The president of the Cameroon National Youth Council (CNYC/CNJC) for Donga-Mantung Division in the North-West Region and Founder/Coordinator of the Wimbum Political Platform, Ndzi Etienne Ngah, has earned a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Yaoundé I, completing an academic journey that he once felt far away.
Dr Ngah successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled: “The Terror of Lying in Politics and the Turndown of Public Trust in Governance: A Contextual Reading of Hannah Arendt’s Crises of the Republic”, before a jury led by Professor Nathanael Noel Owono Zambo.
His research examines political lying as more than an individual moral failing, arguing that systematic deception can undermine the shared factual reality necessary for citizens to judge, deliberate and participate meaningfully in political life.
Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy and African political thought, the research explores the relationship between political deception, declining public trust and weakened legitimacy. It also proposes a Dialogical Communitarian Republican Model of Governance, built around truthfulness, dialogue, communal responsibility, civic participation and accountability.
In this interview with NewsWatch Newspaper’ Ndi Eugene Ndi, Dr Ngah reflects on his research, the challenges and lessons of his doctoral journey, his political engagement, and how philosophy can contribute to more responsible public life.
Read on:
What is the focus of your PhD research, and how will it help society?
My research examines how political lying destroys factual truth, weakens public trust and ultimately undermines political legitimacy and civic participation. I propose a Dialogical Communitarian Republican Model of Governance, centred on truthfulness, dialogue, communal responsibility, civic participation and accountability. My hope is that this contributes to rebuilding trust and strengthening responsible political life.
How has the PhD journey been?
It has been demanding but transformative. It taught me perseverance especially when my initial supervisor Pr. Oumarou Mazadou died, intellectual discipline and, above all, the importance of questioning, listening and constantly refining one’s arguments when I got my present supervisor Pr. Owono Zambo.
Was becoming a PhD holder a childhood dream?
Not exactly. It developed gradually through my engagement with the study of Philosophy, my associative engagements and political aspirations. My growing interest in dialogue, fairness, Communitarianism, truth, justice, power and political responsibility eventually led me to doctoral research.
We’ve seen people spend over ten years studying for a PhD here [in Cameroon]. When you started, did you imagine completing it this soon?
I hoped to complete it, but I could not predict exactly when. Doctoral research has its own challenges and turns. The defence and the 16.5/20 therefore represent the culmination of years of work, correction and perseverance since 2022.
Outside your supervisor and academic team, who else was part of this journey?
A PhD may bear one person’s name, but many people contribute to it. My family, friends, colleagues, students, mentors and community all supported and encouraged me throughout the journey. I remain deeply grateful to them. I know you would have wished me to list names, but I am being careful not to forget those who matters the most in the process.
You are, in my opinion, politically driven. How does a PhD in Philosophy contribute to your goals?
Interestingly I would accept that I am deeply interested in political questions, but my interest is not politics merely as the pursuit of power. Philosophy allows me to ask deeper questions about truth, legitimacy, responsibility, power and how people ought to live together.
My PhD therefore gives me a philosophical framework for engaging public life with greater reflection, ethical responsibility and concern for the common good.
Again, congratulations Dr Ndzi Etienne Ngah
Thank you and the entire NewsWatch Newspaper team for the opportunity to expound on my PhD defence and academic journey.
