News of the death of Cameroon`s heavyweight politician Françoise Foning has surprisingly unleashed a wave of triumphant reaction among some Cameroonians. Interestingly, some people have found in her death, a golden opportunity to settle scores. Paradoxically, they did not do so when she was alive.

It means that they have preferred to spite her behind her back, instead of in her face. The woman has therefore posthumously been called “a praise singer”, “a sycophant”, “a thief”, “an opportunist”, “the devil”, etc.

Other reactions to her death from different people include: “burn in hell”, “she can`t rest in peace”, “she will never rest in peace but in hell”, “burn in hell nyam”, “May you roast in hell madam”, “we do not enjoy to see people die but some deaths are worth celebrating and this is just one”, etc.

Although I am not a self-appointed advocate for Foning, I believe that the dead deserve some respect and dignity. Besides, there is no use “beating a dead horse”. It was not for nothing that Antony said in Julius Caesar: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, give me your attention. I have come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” He could have said he had come to “criticize” or “condemn” Caesar. Instead, he chose his words advisedly.

Jesus showed compassion for the dead as narrated in Luke7:11: “Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.”

Again, Jesus showed pity towards the dead when he arrived at the home of Mary and Martha and raised their brother, Lazarus, from death. The book of John 10:11-32 recounts the incident thus: “ When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

Everybody is destined to die and politics has nothing to do with it. Adam died, Eve died, Abraham died, Isaac died, Moses died, Jacob died, David died, Solomon died, Jesus died, Ghandi died, Ahidjo died, Nkrumah died, Kennedy died, Mandela died… and before most of them, our grandparents and our great grandparents and those before them died. We have age mates, friends, class mates, and even children who have died and left us behind. Even so, one day we too shall die, like Francoise Foning. Who won`t die?

Fortunately for some of them including Francoise Foning, they died after reaching the relatively ripe old age of 68. Many of us may die without reaching that age. So, it may be too premature to declare Madam Foning as a loser. Who knows?