Cameroon

29, December 2016

Prof. GHOGOMU Paul MINGO: Statement by the Judas Iscariot after the failed Bamenda meeting ³

After deliberations, the Francophone surrogate passing for a chairman of the Adhoc Interministerial Committee made public this communique;

1- The Ad hoc Committee wished to work with all members. However, based on claims which have nothing to do with education, trade unions and other associations left the hall. Only representatives of confessional private education and private higher education displayed a sense of good faith to contribute to the working session.

2- The three ministers of basic, secondary and higher education presented Government efforts towards the English-speaking subsystem of education and its willingness to continue dialogue. I will cite, amongst others, the on-going census of secondary school teachers to redeploy them to fill the gap observed in the English-speaking subsystem of education. It is also the same for the draft Order to set the duration of studies and naming the certificates obtained in technical education of the English-speaking subsystem of education. I also wish to mention the holding of the National Forum on Education in 2017, which brings lots of hope for the education community as a whole and the English subsystem in particular.

3- I wish to congratulate all participants who had a sense of efficiency and patriotism.

4- Within the framework of its sovereign missions, the State will continue towards dialogue and concertation with all stakeholders to achieve realistic and progressive results to technical concerns of one sub-system of education or the other (English-speaking subsystem, French sub-system).

5- Both sub-systems are bound to coexist in Cameroon, each in its specificity and originality without anyone trying to absorb the other.

6- With regard to extremist trade unionists who publicly refused to be part of this working session for reasons that have nothing to do with the education of young Cameroonians, Government will take its responsibility.

7- The State shall not allow individuals who do not show proof of good faith to take pupils, students, parents, Civil Society Organizations hostage; they who have just one wish: That the English-speaking sub-system of education should function effectively in the interest of our nursery, primary, secondary and university youth of the English-speaking subsystem, who are an integral part of the national educational system.

8- The Adhoc committee shall continue to work with people who display good faith to preserve the specificity, the originality and the radiance of the English-speaking subsystem of education in a Cameroon that is united in diversity.

9- The Adhoc Committee is determined to find efficient solutions to genuine problems in the English-speaking subsystem of education, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Republic.

10- I wish to inform you that we have met with students, teachers in their large majority, parents and all people of good will. They are against this manipulation of trade unions, and will want schools to start as soon as possible. That is the Government’s stand point. Let us not jeopardize our children’s future.

11- We call on all men and women, Cameroonians of good will to do all so that classes resume early January in all parts of the North West and South West Regions. The Government will take her responsibility. Cameroonian children in the North West and South West regions must be educated as their brothers and sisters in the other eight regions.

29, December 2016

North West Lawyers reinstate Barrister Bobga Harmony as their leader ⁰

Members of the North West lawyers Association, NOWELA, have canceled a decision taken on December 27, 2016 that removed Barrister Bobga Harmony Mbuton as their leader.

In a press release on Wednesday December 28, 2016, the lawyers said that, “We hereby withdraw our initial position passing the vote of no confidence on our President. Consequently the resolution dated 27 December is null and void and we state clearly that Barrister Bobga Harmony Mbuton remains the President of NOWELA.”

The lawyers had dismissed their president for partaking in the Yaoundé meeting geared at seeking lasting solutions to problems raised by Common Law Lawyers against the wish of the general assembly. The lawyers saw this as a provocation and an attempt to sell out the struggle of the Common law Lawyers.

But it was later explained that Barrister Harmony went to Yaoundé without the final document of the Consortium which called for a boycott of the meeting chaired by Pierre Fogue, Minister Delegate at the ministry of Justice. It was also revealed that at the time of Barrister Bobga’s departure for Yaounde, the Consortium was still in conclave.

Culled from CIN

22, December 2016

President Biya is Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year 2016 ³

Blood and intrigues have earned President Paul Biya Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year nomination. This may seem unprecedented but justifiable. Blood and intrigues are the defining attributes of Paul Biya’s presidency. Indeed, blood and intrigues are at its highest as we write. They, therefore merit special attention in our choice of our man of the year.

The choice of Mr Biya as Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year 2016 is not without difficulties. The first difficulty is that it is unprecedented and requires some explanation for reasonable people to contextualize and understand.

