The People’s Revolution: The rise of ghost town in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Primary school pupils and High school students across Southern Cameroons are engaging in increasingly frequent acts of ghost towns ordered jointly by the Southern Cameroons Governing Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. They have stayed out of the so-called official opening of the 2017 academic year today Monday the 4th of September 2017 in support of a strike action that was initiated by lawyers and teachers which subsequently laid the foundation for the Southern Cameroons revolution some 11 months ago.

There has been no reaction from the French Cameroun government officials currently in Southern Cameroons to push for the resumption of classes. However, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has warned that parents should carefully put as top priority the safety of their children during these difficult times in Southern Cameroons history.

The struggle for social and political rights in British Southern Cameroons has expanded across different sectors and entered different venues, highlighting in particular calls for an independent state of Southern Cameroons.

Recently and against the backdrop of a deepening political crisis and the release of Dr. Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho and Dr. Neba Fontem, all Southern Cameroons counties and Anglophone political associations both at home and abroad have declared independence from President Biya’s government.

Even the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, which has MPs in the national assembly, has announced they will not participate in next year’s elections under the prevailing circumstances. These recent collective actions were precipitated by president Biya’s decision to push through a fake agenda drafted by some Francophone political elites shifting the goal post to bilingualism and multiculturalism.

With little change 35 years on from the ouster of the late President Ahmadaou Ahidjo, there are plans for the creation of a Republic of Southern Cameroons. An operations manager in the Mamfe County explained to Cameroon Concord News that today’s successful ghost town operation is not a direct withdrawal from the Cameroonian state “flag and all but rather an expression of defiance against the lawlessness of the state that is buttressed by the ruling Francophone political elite headed by Mr. Paul Biya.”

There are calls for President Biya to meet with the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and securing the support of some prominent figures deep within the Southern Cameroons diaspora. The revolution has eventually washed away men like Musonge, Paul Atanga Nji, Yang Philemon, Patrick Ekema and Elvis Ngole Ngole.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Buea, Bamenda, Mundemba, Mamfe and Tombel
Cameroon Concord News