24, January 2017

Biya signs Bilingual decree amid tension and ghost town 0

The 83 year-old dictator signed a decree yesterday creating what his Francophone regime calls the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism. For the first time in his 34 years in power, a presidential decree was made public in both English and French. The decree is in line with an empty promise, the national chairman of the ruling CPDM made on the 31st of December 2016.

Biya stated that the commission will have 15 members who will have to report to him every 6 months. With pressure mounting on Yaounde over the Anglophone problem, the General Manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television, Charles Ndongo spent time analyzing the decree which the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society have dismissed as a non event.

Ghost town operations will continue today Tuesday the 24th of January throughout Southern Cameroons territory. The plan by Government for school to resume in the North West and South West regions has failed to yield positive outcome after both regions observed the fourth ghost town since last January 9, 2017

The minister of Secondary Education, Jean Ernest Massena Ngale Bibehe on behalf of Prime Minister had signed a release calling on all students and pupils to go to school come Monday which is already the third week in Second term. The release also urged parents to send their children to school. The government went as far as sending communiqués to be read several times in churches and used the State Media as major tool of propagating their views.

But the observation Monday in towns like Kumbo, Bamenda, Buea, Limbe, Tiko, and Kumba among others indicated that ghost town was successful in spite the arrest of trade Union leaders. Schools remained closed, vehicles were off streets and shops remained permanently shut down. Few Francophone students could be seen in bilingual schools in Buea but classes were not effective.

The governors of the North West and South West regions who had programmed an inspection tour in some schools cancelled their trips because of the ghost town owing to the fact that no student was on campus. The government is battling for school to resume before February 11 which could be an embarrassment for the 34 year old regime.

CAMCORDNEWS/CIN