What is President Biya’s Cameroon? It is indeed a country that has not defined itself in relation to the African Union, the European Union, the United Nations or its boundaries. Is Cameroon’s nationalism civic, ethnic or imperial from France? Is Cameroon in West or Sub Saharan Africa? Is it a democracy, a regime-state or a compound polity like Saudi Arabia? Or is it better described as a military state?

Although Cameroon has an official policy of bilingualism, it is in practice very much a Francophone country. This is not just because more than three-quarters of its 25 million people belong to the French-speaking regions, but especially because English is neither protected nor encouraged officially. Except in the South West and North West Regions, Anglophones must learn French to survive and succeed in their various occupations. In the public services and in major state-owned companies, the way up is totally barred from Anglophones who cannot speak French. Interestingly, Francophones feel at home and have no need to learn English because public affairs are conducted but in French. Since reunification on October 1 1961, Anglophones have suffered under this form of state terrorism and political genocide but Francophone rulers like President Paul Biya have refused to make a concession.

Whenever an international Anglo-Saxon personality like the former Commonwealth Secretary General Chief Emeka Anyaoku ,Kofi Annan or the great Nelson Mandela comes visiting, there is always a Cameroon government statement from the Chief Executive redefining the conduct of government and given impetus to bilingualism echoing that French and English were official languages of equal value and that bilingualism would be promoted throughout the country. Only God alone knows how Anglophone leaders have kept their faith in a president who himself has little regard for English because he has never throughout his 34 years in power addressed the nation in English.

President Biya has signed so many presidential decrees dishing-out special responsibility for the promotion of bilingualism yet it is still not obvious today in Cameroon to have sign posts in Douala, Yaoundé and other French-speaking towns in both languages as is the case in the North West and South West regions. Anglophones are still being turned away from public offices for making inquiries in English! Government ministers are still not obliged to deliver their speeches in English and French! Competence in both languages has till 2016 not become a necessary condition for promotion to senior public position! Presidential decrees and ministerial orders are still being published only in French!! There is still not a separate English radio and television channels for Anglophones to encourage the English Language and culture!

All these is happening under the watchful eyes of an Anglophone Prime Minister Yang Philemon who spent 25 years in Canada as Cameroon’s ambassador and who is suppose to be aware of the important lessons Canada’s bilingualism offers to the world. The Canadian federal government operates a code that defines the use of both English and French in such a way that officially both are of equal status. A national language board actually sees to it that the legal provisions for the equal use of the two languages are respected.

It is very disturbing that English which is the modern world’s language of science, technology, finance and business is been discouraged in a “Cameroun des grands ambition”. There are French speaking African countries such as Senegal that neither have Anglophones citizens nor have an official bilingual policy, but which have in response to globalization encouraged the use of English with remarkable results. The killing of innocent Southern Cameroonians will not bully us to submission. Change has come to Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief 

Cameroon Concord News Group

Prime Minister Yang Philemon’s declaration that Cameroon is united and indivisible is, of course, no music to many Anglophone ears. The situation pitting the government against striking Anglophones has even been made worse by government ministers who have taken to the air waves to misinform Francophones, with many declaring that there is no Anglophone problem. Such rhetoric is not calming down flaring tempers and no reasonable Anglophone will buy into such noise that is only inflaming the marginalized people of Southern Cameroons. Their rhetoric is only causing the two camps to drift apart. If the street demonstrations cannot convince the government that there is something wrong, then nothing will make it go to the negotiating table. Cameroon government officials should take a look at their own statistics to gain a better understanding of what is poisoning the relationship between them and Anglophones. The Internet is awash with this information and turning a blind eye or withdrawing into a cocoon of indifference will not make the problem go away.

