The art of nation-building is not only a progressive endeavour, but also a challenging task that is most often misconstrued even by those who ought to know better. In Africa, the issue has been compounded by the multiple foreign or received inffluences that have impacted the lives of most African nations. Consequently, there are people who have taken advantage of globalisation and the communication opportunities that the Internet offers to send out wrong signals concerning the reality in their own countries.

In the case of Cameroon, President Paul Biya stated on November 3, 2011 during his investiture for the current seven-year tenure that “The exemplary republic which we are building is a republic that is open to constructive criticisms, with no one laying claim to monopoly over the truth. An exemplary republic is a republic where freedom, tolerance and civic behaviour exist.” One can readily understand that such an assertion by the Head of State is in response to those who spend time denigrating the country at various levels in the hope that only their own version of the truth will be supported.

Yet, no one would argue the fact that although universal values related to the principles of democracy, freedom, and human rights do exist, the application of these values face several obstacles that must be examined with clairvoyance, tact, and determination if a given nation has to survive the daily odds that it faces. With the mosaic linguistic-ethnic picture that Cameroon presents, the task is even more demanding. It is therefore imperative that those who manage day-to-day affairs of State in Cameroon should take the centre stage in letting, especially the foreign friends of Cameroon, to have first hand information on what is going on in the country.

Speaking after her audience with the Head of State, President Paul Biya in Geneva last Monday February 20, 2012, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva gave strong impressions about the wrong picture that Washington DC had of Cameroon. “I came away with such clear impression about the significant progress that is being made in Cameroon and that the impression, perhaps, in Washington is not strong enough in terms of the progress that is actually being made,” she stated.

In effect, prior to the close to one-hour audience with President Biya, the senior US official held talks in Cameroon a week earlier with Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang, the Minister of External Relations, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the Minister of Women’s Affairs and the Family, Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, the President of the Electoral Board of Elections Cameroon, Samuel Fonkam Azu’u, and the President of the National Commission of Human Rights and Freedoms, Divine Chemuta Banda. Meeting with the Head of State therefore simply helped the American guest to corroborate and confirm the bigger picture she made of the management of State affairs in Cameroon. It was therefore understandable that she promptly opted to be an advocate of Cameroon as far as the “values of democracy, liberalisation, and of corruption and progress,” are concerned in Cameroon adding that there was need for “high-level communication between Washington and your capital so that we can make sure our partnership is even stronger than it has been in the past.” Donahoe’s visit therefore not only gave Cameroon and the United States of America the opportunity to solidify bilateral ties, but it also offered Cameroon a chance to state the managerial options that the country is taking. It would therefore not be an overstatement to say that the visit equally served as a tonic in relations between Yaounde and Washington DC.