According to Jean Rodrigue Atemengue, in a nation where a government reshuffle has been anticipated for months without action, the public discourse should not be consumed by a ball.

Citizens of Cameroun,

The national team failed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Our Lions Indomptables will not be participating in this major global event. Yet, we find ourselves once again trapped in petty disputes over football, federation controversies, and arguments about matches that do not even involve us. Meanwhile, the nation continues to suffer from deep and painful wounds.

A vital question arises: are our priorities in the right place?

What is even more concerning is that football, long used as a unifying force or a tool to overshadow national concerns, is failing even in its role as a distraction. The very instrument of this diversion is currently in a state of collapse.

Cameroonian football, which was once the pride of the continent and a symbol of a nation capable of competing with the world’s best, is now a mere shadow of its former glory. It is plagued by contested management, personal vendettas, constant scandals, and a federation perpetually mired in conflict. With crumbling infrastructure and young athletes left to fend for themselves, our failure to qualify is simply the logical conclusion of this systemic rot.

We are not going to the World Cup. Nonetheless, there is a persistent effort to keep football at the heart of public debate as if nothing has changed. It is a striking contradiction: the public is expected to remain obsessed with a sport that many now see as being in total decline.

The sport itself is not the enemy. Football remains a genuine passion and a source of national pride—a common language that unites millions across political, ethnic, and social divides. Figures like Samuel Eto’o are rightly respected for their legendary careers.

However, football cannot serve as a veil that hides the issues determining the future of our nation, especially when our team is absent from the world stage.

What should we actually be discussing?

In a country where a cabinet reshuffle has been expected for months but never arrives, the public conversation should not be monopolized by sports.

In a country where a special session of Parliament was called to amend the Constitution and establish a Vice-President position, yet that seat remains empty months after the law was passed, our institutional health should be the priority.

In a country that has not seen a Council of Ministers or a meeting of the Higher Judicial Council in years, the lack of institutional normalcy must be questioned.

In a country where ministers resign and are replaced by temporary officials for extended periods, and where high-ranking public servants pass away without being replaced, our focus belongs elsewhere.

In a country where a judge issues an arrest warrant only for memos to circulate telling police not to follow it, the state of our rule of law should be a greater concern than any FIFA ranking.

In a country where a court-ordered provisional release is publicly dismissed as a forgery, the integrity of our judicial system should be the primary concern of every citizen.

In a country where roads are falling apart, public projects are paid for but never finished, and access to clean water and electricity is a luxury for many, the cost of living and unemployment should be the main topics of conversation, not football.

Who benefits from this obsession?

Every time the public focus is steered toward a football scandal, vital issues are pushed into the background. Institutional, economic, and social crises lose their visibility while the hardships of the people remain unchanged.

Intellectuals, journalists, and community leaders have a specific duty here. To fill the public arena with sports drama while the country faces existential institutional questions is to choose noise over thought, and spectacle over substance.

This is not about giving up on football; it is about reorganizing our priorities.

Once our institutions function as they should, once our justice system earns our trust, once our roads are safe, and once our youth have jobs and basic services, then we can talk about football as much as we want.

But right now, making football our primary interest is an act of looking away from urgent challenges. Continuing to argue about a sport that is itself in crisis, as if it were still our greatest achievement, ignores the dual reality of football’s decline and the deeper struggles of Cameroun.

People of Cameroun,

We deserve a public debate that matches the scale of our challenges.

We deserve institutions we can rely on, a justice system with integrity, responsible leadership, and a public square that informs rather than distracts. History will remember those who dared to ask the tough questions, not those who preferred to argue about a tournament we aren’t even playing in.