Civil society and democratization: the Cameroonian 
experience 
OBEN TIMOTHY MBUAGBO1 AND CELESTINA NEH FRU2 
ABSTRACT 
This paper attempts to identify a new orientation for civil society in 
a Cameroon dangling on the eaves of democratic transition. It 
points to civil society's current deficiencies in its efforts to assert 
itself successfully as an important and central player in effecting 
political and social change. This is blamed on government's unwillingness 
to introduce genuine democratic reforms because 
anti-democratic forces remain strong and on the lack of political 
organization and effective mobilization of civil society movements 
themselves, due in part to parochialism expressed in the form of 
ethnicism and regionalism. It outlines the potential of civil society 
by drawing inspiration from the activities of some civil society 
organizations like the Church and concludes that an integration of 
traditional social structures such as kinship associations and a 
revamping of the objectives of civil society could constitute a 
springboard for popular participation. This could usher in a 
sustainable democratic transition process in Cameroon. 
KEYWORDS 
civil society, democratization, ethnicity, governance, human rights, media 
Background 
The end of the twentieth century witnessed an increase in the debate over 
the role citizens could play in the struggle to construct viable and 
sustainable democracies in sub Saharan Africa. This new urgency, 
coming in the wake of the massive failure by totalitarian regimes to ensure 
minimal social, economic and political resources for most of their citizens 
1 and 2 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social and 
Management Sciences, University of Buea, P.O. Box 63. Buea, Cameroon 
VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 133
and the deepening crisis of underdevelopment, have increased 
pressure—both internal and external—on states to democratize. More 
especially, the question has revolved around what strategies, options 
and forces could be harnessed to promote a democratic transition within 
internationally recognized norms, while taking into consideration the 
local history and the political and economic peculiarities of the state or 
region. In response to these concerns a new consensus has emerged in 
the international community on the importance of citizens and citizens' 
movements to nurture institutions and practices that are conducive to 
the establishment of viable democratic institutions and traditions 
In a country like Cameroon, which is still struggling to emerge from 
the vestiges of one-party rule, the challenge to civil society is to create 
an awareness in citizens that will encourage them to take responsibility 
for their individual and collective destiny. The individual and collective 
liberties that are enshrined in the letter and spirit of the national 
Constitution have not yet been brought out of the pages of documents 
and given practical expression. Civil society is increasingly being 
identified as an invaluable player in creating and fostering a new 
democratic ethos and the present system of governance, which could 
be described as a Constitution without constitutionalism, can be 
redressed with the help of a strong, vibrant and empowered civil society. 
Civil society should be broadly understood as the domain of nonkinship 
based contractual relations comprising non-governmental 
organizations, professional associations, interest groups, such as credit 
and development associations which exist independently of the state's 
sovereign bailiwick, but at the same time are capable of bringing pressure 
to bear on the state. For Carothers (2000) "civil society helps advance 
democracy, discipline the state, ensure that citizens interest are taken 
seriously, foster greater civil and political participation". In a similarvein, 
Fatton Jr. (1995) conceives of civil society as a critical element of 
democratization and argues that the current failure of the process of 
democratization in Africa hinges, in part, on the failure of states to 
respond to the pressing demands of their people. Popular frustration with 
this state of affairs is sometimes expressed through mass political defiance 
such as strikes and protest marches. In Cameroon mass political rallies 
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and protest marches have frequently gone ahead in defiance of banning 
orders from over-zealous local level administrative officers backed by 
trigger-happy policemen. 
Civil society is concerned with a gamut of themes. These include the 
environment, human rights, women's issues, election monitoring, anticorruption 
crusades and so on. To attain these goals, civil society has 
the responsibility to construct institutions that defend basic individual 
and community rights and, to do so, citizens must see themselves as 
active participants in the construction of this liberty. According to 
Galston (1997) this requires broad-based dialogue among citizens and 
collective action to get rid of dictators and dictatorship. 
In a study of political transitions in Africa, Osaghae (1995) says that 
civil society, consisting of the "non-statist organizations that occupy 
the political and social space between the individual and the state", has 
historically functioned to limit the power of the state. To achieve this 
and to arrive at various indices of democracy such as accountability, 
civil society should have the capacity to "check the transition process 
from backsliding". In other words, the momentum for the struggle to 
build a strong democracy should be kept up as long as certain individuals 
and groups are denied their basic rights. In the view of Hyden (1995) 
such forces should be kept fully alive until the disenfranchized segments 
of the population become incorporated in the democratic train. 