We are conscious that no matter what explanation we may give, there will be significant questions begging for answers. The choice is unconventional and fails to meet the conventional criteria for the choice of a classic man of the year. But we hasten to state that this choice is not intended to celebrate any remarkable achievement of Mr Paul Biya for the public good. Far from that, it is intended to create international awareness and focus on the acts and conduct of the man whom if the international community fails to act promptly, may set the entire sub-region on an internecine war of attrition and possible genocide.

President Paul Biya is an African strongman who over a period of thirty-four years has established an absolute brutal dictatorship. During these long years in power, he has succeeded to make Cameroon a deeply divided nation. He is a master of the politics of ethnicity.

His staying power is mired in dividing and playing one ethnic group against the others in order to compel subservience. His reign is characterized by a state of fear, a permanent state of emergency symbolized by daily motions of support broadcast by the national radio-television network and published by the national daily Cameroon Tribune. These motions of support convey a sublime sense of potential political instability, fear and the anxiety of a nation at war with its soul.

In thirty-four years President Biya has established a system of government which may be characterized as a pyramid scheme of institutional corruption. With it, he manipulates, controls and dominates Cameroon’s political life. From the summit of this corrupt enterprise, he politicizes and supervises a supposed war against corruption. He relies on this war against corruption to keep in check a frightened and docile nation.

Among the many victims of this war are, some ambitious members of his crime syndicate who initiated a premature contest for power; at a moment Biya needed their unalloyed support to eternalize power. For daring, he put them in jail. The next are the rats in Paul Biya’s Alibaba Empire of corruption. They are the gate-keepers of the corrupt empire. Their crime is that they helped themselves beyond their permitted limit from the sesame treasure of Paul Biya’s prurient corrupt government. While he has encouraged and promoted this category of stooges, he has on occasion sacrificed them as disposable fodder aimed at concealing or deflating international attention and spotlight on the dire consequences of his failed economic policies, systemic corruption, egregious violations and crass misgovernance.

The third category is made up of potential troubling witnesses whom he brought too close to his regime of personal power, but whose long term allegiance, he cannot vouchsafe. To instill fear and compel allegiance from the political power elite he created and nurtured to serve him and him alone, he created a Special Criminal Court which he uses against adversaries, real or apparent at his will and caprices.

A key consideration in our choice of Mr Paul Biya as Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year is his presidency of blood and intrigues. These are key attributes on which his presidency was firmly established from inception. From one stage-managed attempted coup d’état aimed at expunging the lingering political influence of his “illustrious predecessor” Ahmadou Ahidjo an attempted coup d’état which was savagely repressed was organized. The toll in human and material cost of the violent repression has never been made public. Timid attempts by Northern Cameroon’s power elite to seek an answer to this lingering and smoldering powder keg has so far been ignored.

That massacre set the stage for President Paul Biya to establish a platform for the fulfillment of a long term French- inspired ambition to completely wipe out the internationally recognized identity of the Southern Cameroons as a means of securing its gulf of Guinea oil economy. President Biya engineered and enacted a law re-emphasizing and clarifying the identity of La Republique du Cameroun and its inherited boundaries at independence on January 1, 1960. This action was the powder keg that ignited the identity crisis that has bedeviled Cameroon ever since, with the Southern Cameroons arguing with international law and history on its side that by redefining its identity within its international recognized borders consistent with its international identity at the UN and the AU,, La Republique du Cameroun must withdraw its forces and administrators on the territory of the Southern Cameroons to its said internationally recognized boundaries forthwith.

The ongoing mayhem, crimes against humanity and a drift towards potential genocide in the territory of the Southern Cameroons perpetrated by forces deployed by President Paul Biya to suppress a popular uprising clamoring for freedom and independence arose from resistance to annexation, cultural asphyxiation and colonial imposition. The ongoing uprising therefore arises from the arrogance of power, political and geostrategic choices that are endangering the peace and security in the gulf of Guinea requiring urgent United Nations Intervention.

The plethora of deliberate but uninvestigated human disasters in Lake Nyos, the Nsam fire disaster, the University of Yaounde Zero Mort student massacres, the University of Buea students massacred during various student protests, the February 28, 2008 massacre of peaceful protesters all over the national territory, the recent Eseka train disaster and persistent shameful attempts to conceal responsibility for these crimes against humanity bear the stamp of presidential responsibility. The legitimate question to ask is who stands to benefit from these crimes if not the President who holds the constitutional mandate to protect all citizens and uphold fundamental freedoms?

