After a sea of press releases from the so-called political elites of the North West and South West regions painting a picture that things have returned to normal in Southern Cameroons including the arrest of hundreds of Anglophone youths, tension is reportedly mounting in West Cameroon as the region is far from emerging from the crisis which has paralyzed economic and social activities for about five months.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has made Southern Cameroons ungovernable for the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé. The Consortium has successfully rocked the 2016/2017 school year and some experts now say that it would take a miracle to avoid a complete and total failure of the academic year.

The 84 year old dictator has decided to send Prime Minister Philemon Yang to the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons on a special mission for the second time in the space of four months. Cameroon Concord News Group has learnt that Biya has instructed Yang Philemon to tour the seven administrative divisions of the North West.

A government statement announcing the return of the Head of Government to Southern Cameroons revealed that the visit will begin on Monday the 6th to Friday the 10^th of March 2017. Philemon Yang will go to all the seven divisions of his home constituency. His Anglophone tour will begin in Mezam, followed by Menchum, Boyo, Momo, Ngo-Ketunjia, Donga-Mantung and will end with the Department of Bui.

Mission Impossible

The Yang Philemon trip will be another form of wasting tax payer’s money.  Philemon Yang is not known in Southern Cameroons and does not have friends there. The Prime Minister spent more than 20 years on a CPDM imposed exile as ambassador to Canada. Ever since his return to Cameroon, Yang has operated only in Yaoundé. Consequently, the reckless and tactless Atanga Nji Paul succeeded in creating too much political space for himself which led to the wrong decision of arresting the leaders of the Consortium.

At each stage of his mission to the North West, Yang will find himself struggling to make political friends than engaging with teachers’ unions, school leaders, parents, religious leaders, local authorities and other vital forces. Biya intends to deceive international public opinion that his Francophone Beti Ewondo government was in a new and broader form of dialogue.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is in charge of Southern Cameroons and like previous consultations held at the beginning of the year in Bamenda which did not produce the expected results, Philemon Yang will come back to Yaoundé with nothing.

An empty Yang

By accepting to travel to the North West, Philemon Yang has confirmed that he is indeed not a skillful politician and by extrapolation, not fit to govern. A Prime Minister and Head of Government should at least carry something to Southern Cameroons. For instance:

-We have released the leaders of the Consortium

-We have released more than half of the hundreds of youths arrested

-We have reinstated internet connections in Southern Cameroons

-We shall be meeting the Roman Catholic Bishops and the Moderator of the PCC

The Biya emissary is not going to West Cameroon with any of the listed items in his bag. Who is fooling who here?

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

For three activists from western Cameroon who joined a call for the recognition of their linguistic preferences, last week didn’t bring any good news. The lawyer, teacher and journalist have been locked up since mid-January, and their case before a military tribunal was again suspended on 13 February, to 23 March. Cameroonian jails are notorious for not being easy on their inmates.

The arrests of Agbor Balla, Fontem Neba and Mancho Bibissi came amid a crackdown against Cameroonians from the Anglophone regions who participated in anti-government protests these past few weeks. The three, who are among at least 100 people arrested, are charged with sabotage, terrorism and inciting secessionism and civil war – charges that could carry the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the Internet in northwest and southwest Cameroon, the two affected Anglophone regions of the country (out of a total of 10), has been cut off completely for over a month. This decision is estimated to be costing the country US$1.39 million. The organisation Access Now has appealed to the Internet service providers to ignore a directive by the government in Yaoundé and to re-establish the connections.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, a well-known rights group, has also been banned since civil society groups and students took to the streets in mid-November last year; and local independent media have been shut down. The protest action was marked by violent clashes between stone-throwing youths and the police, as well as stay-aways and boycotts.

The main gripe of these groups is that the bilingual principle enshrined in the constitution is not respected. Instead, English-speakers feel they are forced to assimilate and accept what the predominantly Francophone majority dictates.

The crisis has historical roots. Cameroon went from being a German colony, to two separate colonial territories ruled by France and Britain after World War I up until independence in 1960. Following a plebiscite in 1961, the British part was reunited with the French Cameroon. The Francophone authorities that have ruled the country since then have pursued a centralised system of government after a brief period of federalism that officially ended in 1972, following a referendum.