Silence has a way of making issues more complicated and the government’s indifference and silence about those issues Anglophones have been complaining about for decades are pushing the country to the brink. This country has only had two presidents, both of whom have been Francophones and have occupied the seat for long periods of time, making it impossible for any Anglophone to step into that seat. This does not look very serious, but other statistics could be very sobering and revolting. Over the last 55 years, no Anglophone has held the post of Secretary-General at the Presidency. The post of director of the civil cabinet at the Presidency has been a preserve of Francophones and the country’s ministers of defense, finance, territorial administration, communication, external relations and national education have all been French-speaking Cameroonians with many of them holding that it is their birthright. Government ministers who are misinforming Cameroonians just need to take a look at these statistics for them to understand why Anglophones have taken to the streets. But if you think this is revolting enough, take a look at the police force and Gendarmerie. These two bodies have never been headed by any Anglophone regardless of their training. This is a no-go area for Anglophones regardless of how loyal they may be to the regime. Of course, a full stomach hardly sees injustice and this could explain why some Anglophone ministers such as Atanga Njie can openly declare that there is no Anglophone problem.

The current configuration of the country’s military is food-for-thought for any objective Cameroonian. The Army is pregnant with many generals, but Anglophones account for less than 10% of these generals. They have been totally cut out of the country’s intelligence services as they are considered as the enemy within. If this does not look like a problem, then somebody should be blind here or they are simply trying to sustain the status quo to ensure their own political survival. Take a look at postings to the country’s embassies across the world and you will see clear marginalization of a people who have a lot to contribute to the development efforts of their country. Cameroon’s ambassadors to most English-speaking countries around the world have been Francophones although they have to serve Anglophone Cameroonians who have fled the injustice in their country.

Anglophone Cameroon accounts for about 20% of the country’s population, but its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stands at about 60%. The South West region alone accounts for a huge percentage of the GDP given that the country’s oil deposits are located in this region and the country’s lone oil refinery known by its French acronym as SONARA is in the heart of the South West region. Unfortunately this wealth-generating institution has, since its inception, been run by Francophones many of whom have cared less about the local population. The refinery’s workforce is predominantly Francophone and the benefits of the oil sector are yet to trickle down to the region’s local population. Could this be explained by a lack of competent manpower in this region that is clearly begging for development?

The statistics about Anglophone marginalization over the last 55 years are really staggering. According to Ekinneh Agbaw-ebai, a seasoned Cameroon political analyst and a graduate of the prestigious Harvard University, “ Of the 700 ministers appointed since Biya took office in 1982, only 76 (10.8%) have been Anglophones. In the current 63-member cabinet, there are only six Anglophones (9%) and only, Philip Ngole Ngwese (2%) out of the 38 Ministers has a cabinet portfolio. There are four Anglophone Secretaries-General (10%) and three Anglophone DAGs (7%) in the central administration. In state corporations, there are less than 15 Anglophones (11%) out of over 130 general managers. Of the over 130 Board chairmen of state corporations, there are only 10 Anglophones (7%). Of the 58 SDOs in the country, there are six Anglophones (10%) and only three of the nation’s 33 generals in the Armed Forces are Anglophones.”

He adds that the situation in the Northwest region is even worse. “Of the 128 magistrates in the Northwest, there are 67 Francophones (52 %). Of the 97 magistrates of the legal departments, 64 of them are Francophones, (65.9%); 22 (48.9%) of the 45 magistrates in Bamenda are Francophones. There are 27 magistrates in the legal department in Bamenda of which 21, (77.8%) are Francophones. All the 21 new bailiffs (100%) appointed in January 2014 to the Northwest are Francophones. Comparatively, of the 119 magistrates in Douala, only two (1.7%) are Anglophones. Likewise, only two (1.9%) of the 107 magistrates in Yaoundé are Anglophones.” These are very disturbing statistics in a country considered to be bilingual and bi-jural.

These statistics speak to Anglophone marginalization, and taking to the air waves to say the contrary is a clear denial of the facts. Cameroonians are however aware of these facts. The government has to look for a way to right some of these wrongs. It must seek way to calm the flaring tempers. Dialogue is, without a doubt, the way forward. Cameroonians love their country, but they also need the system to be more decentralized so that the people can have a huge say in the way they are governed. Telling Anglophone teachers and lawyers to resume work without meeting with their leaders will not restore the peace the country needs. Seeking to manipulate national opinion on this by saying there is no Anglophone problem is like addressing the wrong audience. The facts are there. They are staring everybody in the face. Acknowledging them will be like solving the problem by 50%. Denial will certainly not cut it. It’s time for government officials to walk away from their old ways.