The use of the constitutional institutions of governance like the National Assembly and the Judiciary as tools for the entrenchment of tyranny and oppression makes President Paul Biya, an imperial president, endowed with the power of life and death over a citizenry resigned to their fate and the forces of nature for survival.

Rather than confront the ills afflicting the nation, like the institutional pauperization of the masses, the paucity of basic necessities like water, electricity, affordable medical care, road infrastructure, and rising insecurity, the President relies on these depravities as political tools to compel allegiance and political control.

The resolution of the Bakassi crisis was supposed to be celebrated as a defining achievement of a Biya presidency, but the Southern Cameroons problem of which Bakassi is a significant component if not satisfactorily resolved, will lead to reigniting with ferocious intensity, the Bakassi crisis with sub-regional and regional consequences.

The President declared war against Boko Haram from a foreign capital, Paris. That again was an unprecedented. However, while due credit must be given to the Cameroon Army for their war effort against Boko Haram, the economic neglect which was exploited to recruit Cameroonians into these terrorist organization must be addressed. Doing so needs adequate resources and a national Marshall Development plan which President Biya has in thirty-four years failed to establish. Cameroon is instead economically on the decline and has become a heavily indebted nation, mortgaging the future of the nation far into posterity.

Without any form of stylistic felicity, Cameroon Concord News holds the firm opinion that under the circumstances painted above, Cameroon is living on the heart pulse of one individual. There is no visible possibility of democratic change of government in Cameroon. The institutional framework does not exist. There is no constitutional court envisaged by the Constitution to adjudicate on constitutional issues including the political transition, should there be a constitutional imperative. This is a powerful indication that Mr Biya does not envisage retiring from politics and relinquishing power through constitutional means.

President Paul Biya is undoubtedly the undisputed heart pulse of a nation of twenty-three million people who are living at his pleasure. He is deified by his supporters who additionally credit him for being the master of time and destiny of the nation. One of them, Professor Fame Ndongo claimed the status of the President’s slave and invited the nation to follow. These attributes confer considerable power and authority on President Paul Biya next to, if not at par with God. This indeed, is the problem with Cameroon.

By nominating Mr Biya Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year, Cameroon Concord Group does not in any way subscribe to or validate these attributes or the policies of Mr Biya that have earned him this nomination. Cameroon is besieged from the East, the North and now the Southern Cameroons in international conflicts. These conflicts are a product of a deliberate policy of blood and intrigues.

Behind this facade of the power of blood and intrigues, there are visible cracks on the walls of absolute power and the tyranny of absolute personal power. Will the His Excellency the pulse of the nation, the master and controller of time, beat the timeless time of one and only true God to mend the visible cracks to sustain his eternal power? The answer lies in a clear understanding of the parable of the rich fool.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

20, December 2016

Regional Governors in Yaounde for semi-annual conference ⁰

The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, René Emmanuel Sadi, has summoned the regional governors to the nation’s capital Yaoundé. Nine out of the ten regional heads will participate in the deliberations to take place at the Yaoundé city council hall. The Center region will be represented by the Secretary General at the Governor’s office following the passing into eternity of Governor Otto Wilson.

It would be the second semi-annual conference of regional governors for the year 2016 commencing today, Tuesday the 20^th of December to Thursday the 22^nd of December 2016. The participants will focus on the general theme “Administrative authorities, reform of the budget program and performance of public administration”.

The regional governors met in Yaoundé five months ago for the first semi-annual conference on administrative authorities, implementation of the three-year contingency plan, local governance and the rule of law.

By Sama Ernest

19, December 2016

Biya’s Laptop computers: Another broken promise by the CPDM government ⁰

Some few months ago students all over the national territory took to the streets thanking President Paul Biya for offering them made in China laptops. All attempts at getting the student community to wait until the CPDM laptops were delivered met with a stone wall. The presidency of the republic announced that the students were going to get the computers before Christmas.

With Christmas just seven days to go and with the presidency unable to pay salaries for its temporal workers, some student leaders used by the regime to stage the support rallies for President Biya have been heard murmuring privately that the President Biya laptop gift was just another CPDM hoax.

Nothing is being mentioned both in government circles and in the universities about the laptops. Cameroon Concord News understands any student caught talking about the laptops is now branded a secessionist. The so-called Minister of Higher Education, Fame Ndongo has shied away from questions concerning the project. It is expected that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime will include the laptop scheme in the Emergence 2035 program.