Teachers and students say that the central government should send Anglophone rather than French-speaking teachers to schools in the two regions where English dominates. Lawyers also complain that the British Common Law, used in British Cameroon during colonial times, should be maintained in the region. The use of French in the administration limits access and discriminates against those who speak English, they argue.

Some analysts also emphasise that the revolt in the northwest is symptomatic of a larger problem of governance and a state characterised by corruption and inertia. Between 2000 and 2009, northerners – predominantly Muslims – also complained of marginalisation and the absence of the state.

In 2008, protests against soaring food prices rocked the country, as it did periodically since the 1990s. This also led to a violent crackdown by the government. ‘There have been many missed opportunities by the government to handle this issue adequately,’ says Fonteh Akum, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, who has previously written on the Anglophone zones in Cameroon.

Attempts at implementing a federal system where Anglophones would have their own courts with effective administrative decentralisation have been undermined by ‘irresponsibility and corruption,’ he says. A decentralisation framework already exists, but has been selectively implemented.

‘The government initially argued that this was a non–issue and that these are secessionists. They refused to acknowledge that Anglophones have legitimate claims,’ Cameroonian scholar Achille Mbembe points out that the claims by Anglophones started as linguistic and cultural, but have become far more political. ‘They don’t feel there is a place for them in this centralised state,’ Mbembe, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, told ISS Today.

Anglophones are treated like second-class citizens who don’t benefit from the oil revenues that are situated in their region. Very few important government positions are occupied by Anglophones. ‘There has never been an Anglophone minister of defence or finance. People complain that the administration doesn’t speak their language’.

However, Mbembe says the calls for secession by civil society groups and on social media is ‘very dangerous’. These started in the mid-1990s, with the first call for secession by the Southern Cameroon National Council. ‘The cost of secession is just too great,’ says Mbembe, who believes that Africa should move towards greater pan-Africanism instead of dividing in small ‘micro-states’.

He says the regime of President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 35 years, is characterised by ‘inertia, indifference and abandonment’.

Opinions differ as to how much support there is for the Anglophone cause in the rest of Cameroon. Some say that in the initial stages of the protests, Francophone Cameroonians supported the calls by trade unions and students. These were seen as legitimate. However this sympathy has waned due to some radical views – expressed on social media – that a ‘genocide’ is being planned against western Cameroonians. The majority Francophone inhabitants also reject the secessionist claims.

Yet there have also been expressions of solidarity with the Anglophone cause countrywide. Following the African Cup of Nations victory by the Cameroonian Lions last month, goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa, who is Francophone from Yaoundé, dedicated the African Cup to ‘our brothers from Bamenda’ [the capital of northwestern Cameroon]. ‘We need a united Cameroon,’ he said in a message widely circulated on social media. ‘I am from Bamenda, for you,’ he concluded in English.

Thus far, there has been little reaction from the international community. The African Union (AU), apart from one statement expressing concern over the situation, hasn’t been involved in any efforts to calm the situation in western Cameroon. It is likely that the AU is adopting a wait-and-see attitude, and will only act if the situation worsens.

What matters most to the international community is that Cameroon remains stable and continues to be part of the global fight against terrorism. (The government has joined forces with Nigeria, Chad and Niger to root out Boko Haram.)

For now, the instability, characterised by various waves of contestation, is up to Cameroonians to handle. Biya (84) is set to stand for re-election next year – and the expectation is that he will win another mandate, despite the growing popular displeasure with his rule.

Culled from Defenceweb

Open Letter to West Cameroonians

Dear West Cameroonians,

Let me use this opportunity to congratulate you on your achievements over the last 25 years. While many will be critical of your current efforts, be rest assured that they are aware that without you, your country will not be where it is today. Thanks to you, there is freedom of expression and multiparty politics in your country. Without you, there would not have been an “Office du Baccalaureat” and a GCE Board. The creation of these two bodies came after your parents paid a huge price. New generations of West Cameroonians may not be aware of what happened in the early 90s. Many of them have just been lucky to grow up to see Anglo-Saxon universities in Buea and Bamenda. For those who are fifty years old and up, the thought of attending an Anglo-Saxon university in Cameroon never crossed their minds. Theirs was a one-university state where West Cameroonians were robbed of their confidence. If they did not have the resources to go out to school in Nigeria, Canada, the UK or United States, then theirs was the Kingdom of hard life.