The potential of civil society in Cameroon has not yet been fully 
evaluated, however, and Yenshu (2001) has raised the question as to 
whether talk about the role civil society could play in promoting 
democracy is only a matter of ideological conviction, given its current 
inability to influence democratic governance significantly. The relevance 
of this question lies in the discrepancy between the large numbers of 
civil society groups and associations that exist currently and their 
perceived and actual impact on the democratization process. In Cameroon 
this is yet to be determined. 
The bumpy road towards democratic transition 
A consideration of the impact of civil society on the decade-old 
re 
VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 135
of its life course. On the downside, the civil society movement has 
demonstrated its limits as a viable guarantor of the rights and liberties 
of ordinary men and women. These restrictions can be blamed, in part, 
on government's reluctance to liberalize effectively national political 
life because those with a vested interest in the regime are intent on 
maintaining the status quo. They can also be attributed to the poor 
organization of civil society organizations arising from their own internal 
contradictions: contradictions that are largely fuelled by the state. 
Konings and Nyamnjoh (1997) argue that the government's introduction 
of a measure of political liberalization in 1990 was not without pressures 
from within and without. The extent of this openness is questionable 
because of widely reported incidences of human rights abuses within 
the country. The chairman of the government's own human rights 
organization, the National Commission on Human Rights, points to the 
rampant violation of human rights and the fact that these abuses continue 
unabated, despite all efforts to stop them. He says "the situation of 
human rights in our country today leaves much to be desired" (Freedom 
Fomm200l). 
In this atmosphere, where basic rights are denied citizens, civil society 
has failed to mobilize^ itself for a more democratic social and political 
order. It has fallen prey to what Nyamnjoh (1999) describes as the politics 
of regional and ethnic balance. By awarding juicy positions and 
government contracts to elites and by making them actually compete 
for these positions and contracts, elites from different regions perceive 
one another either as their potential or their actual rivals. This has 
helped to stall the democratic process and heighten individual and 
regional interests and civil society is incapable of coming up with viable 
alternatives to the current system of governance that includes a number 
of relics of the erstwhile one-party state, namely, its institutions, laws 
and political practices. The image portrayed of the president of the 
Republic as a super-leader who exhibits unquestionable magnanimity 
by doling out gifts, including "democracy", to Cameroonians, is still a 
perennial feature on the state-controlled Cameroon radio and television. 
Such features only indicate the reluctance by the regime to liberalize the 
media fully and enter the highway of genuine participatory democracy. 
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The example of the media's inability to rise above sectarian politics in 
Cameroon and to serve as a catalyst in efforts to build a genuine1 
democratic culture is illustrative of this trend. 
a) The case of the media . 
The national press is yet to become a real force in efforts to build a more 
democratic society because of contradictions arising from the 
exploitation of the press for personal and ethnic ends by certain 
segments of the population. This has torpedoed the development of 
genuine democratic institutions in Cameroon. Ethnic and sectional 
loyalties and the attachment of these writers to their own place of origin 
are in a large measure responsible for the failure of the press to crystallize 
into a real watchdog of and spokesman for the democratic aspirations 
of Cameroonians. Rather than censoring the actions of the government 
and those groups that are judged hostile to the welfare of citizens, no 
matter from what part of the country they come, the press has 
degenerated into a theatre of ideological warfare in which people and 
groups are criticized and labelled, not so much for their social actions, 
as for where they come from and what political inclinations they express. 
This tribalization and sectionalization of the media has led to the 
evolution of extra-professional considerations in reporting and 
interpreting news events, depending on which part of the country the 
reporter or owner of the press organ comes. 
As a result, instead of serving the interest of Cameroonians. the 
press has assumed a highly partisan role, dividing citizens along tribal 
cum political lines. As Nyamnjoh (1997) demonstrates, sectarian 
tendencies are reproduced in the media and the media's democratic 
objectives have been jettisoned in favour of more parochial 
considerations, such as the desire to share in the spoils of office. National 
political issues and debates are articulated in a highly parochial manner, 
as the chief editor in the Cameroon Post (1992. in Nyamnjoh 1997) 
admits: 
One thing only the most dishonest journalist can refute about the 
political coverage of events in this country so far is the fact thai 
journalists have not exhibited that much professional probity. And 
VOL 18 NO 2 JUIY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 137
I don't exclude myself from this accusation.... We have allowed 
ourselves to be swept away by our clannish, regional and, sadly 
enough, even linguistic leanings to the extent that we see no. 
news when it concerns the other side. 