By Sama Ernest

16, December 2016

Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime’s strategy to stifle the Anglophone nationalism uncovered ³

An insider has hinted Southern Cameroonians on what the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is developing as a strategy to stifle our Anglophone nationalism. Below is part of the release that was made public by an anonymous source in Yaounde:

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime intends to use Delay tactics, using time in saying they are processing information we gave. (Very worrying point) time kills and interest might wane.

More Francophone ministers will start speaking in English

Signs and billboards will be slowly changed to both languages with English appearing bold

Important ministers in say 3-4 ministries will be Anglophones

Majority Francophone staff in divisional and sub- divisional schools will be transferred

Many Anglophone teachers will be posted to teach in Francophone zones with an increase in salary as compared to those in Anglophone zones (a pull factor, watch out)

Some Provincial and divisional judges will be Anglophones in Anglophone areas

Speeding up of the Kumba-Mamfe road construction

Do not be glad, these things are just window dressings for they will soon fade away. Behind the scene right now are spies, sent out to spy and sabotage the leaders in the Anglophone struggle. Beware they are going to use women and money to bribe them. Do not be alarm if you hear of theft and sex scandals. It saddens me to say this, but some leaders will trip. They have employed hackers, who are working right now in trying to track and expose. I won’t name the country from where the hackers came from. Let all our prominent leaders mind what they say over the phone and in SMS, they are listening to them and listening to the closest 5-10 persons in their circle of friends.

Working behind the scene right now are ethnologists and sociologists employed to cause great division among the Anglophones. These people know the weakness in our tribal cultures and are going to set a wave hoping it breaks our spine. Please do not start hating people in this professions, they are just being used because they know very well how societies are structured. Here are some of the things I think they will propose and try to do;

Organize simple things such as canoe races between people in the coastal areas from Wouri to Bamusso with large sums of money to be won. Event will be covered by the media and historians will be called to start talking about their similarities and common ancestors, and you will start to hear things like sawa land, sawa people. Manyu will be ignored from these events and these will upset certain chiefs, elite and natives and that will be the start of the breaking of the peoples of the SW. The Mbo’s and Bakossi will be encouraged through cultural and sporting events to link up with Nkongsamba. As you can see these diabolic events have isolated Manyu and Labialem peoples. They will use our chiefs and elites for these evil jobs. My brothers and sisters do not be alarm and fall for these when you see these things unfolding. Warn your Cheifs and elites.

Appoint a North Westerner as Governor of South West or a big cooperation in the South West, and then get some chiefs to oppose publicly, so the Governor/General manager will be remove with the hope that people from the North West will be upset, and this will be made into a huge story. This trick will be to plant mistrust and their media will promote it. This same trick will be used in the North West, but this time they will use someone from the Western province to plant division and isolate North West. My people like we say in pidgin “shine your eyes” and do not fall for these.
Offer Prime Ministerial office to someone from Ndian hoping it will upset Manyu and to please Manyu, appoint one of their elite as governor in littoral/ centre province. Forgive me if you do not buy my analysis, but this is how I perceive the bite and blow from this diabolic “system”. They are trying to isolate North West at the same time divide South west making it to look like Manyu, Lebialem, Manegoumba and Bagem are against Fako, Bamusso and Meme
For the North West they will stir tribal wars and make it national news. Favour weaker group over stronger one. Let not your hearts be trouble my people. “Shine your eyes” and avoid falling for this. They will also stir up news in West Cameroon that North West will rule and gain more, so as to frighten any weaker comrade. At the same time they will stir within South West that Manyu natives are more and will dominate and they (the system) will offer to help Fako and Bamusso if they reject Federation.

Please let this not sway you, for the rule of law, open opportunity for all will have to be the bedrock of our federation. The shallow reason you see they are trying to set confusion amongst Manyu in SW and NW as a whole is that, they (the system) thinks these two benefit the most from others. But it is a lie. West Cameroon has lot of unexploited resources in the North West, such as iron ore in Ndop, Coal, rare earth minerals along Nkambe all the way to Furawa, following that mighty Katsina River, just to name a few. We know they do not release these info for fear of us separating. Same goes with Manyu, Bangem, Labeliam. We know there is bauxite in Bagem and Labialem, some crude oil in Mamfe, pozzalan in Manegouba and many more because as it stands our region is least exploited. The only resource heavily extracted is the crude from Ndian, timber from Korup and Nguti and now some crude from Limbe.