Getting an Anglo-Saxon university just like calling for multiparty politics was an uphill climb. Blood was spilled and many have been scarred for life. Go to Bamenda and you will see the victims of the struggle for multiparty politics in Cameroon. Many were amputated and others defaced. The journey to where you are today has been long and the road on which your parents have traveled has been tarred with the blood of those who have not been lucky to see the achievement of some of these feats. Those achievements should advise that there is strength in unity and that there is power in numbers. No individual, regardless of their position, could have posted such results without the collaboration of others who were also determined to make life better for posterity. Though there is significant progress, it must be underscored that the road ahead is still long and challenging.

This brings me to the current situation that is playing out in Cameroon. The call for federalism has met with ferocious brutality, with many getting arrested and taken to unknown places, while some have lost their lives in a cause they believe will help future generations to live a life that will bring positive experiences to their lives. Today, many kids in West Cameroon are not going to school. Many businesses are not operating because of the disconnection of the Internet. Many journalists have been thrown into jail for telling the truth and the leaders of the consortium are still languishing in jail for peacefully asking for a system they believe will make their country a better place than they met it. This is surely the price to pay for a better life for all. Nobody gets an omelet without breaking eggs. These unfortunate situations speak to the intolerance of the State that is clearly seeking to crush any opposition or contrary view. Faced with such a situation, West Cameroonians must understand that if they have to post any results, they must make common cause and must avoid focusing on the small picture.

In recent times, some cracks have appeared on the Consortium’s wall. These cracks should not dampen your determination to right the wrongs of the past. Disagreement is as old as man. When people disagree, it is not always because they hate each other. In some cases, it is because all those involved simply want things to be done in a new and innovative way.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with disagreeing, but be advised that when you disagree you must not be disagreeable as such an attitude might ruin a golden idea that is expected to lead an entire people to the land of promise. It is therefore important for the Consortium which, in many minds, is an idea and a spirit, to continue operating as it has over the last three months. It will be appropriate for you, West Cameroonians, to focus on the big picture – the achievement of your goal or whatever that may be – rather than focus on your differences. Let the spotlight or fame not be the reason why you will lay to rest an effort that will transform lives and include your name in your country’s history as one of those who used peaceful civil disobedience to post outstanding results.

Allow me to also point out something that has been disturbing to many observers. In recent times, it has been reported that some West Cameroonians have been destroying state property as a means to demonstrate their frustration with the current state of affairs in the country. Be rest assured that your pain is known world-wide and you must also understand that the property you are destroying is your property too. Regardless of the outcome of your effort, you will need this infrastructure to serve your people and children. In Mamfe, the delegation of education was burned down a few weeks ago. The Mayor’s cars were also destroyed in a similar display of anger. In Akwaya, similar destruction has taken place as the inhabitants of this region seek to let the government understand how angry and frustrated they are following the arrest of Barrister Agbor Nkongho Balla and Judge Paul Ayah, both of whom are illustrious sons of Manyu Division.

In Mile 17 near the city of Buea, several stores were destroyed early this month because the shop-owners failed to respect the call for ghost towns. Yesterday, some angry young men attacked a police station in Mutengene following allegations that a police officer had shot and killed a young man. It was later reported that the police building was not destroyed but police equipment was brought out and burned by the angry mob. While it is easy to understand your anger, it is also disturbing to see young men developing the bad habit of taking the law into their hands. It should be understood that when the dust settles, West Cameroonians will still need the police. No matter how irresponsible some policemen may be, West Cameroonians should never consider these men in uniform as their enemies. Some of them just want to do their job, unfortunately, they have to work with some overzealous colleagues.

The people of West Cameroon should be exemplary. They must listen to the recommendations and principles of the Consortium which clearly believes in peaceful civil disobedience as a means to an end. Resorting to violence only gives criminals an opportunity to have a field day. No anger can justify any destruction of your own property. Do not create a lawless environment out of your struggle as you will be the first victim of such lawlessness.

