CAMCUL and the Ekondo Titi Mundemba Road: why the conversation matters more than the road.

*A deliberately disruptive idea whose time has come*

The proposal that CAMCUL could finance the Ekondo Titi Mundemba road will be viewed as unprecedented, unorthodox and even provocative.

That reaction is understable an intentional. The true value of this idea lies less in its technical feasibility (which exists if we dare to think) or ultimate success, than in the national conversation it forces, particularly within the Anglophone community, about agency, self reliance and how development is imagined and delivered.

This is not a proposal designed to replace the State or excuse decades of neglect.

It is a question posed deliberately to unsettle habits of thought that have produced endless diagnosis but very little movement.

*Indigenous finance and a persistent paradox*

 

CAMCUL is not an abstract institution.

It is a grassroots microfinance infrastructure with national and regional reach, built on trust based membership by thousands of ordinary Cameroonians, with particularly deep roots in the Northwest.

The Northwest holds the highest concentration of microfinance institutions in the country.

Paradoxically, it also records some of the highest poverty levels by population.

That contradiction deserves honest reflection.

It suggests that indigenous financial capacity exists, but has not yet been linked intentionally to transformative economic outcomes.

An infrastructure investment with interest, sourced locally and repaid locally, signals a shift toward indigenous macroeconomics.

Shareholders become stakeholders.

Savings begin to speak to development.

*Ndian, oil wealth and visible neglect*

The location of the road matters.

Ndian sits at the heart of one of the longest petroleum producing regions in Cameroon.

For decades, it has contributed a dominant share of national petroleum revenue.

 

Yet its road infrastructure remains among the worst in the country.

This visible neglect has become emblematic of a deeper governance failure.

Placing this discussion in Ndian forces a hard question.

If resource wealth has not delivered infrastructure through conventional channels, are alternative conversations not overdue?

*Productivity, PAMOL and shared benefit*

Ndian is also home to PAMOL, one of the largest employers in the South West after government and CDC.

A functional road would immediately improve productivity, reduce costs and stabilize livelihoods.

Given the high concentration of PAMOL workers from both the Northwest and the South West, a CAMCUL backed investment would send a powerful message.

 

Ordinary people can directly enable macroeconomic productivity that benefits them collectively.

*Sociopolitical signals and People Power*

The sociopolitical implications of this idea are profound.

Progressives will see a quiet revolution.

People power shaping national economic outcomes and strengthening sovereignty from the ground up.

A CAMCUL investment would affirm grassroots Anglophone financial capacity and solidarity, people investing in themselves for long term security and development.

Others will see it as threatening.

For elites accustomed to controlling or fragmenting independent economic power, a community based institution demonstrating financial muscle sets a dangerous precedent. It risks changing entrenched relationships and forcing cooperation between the Northwest and South West in ways long resisted.

*Beyond blame: toward a new mindset*

This proposal does not deny injustice.

It refuses paralysis.

It contrasts sharply with failed conventional approaches built on blame, accusations and the belief that government alone can deliver development.

It is not the only pathway forward.  It is one unprecedented and unorthodox idea with the power to shift thinking.

By even debating it seriously, we begin to imagine development driven by indigenous savings, aligned with sovereign resource wealth, rewarding social capital, easing intercommunal misunderstanding and restoring confidence in self-reliant action.

Sometimes, progress begins not with perfect plans, but with conversations bold enough to change how a people see themselves.