CI-NEWS

The Responsability of Political Organisations in the Construction of Social Cohesion.

2019-06-18

No: 432

The Responsability of Political Organisations in the Construction of Social Cohesion.

Thank you Mr. Moderator for giving me the floor with your permission Mr. Modérator, I wish to begin by thanking the executive Bureau of PATRIOTS ALLIANCE and its scientific committee for associating me to be part of today’s conference /debate . It is indeed an honour to be part of a pedagogic exchange among the free citizens that we are with a view to keeping our Nation United , peaceful and socially cohesive . Philosophically , I share with Patriots Alliance the Dictum that Nation Before Everything.

Your excellencies
Esteemed Copanelists
Distinguished participants and invitees
Ladies and gentlemen

As assigned, my presentation is entitled; THE RESPONSIBILITY OF POLITICAL ORGANISATIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL COHESION IN A UNITARY, MULTICULTURAL AND MULTI LINGUAL STATE/NATION SUCH AS CAMEROON

Given the title and subject my presentation has four parts:

Parts I: focuses on what is a political organisation and what is social cohesion

Part II: focuses on what is the relevance of political organisation and how important or relevant are they to construct social cohesion

Part III : focuses on what are the challenges of constructing social cohesion by political parties in a Unitary Cameroon Multicultural and Multilingual.

And Part IV: Focuses on what are the perspectives for social cohesion through political organisations in the framework of our decentralised , multicultural unitary state. For those with a background in political science , political sociology, public and constitutional law, there is extensive literature on the concept or meanings of social cohesion and how it is constructed .This is what Part I of my presentation focuses on.

Part II:

Thus, based on the available literature , social cohesion is a social setting or situation in which there exist bonds or relationships that link members of a given society to one another as individuals , as groups and as a community as a whole. As a social construction, social cohesion has the following observable, measurable and verifiable elements: 1 shared values 2 shared challenges 3 a sense of common belonging , 4 interdependence links 5 the absence of group or intergroup conflicts of an ethnic, linguistic, racial, religious, or sectarian origin 6 high numbers of friendships and other intimate links such as marriages , 7 mutual trust, tolerance and reciprocal positive attitudes 8, a sense of common belonging and participation. In many ways, the concept of social cohesion and living together are two sides of the same currency. These characteristics of the concept of social cohesion are generally promoted and preserved by three main institutional policy factors namely 1: social inclusion 2 social capital 3 social mobility. Without these three institutional policy factors, social cohesion tends to be exposed to dangers or threats .This is where the state, its institutions and political organisations come in to play in the construction and preservation of social cohesion.

From political science literature and to some extent, political sociology, the concept of political organisation denotes all those associations , formations or groupings of peoples, citizens of a given political entity be it a city, a region or a sovereign state /nation whose raison d’être or reason for creation of the association is to access political power directly or indirectly.

Generally, political organisations are of different types depending upon the type of political system and the type of state and Government. In political systems where the state and Government are of a type where there is freedom, democracy and the protection of human rights and human dignity , political organisations tend to be mostly political parties while the other non political organisations such as NGOS , churches, trade unions , cultural and professional associations are referred to as Civil Society Organisations.

In Non Democratic political systems where the type of state and Government are more of authoritarian or dictatorships, political organisations are either a legal single ruling party or organisation and illegal revolutionary and rebel organisations that seek to access power by illegal and often undemocratic methods.

In the case of Cameroon which is a political system that is a Republic with a form of state which is Unitary and decentralised and a governmental type that is a semi presidential, multiparty democracy based on human freedoms and human rights , political organisations are essentially political parties whose raison d’être is to access political power and preserve it. In the current political landscape, there are about 300 of these political organisations called political parties amongst which is the one which as you know I belong to and support which is the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement.

This definitional or conceptual discussion takes us to part II of my presentation which focuses on the Question: what is the responsibility of political organisations such as political parties ( like the CPDM and the others ) in the construction of social cohesion. In other words , How relevant , how important are these political organisations called political parties in the construction of social cohesion.

Part II:

Political parties as political organisations essentially are political machines or instruments created by free citizens around a set of ideas which some refer to as ideology and others as dogma or Doctrine. Whether the ideas are ideologies, dogma or doctrine, the ideas around which political parties as political organisations focus on are usually stated in their fundamental texts , constitutions , by laws, charters or circulars, white papers etc.

As political machines, political parties give themselves a physical identity (name, motto flag and other emblems). They also give themselves an organisational or structural functional organigram, create an administrative bureaucracy, and appoint their members to various functions, set up cells and organs to cover geopolitical space and assign objectives to themselves. They generally seek material and financial funds and carry out campaigns (reorganisations, voter registration electioneering and statutory and non statutory meetings such as conferences, seminars and training activities.

