Bilingualism Commission: George Ngwane’s benefits of walking barefooted on broken glass ⁰

The appointment of Ngwane George Esambe as a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism has reportedly generated a political debate within the Francophone political elites in Yaoundé with some French speaking newspapers reporting that he was an advisor to the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium identified by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime as the main instigator of the Southern Cameroons Crisis.

A cream of Francophone elites however observed that by appointing Ngwane, Biya simply made a political gesture which has failed. George Ngwane has recently been profiled as one of the Southern Cameroons intellectuals who have never hidden his convictions particularly that of an independent state for Southern Cameroons. Some moderates inside the regime painted Ngwane as an activist and a pacifist who is also the founder of Africaphonie, a Pan-African organization working for the strengthening of democracy and economic development.

Some Francophone political commentators have however maintained that through his appointment, Paul Biya wants to use some of those who have been accused of dividing Cameroon to try to appease Southern Cameroonians.  Ngwane George is not a solid and popular Anglophone leader and therefore his presence in the commission is inconsequential, noted an ardent supporter of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

By Fru James