Accept differences of opinion. Not everybody will be part of your struggle, but never consider such people as your enemies. In every issue, you will always have some people on the fence. They prefer to be onlookers instead of actors. They may share your pain, but might simply not be in agreement with your strategy and approach. You have the burden of persuading them that your approach is as justified as your frustration. Shun violence as it will overshadow your legitimate frustrations. Be a victim of injustice instead of a criminal. Always bear in mind that the road ahead will be long. Manage your expectations, if not, you will be more frustrated and your frustration could easily spill over when the expected results take long to come. Be hopeful. Tomorrow could be a better day. Mine is just a piece of advice. It is your duty to make your dream come true through peaceful means.

Sincerely,

Joachim Arrey

About the Author: The author of this piece has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D

The French -inspired Biya kleptocracy, and its English -speaking flunkies claim that students should return to school. That “politicians” are sacrificing the future of children by impeding their education. Yet, this very regime cuts off, the internet, which is the quintessential medium for free education.

Regime zealots, using the military to force the reopening of schools, fail to see the hypocrisy and the paradox, of advocating for education, and in the same breath, cutting off the internet-the source of universal education for every child.

Biya, and his Zoetele tribal cabal, fail to realize that it is the education that Southern Cameroonians have acquired that has made his tribal kleptocracy- a government of thieves, by thieves, and for thieves- unacceptable.

Teachers, lawyers and those in the Diaspora know the type of country an educated population deserves. They do not deserve a potentate who is instilling terror on the people, with the intention of imposing his son, Frank Emmanuel Biya, as his successor.

Naysayers dismiss this claim as mere speculation, until they see what Western imperialist forces helped other “loyal servants” like Eyadema of Togo, Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, and Laurent Kabila of Congo, do to perpetuate their totalitarian regimes on the people, by handing over to their sons, with the help of the military-multinational complex.

Southern Cameroonians will continue to resist this dolorous outcome…until final victory.

By Larry Eyong

President Paul Biya declared war against the terrorist organization Boko Haram from Paris in France was an act which carried symbolic weight. For those in doubt, that act conveyed in unmistakable terms the message that Cameroun was not fully independent and that for all purposes and intents it remained a French colony; call it a vassal state if you may. There can be no gainsaying that, the declaration of war from Cameroon’s neo-colonial power, France conveyed along the message that although the war was to be fought in Cameroon, it was being fought not for the interest of Cameroonians and the peoples of African descent but for the wider interest of France. It was being for the wider interest of France in that it was to cushion the effect of French Military aggression in the African Sahel which claimed the life of President Moamar Kaddafi of Libya and reinforced France’s neo-colonial   grip on the resources of its African vassal states.

The war against Boko Haram is a complex war involving equally complex distinct interests. The participants in the war against Boko Haram are an unusual association, of “reversed Robin Hoods”, “Alibabas”, bloodletting dictators and genuine crime fighters. This makes the forces allied in combating the criminal terrorist group to love and hate it in equal measure.  Some of the leaders involved in this war, rode on the exploits of Boko Haram to power, others see the war as an opportunity to eternalize power in their vassal states and yet others see the war as an opportunity to fine-tune and legitimize the methods and acts of terror against enemy populations whom they accuse of threatening their political and economic power and those of their slave masters. The Government of Cameroon (GOC) falls in almost all of these categories. The ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in the Southern Cameroons justifies this categorical statement.

It cannot be reasonably disputed that the GOC has paid significant ransom to Boko Haram with which it has sustained its criminal terrorist onslaught against armless civilians in the affected areas of Northern Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad. With the exception of one case involving the wife and the family of the Vice Prime Minister Ahmadou Ali, all the cases in which ransom has been paid have been those of foreigners. The fact that negotiations occurred between the GOC and the criminal terrorist gang is enough evidence that the GOC knows so well Boko Haram and the forces driving the terrorist activities of this criminal gang. It can therefore not be reasonably disputed that apart from paying ransom the GOC offers political, strategic, logistics and tactical patronage to this criminal gang.  The widely stated but never denied allegation by the Chadian Government that about forty-seven percent of the arms used by Boko Haram are of French origin supports the possibility that the well-publicized  payment of ransom might well have included the delivery of arms, money, political patronage, logistical and tactical support.