Ndembiyembe (1997) corroborates this assertion, declaring that the press 
has of late provided the impetus to ethnic divisions in Cameroon: 
A celle s' ajoute done le developpement d'une presse liee bien a la 
tribu qu'a" la formation politique. Les particularisme sont ainsi 
magnifies et defendus ... On ne defend plus des idees ou une 
ideologic On defend la tribu a travers le parti politique et a travers 
la presse qui lui est fidele. 
This politicization and factionalization in the media, with respect to 
supporting efforts to build a viable democratic tradition, is shown by its 
failure to galvanize all citizens towards the highway of democracy. The 
role of informing and educating the public has been replaced by one 
aimed at disinforming them and caricaturing social realities to undermine 
democracy and popular participation. 
One example concerns reportage of the 1998 suspension of a 
charismatic catholic priest from the Buea Diocese by the Bishop of that 
diocese for alleged anti-Catholicism and failing to respect the religious 
hierarchy. This event saw the press splintered along regional cum 
ideological lines. For example, the Star Headlines, a local newspaper 
based in Limbe in the South West Province of Cameroon, was generally 
supportive of suspended Rev. Fr. Etienne, in opposition to the actions 
of Bishop Pius Awa, who comes from the North West Province, whom 
the paper describes as the "grassfield Bishop" and a "devil in cassock" 
and who has all along been a stumbling block on the progress of most 
south westerners (Star Headlines 1998). The newspaper editor, it should 
be said, comes from the same division (ethnic group) and province as 
the sanctioned Rev. Father. The paper, however, did not demonstrate 
the rationality and basis of its accusations. It simply ballooned out of 
the norms of proper journalism and fanned the flames of the long-running 
north-west and south-west political and social divide by injecting 
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indiscriminate doses of ethnicity and regionalism into a crisis that began 
primarily as a religious quarrel between Bishop Pius Awa and Fr. Etienne. 
The traditional political and social divide between these two provinces, 
the North West and South West, has become a perennial feature in the 
politics of regionalism in Cameroon and a stock-in-trade by Elites of 
both provinces, who exploit it for sectional and personal ends (Nkwi 
and Socpa 1997). The press, it would seem, has fallen prey to this divide. 
The Cameroon Panorama, a Catholic-owned newsletter, on the other 
side of the conflict, was generally critical of the actions of the "rebel" 
priest, and criticized other press organs which saw the event differently. 
It accused other newspapers of "bias" and being "anti-church" and 
said that the press had abused its freedom of expression by encouraging 
a campaign of calculated deviance by a priest against his Bishop "in a 
manner reckless, completely out of proportion and without the accurate 
investigation required by the norms of informed journalism" (Cameroon 
Panorama 1999). Though not reflecting regional tendencies, the 
Panorama also sinned against the norms of journalism. In trying to 
protect the Catholic Church, it saw no merit whatever in the actions of 
the "rebel" priest and was decidedly one-sided in reporting the events 
surrounding the controversy between the bishop and the priest. This 
polarization of the media and lack of respect for the ethics of journalism 
only weakens the democratic option embarked upon since the 
liberalization of the press, following the re-introduction of multiparty 
politics more that a decade ago. Is shows its inability to build a consensus 
as to what represent the norms of proper journalism in Cameroon. 
These internal contradictions lead one to agree with Fatton Jr. 
(1995:72-77) that the civil society does not embody a coherent social 
project for, by its very nature, it is a plurality exhibiting "contradictory 
historical processes of competing social actors". In Cameroon civil 
society has degenerated into dissenting factions, with none offering a 
clear, coherent and consistent blueprint of the type of societal project it 
envisages for Cameroonians. But such contradictions could offer 
advantages, if well managed and channelled towards a positive direction. 
This could come about through sincere debates and the emergence of 
consensus among the various segments of civil society and could serve 
VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 139
as both a foundation and as building blocks for encouraging a 
democratic mentality in Cameroonians. There is a creative potential that 
arises from contesting and competing political, ideological and scientific 
perspectives: this has historically been the engine for positive social 
action in other countries. While all sectors can claim their mutual 
independence, there could be a cross-fertilization of mutually beneficial 
ideas between the different elements of civil society. Such ideas could 
be inspired and instructed by the desire to build a strong and selfsustaining 
democratic culture on the basis of Cameroon's cultural and 
historical peculiarities. 
