Clear Signs Of Transparency

Commentary.

People who had any axe to grind with anyone following the Eseka train accident on 21 October, 2016 must now be having a different view after the publication last Tuesday 23 May, 2017 of results of the enquiry headed by Prime Minister Head of Government, Philemon Yang. The alarming nature of the tragedy which saw over 70 deaths and hundreds of others injured let the Head of State to declare a day of National Mourning and create a Commission of enquiry to investigate the causes of the derailment, propose possible measures to limit similar disasters, apportion blame so that the responsibilities should be made clear.
Yet, sceptics quickly qualified all the decisions taken by the Head of State as a way of keeping Cameroonians in the dark and sealing vital information that could implicate certain individuals. Such conclusions came too quick and were far from the reality. Understandably those who lost relatives and loved ones in such a disaster could not be indifferent. In the same light, President Paul Biya could not have made any unacceptable compromises giving that Cameroonians and friends of the country were highly aggrieved as a result of the accident.
The technicalities involved in the investigations and the need for recourse to expert knowledge were such that the Commission ought to work with diligence in order to forward credible information to the Head of State. It was therefore obvious that the Commission should work under conditions of confidentiality to ensure that their findings do not elude any detail.
Without calling names and citing specific institutions, the conclusions of the report and the decisions taken by President Paul Biya leave no one in doubt that the enquiry was not only profound but carried no prejudice. For instance, transparency lesson number one is that nobody else could better account for such an accident other than the rail carrier, CAMRAIL. Secondly, the concessional agreement between the State and CAMRAIL signed on 19 January, 1999 may not have been public knowledge but the operational pattern of the company left no one in doubt that the component of intercity train for the movement of Cameroonians from across major towns in the country was grossly neglected. Asking for a review of such an accord now is just but obvious. Even the agreement envisaged the existence of a railway heritage management company that had never been put in place. Circumstances have now warranted that such measures come into existence and for the sake of giving Cameroonians full knowledge of the issues at stake. And, that is therapeutic enough.
Lesson number three falls directly on government short-comings in the management of major disas...

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