Since Saturday September 24, 2011 that campaigns officially began for the October 9, presidential election, voters should by now be working out what Cameroon will look like after the poll. With 23 candidates on roll, the trend will naturally be to woo voters through convincing arguments that carry with them efficient messages on how to make the people vote for any specific candidate. Such a posture is normal in any democracy, given that voters need to know why they must chose X and not Y candidate.

Going by what the candidates or their campaign agents have been selling out to voters, either on television, radio or in the print media, no one is in doubt that the country will not be the same again after October 9, 2011. But therein lies the problem of how far the voters should go in trusting politicians who either come to them only when in need of vital votes. While it is important that voters listen keenly to all the electoral promises, the need to make the difference between those who promise to build bridges where there are no rivers and concrete arguments based on achievements, cannot be overlooked.

However, a quick look at the political scene in Cameroon leaves one with the impression that despite the majority rural population and the good chunk of the population without access to education, the people are mature enough to know what they want. After all, most of them have been voting since the advent of multiparty democracy in the country in 1991. It therefore means that they know what decision to take once in the polling booth to choose the President for the Republic.

Some may see this argument as banal on grounds that most voters have often seen campaign promises through the prism of ethnicity, nepotism, regionalism and all the imaginable “isms”. Such a criticism is better understood when counter balanced with the manifestoes that the 23 presidential hopefuls are presenting to Cameroonians or even the lack of it by some of them.

Given the main premise that the candidates did not have to wait for ELECAM or the Supreme Court acting as the Constitutional Council to give its blessings before they start thinking of how to woo voters, an in-exhaustive list of the campaign promises may be interesting to present here.

For instance, Cameroonians are now being told that “Corruption will be eradicated,” “All children will be given jobs”, “Poverty shall cease to be a problem again in the country,” “There is going to be health care for all citizens,” and so on. That is legitimate though. But the question that must be answered at this time when promises are rife is: what are the strategies being put in place to ensure that the promises are fulfilled? Otherwise, this can also be time for reckoning and not just for promises. Of course, voters have the chance, more than ever before, to know in concrete terms what to expect in return for the precious votes cast.