In spite of these shortcomings, civil society can still play a valuable 
role in forging democracy and participatory governance in Cameroon. 
The efforts deployed by the Church in this domain is illuminating and 
offers a glimmer of hope. The Church has thrown its full weight behind 
the efforts of Cameroonians of goodwill by drawing the attention of the 
state to gross human rights abuses, crushing poverty, bribery and 
corruption, electoral fraud and the tribalism that characterize the state 
and Cameroonians today. Through Pastoral Letters addressed to the 
government and the public, interviews in journals and newspapers by 
some members of the clergy and critical articles in church-owned 
newsletters, the Church has intervened by expressing its concern on 
different political, social and economic crises that mar the image of 
Cameroon as a country. 
b) The case of the Catholic Church 
The problem of political realism formulated by Machiavelli was revisited 
by the Bishops of Cameroon in an attempt to draw the attention of 
leaders, citizens and the state to the fact that politics and morality, 
contrary to the view of Machiavelli, are not mutually exclusive. In their 
open letter to all Cameroonians (Pastoral Letter, 2000), the Bishops insist 
on the fact that being in authority or in high office does not imply moral 
and legal immunity to the laws of the state, saying that this attitude 
contradicts the very idea of statehood. As a consequence of this 
disregard for morals, many violations of human rights have been 
recorded. 
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An editorial in the Cameroon Panorama illustrates how easily human 
rights are violated because of the existence of laws which are not precise 
and are thus vulnerable to false interpretations by local administrative 
and political authorities for their own benefit, against the interest of 
precisely those whom the laws were meant to protect. For example, a 
1999 law quoted by the United States State Department Human Rights 
Report "permits detention without charge by administrative authorities 
for renewable periods of 15 days, ostensibly in order to combat banditry 
and maintain public order". 
This law explains why it was only after two years in detention that 
some 65 Anglophones (English-speaking Cameroonians; the majority 
being French-speaking) were tried in court. They had been arrested and 
accused in March 1997 of participating in armed attacks against 
government installations in the North West Province. The prosecution 
was unable to produce eyewitnesses who could link each of the accused 
to the alleged crimes and those who did appear offered contradictory 
testimony. In October 1999 a military tribunal in Yaounde convicted 37 
of the accused, sentencing three to life imprisonment and 34 to terms 
ranging from one to 20 years. The tribunal acquitted 28 defendants, 
some of whom had been detained for 30 months, during which at least 
eight of the persons originally arrested in this case died in custody as a 
result of the torture inflicted on many of them (Cameroon Panorama 
2000). 
In the same vein, and in an effort to fight growing insecurity stemming 
mainly from poverty and unemployment, an operational command force 
was created at the beginning of the year 2000 by the government. Many 
extra-judicial killings by this elite force were reported (Nouvelle 
Expression 2001). These killings became famous with the disappearance 
of nine youths from the Bepanda neighbourhood, one of the residential 
quarters in the city of Douala. This particular incident was later called 
the "Bepanda Affair". The role of the.Catholic Church in drawing up 
support for the nine and its condemnation of the Operational Command 
Force for their alleged involvement was led by Cardinal Christian Tumi 
of the Douala Diocese. Described by some as "Le Cardinal rebel" he 
firmly condemned these extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the 
VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 141
government through the Operational Command. In a letter UeuneAfrique 
Economie 2000) addressed to the Governor of the Littoral Province, he 
writes: "Depuis la mise en place du Commandemant Operationnnel, de 
nombreux cas de tortures, de blessures graves et d'assassinats sont 
signale's sur des victimes innocents ou peut-etre coupables, mais 
exe'cutee's sans jugement'...". 
On account of these statements, the government reacted: firstly, 
through the Governor of the Littoral Province, who accused the Cardinal 
of supporting criminals. Then the Minister of Territorial Administration, 
Ferdinand Koungo Edima, also accused the Cardinal of harbouring 
presidential ambitions (Cameroon Panorama 2001a). A military captain 
accused the Cardinal of being in league with the Social Democratic 
Front, a frontline opposition party, to import arms into the country. He 
claimed the arms were brought in "to increase organized crime, cause 
riots and thus chase [away] president Paul Biya" (The Post 2001). 