A careful observation and analysis of the methods deployed by the GOC against peaceful, armless Southern Cameroonians that has led to widespread and systemic crimes against humanity, genocide and egregious human rights violations mirrors the acts of terror and criminality deployed by Boko Haram against the civilian populations in the Lake Chad Basin, the wider areas of the African Sahel, Northern Cameroon and Northern Nigeria.  We will examine some of them here.

The main target of Boko Haram attacks are armless civilians. The main focus of the attacks by military, para-military, administrative, political and police deployed by the GOC to the Southern Cameroons is the civilian population. Boko Haram abducts civilians and deports them from their homes and natural environments to distant areas and submits them to alien justice bordering on judicial murder. The abduction of thousands of school girls, women and men who were abducted by Boko Haram and some deported from their homes to Sambisa Forest, many who have never been seen, shocked the conscience of humanity.

Boko Haram also takes hostages to extort ransom and other resources to sustain its war efforts.  The Spokesman of the GOC Isa Tchiroma who reports on these criminal actions of Boko Haram has lately issued press statements on the activities of the GOC in the Southern Cameroons. An anxious reading and analysis of his press statements and the number of hostages and abductees he admitted, the court-martial of civilian leaders of Anglophones Consortium of Civil Societies Organization, the assault on the judicial power through the abduction of a Supreme Court Judge of Southern Cameroon’s nationality Hon Paul Ayah, and other acts of criminality mirror on the crimes he in the past reported and condemned against Boko Haram. The GOC has gone a step ahead of Boko Haram by joining the club of most oppressive governments worldwide which has used the suspension of internet facilities to conceal their elaborate criminal activities. The suspension of internet facilities in the Southern Cameroons with the complicity of foreign business operators in the country is a stain on the economic activities of those foreign firms. However, the suspension of the internet, a critical tool of learning in the technological age while imposing a return to schools the courts in the territory to parody the bastardized system of education and justice system imposed on the citizenry of the territory is a serious affront to human decency and commonsense.  Furthermore, its forces deployed to the territory like Boko Haram are using rape as a state policy intended to humiliate and suppress Southern Cameroonians to submission.

Officials of the GOC, that included Ministers, and apologists of genocide and crimes against humanity, have made widely publicized statements justifying these crimes. One individual, a ruling CPDM party Senator publicly stated that he and another senior member of ruling CPDM party and Senator from the victim territory of the Southern Cameroons appealed to the GOC to place the internet ban in their own territory to collectively punish all Southern Cameroonians as  well as conceal the crimes perpetrated against them from world attention. This act of impunity, and the glorification of the crimes perpetrated against the Southern Cameroons mirror the media antics of Abubakar Shakua the leader of the terrorist gang whose glorification of the crimes of Boko Haram are a fixture of deep pain on our collective consciences.

In spite of the provocations and the elaborate crimes committed against the people of the Southern Cameroons, the people have remained peaceful in their defiance and resistance. The Ghost town operations, the boycott of schools and the public symbols of oppression and colonial rule over the Southern Cameroons have dealt a humiliating blow to the forces of oppression of the GOC. The people of the Southern Cameroons have said No to emasculation! No to annexation! No to humiliation! No to exploitation! Yes to freedom. Yes to freedom now.

The world must take note that the GOC which is a supposed ally in the war against Boko Haram finds the need to talk to Boko Haram and pay ransom when its suits its needs and that of its imperial slave master France. When it comes to the case of the Southern Cameroons, it has opted to criminalize dialogue; even when organized by it. It is on record that the GOC took Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and Dr Neba Fontem hostage and charged them before a court-martial on the basis of the matters that were tabled before a supposed dialogue organized by it for which there was no agreement. The court-martial of leaders who believed in dialogue and id participate in it to find a solution to our problems is one very powerful reason why La Republique du Cameroun should never ever be trusted. With their destiny in their hands the people of the Southern Cameroons must know that freedom can never ever be negotiated.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Concord News Group

Ever since the Southern Cameroons revolution started in 2016, the term “resistance” has been everywhere-thanks to the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.  The people of the Buea and Bamenda provinces of West Cameroon are now reading from the same script-thanks to the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. We now know that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is not as powerful as we earlier thought and that it has cabinet ministers who do not think properly. The interim leaders have made it very clear that the policies of La Republique du Cameroun must be disrupted and a new, stronger Southern Cameroons must coalesce.