Cameroon belongs to everybody. It will be wrong to continue giving the impression that a fraction of the population is not important. The fight in this country should be against poverty and underdevelopment. Winning this war will require everybody, regardless of their language of communication, to pull their fair share of the weight. It will also require that all Cameroonians be made to feel at home. It will be hard to win such a tough fight when 20% of the population is being marginalized. It is like going to play a tough football match but going to the match with only 80% of the squad. Silence and indifference are the triggers of violent conflicts. Cameroon can be spared this scourge if its leaders acknowledge the issues and work towards addressing them. They need to talk to their people and they must stop addressing the wrong audience. Coming down from their Ivory tower will certainly give peace a chance.

Dr. Joachim Arrey

Cameroon Concord News Group

The complaints of demonstrating Anglophones have surely not fallen on deaf ears as some government officials have, on a small scale, been trying to meet with leaders of the various groups that have been demonstrating and bringing life in Anglophone Cameroon to a standstill. Prime Minister Yang Philemon has not been indifferent to the issues facing Anglophones and his trip to Bamenda to meet striking lawyers and teachers deserves some commendation. It might not have yielded the fruits most frustrated Anglophones need, but it is testimony to the fact that through dialogue some of the issues could be dealt with. Some ruling party parliamentarians have also been listening to the striking lawyers and teachers with a view to gaining a better understanding of the issues, but their efforts will surely come to naught if the powers-that-be do not embrace this move that is more likely to be more effective than the violent rhetoric some ruling party members have been using. This only goes to underscore that dialogue holds more hope and it should be pursued regardless of the cost.

Dialogue is medication that soothes even the most violent mind. It sows peace and guarantees security for many generations. It is an effective political tool that has kept internal strife at bay in many countries such as Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. If Canada, in particular, is today a huge attraction, it is because the country’s political leaders have embraced this philosophy and they sincerely think that the people’s wellbeing should be at the center of every political action and policy discourse. Cameroon stands to gain if it takes a long and an objective look at how the Canadian system functions. It is a bilingual system that has stood the test of time. The country’s efforts are geared at sustaining its bilingual and bi-jural system. While some issues linger, the Federal and provincial governments are permanently locked in talks on how to keep the union going. This is how to deal with cultural differences and this is the way forward for a country like Cameroon that currently has a huge crisis on its hands as Anglophones take to the streets to express their disgust and frustration with a union that has robbed them of their dignity and happiness.

Anglophones have a problem. Their marginalization is not a myth. It is a reality that can no longer be ignored. The scars of marginalization are all over the place. The country’s English-speaking minority has been frustrated for decades and current demonstrations only speak to the pain these people have been enduring for years. Most of these demonstrators simply want a righting of the wrongs of the past. The lawyers who started the demonstrations never talked of secession or independence. But as some government officials keep on playing the ostrich, the demands are gradually moving from redress to independence and outright secession. This points to the absence of genuine dialogue and good faith on the part of the government.

This bad faith has been reflected in the Prime Minister’s order of December 1, 2016,serving as a  response to the demonstrations that have been playing out in the North West and South West regions of the country. Last Thursday’s announcement did not make any mention of an Anglophone problem and it did not really serve any purpose. Instead of providing real solutions to the issues that have been stalking Anglophones like stubborn shadows, the government, as usual, proposed some cosmetic and Band-Aid solutions. It will be recruiting 1,000 bilingual teachers, many of whom will be sent to those areas where there is a shortage of teachers. This is like papering over the cracks on the wall. Cameroon is suffering from an advanced stage of cancer, it makes no sense trying to give a cancer patient malarial drugs. The bull must be taken by the horn. Cameroonians are smart people. The government’s old tactics will not meet the needs of the striking Anglophones.

Similarly, the utterances of government officials such as those of the Ministers of Justice, Communication and Higher Education have been very unhelpful and this is radicalizing many Anglophones.It is always dangerous to pour gasoline into a burning house. The issues presented by Anglophones can be addressed if the Government demonstrates sincere leadership and objectivity. Showing its teeth in this context will not move the country forward. From every indication, the wall of fear has fallen. If the government does not engage Anglophones in a meaningful and sincere dialogue wherein most issues are discussed and positive steps taken, then it will be to blame when secessionists gain remarkable ground. Extremists thrive when the government resorts to violence and indifference to the plight of the people. Denying that there is no Anglophone problem is unfortunately playing into the hands of people who are seeking radical solutions.