These allegations simply portray the efforts by the government to 
discredit the Cardinal's crusade for a society that respects human rights 
and the rule of law. The fight for this cause by the Catholic Church is 
also seen through the existence of numerous church groups and 
organizations, whose main objective is to fight against human rights 
abuses. The Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture is one 
example. This group is active in the domain of human rights and this is 
reflected by the topic chosen by members to meditate upon on the 
occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights by this Bamenda-based Catholic association. The topic chosen 
was "Torture and Human Rights". The main speaker of the occasion. 
Archbishop Paul Verdzekov of Bamenda, condemned the frequency of 
beatings of detainees and the use of torture by armed forces, calling for 
an "absolute and unconditional rejection of torture" (Cameroon 
Panorama2001c). 
The clergy has been equally active in drawing the attention of the 
government to the evils of corruption, a vice which has made Cameroon 
infamous, in 1998 and 1999, as the most corrupt country in the world 
(Transparency International, in Bishops of Cameroon 2000). In the 
pastoral letter signed by all the Bishops of Cameroon, concerns are 
142 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003
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expressed with regard to the harmful consequences of corruption for 
the state and citizens and they lament President Biya's inability to 
prevent the flight of capital from the country. They express their fear 
that the new generation of Cameroonians will eventually be made up 
only of those who do not know the difference between what is right and 
wrong and are ignorant of the right way to acquire wealth, saying: 
children in our country are born and grow up nowadays in a 
climate of corruption which destroys their consciences from a 
very early age, by making them believe that success comes about 
not through study and honest work, but by deceit and theft! 
(Cameroon Panorama 2001c). 
To emphasize the need to fight against corruption and to buttress their 
own commitment to doing so, the Catholic Church invokes the presence 
of the deity with a prayer designed to sensitize Christians and 
Cameroonians on the mismanagement of Cameroon's resources and to 
change the consciences of the leaders of Cameroon. The prayer is 
reproduced in full: 
Heavenly Father, 
You always provide for all your creatures so that all may live as 
you have willed. 
You have blessed our country Cameroon with rich human and . 
natural resources, to be used to your honour and glory, and for 
the well being of every Cameroonian. We are deeply sorry for the 
wrong use of these your gifts and blessings through acts of 
injustice, bribery and corruption, as a result of which many of our 
people are hungry, sick, ignorant and defenceless. 
Father, you alone can heal us and our nation of this scourge. 
We beg you, touch our lives and the lives of our leaders and 
people, so that we may all realize the evil of bribery and corruption, 
and work hard to eliminate it. 
Raise up for us God-fearing people and leaders who care for us, 
and who will lead us in the path of justice, peace and prosperity. 
We ask this through Christ Our I ,ord. Amen (Bishops of Cameroon 
2000). 
VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 143
Takougang and Krieger (1998) point to the fact that other mainstream 
confessional Christians have added their own critical voices to the 
social, economic and political malaise Cameroon is experiencing and 
their role in creating awareness in citizens needs to be recognized. This, 
they argue, serves to deny "the regime and its erstwhile political class 
a full measure of support and consent, an uncontested hegemony, 
moving from ambiguous silence to political awakening". 
The challenges 
The challenges to civil society in emerging democracies are daunting, 
especially in contexts where they are generally subsumed by antidemocratic 
politicians and bureaucrats under opposition political parties, 
intent on taking control of the institutions of the state. Repressive 
juridical and press laws have often been invoked to keep their activities 
on the periphery, out of the mainstream of social and political activity. 
These restrictions can, however, be surmounted if civil society 
undertakes to reorganize itself structurally with a well-defined focus 
and if recourse is made to long-standing traditional social structures for 
possible guidance. 
a) Reorganize civil society 
In the present circumstance where juridical and political provisions are 
aimed at controlling the activities of civil society, it should be able to 
mount a passive resistance to such control, at least by reorganizing 
itself by creating groups capable of defending citizens' rights against 
wanton abuse. It has the further challenge of undoing political and 
bureaucratic structures and mentalities associated with dictatorship 
and. through positive engagement, initiate a paradigm shift towards 
participatory governance. 