When an oppressive military such as that of La Republique takes over a peaceful nation, the opposition gravitates towards two ends of a continuum. On one side are those for resistance and on the other, collaboration. Attempts by Barrister Bobga Harmony and some Southern Cameroons activists in the US aimed at creating a Consortium in the Diaspora correctly points out that some individuals want to collaborate with Biya, despite the existential threat to the struggle.

But it’s not just Barrister Bobga Harmony and his friends in the US who are willing to sway towards Biya and his Francophone regime. The Anglophone Diaspora is also guilty. Francophone troops invaded your home land, raped and killed your children, arrested hundreds including the leaders of the trade unions representing the interest of the future generations, humiliated prominent elites from your constituency, disconnected internet services, militarized your country and their leader turns around and signs a decree that Francophone should start speaking English to appease you and many of you are now saying that it is business as usual!!!! This is not resistance, not even close.

When the Germans invaded France in 1940, every French citizen had a choice to make. Many rejected the Nazi occupation. They banded together to undermine enemy control, through intelligence gathering, noncooperation, and sabotage. The French Resistance was integral to Allied victory and the end of the Nazi state. This is what the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is asking from Southern Cameroonians.

Like some of the French who decided to seek peace and coexist with the occupation, Musonge, Atanga Nji and the many CPDM political elites who are willing to work with a Head of State that history knows is irredeemable can establish a puppet regime of Anglophones at Bonaberi in Douala just like some of the French did by creating the Vichy government.

Given how much progressive work and resources has gone into this struggle, it is disturbing to see that we do not have a radio station operating from areas such as Calabar and Ikom in Nigeria. To have a “wait and see” approach is a privilege many Francophone including Biya do not have. Women, children, the old and the unemployed are under attack now in West Cameroon. Accepting any form of dialogue with the regime as legitimate is to sanction their oppression.

Total resistance is the only way forward. But the frontlines need dedicated people.  Barrister Bobga was told not to meet with Baba Danpullo, he did!! By escaping to the US, he is no longer a front liner so he too should simply follow the instructions of the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. This struggle is not about UNESCO and the resumption of schools in West Cameroon, it is about the dignity of the English speaking Cameroonian.

Schools should remain closed, ghost towns should be intensified and Anglophone businesses should not trade with La Republique. If you want peace, you should be prepared for war.  The economic and political structures that hold the 84 year old Biya and his ideology up should be under threat. If the SCNC, SCAPO and the numerous Southern Cameroons Diaspora groups are unwilling to resist Biya and his Francophone Beti Ewondo regime, then it is on the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium to organize us and proceed with action.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Dear people of Southern Cameroons,

Within the past weeks, the Consortium and other parties involved in this struggle have engaged in robust diplomatic moves. We are happy to inform you that on all fronts we are scoring resounding successes.

Take note that we have engaged four heavy weights both in Africa and elsewhere directly, and secured their firm support.

Because this information is too sensitive, given the nature of diplomatic negotiations, we are concealing the names of the partners concerned until the big day God has appointed for us to sing and dance in the new country.

We now have as duty to continue shutting down schools, refuse paying taxes, boycott camtel, Crtv, police/gendarme offices and take your case to Fons/Chiefs or Quarter heads and most importantly observing ghost towns on Mondays and Tuesdays until February ending when we would review our ghost town days.

We call on you reading us to pass this information in a text message through SMS back home. We are winning.

For the Consortium

Tassang, Bareta and Tapang

President Paul Biya is celebrating his eighty-four (84) birthday today, February the 13th, 2017. The Cameroonian dictator has reportedly spent some fifty years in Cameroon’s top administration and nearly 35 as Head of State. Biya’s birthday celebrations have been marred by the Anglophone crisis and the lack of electricity and drinking water in his home constituency over the past weeks.