Dialogue is undoubtedly the road to that paradise all Cameroonians want to live in. Anglophones don’t want an adulterated educational system. Their lawyers want to be more effective. They want their clients to have a good deal and not the raw deal they have been served for decades. It has not worked for them, their clients and their country. They simply need a new dispensation that will breed efficiency, confidence and peace.  Let the government not think it will come out of this victorious. Times have changed and Cameroonians have understood that they have to get what they want no matter what it takes. The victor in all of this will be a strong, united and federal Cameroon. Dialogue is an idea whose time has come. Let Cameroonians embrace it as other people in other parts of the world have; an action that has made their countries great and attractive. With dialogue, Cameroonians can conveniently retire their differences and live in a better Cameroon.

Dr. Joachim Arrey (Contributing Editor)

Cameroon Concord News Group

SDF Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi’s recent action in Bamenda and now in Buea is very disturbing and a negative distraction to the Anglophone Spring. With so much goodwill wasted on this CPDM collaborator, our lawyers and teachers should distance themselves from Fru Ndi and his SDF.  The so-called Cameroon’s main opposition party has been in a state of brooding, and its regional outlets in North, South West, West, East and even the North West region are facing an energy-draining soul-searching brooding. Yet, the SDF leadership had been contented with their CPDM status of “main opposition party in Cameroon”.  SDF militants were never worried because internally the party leadership had accepted that the SDF revolution was actually over. So why is Fru Ndi who announced last year that he was ageing and could no longer hold public meetings be seen around Anglophone protest rallies? Why are the SDF MPs and Senators staging protest marches in Anglophone Cameroon when their just ended NEC meeting did not highlight any Anglophone problem in its final resolutions? What does Fru Ndi actually represent?

The SDF leadership is now tormented by fear of losing the North West region and is graciously accepting to be a part of the Anglophone Uprising. For a political party that has enjoyed parliamentary seats awarded by a CPDM government-rigged election to emerge at this difficult and complex time in our Anglophone history is very worrying. Fru Ndi and his Bafourchu mafia knew from the very beginning that the SDF will do nothing in parliament, but decided to act on the principle that “what will it achieve by staying out?” It would have continued as a front as some recommended and the Anglophone problem would have been half way solved. But the Fru Ndi boys such as Joseph Mbam Ndam who hijacked the SDF were tired of staying on the sidelines of power and those luxurious hotels in Yaoundé. The quest for money and power through some counterfeit parliamentary elections slowly but surely reduced the SDF to a North West Regional political party.

Fru Ndi even stood for senatorial elections and lost and the SDF leadership maintained a kind of deliberate silence that betrayed frustration arising from the fear that the SDF as a political entity in Cameroon has outlived its usefulness and the revolution that came along with it is over.  The SDF going to parliament and the Senate under CPDM conditions was in effect surrendering and beginning a new form of cooperation with the President Biya regime. It was indeed a decision that was contrary to the SDF’s fundamental objective which was to overthrow the Biya Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime and bring about democracy, economic prosperity, law and order and above all good governance in the Republic of Cameroon.

Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi did not know that his greatest distinction and strength laid in his consistency and unswerving faithfulness to the party’s objective over the years. A pro-National Assembly policy destroyed this overnight. To be sure, the 1997 pro-Assembly decision weakened the SDF and its leadership forever!!  Fru Ndi traveled the nooks and crannies of the nation with the argument that there is no future prospect for free and fair election under President Biya. So what Fru Ndi and his acolytes were saying was that “if you can beat them, join them”. Which they did!! Why is Fru Ndi now serving Biya’s interest by trying to divert attention from our lawyers and our teachers?