We all have some differences, its normal but we should all rally around the Identity (Anglophone). Look the USA and Canada are made up of people from Africa, Europe and Asia. What binds us should be our Anglophones. Guard this closer to your hearts, for if we fail they will suck in South West into Littoral and North West into West, by creating what they will call Coastal/Sawaland State and Grassfeild State. This will come about by them proposing a 6-7 states solution. Flee from these proposal, because if we are sucked in, only force can be use to liberate us and it will be deadly.

They are now back to their drawing boards planning drastic and carefully thought over ideas. There is blame game in their camp now and some heads will roll, some are saying they had been very arrogant and harsh with “assimilation” or “harmonization”. The implementation of their diabolic plans will be gradual this time, as you can see the system is very upset by what we have done. We have shattered what they have built since 1962 till date in just 2 years. We should be very tactical and foresighted, take no soft speeches in English by some as change or appointments as a solution.

It’s either Full Federation with all its tenets or Separation. Let the Consortium be careful with who they bring on board and how they draft and list their points. If all their points are satisfied but no federation granted it will take two generations to wipe the slate clean, and this might be deadly. If they say we are talking politics, we should agree, politics affects all sectors of life and politicians are the decision makers. We are talking about all these because of what politician did. Do not shy away when they say avoid politics.

Some of their advisers are telling them to offer us Full Federation, but the system is worried. The “system” says they need a guarantee, and it should be, we sign a clause which will state that Secession will never be raised in say 100 years from the date of such signing and it be enshrine in a new constitution. If we take this option, we also have to propose that all the points raised plus Full Federation with all its tenets, be protected and enshrine in the constitution and upheld to its fullest, and if it’s not followed we will opt out of the union and go our way as a separate state.

We should also ensure that the state flag bears two stars as a reminder that, these are two peoples living together under a Federal system. The name of our country should also include the words United and Federal. These are reminders and should not be left out.

Brothers and sisters I have more to say but I will reserve for now. Please feel free to use these info to educate our people if you dim fit, I have no copyright issue with it.

A point to highlight, CDC might be lost; its destruction had been going on for some time. She will suffer from competition brought to it by the “system”; the “system” has created large farms in the East and South growing palms and rubber. They have few workers and most are seasonal same as Herackles farm, so they stand a better chance of undermining CDC in selling their produce. This will cause CDC to be indebted and be forced to be privatized to foreign companies and behind these foreign companies will be top people from the “system” their family and friends. They will create companies abroad in what is call “company layering” and use these companies to buy shares in a foreign company and ask this foreign company to come and buy over CDC shares. We should watch out and teach our people to be vigilant and be vocal.

Found in Old Mount Mary’s Church Buea

15, December 2016

Political flirtation: Minister Issa Tchiroma, others named and shamed ⁰

The Minister of Communication and government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has been named and shamed as the greatest political opportunist in Cameroon. The Cameroon political story has all along been animated and characterized essentially by “chronic” instability. The country has no fewer than 298 political parties, and most of these movements were created after December 1990, in the aftermath of the return to multiparty politics.

The majority of Cameroon’s political leaders belonged either to the National Union of Cameroon (UNC), the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the National Union for Democracy and Democracy Progress (UNDP), or the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC).

In a recent edition, a local newspaper L’hebdomadaire Repères painted Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Minister of Communication as a political opportunist. As one of the founding members of the UNDP, Tchiroma was dismissed from the party on the 21^st of January 1995 alongside his corrupt acolyte, Minister Hamadou Moustapha. The two then created their own party: National Alliance for Democracy and Progress (ANDP). He has held the position of Minister of Communication since the 30^th of June 2009 and is known today as a Biya loyalist.

Jean Jacques Ekindi, leader of the Progressive Movement (MP) was also named in the report. He started from a political party with links to the UPC and joined the ruling CPDM crime syndicate before creating his own party in 1991. For her part, Edith Kahbang Walla left the SDF to create The Cameroon People’s Party (CPP). Célestin Bedzigui, abandoned the leadership of his own political formation, the Liberal Alliance Party (PAL) and became a card carrying member of Bello Bouba Maigari’s UNDP in 1997. 5 Years later, precisely in 2002, Célestin Bedzigui was sacked from his position as 1st Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee and member of the UNDP Political Bureau by Bello Bouba Maïgari.