After surviving a controversial coup attempt in April 1984, the violent demonstrations during the advent of multi-party politics in 1990 including the 2008 hunger riots and the war against the Nigerian Islamist sect, Boko Haram,  Biya’s regime is now confronting one of the greatest challenges in its history-the Anglophone uprising.

Originally a trade union affair, the Anglophone issue has quickly and very clearly evolved and turned out to be political in nature. To be sure, Southern Cameroons demands have moved from a two-state federalism to complete and total secession.  The struggle headed by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has received the support of every single West Cameroonian both at home and in the Diaspora including Senator Mafany Musonge, Minister Atanga Nji and Mayor Ekema Patrick.

Publicly, the 84 year-old Francophone politician affirmed the uniqueness and indivisibility of Cameroon. He, in a typical Francophone arrogance boasted that the country, “will remain one and indivisible.” Biya described Southern Cameroons freedom fighters as “extremists” and “separatists” and observed that they were exercising violence against their compatriots who want to enjoy the right to education and who do not adhere to the slogan of disobedience. He added in his message to the youth that “The State shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the exercise of this right [of education] is respected.”

However, Cameroon Intelligence Report has been informed that the socio-political situation in West Cameroon is so worrying and has limited Mr. Biya’s numerous private trips abroad. We got intelligence that he is planning to reshuffle both his cabinet and the political bureau of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate in order to win the support of the Anglophones. Our informant also hinted that Etoudi is now monitoring the happenings in the Central African Republic very meticulously. Biya attempted to name a replacement for his man, the late General Tumenta to head the UN force in Bangui, but the French outsmarted him and gotten a Senegalese army general.  The too many internal and external crises are weakening the regime in Yaoundé.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Over the last two months, Cameroon has been going through a political crisis which, if not well attended to, could lead to the erosion of the country’s social cohesion. The Anglophone minority has been calling for a federal system that will give greater political and economic powers to the regions. Some have been calling for a two-state federal system;with others clearly holding that a multi-region federation could help reduce corruption that results from central planning. There is however a third factor that is calling for outright secession based on the fact that an independent Southern Cameroons could put an end to the marginalization that Anglophones have witnessed over the last five decades. The government, for its part, holds that the centralized unitary system is a perfect system for the country as it has stood the test of time. While there is a flurry of political options, federalism – be it two-state or multi-region – seems to be attractive to many Cameroonians, including Francophones who, for a long time, have not understood the rationale behind the Anglophone call for a federal system. This therefore requires federalists to explain their stance so as to win hearts and minds in this battle of wills that is clearly tearing the country apart.

Looking at what exists in other parts of the world, there are various ways to justify a preference for federalism. This system of government empowers the population while fostering national cohesion. There are many examples around the world and the United States and Canada are shiny examples of federal systems that have not only stood the test of time, but have also generated wealth for their citizens. They have brought the various peoples in the various states under the same flag and national anthem. There are no people more nationalistic than Americans and while they enjoy extensive federalism, the love for their country can never be questioned. Canadians, for their part, have succeeded to weave a multilingual society where French and English are considered as the country’s official languages of equal importance. This has not only promoted national unity, it has helped to give Canada the solid image of a bilingual and prosperous country where people from various parts of the world can live together in peace and harmony. Canada surely has a few lessons for Cameroon which also uses French and English as the country’s official languages; languages inherited from the country’s colonial past. However, it must be pointed that the political drama playing out in Cameroon goes well beyond language. It borders on marginalization and discrimination as many protesters have been seeking to prove over the last three months.

In Cameroon’s case where a unitary system has been in place for more than fifty-five years, there is a gradual decline in the population’s confidence in the feasibility of rational central planning of an increasingly diverse and complex society. Today, many Cameroonians, especially Anglophones, who have different legal and educational systems, are overly optimistic about the ability of a federal government to find appropriate solutions to the social and economic problems that have been blighting the people’s lives. The unitary state, according to many Cameroonians, has shown its limits. It has not lived up to the people’s glorious expectations. Tribalism, nepotism and corruption have eaten deep into the society’s fabric. Under the country’s unitary system, while huge segments of the population have been wallowing in economic hardship, a few sycophants have been robbing the country blind. Though there have been loud cries for the government to check the financial hemorrhage that has left the country financially anemic, the government seems to be tone deaf, turning a blind eye to the people’s sorry plight.