The SDF it can now be said was never ready for a long term campaign, consequently, Fru Ndi should be told to retire back to his home. What we know as Africans is that similar liberation struggles have lasted for decades and even more. The revolution that finally brought Meles Zenawi to power in Ethiopia in 1991 lasted 17 years. Though a very bad example in modern day Africa, but it is on record that Yoweri Kaguta Museveni challenged the electoral fraud of Milton Obote and that led to a long campaign based on a 10-point programme. He finally beat Obote and all the others in 1986, after 16 difficult years. In Namibia, Sam Nujoma and Toivoja Toivo founded SWAPO in 1959 to fight abusive colonialism. Nujoma went on exile in 1966 but kept up his fight for liberation. He won and became President of Namibia in April 1990-after 31 years. In South Africa the ANC campaign began in 1910. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. That did not daunt the spirit of the struggle. The campaign for African majority rule in Northern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe lasted for more than 20 years. Our attention is now focusing on the Anglophone Prime Minister coming to Southern Cameroons territory with his Francophone bosses. This is not the time for any SDF activity in British Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Editor-in-Chief)

Cameroon Concord News Group

From a legal perspective the two choices are mutually exclusive. However, from a pragmatic panorama the former is but the precursor of the latter. We, the people of West Cameroon aka Anglophones, aka, Southern Cameroonians aka ‘Les Anglo’ have experienced both alternatives. Lest we forget, in the context of nationhood, the name ‘La Republique du Cameroun’ is anathema to the spirit of the union between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun in Oct.1961. Why we should stand against the Cameroonian project.

1. The present name of Cameroon totally negates and renders the Oct. 1961 plebiscite null and void. Thus, as it stands we the people of Southern Cameroons have been ‘assimilated’ under duress.
2. The question of identity is central to any nation as it’s the bedrock of patriotism. Cameroon as a State lacks a solid identity. Football is no baseline of patriotism. It’s a mirage. Values and ideals shape, inform and instill patriotism.
3. We of West Cameroon identify with ideals and values that are foreign to most sections of French Cameroun: The rule of Law, Common Law, and West Cameroon Education System rooted in English, respect for Institutions and elders, absolute equality before the law, healthy debates, fairness and probity.
4. For a nation to flourish it needs to tap into the deep well of her heroes. Our heroes are different from those in French Cameroon. We Anglophones West of the Mungo see ourselves as sons and daughters of Endeley and Foncha- our towering statesmen. Ahidjo is alien to our consciousness.
5. In order to be an indivisible nation, the people must FEEL that bond to each other, must instinctively know they belong. We Anglophones of West Cameroon don’t feel we ‘belong!! We feel foreign, insecure and apprehensive ironically in a land we call home. Cameroon ‘feels’ like two different States. We do not belong and we are often told point-blank we aren’t welcome; with names like ‘ Les Biafras’ ‘Les Bamendas’ ‘Les Anglos la’
6. An inseparable nation must have a common National Anthem which inspires and channels patriotism. Cameroon got two versions of an anthem that says completely different things in French and English. No wonder most Anglophones west of the Mungo remember only the first and last stanzas of it. As a people we don’t connect with this anthem. We might connect with Dr. Fonlon’s second version not the first.
7. Finally, Anglophones West of the Mungo are a people!! Had a parliament, a judiciary, a Prime Minister, and was a de facto State prior to Oct.1961. We know where we are coming from thus; we know where we are heading.
8. La Republique du Cameroon was conceived in violence and oppression. Its thirst for violence, torture and oppression goes back to its birth- Remember the massacre of thousands of Bamileke-Bassa UPCists? Remember Ruben Um Nyobe, Ernest Ouandie, Felix Moumie?

As evidenced by their continuous brutality on peaceful citizens, the Forces of law and order in La Republique du Cameroun are still tied to their umbilical cord of violence and torture. The crimes they have committed in Buea and Bamenda will not be forgotten. Given the above, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that sooner or later Cameroon will be at a crossroads where we will have to make that seismic choice of Federation or secession.

As a people we have the inalienable right to self-determination guarantee under International law. When the time comes-and come it must; my vote, sweat or blood will be for secession. The political class East of the Mungo have proven themselves callous, duplicitous and incapable of positive change. Enough!

By Peter Azinui Suh

For the past two weeks, the North West and South West regions of Cameroon have been the theater of violent confrontations between protesters seeking to draw attention to the sorry plight of the country’s Anglophone minority and the forces of law (lessness) and (dis) order who still think that intimidation and violence can stop the people from complaining. Their strict adherence to old violent ways as a problem- solving tool seems more like pouring gasoline into a burning house. Most of these uniformed men and women do not even understand why the Anglophone lawyer, student, teacher and taxi driver are taking to the streets. Complaining has never been a crime. It is a way of expressing a need. It is always good to listen to a complaining people. If humans have to understand each other, they have to listen to each other and they must seek to have frank and fruitful discussions rather than hold that the complaining party is just a nuisance.