In this mode, Political parties determine their chances of accessing power or not at any given moment when in power, such as it is the case with the CPDM and its allied political parties , they enjoy privileged status in the political equation in the following ways:

they have their members occupy important state functions
They are close to the state and its power centres
They dominate in the state power dispensation
They enjoy the benefits of privilege and patronage
They also benefit from power incumbency ( comparative and competitive advantages)
While in power, these political organisations have the duty and they often ensure that the state policies are well defined and executed successfully . They also ensure that the greatest majority of the people in their individuality or as groups, benefit from the policies of the state especially as pertains to issues of social cohesion. Finally, they ensure that the state’s unity, power and the laws that the state uses to govern are good laws that respect and satisfy the greatest majority. In short, political parties in power ensure that the state does not fail in its regal integrity and mission.

However, when political parties are not in power, they have to be extremely intelligent in their structural organisation , in their communication strategies and in their political training , voter registration and electioneering campaigns.

The more creative, intelligent and visionary they are, the better their chances of accessing political power and the less creativity , rationnality and intelligent , they are, the lesser their chances of accessing political power.

But beyond accessing political power, all political parties as political organisations, whether in power or not, have the responsibility to ensure social cohesion in the following ways;

They have to manifest a high sense of patriotism
They have to be sensitive to the sociological composition of the state
They have to be purposeful and deliberate in attracting militants from all the sociological components of the state
They have to promote ideas of social inclusion, social mobility and equity and justice in capital distribution
They have avoid bathing in the comfort zone of tribal, ethnic, verbal, linguistic or religious or cultural exclusion
They must show respect for the institutions and laws of the state
They must learn to be civil and tolerant of others who are in opposition to them
They have to portray the image of the champion of social cohesion and the Unity of the Nation and the promoter of living together as one people under one state /Nation , one Government, one territory and the same laws and constitution. Failure to acquire or develop a pro living together and Pro Unity or patriotism image and modus operandi, they decline and if not lucky, they disappear in inconsequence.

PART III

This takes us to Part III of my presentation which focuses on the question: What are the challenges of constructing social cohesion by political organisations in a multicultural , multilingual unitary state such as ours -Cameroon.

As I stated earlier, failure by any political party or parties to develop a pro living together or Pro Unity of the Nation mode is tantamount to failing to meet the challenges that political organisations encounter in a given state especially such as ours whose Unity is naturally , historically, politically and socially multicultural and multilingual .

The question is for us to state what are the challenges that political parties must meet in their construction of social cohesion in the context of a multicultural and multilingual Unitary state such as Cameroon:

They must demonstrate a knowledge and mastery of the history, the sociology and the politics of the nation
They must possess good political training Mechanisms
They must be creative not only in their political training, but also in their recruitment , their geo political implantation and their electioneering techniques
They must be seen to be patriots
They must conduct themselves as law abiding citizens
They must learn to reach out and liaise with other political organisations, civil society and non partisan cultural professional groups
They must learn how to establish positive links rather than negative, combative and conflicting fights with the state and its institutions and other groups
They must avoid instrumentalising some social groups to the detriment or exclusion of other social groups .This means they must denounce tribalism , egoistic religions or gender conflicts
They must avoid any semblance of political extremism and must publicly denounce any such manifestation of extremism whatever its source.

This takes us to the last part of my presentation which is part IV.

PART IV:

The focus of this part looks at the perspectives for social cohesion by political organisations as political parties.

The current sociopolitical and security crisis in the NW and SW regions of our country carries at least one lesson which has a bearing on the construction of social cohesion in our multicultural and multilingual Unitary state context. As a Unitary state decentralised as 10 regions and 360 local councils, political parties as political organisations should learn the great lesson of what role a political party has to play to remain relevant within the framework of the Unity of the state and social cohesion .

Political parties have to learn that to stay relevant and responsible in the construction of social cohesion they cannot ignore or fail to respect the foundations and the integrity of the Union especially in its decentralised form because decentralisation places demands on the peripheral decentralised Units ( which are the regions and local councils to be mindful of the Unity of the state and Nation and that decentralisation no matter whatever form or degree it takes , does not in any way imply or give room for social conflict , national disunity or secession.

In conclusion, it is obvious that having just celebrated the 47th anniversary of our union as a unitary decentralised state, political parties in power and out of power should be reawakened to the duty to organise and conduct themselves with the duty to organise and conduct themselves in ways that promote both social cohesion and national unity if they hope to remain relevant as they embark on the path of dialogue to solve the sociopolitical crisis in the NW and the SW and as the nation prepares to conduct another series of local elections.

Thank you for listening and your KIND attention.

By Prof Elvis Ngolle Ngolle.

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The Responsability of Political Organisations in the Construction of Social Cohesion.