Bernard Achuo Muna, one of the founding members of the SDF, separated from the Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi during a party congress in 2006. He joined the Alliance of Progressive Forces (AFP) a year later, and then headed by Maidadi Yaya, another defector of the SDF. He became leader of the AFP, but in February 2012, he stepped down from the presidency of his party and became a simple militant.

By Ebong Kingsley

13, December 2016

Biya tells lawyers and teachers “Take the Federation off the table” ⁰

According to unimpeachable sources, a high level delegation of Lawyers and Teachers, headed by Barrister Harmony Bobga convened in Ndawara, Boyo Division, at the legendary home of business mogul and Biya protege, Alhadji Baba.

Our concurring sources said the meeting was at the behest of President Biya who reached out to his friend Alhadji Baba. According to my sources, Alhadji Baba said that President Biya was not getting the truth from the men around him and had reached out to him so he could get to the bottom of the problems. But first, the President indicated that talk of federation had to be “off the table”.

Accompanied by France 24 because some participants “were in fear of not coming out of that fortress” alive, the lawyers and teachers maintained their demands, viz:

1) Common Law Bar;

2) Common Law Chamber at the Supreme Court;

3) Common Law School to train lawyers as well as Common Law Judges

4) Separate Education Council to take care of Southern Cameroons education from kindergarten through University;

5) Return control of entry into professional schools back to the Universities and away from the corrupt Ministry of Higher Education;

6) Return to two State Federation.

The 12 hour long session started Sunday afternoon and ended in wee hours of Monday at 2:00am, the time at which lawyers finished drafting the document that was immediately dispatched to the Presidency for translation and then forwarded to the President. The Lawyers, Teachers and Civil Society present hope to hear from the President soon.

But they made it clear, sources say, that if there is no reasonable action by the Head of State, things will move into phase three. In the meantime, talk was rife about an impending cabinet change in the wake of the monumental failure by PM Yang and the poor handling of the situation by Fame Ndongo of Education, as well as his colleagues at the Ministry of Justice and Paul Atanga.

By Innocent Chia

3, December 2016

Ambassador Hoza says Cameroon-US relations will witness a significant growth in Trump’s admin ¹

The U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael Stephen HOZA, has announced that Cameroon-U.S. relations will witness a significant growth in Donald Trump’s administration. He made this revelation on Friday 02 December 2016 at the Unity Palace after an audience with the Cameroonian dictator, Paul BIYA.

Ambassador HOZA said his meeting with the Head of State was aimed at reassuring Cameroonians that the U.S. will continue its trajectory with the next administration come 20 January 2017. Thus, efforts will be made to support Cameroon in; the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group, peace and stability in the Central African Republic, and the promotion of maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea.

The U.S. diplomat equally expatiated on a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on the strike actions led by Anglophone lawyers and teachers in Cameroon. He said the issue was raised during the audience and the Head of State shared the same viewpoint like him. Hence, he explained to journalists why Cameroonians need to preserve their great strength of unity in diversity, based on the principles of tolerance and dialogue.

Culled from the presidency of the republic

1, December 2016

Two State Federation: Not a panacea ⁴

Over the last month, Cameroon has been caught in a downward political spiral as students, lawyers, taxi drivers and teachers in the former Southern Cameroons take their frustrations to the streets after years of complaints and indifference on the part of the Yaoundé government. Cameroon, which for so many years, has been characterized as an oasis of peace in a chaotic and unstable region, is finally going the way of other countries in the region. Chad, Congo, DRC, CAR and Nigeria have all been theaters of violent conflicts shortly after independence, but Cameroon which is a union between East and West Cameroon also known as Southern Cameroons has enjoyed some relative peace. Though years of the Maquisard movement in East Cameroon threatened the country’s independence and unity, the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, held the country together sometimes through brute force and sometimes through the carrot which he displayed to his enemies. After all, it is also possible to catch flies with honey. We don’t always have to use vinegar.