Over the last fifty years, Anglophones have been caught up in a socio-political relation that looks and smells like a bad marriage; a marriage wherein the man holds that because of his superior physical and financial strength, his wife has no right to complain. But complaining and doing it the polite and peaceful way is not an issue. It helps the country to take a look at the union and see if new ways could be designed to bring more peace and prosperity to Cameroon which is the largest economy in the Central African region.

However, to engineer such a path, it will be necessary to take a long and hard look at the issues that are poisoning the relationship between the Anglophone minority in Cameroon and the country’s political authorities. It should be underscored at this juncture that the demonstrations currently taking place in Cameroon have nothing to do with the ordinary Francophone who himself is a victim of a system that has worked very hard over the last 34 years to leave him in abysmal ignorance and poverty. He has not been duly educated on the history of his country and being part of the majority, he does not understand why a bunch of English-speaking compatriots are engaged in running battles with an uneducated police force.

To gain a better understanding of the frustrations of the English-speaking minority, it is important to take a look at the country’s legal system. Cameroon has the devil’s luck of inheriting two Western legal systems – the British and French legal systems – because different parts of the country had been under the trusteeship of different European countries following Germany’s defeat in the First World War. This therefore implies that Anglophones inherited the Common Law system while their French-speaking counterparts inherited France’s Civil Law system. Over the years, there have been efforts at harmonization which has unfortunately implied deleting the English Common Law system in Southern Cameroons and replacing it with the French Civil Law system that has been a source of confusion and frustration in English-speaking Cameroon. Harmonization in this regard has been like colonization and imposition of bruising and punitive sanctions on the defeated. That is why Anglophone lawyers have been up in arms against the government which for a long time has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cry of these men of law. While no concrete decision has been taken in this regard, Prime Minister Yang Philemon’s visit to the North West Region to have a frank discussion with the lawyers has been welcomed in many quarters, though nothing concrete has come out of this meeting. This simply implies that it is good to listen and listening is an idea whose time has come.

But the issues presented by the lawyers are not the only issues that have been hanging around the necks of most Anglophones like a millstone. The country’s dual educational system is one of the many things inherited from the various colonial masters, but efforts by the Yaounde government to harmonize educational systems have only created huge frustrations among Anglophones. In 1982, the government attempted to delete the Anglophone general educational system and replace it with the Francophone system which would have implied Anglophones would have been doing French courses in English. The Anglophone minority displayed its unity and stood up against such attempts at harmonizing parts of the educational system. But the Anglophone technical educational system did not stand a chance. Today certificates delivered to graduates of Anglophone technical colleges bear the hallmarks of a systematic effort to delete anything English. The names of the certificates themselves speak to the determination to make everything French. The grading system has been a millstone around the neck of many Anglophone Cameroonian graduates. It is hard for these graduates to get admission in other Anglophone countries because of the grading system and even the names of the certificates themselves constitute a huge problem to many Anglophones. Until recently, certificates in most graduate schools in Cameroon were called, Diplôme de Traducteur, Diplôme d’ingénieur, diplôme d’enseignement technique,etc. These certificates have stunted the intellectual and academic growth of many ambitious Anglophone Cameroonians and this has been a source of huge frustration. This has however been addressed as many schools around the world have adopted the Anglo-American system. Cameroon has not been an exception in this regard, but the country’s educational system still leaves much to be desired.

If you think this is frustrating enough, take a look at the administrative constitution of the country. It is normal to have a heavily French-speaking Cameroonian to be the governor of the North West or South West regions of Cameroon. Some of these administrative officers get to their duty stations without an inkling of English and they have to deal with an Anglophone population that has no knowledge of French. A lot of time and effort are wasted in meetings as both parties hardly understand each other. In certain cases, there has been a lot of misunderstanding and sometimes the administered do not even understand their own officials. This is a huge impediment to development and it is time for the government to start taking a look at some of these issues. Many Anglophone Cameroonians have been jailed by French-speaking magistrates and judges just because of poor communication. While the judges are proficient in French, the suspects are sometimes only proficient in English and even when they understand French, their knowledge of French has been approximate and rudimentary. It is very painful to see your loved one jailed just because the judge is not proficient in the language your relative understands. It is time to take a look at this harmonization efforts to see where they are hurting the people they are supposed to help.

