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
2, December 2016
Anglophone Problem: Government gets it all wrong 1
The government of Cameroon on Thursday, December 1, 2016 finally came out of its silence with a series of Prime Ministerial Orders as a response to the demonstrations that have been playing out in the North West and South West regions of the country. Over the last two weeks, the government’s response to this unfortunate situation has been very confusing. While some ministers such the Ministers of Justice, Communication and Higher Education have taken turns on various media platforms to advise the world that there is no Anglophone problem, the Prime Minister, for his part, has made a trip to the North West region to meet the demonstrating lawyers and teachers in order to gain a better understanding of the issues. The President, for his part, has completely switched off, giving the impression that the demonstrations have no justification and that the demands of the protesters will not be met. In certain cases, peaceful demonstrators have been victims of violence on the part of Cameroon Defense Forces.
In Buea where university students organized a peaceful demonstration against university authorities, the police responded to the students with force that was grossly disproportionate. Many students have been tortured and wounded while some have been arrested and are still in jail for reasons that are only known to the government. Many innocent students were arrested even when they were not part of the protests. This is making it hard for Anglophone leaders to actually sit down with government authorities to have a frank and fruitful discussion on how to deal with the issues that are hurting the people. Government surrogates are on media platforms and outfits trying to put a spin to the issues with some even indicating that no student had been tortured or raped although the Internet is awash with videos substantiating the claims. These spin doctors are still living in the past. For them, the world has stood still, failing to understand that smart phones have transformed many Cameroonians into citizen journalists. With cutting edge technology, it is possible to stream images in real time. Tactics of the past have no place in the world of hi-tech. It is no longer possible for governments to oppress their people without the world being aware. It is almost impossible to shape global opinion with cock-and-bull tales. The world has moved on, but Cameroon political authorities are still frozen in time.
Thursday’s announcement by the government did not make any mention of an Anglophone problem. Rather than provide real solutions to the issues that have been raised by demonstrating Anglophones, the government is, as usual, seeking to provide 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. Of course, that sounds interesting. But the issue has not been about bilingualism. It has been about meeting the real educational needs of the population and teachers. Of what value will a bilingual Francophone be if he will be asked to go and teach English in a city like Ossing in the South West region or Oshea in the Northwest region? The government is failing to understand that oral bilingualism is different from intellectual bilingualism.
Anglophone schools will surely be requiring mathematics, physics and chemistry teachers. How will a bilingual Francophone address such an issue? Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in English will surely not be the same in French and when it comes to expressing oneself intellectually in such complex subjects, the teacher’s rudimentary knowledge of English will surely take French leave of him. Would it not be wise for the government to come up with the appropriate solutions that will help it stave off conflict? Why is it trying to fan the embers of conflict? Cameroonians – be they Anglophones or Francophones – want to have a good education in the language they understand better. They want to live in harmony and conflict-free. When will their authorities understand that the issues that have pushed other nations into fratricidal conflicts have been very little things such as indifference and injustice?
The prime ministerial orders also indicates that the government will also be reaching out to mission and private schools to enable them achieve their goals in the best possible conditions. In this regard, the government will be providing some two billion francs to these institutions, although there is no time frame for such a gesture. It could take a decade or less. This is a country where things are done in slow motion. Before a health center is completed in some villages, almost everybody is dead and gone and the structure will be there for politicians to pride themselves on. Are Cameroonians not tired of promises that hardly come true? What has become of those computers that were promised to university students across the nation? Why is the government not seeing the writing on the wall? Cameroonians are frustrated. Years of economic hardship and frustration are gradually transforming a peaceful people into a violent people. Why can the government not understand that those who make peaceful change impossible only make violent change inevitable?
There is still time for the government to deal with some of the key issues that have been put on the table by the Anglophone minority. The lawyers are still prepared to down their tools until they are sure that Francophone judges will no longer be transferred to Anglophone courts; something that has been a bone of contention for years. They want a pure common law system in Anglophone Cameroon and not the harmonized legal system the government has been trying to stitch together for decades. How does the government expect a heavily Anglophone lawyer to make submissions in French just because the judge or magistrate is illiterate in English? There are other issues and some of these issues also affect Francophones. Anglophones like Francophones have been caught in the throes of an unprecedented economic and financial crisis. Both Anglophone and Francophone kids need quality education. Both Anglophone and Francophones need good hospitals.
The country’s hospitals have over the years been reduced to places where patients go to die. Doctors have become business people. The oath of Hippocrates has been transformed into the Oath of Hypocrisy. Healthcare, genuine healthcare, is out of the reach of many helpless Cameroonians. There is nothing to write home about the country’s road network. The roads are at best death traps. Corruption and nepotism have blighted the lives of Cameroonians. These could be sources of conflict and the fear is that conflict is like rumor. It spreads very fast and it could take a different dimension as it spreads. What might have started as an Anglophone problem could end up becoming a national issue. Poverty knows no language and it has hit both Anglophones and Francophones like a ton of bricks. The government has to sit up. It must take appropriate measures to spare this country the scourge of war that has gripped other African countries. This is not time for any grand-standing. It is time to acknowledge that certain things have not worked well for Cameroonians and that those things could be done differently to bring peace and stability to this fractured country.
By Dr. Joachim Arrey