The call for a federal system does not seem to win hearts and minds among members of the ruling party, many of whom have made huge fortunes out of the chaos that has become the country’s hallmark. This therefore leaves proponents of federalism with the messy task of packaging their message objectively and professionally so as to make it marketable. They need to start by letting the public understand that they are not opposed to all government programmes or policies, but to the inefficient and unaccountable Yaounde-led government bureaucracy that has not only reduced the ordinary Cameroonian to a sorry spectator of events in his country, but also marginalized huge segments of the Cameroonian polity, especially Anglophones. They also have the difficult task of explaining to the populace, especially Francophones and self-proclaimed extremists that their objective is not to destroygovernment, but to return government to the people in a system that will empower the taxpayer and enhance accountability and transparency in the management of state affairs. Instead of just accusing the current government of all the crimes and sins that have been committed over the years, they have to persuade a vast majority of Cameroonians that they need a system of governance that holds out more hope and promise for them, and that that system will grant them the possibility of taking charge of their own destiny. And the ideal system, at least for now,is federalism.

While federalism may not be a commonly understood or appreciated concept in Cameroon today, it has been proven in many parts of the world that it is the only effective and theoretically consistent governance method that can bring about the systemic change of government that Cameroonians in their overwhelming majority have been hankering after.Most Cameroonians care about choice, options, flexibility and freedom. These ingredients are unfortunately lacking in a unitary state and those are the things that federalism offers to a people with an unquenchable thirst for pluralistic democracy. Federalism is, of course, not a panacea, but its benefits are unquestionable. It should not be confused with secession, as in many well established democracies, it is a fundamental vision for transparent and accountable governance. If Cameroon needs to make giant strides forward towards greater national cohesion and sustainable economic development, it needs to embrace federalism as the ideal framework that checks corruption, government excesses and monolithic thinking.

Federalism need not be a partisan issue. It is an idea that should be embraced by the country’s political parties and elite. Sceptics need to understand that a federal system does not necessarily imply the absence of a central authority.  It simply means bringing government closer to the people. It also means less concentration of power, and the right of local governments to grow or shrink according to the desires of the population living in thoseregions.

Similarly, opponents of federalism need to also understand that the majority of Cameroonians are gradually falling in love with the notion of federalism and are gradually understanding that a unitary system does not only disempower them, but shrinks their ability to be in control of their own affairs. There are millions of Cameroonians who do not want a robust public sector which will seek to take control of their lives through unorthodox means. They strongly hold that federalism will create greater freedom and opportunities for them and their children; as it will result in transparent and futuristic management of state affairs. This is not about eroding the country’s cohesion. This is about better governance, greater citizen participation in the running of state affairs and increased accountability to the people who should be the custodians of power. This is also about greater policy choices and flexibility. It is also about breaking up big, inefficient, unresponsive government and returning power to the people.

But advocates of federalism should not be deceived. Yaounde will not give up power voluntarily. Cameroonians will have to take this power through pressure or elections if they want their country to be counted among the prosperous nations of this century. They will need to elect leaders who will be willing to depart from the old and corrupt way of governing; leaders who are determined to leave Yaounde less powerful than it has been over the last fifty-five years. Cameroonians are fed up with the current structure, and rightfully so. The current unitary system concentrates power in a few hands and generates corruption which leads to the loss of taxpayers’ money. The majority of Cameroonians want real and meaningful change, not speeches, promises, policies and decrees that hardly get implemented.

Federalism is not new in Cameroon. It has been tried in Southern Cameroons in the 1960s and its benefits have left many Southern Cameroonians nostalgic of that epoch wherein everybody was equal before the law. Federalism simply underscores that decision-making should be local because it simply works better. It enables local people to make decisions because they can be far more effective given that they know the issues more than people who are many miles away from their region. Regional and local leaders know their communities better than a bunch of detached bureaucrats in Yaounde. It has been proven time and time again that when citizens have the required flexibility and freedom, they can innovate and improve lives better than detached bureaucrats who are more consumed by their desire for the spotlight and the need to develop their personal careers and egos.

By Joachim Arrey

About the Author: The author of this letter has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.