While violent demonstrations are unacceptable, it is time for the government of Cameroon to start listening. It does not hurt to listen. The people of the two Anglophone regions want to be heard and the right authority to listen to them is the government of Cameroon. Dispatching heavily armed policemen and gendarmes to rape and brutalize armless and peace-loving demonstrators only radicalizes the protesters. This unfortunately plays into the hands of extremists, some of whom are already calling for secession. The Cameroon government has to ensure that it does not create a monster that will push the entire sub-region into an abyss of a long conflict. Denying a people the right to complain can trigger other issues. Cameroonians can live together in Cameroon if only the leaders of the country come down their ivory tower to gain a better understanding of the people’s plight. In many parts of the world, listening to the population is normal. Cameroon cannot be an exception. If the government accepts to listen, the calls for secession can be easily dealt with and the country’s integrity and cohesion can be preserved. It is time for the government to understand that it is worthwhile preserving the two systems the country inherited from its colonial past. But this can only be achieved if Anglophones are not made to feel like strangers at home.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Imagine that you live in a small village in the South of Cameroon just next to Gabon. Imagine that Cameroon was a country in which one-quarter of the population was Francophone and the other three-quarters Anglophones.

Imagine that your village, regardless of its affinity with the Fangs of Gabon as well as the fact that you use the same language, that of the colonizer, decided to unite with the rest of Cameroon.

Imagine after thirty years you moved from the Federal Republic of Cameroon to the United Republic of Cameroon to end up in the Republic of “Southern Cameroons” which just happens to be the name of the Anglophone State before the process of unification.

Imagine further that during those thirty years,  the Administrative system has changed completely, all the road signs are in English, which is also the language used in the administration, finance and military. That even the letters emanating from the Central authority in Buea, were in English, forcing you to have recourse to a translator at your own cost.

Imagine again that every time that the judicial system had to be harmonized; Common Law notions are imposed on a system based on the Napoleonic Code producing confusion of legal notions. That most of the time at the Supreme Court all your documents have to be translated into English before the Court sits.

Imagine that you leave your home and you are stopped by a policeman who spoke only English and considers the fact you insist on speaking in French is an act of provocation.

Imagine that you have always had an Anglophone President and that never in 30 years have you had, a francophone Secretary General or Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, never had francophone Ministers of Defense, Information or Communication, Plan, Finance, National Education or even in charge of the Police, Gendarmes or the Central intelligence and Documentation Agency; not even ambassadors to France, United States or Nigeria. You never even had more than three Secretary Generals in the Ministries or General Managers of the prestigious state-owned companies.

Imagine that the curricula of prestigious higher institutions to be heavily laden with the British system making access to institutions like the Polytechnic and others very difficult for you.

Imagine that your village had important deposits of oil and that the refinery had its own exclusive quarters, its own hospital, its own residential area, its own school, and indeed everything to ensure that those working there, who for the most part are Anglophones, live away from the reality of your village.

Imagine that this refinery had its name in English whilst a sugar factory situated in an Anglophone region found itself with a name in French.

Imagine that for thirty years there has been no development in your village.

Imagine that when you complain you are either called a secessionist or the enemy from within; better still you even asked to go back to your home in Gabon.

That is superficially the daily lot of your Anglophone brothers who after thirty years ask themselves whether they made the right choice, since only they were asked if they wanted reunification with their Francophone brother, at a time when the latter was in the middle of a war and terrorism was at its worst; he voted with his heart and with his eyes completely closed.

Today when he talks about federalism, he only just wants to be able to manage his village and leave everything else to a central authority. His brother of the East might request the same so he can benefit from his timber, which is logged without asking his opinion.

Every time a people have felt threatened as a linguistic, ethnic, or religious minority, the solution has been autonomy and decentralization (Bosnia, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Croatia, Russia etc.)