But the current political situation is threatening to tear the country apart. Anglophones or Southern Cameroonians are threatening to go their own way if the Yaoundé government continues to be deaf to their complaints. Many Southern Cameroonians are already looking at the possibility of a secession while others are thinking of a return to the pre-1972 political situation where Cameroon was a two-state federation. Many point to the political rigor that characterized Southern Cameroons. In those days, politicians were accountable to the people. The region’s parliamentary democracy was healthy and exciting and the people had a strong sense of ownership. In southern Cameroons, it was unusual for anybody to be arrested without a warrant of arrest. Senior civil servants had service cars, but after 6 p.m. all the cars had to be parked at the nearest police station. It was unacceptable for any politician to use his/her position to influence things in another department. Healthcare was within everybody’s reach and the future held a lot in store for young Southern Cameroonians. These are the type of things that are generating a lot of nostalgia among Anglophones, making them to always look back in anger. But is a two-state federation a panacea for all the issues facing Anglophones?

While the government in Yaoundé is to blame for the ugly situation playing out in the country, the leaders of the strike and those calling for a two-state federation must understand that there is no world without problems. While the political elite in Yaoundé has never paid attention to the sorry plight of the suffering masses, Anglophones must also understand that the generation of Anglophone politicians who played by the rules has completely disappeared. For Anglophone Cameroonians who are less than forty years, their knowledge of the glorious days of Southern Cameroons only comes from history books. Not many of them have practical experience of genuine and sincere democracy where the winner hardly takes it all. They may be speaking English, but the rigor and dedication that inspired faith and confidence in the population is lacking in both Anglophones and Francophones. Greed, self-interest, corruption and embezzlement that have characterized life in post-1972 Cameroon are more of a national problems than a linguistic issue. Anglophones just like their Francophone counterparts have willfully participated in the moral and political decline of a country that was once considered an earthly paradise.

Of course, federalism will be a welcome solution as it will inspire change and economic development in the various regions. It will empower the population. The ideal federalism will be a 10-region federalism that will grant power to the grassroots. While Anglophones might be having specific issues, it must be remembered that their Francophone colleagues are also victims of a political elite that thrives on divide-and-rule tactics that have spread a lot of poverty and pain in Cameroon. Cameroon is a country blessed with some of the finest human resources on the African continent, but years of misrule, corruption and indifference have seen this country export its best and brightest. This does not only affect Anglophones. Francophones like Anglophones are dealing with the consequences of an economic crisis that has been manufactured by the country’s leaders. Many are in exile and thousands want to return to their country of birth, but what will they be returning to when every well informed Cameroonian is aware of the political chaos that is hanging over the nation like the Sword of Damocles.

Besides economic hardship, both linguistic blocs are having serious infrastructure problems. Though being the lungs of the Central African region’s economy, Cameroon as a whole is bereft of modern infrastructure. Over the years, the government has been sleeping at the switch, leaving the poor people of Cameroon in the dark. Power supply in the country is at best epileptic. The roads are death traps and many have been consumed by these so-called roads. The hospitals are nothing more than consultation clinics and educational standards have taken a nosedive. Corruption is on the rise and political patronage has become the order of the day. It is every Cameroonian who is feeling the pinch of this chaos that has been engineered by a greedy political elite. The hardship manufactured by the government knows no language.

Calling for a two-state federation is like blaming all Francophones for the calamity that has befallen the country when it is common knowledge that many Anglophones have willfully participated in the man-made catastrophe that is leaving a trail of death and destruction among the people who have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in their own country. Rather than look for solutions that may turn out to be phoney, it will be smart to seek solutions that will bring prosperity and peace to a federal Cameroon that will place the people’s welfare at the center of every policy and action. While this article is not intended to discourage those seeking to right some of the wrongs of the past, it must be understood that even among Anglophones there are deep divisions which are more tribal. The rivalry between the Northwest and Southwest regions has nothing to do with linguistic differences. The fear of the Bayangi domination in the Southwest region has nothing to do with the language. The share number of Bayangs in the Southwest region clearly implies that they will dominate politics in this region for centuries. These are people who are very prolific when it comes to procreation. Their nocturnal activities have almost neutralized all the other tribes in the region. In the Northwest, such rivalries also exist. Where there are humans such unfortunate situations must exist. A ten-region federalism will not be a panacea but it will enable the people to be in control of their lives and destiny, and the tensions that exist because of linguistic differences between Anglophones and Francophones will be reduced to the barest minimum. Let anger and frustration not rule the current movement for change. It’s good to be rational and not to act on the spur of the moment. Cameroon should be a federation, but a 10-region federation.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey