After months of hard-work and commitment, the people of Manyu County in the Southern zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia now have a functional county government led by Sessekou Dr Peter Ako. The extraordinary set-up is made up of Executive and Legislative arms and has been in effect since the 5^th of May 2019. The Executive arm of the government is headed by the County Chair and a small cabinet. The Legislative arm of this structure has a lower house of Forty Representatives with ten from each Local Government Area (LGA). The Upper chamber is the Senate body of Sixteen Senators by way of four from each Local Government Area. Manyu County, which is one of the strategic and influential counties in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has four Local Government areas; Akwaya, Mamfe Central, Upper Banyang and Eyumojock.

The County Senate is significant and designed to check the powers of the county chair and cabinet. The county chair is elected by the Senate and all appointees to the cabinet are vetted by this body. The position of County Chair is held for a term of one year non-renewable and rotates around the LGAs.  In creating this structure, the people of Manyu believe that the slogan of Independence Now and Politics Later is old, worn and inane. The belief in Manyu is that one can have good and accountable governance during a struggle. This structure is deliberate to avoid at county level the abuses of power and funds that occurred at national level.

Ever since the Interim Government of Ambazonia encouraged the establishment of a county by county system of government and self-defence, the challenge for all thirteen counties in the country has been to form a workable platform and structure. Previously, there were many Manyu platforms, Whatsapp groups, meetings that purported to represent the entire county. But, this new structure which unites all in the county is the best and most effective workable platform to govern a challenging but promising county.

The setup has a central County Treasury led by a Treasury Board. This is intended to centralise the collection of funds with the Senate having oversight powers on all its practices. Self-defence which is paramount at this time has one county commander who controls all the units in the county. This solves the issue of duplication and rivalry amongst self-defence groups. The overwhelming response from all the members of the committee that worked tirelessly to put the structure in place was that their goal was to attain good governance and accountability in the county. Accountability and Good Governance will deliver Self-defence which makes attaining the goal of independence quicker. Other notable positions in the cabinet are County Secretary and Communications/Press Secretary. As soon as these positions get populated following the senate vetting procedure, official announcements will be communicated to the general public.

Over the next few days, Sessekou Dr Peter Ako and his new cabinet intend to alert Manyu indigenes around the globe about this great structure to encourage them to register with their respective LGAs. Upon registration, official notifications will be communicated to all vis-à-vis county policies and donations for resources needed to fund the Ambazonia struggle. The County Treasury Board is currently working on an electronicpayment platform to synchronise collections intended to make financial reporting easier and respectable.  In coming up with this structure, Manyu has concreted the way for other counties to follow.

By Sessekou Asu Isong

The meeting began at about 7:30 pm with a word of welcome from the PM who appreciated the team for honoring his invitation. He went straight ahead to state the purpose of his visit and of his request to meet with lawyers of the NW region.

He explained that there was a great need for the boys in the bushes (“Amba Restoration Forces”) to drop their weapons for peace and tranquility to reign in a bid to foster an enabling environment for dialogue. He intimated that the Head of State is now willing to consider dialogue within the proposed inclusive set up, on a “round table”. In fact, he said that the message he is carrying is to the effect that dialogue is allowed on all issues other than secession and separation, (implying that a discussion on federation is allowed).

He then pleaded with the team to help the government in its endeavors by convincing the boys to drop their weapons; that he believes in the role lawyers play and is counting on this to facilitate the government’s mission. He added that school year will soon be over and in less than no time, another school year will begin, requiring that the boys give children a chance to go to school and for life to return to normal.
He then offered the floor for any reactions and encouraged free and honest talk. He further requested that we focus on the way forward and make progressive proposals rather than go back to discussing the roots of the matter.

In their turn and for a start, the delegation equally thanked the Prime Minister for the warm welcome and for inviting the lawyers to discuss the way forward. They congratulated him for his brilliant appointment and wished him the best in office. They remarked on the small number of representatives as being greatly significant of the prevailing circumstances in the region and the manner in which lawyers have been treated. They excused the absence of the Bar Council representative, explaining that he is out of the region on official Bar business.

The team then moved straight on to its reaction which was short and simple. They started off by stating that if Lawyers are concerned today, it is because they kick-started the crisis but that their concerns had long been overtaken by events. They stressed on the fact that the lawyers’ and teachers’ strikes were only symptoms of a bigger disease now known by all as the Anglophone Crisis; a disease which owes its origin to the change of the form of state from a federal state to a unitary state in 1972.

Speaking about the Common Law in particular, the team emphasized that it was as a result of decades of panel-beating the Common Law System and suffocating it that arose a need to caution the administration on the grievances of Common Law Advocates; that time and a again, they had tried to draw the government’s attention to the fact that there was a great need to safeguard the Common Law System within the Bijural Cultural heritage of Cameroon. The team then called the PM’s attention to the grievances of Common Law lawyers that were tabled before the relevant administrative authorities (before the crisis erupted) in the forms of Memos and resolutions which culminated in the demand for a federation as the best alternative to safeguard and guarantee the subsistence of the Common Law System and the Anglo-Saxon culture as well as the security and integrity of the Common Law advocate.

They went ahead to impress upon the administration to listen to the people rather than impose policies, half-baked and self-conceived solutions to address the demands of the people. They echoed the fact that if the situation is what it is today, it is because the government has refused listening to the population of the NW and SW regions which knows best what it wants; the government must learn to start listening honestly and practically to the people. Using courtroom metaphors, they emphasized that the peoples of the two regions are the ones to better express their concerns and it is no longer a lawyers’ issue as lawyers have always only acted in a representative capacity, to help the people in articulating their grievances better.

To crown their reaction, they addressed the issue regarding the form of state. They insisted that contrary to the fallacy that the form of the state is a political issue, the Common Law Lawyers are of the conviction that the form of the state is a Constitutional issue; that the Constitution is the Grand Norm (No. 1 Law of the nation) and by that token is fundamentally about the Rule of Law which is ultimately to the benefit of the people. They added that if the Law does not serve the people, then it is not a good law and that the respect of the Rule of Law is the Lawyer’s duty, reason why the Common Law lawyers in their various correspondences to the relevant authorities at the time suggested a federalism.

The delegation concluded by calling on the PM to feel free to come to the lawyers at all times, as lawyers expect nothing from him, so much so that any advice lawyers may give shall be honest unlike those constantly around him who only amplify his voice to win favours. On that note, the PM closed the meeting with a short word of appreciation to the delegation for its reactions.

Cameroon’s main opposition party on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all political prisoners, during talks with Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on resolving the country’s regional conflict with anglophone separatists.

At the meeting in Bamenda, capital of the restive anglophone Northwest Region, Social Democratic Front (SDF) leader Ni John Fru Ndi also called for the appointment of a mediator for resolving the conflict

“Everyone must be listened to. The SDF is for inclusive political debate on the crisis…,” said SDF official Jean Robert Wafo.

“We can listen to the secessionists without, however, agreeing to the principle,” he said explaining that a “clear and unambiguous” against secession had to be taken.

During Friday’s discussion the federalist SDF recommended four measures to resolve the crisis, according to a party statement received by AFP.

The federalist party called for “an immediate ceasefire” and the demobilisation of all separatist forces as well as “the immediate release of all political prisoners held as part of this crisis” as well as the naming of a mediator to prepare negotiations.

On Thursday, Dion Ngute arrived in Bamenda with the message that the government was ready for dialogue to resolve the regional conflict with separatists, while stressing that independence was not on the table.

He said President Paul Biya was “ready to organise a formal dialogue to resolve the socio-political crisis” while stressing that independence was not on the table.

Since 2017, fighting between government troops and anglophone separatists demanding independence in the Southwest and Northwest regions has killed hundreds and forced nearly 500,000 people from their homes.

English-speaking communities chafe at what they see as discrimination from the French-speaking majority. But the government rejects demands for autonomy and has dispatched thousands of troops in a crackdown.

At the moment there are no channels for dialogue between the government and the rebels.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday that Cameroon authorities have regularly tortured and held incommunicado detainees arrested in the government’s crackdown on the armed separatist movement.

In October 2017, radicals declared the creation of the “Republic of Ambazonia,” covering the two English-speaking regions incorporated into francophone Cameroon in 1961.

The declaration went largely unnoticed outside Cameroon, and “Ambazonia” — named after a bay at the mouth of the Douala River — has been recognised by no-one.

Dion Ngute was also due to visit the other anglophone region — the Southwest Region.

The separatist conflict has forced more than 530,000 people to flee their homes while 32,000 others have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

The UN Security Council will hold its first meeting this month to discuss the country’s separatist conflict.

Source: AFP