Fortuitously, Cameroon was born in Berlin towards of the 19th century. Fortuitously, it was divided into Anglophone and Francophone areas. Nevertheless, this is a reality we have to live with without hiding behind pseudo-nationalists and pseudo-patriots whose reasoning is tantamount to intellectual masturbation.

Who is more nationalist and patriotic than the other? The Cameroonian who embezzles billions with impunity or the Cameroonian who calls for a debate on Federalism?

It is sad to speak in terms of Anglophones and Francophones but alas, that is the realty of the situation. When one discusses Francophone Bar Associations, Francophonie and other associations founded simply on the basis the use of a common language that also, is reality.

New bank notes have just been issued on which nothing is written in English. Is that in accordance with our constitution? Anglophones are now thinking like people from QUEBEC.

When I heard political leader (an intellectual) Director General of a state-owned company say that we should have only one national language to be chosen by vote, I took the decision to write this letter at the dawn of 1995. The bridge towards our future will be built on what we remember of our past. The cries that we are trying to silence today will come to haunt our nights.

Our strength lies in our diversity and I am sure that any attempt to stifle this diversity, can only go to weaken us.

Barrister Akere Muna

In 1985, a maverick English-speaking Cameroonian lawyer, Gorgi Dinka, declared that President Paul Biya had abrogated the 1961 union between French Cameroon and the Southern Cameroons by decreeing that the name of the country was no more the “United Republic of Cameroon” but simply, “Republic of Cameroon”.

Lawyer Dinka claimed that by a stroke of President Biya’s pen, French Cameroon had abrogated the Union, and that Southern Cameroonians had to create their own country called Ambazonia –derived from Ambas Bay, the protectorate that Britain established in 1884 before ceding to Germany in 1887.

With Dinka’s arrest in 1985, the Ambazonia independence movement took off. To most Anglophones who had been used to the Gestapo tactics of Cameroon dictatorship, Dinka’s arrest was just another storm in a teacup. But today, with the generalized strike launched by Common Law lawyers, engulfing other sectors of the population in the two Anglophone regions, Dinka’s revolution seem to have become a raging Prairie fire.

Yet, the senile Biya government which is adverse to sharing power in a putative federation, is digging its heels and spreading bribes and bullets. The conundrum of Anglophones who are hoping for a federation is that the French –inspired system, that prevails in Cameroon does not have the concept of a federation in its political lexicon.

The Yaoundé government has been silently implementing its policy of assimilation, gradually eroding all English –speaking institutions in the former Southern Cameroons. After the abolition of the House of Assembly (Parliament), and House of Chiefs in Buea, the predominantly French speaking government has expropriated all important positions and imposed French as the de facto language of the country to the virtual exclusion of English.

Since 1990 when the Social Democratic Front (SDF) was launched in a gush of bloodshed, Biya has been using the stick and the carrot, or bullets and bribes to contain the opposition. Fru Ndi who was a firebrand rabble-rouser, has mellowed after receiving a few million francs CFA, from Biya.  (He of course denies being bribed, but encourages his followers to take any money the government gives, because it is the taxpayers’ money and not Biya’s).

Leaders of the nearly 250 opposition parties have been handsomely rewarded, making the creation of a political party one of the most profitable business ventures in Cameroon. That is why, all the leaders of the main opposition parties in Cameroon, have refused to cede power to a younger generation, because their political parties have become bargaining chips in the big money game that is Cameroon politics.

The stealthy takeover of the judiciary in the two Anglophone regions with the infusion of French speaking judges and prosecutors imposing the Civil law system and requiring lawyers to make submissions in French seems to have gone too far. It has turned out to be a risky move that has backfired.

Yet, with the failed Anglophone leadership and the culture of accepting bribes from the Yaoundé regime, most observers are skeptical that the strike action will result in far-reaching reforms. But the regime seems to have been taken aback by the grown swell of protest on the coattails of the Common law lawyers which has extended to lawyers in London and the rest of the Diaspora in Europe and North America.

Most observers believe that this is a precursor to the real storm that will be engulfing Cameroon with the imminent death of Paul Biya who at 83, is in fragile health and seems determined to die in power.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Editor-in-Chief) Cameron Concord News Group