Leap years are said to be full of surprises, most of them unpleasant.

This belief can be credited if we recall the year, 1984 when there was a coup attempt in Cameroon and this year, 2016, in the rest of Africa and the world, will be remembered for a geometric rise in crime ranging from violence and destruction to terroristic killing in markets and even churches, as was the case in Egypt.

In Cameroon, the pleasant surprises include the impressive performances of our women’s Football team at the 34th edition of the 2016 African Women’s Cup of Nations tournament, completion of the kribi Deep seaport, and the opening of Training centers. But the unpleasant surprises which include the deaths of renowned personalities in the academia, politics and sports, Boko Haram atrocities, the Esseka train derailment, and the longest strike action, tell more of dark part of the year, 2016

While in the United States, opinion polls again proved how unreliable they can be, in electoral sampling, elsewhere on the African continent the love of power at the expense of genuine patriotism still showed its ugly head. And, the result, violence and death. While in Turkey a terrorist saw nothing wrong in gunning down a Russian Diplomat, in Berlin, Germany, another sadist claimed 12 lives as he drove through a Christmas market. France suffered a similar fate during the year. Once again man had portrayed more of sadism, than a longing for the positive aspects of globalism. Can the scenario peter out in the New Year, 2017?

In the face of the ever mounting unpleasant surprises at time when the world is in dire need of peace, cooperation and progress, humanity faces the challenge of reflecting more on what makes life worth living and not sustenance of the elements of more superiority over other human beings.

The New Year, 2017 is not a leap year, but we must understand that whether it is leap a year or not, years in themselves do not trigger pleasant or unpleasant surprises. Rather, it is man on our planet, with what he thinks and does, that makes the year what it becomes.

In this light, we all face the challenge to reflect on the misdeeds of the past year, and aim at getting the best out of the New Year, 2017.