GIVE THEM AN OPPORTUNITY THROUGH INDEPENDENT BROADCASTERS,
OR LOSE CRTV'S CAPTIVE AUDIENCE.

KONTCHOU HOWEVER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT A HEAD OF STEAM IS BUILDING
AMONG THE PUBLIC, TIRED OF CRTV'S DAILY DIET. HE BELIEVES
PERMISSION WILL "SOON" BE GRANTED FOR PRIVATE OPERATORS.

THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS HAS ALREADY RECEIVED ABOUT 50
APPLICATIONS FROM BOTH CAMEROONIAN AND FOREIGN INTERESTS TO SET UP
PRIVATE RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS.

THE FRENCH CABLE TELEVISION NETWORK, 'CANAL HORIZONS', HAS
MUSCLED ITS WAY TO THE TOP OF THE LIST.

ITS FRENCH OWNERS AND THEIR CAMEROONIAN PARTNERS, WELL-PLACED
GOVERNMENT FIGURES, ARE PRESSING TO BE GRANTED A LICENCE AHEAD OF
THEIR COMPETITORS.

'CANAL HORIZONS' CAN CALL ON THE SUPPORT OF THE SECRETARY-
GENERAL AT THE PRESIDENCY -- THE COUNTRY'S DE FACTO NUMBER TWO --
JOSEPH OWONA, AND FORMER INFORMATION MINISTER AND CRTV BOARD
CHAIRMAN, HENRI BANDOLO.

THEY, TOGETHER WITH CANAL HORIZONS LEADING LOBBYIST IN
CAMEROON, HERVE BOURGES, A CLOSE FRIEND OF BIYA, HAVE HOWEVER MET
STIFF RESISTANCE FROM COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER KONTCHOU.

ACCORDING TO A CLOSE AIDE TO KONTCHOU, THE MINISTER IS
ESPECIALLY ANNOYED THAT 'CANAL HORIZON' ALSO WANTS GUARANTEES THAT
THEY WILL BE THE ONLY INDEPENDENT OPERATORS.

"IF SUCH A FAVOUR WERE GRANTED," ACCORDING TO THE SOURCE,
"IT WILL MEAN THAT ANY OTHER PRIVATE RADIO OR TELEVISION STATION
CAN ONLY OPERATE IN THE COUNTRY WITH THE APPROVAL OF 'CANAL
HORIZON'. THE MINISTER DOES NOT WANT TO HEAR THIS".

THE DECISION IS HOWEVER DOWN TO BIYA, THE MAN WHO HAS SUFFERED
MOST AT THE HANDS OF THE PRIVATE PRESS FROM STRAIGHTFORWARD
LAMPOONING, TO ACERBIC EDITORIALS.

DESPITE THE PUBLIC PRESSURE, AND THE GENTLE PERSUASION FROM THE
'CANAL HORIZON' LOBBYISTS, THE DECREE ON LICENSING MAY REMAIN
GATHERING DUST IN THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE FOR SOME TIME TO COME.
(END/IPS/TM/OA/94).

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