Nyamnjoh (1999:104) points out that attempts to empower civil society 
have met with little success because it is poorly organized, "preferring 
to go in for sinecures rather than fight for professional interest". In the 
same way Yenshu (2001:1-14) links this weakness of civil society in 
Cameroon to weak social mobilization, exemplified by its incapacity to 
influence the direction of political and social debates and also to the 
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existence of repressive laws that do not favour its development. In the 
practical arena it has been impotent in the face of a series of summary 
executions and, most recently, by the refusal by local administrative 
officials for various political motives to register citizens on electoral 
lists (LeMessager 2002). 
To transcend these limitations, civil society should develop its 
capacity and influence into a global national network capable of 
developing a more consistent and coherent democratic discourse and 
promoting practices and attitudes that defend the fundamental rights 
of citizens. It should strive to guarantee their obligations to one another 
and the state by holding them accountable with respect to the laws of 
the country and in terms of established democratic principles.. This 
requires a synergy among the various elements of civil society to bring 
pressure to bear on all anti-democratic forces in the state that debar the 
participation of citizens in the decision-making process. The experience 
in many African countries, notably in South Africa prior to the 
dismemberment of apartheid, could be replicated in Cameroon. The 
contributions of mass political mobilization and awareness-building 
among civil society organizations to achieve ongoing social 
transformation in South Africa, such as the Black Consciousness 
Movement, black workers organizations, schools and universities and 
Churches, should serve to inspire budding civil society organizations 
in Cameroon (Orkin 1995). 
This capacity to mobilize should be built on informing, educating, 
lobbying—nationally and internationally—and, above all, by resisting 
the temptation to accept funds that compromise their independence 
and critical objectives. Such objectives would normally revolve around 
the general and universal values of justice, equality and equity; all of 
which run counter to the present parochial considerations animating 
many civil society organizations in Cameroon today. 
b) Harness traditional social structures 
The idea of civil society is not new. but what is new is its organization 
within the modern state and its assumption of a global character. Oliveira 
and Tandon (1994) say that human beings have always come together 
VOL 18 NO 2 JULY 2003 JOURNAL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 145
for a common cause and the gregarious nature of humankind is expressed 
in an associational life of diverse character and objectives. This human 
solidarity, with its historic and philosophical origin, has come to be 
called civil society and nowadays requires greater citizen participation 
and influence in the affairs of modern states than ever before. 
Today, there is empirical evidence of the existence of a plethora of 
movements in Cameroon within civil society, but most of these are 
organized in major towns and cities. They must be relocated to sub 
national levels and built up, from community levels upwards. Using 
Ekeh's concept of "two publics" Olowu (1995) stresses that the 
dichotomy between what is local and the national interest is somehow 
responsible for the current social gap between citizens at these respective 
regional levels. The citizen project needs to be revisited, especially as 
the mass of Cameroon's people live in the countryside. They need to be 
integrated into the new political culture; organized and educated. In 
addition a liberal system of information flow that transcends the present 
social and political chasm between these two realms must be established. 
It is true that life in rural Africa hinges on associations: this is an 
indication that ancient traditional social structures such as revolving 
credit associations and title societies3 need only to be developed and 
mobilized to give the majority of people a route to more effective 
participation in national political and social life. Their perennial and 
enduring nature means that they could be used effectively in the 
construction of institutions that defend basic human values. 
Conclusion 
Civil society has been identified as a critical agent in the democratization 
process in Cameroon. It remains one of the most viable and potent 
options for social change that is capable of drawing the attention of all 
citizens. As a eitizens' project it could tap into the roots of local culture 
and tradition, while at the same time embracing what is essentially a 
universal human value, such as the right to a religious belief. This 
3 Traditional social institutions that confer titles on individuals on the basis 
of their social achievement or contribution to the advancement of their 
society. 
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requires the total reorganization of the structures and forces of civil 
society to render it more meaningful and influential in the transition 
process. The attempts by the government to introduce limited democratic 
reforms have up till now fallen far short of expectations, as exemplified 
by widespread abuses of human rights and the most blatant forms of 
corruption reported in high places. This has exposed the degree.of the 
ineffectiveness of civil society in Cameroon in bringing about change. 
Only a thoroughgoing reform and the introduction of genuine democratic 
principles that incorporate the masses, especially the majority who live 
in the countryside, could serve as a lever in the entrenchment of a 
strong, democratic culture in Cameroonians. Civil society, which has 
the capacity to bring about such reforms, should be an active participant 
in this process. 
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