After more than seven months, the unfortunate political situation playing out in Cameroon has not known any significant changes, despite many promises by the government aimed at appeasing the rebelling Anglophone minority. Over the last months, other events capable of overshadowing the Anglophone crisis have occurred, but through careful planning and effective communication, Anglophones have ensured that their problem stays on the front burner. They have continued to use all means available to them to ensure the world does not forget that a linguistic minority is being marginalized and mistreated in Cameroon. With the Anglophone Diaspora’s help, Cameroon has been put in the global spotlight, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. The Anglophone problem remains a pain in the government’s side. It has given it a bad name, placing it among the most dangerous human rights abusers. The United Nations, the Vatican and other partners of the country have all called on the country’s leaders to find long-lasting solutions to this problem that might throw the entire sub-region into an unprecedented turmoil, if not well-managed.

To brush up its image, the government has already made many concessions. Its to-do list is incredibly long. The promises have come from all sectors and today, every Francophone official in Cameroon is doing his best to speak English in a bid to placate Anglophones who feel cheated and abused by both the government and ordinary Francophones. However, for many Anglophones, government promises are not worth their weight in gold. They are more cosmetic than real. The government is used to speaking from both sides of its mouth and going to it for solutions is like looking for love in all the wrong places. Anglophones are still very mad at the government and they hold that it must release their leaders and display a lot of good faith for any meaningful discussions to take place. They argue that, having suffered for fifty-six years due to the government’s policy to marginalize them, the aging government must take concrete actions to convince Anglophones that it is serious with the whole notion of national unity.

Anglophones are also pointing to the continuous arrest of their fellow brothers and the detention of their leaders as evidence that the government is not repentant about the destruction and pain it has caused the people of the North West and South West regions. They argue that as long as Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and Mr. Mancho Bibixy remain in detention, there will never be peace in Cameroon. It should be pointed out that more than 100 Anglophones are still being held in jails across the country and many had been killed at the height of the crisis, while some have died due to harsh detention conditions. The pain and suffering this situation has caused Anglophones and the gimmicks the government is playing are simply causing the crisis to linger.

Over the last couple of months, the trial of Anglophone leaders has been going on, with no end in sight. Anglophones expect the government to release their leaders so that real and genuine discussions can take place. The pain of marginalization and the killing of fellow Anglophones have left the North West and South West regions in pain. Schools have remained closed since October 2016, though the government gives the impression that things are well on track. Courts have remained closed across the entire Anglophone region for more than seven months following the beating of striking lawyers and the arrest of Barrister Agbor-Balla who is now a symbol of the struggle.

The government has been up to its old antics, believing that time will be its ally in this fight. It strongly believes that by continuously adjourning the case against Anglophone leaders, it will win the war of nerves it is waging against Anglophones. It erroneously holds that with time, Anglophones will simply forget about their leaders who are in jail and life will return to the ‘old normal’.

From every indication, the government appears not to have a full understanding of the issues and the current economic and political contexts. It holds that poverty will bring striking Anglophones to their knees. The current crisis has changed Cameroon forever. Anglophones are no longer scared of a regime that has brought untold hardship to its own people. Time and technology are on their side. Communication has become cheaper and easier, thanks to ICTs. Information can easily be shared and mobilization has become a lot easier. Over the last thirty years, the government has done a lot to impoverish Anglophones, but this has now changed following the advent of ICTs. ICTs are enabling many Anglophones to seek online opportunities. They understand that ridding themselves of a patronizing government is the best path to tread. With globalization, driven by ICTs, Anglophones are seeking opportunities abroad while still living in their country. Many Anglophones are working online and earning incomes while still fighting for better living conditions at home. The Anglophone Diaspora is shoring up their efforts and this is helping the population to stay the course. The people are determined to change Cameroon in a big and positive way and no government gimmicks will diminish their hunger for a better country.

The government appears to be testing the waters, but these waters are the wrong ones, as they are full of violent and merciless crocodiles. Anglophones are carefully watching the government and a false step on its part will surely put the country on the path to self-ruination. Five decades of hardship have hardened Anglophones and the appetite for secession is growing by the day as the government fails to start discussions on the country’s political future. Anglophones are impatiently waiting for their leaders to be released. The wait is too long and it is giving way to disappointment as the military tribunal in Yaounde keeps on delaying the sentencing of Anglophone leaders who, from every indication, are in good spirit.

Anglophones are really running out of patience. The more the wait protracts, the more radicalized they become. In many parts of the North West and South West Regions, Anglophones are challenging government authorities. Recently in Bamenda, some students who dared to go to examination centres to write the General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams,met with an unfortunate fate. They were amputated by some masked men. With government authority waning in many parts of the Anglophone region, many cloak-and-dagger organizations have sprung up and anybody caught violating the people’s laws gets dealt with in a manner that is far from being pleasant.

Anglophones have made up their minds. They are walking away from the status quo ante and they seriously think the future of their country must be different, not just in terms of opportunities, but also in terms of leaders. Current leaders are old and sick and have lost the will to bring prosperity and dignity to their people.

The Anglophone Diaspora, for its part, is still at work. This time around, it is out of the government’s radar. With many groups emerging as a result of the crisis, the situation is becoming more complicated. The Anglophone Diaspora has a huge war chest and it is ready to participate in the country’s future development. It should be recalled that due to a well-orchestrated government marginalization policy, more than two million Anglophones are, today, living out of Cameroon, with many of them residing in Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Diaspora has the wherewithal and with its encyclopedic mind, it is capable of lending a helping and useful hand to development efforts in the country. Most Anglophone engineers, translators, interpreters, lawyers, medical doctors and nurses are living out of their native land. These men and women are happy to serve their country, but bad politics and poor governance have seen them off to distant lands where cold and loneliness are blighting their lives. The Diaspora is behind efforts by Anglophones to change the political equation in Cameroon. It is determined to bring about a new country that will be based on justice, fairness, human rights and the rule of law.

While the government dilly-dallies in starting discussions on the form of the state, the Anglophone Diaspora is, for its part, forming many groups to ensure that the government fights a war on many fronts. While diplomacy is considered the option of choice, there are also efforts at using other methods to mount incredible pressure on a crumbling government that has no emotional attachment to its own people. Many of these groups are calling for the total independence of Southern Cameroons, while a few still hold that federalism could make Cameroon a better place than the one in which they grew up.  But there are a few groups that are still spitting fire, arguing that if Anglophone leaders get convicted for crimes they have not committed, then the government has opted for total chaos. Fund-raising efforts in many USA cities are now focused on organizing a liberation struggle, with SCNC championing the cause. SCNC argues that the government of Cameroon cannot be trusted and that only a total liberation struggle in Cameroon will give Anglophones the independence they need.

However, many moderates still want to give the government a second chance. They hold that federalism could address many issues raised by Anglophones. They point to Canada which has the same linguistic problem, adding that while federalism may not be a panacea, it will however go a long way in creating harmony and peace in the country. The moderates, however,posit that if Cameroon has to avert the specter of war, then it should be looking at Canadian-style democracy which has made Canada one of the best countries in the world. Canada is not only a bilingual country, it is a country that has become the envy of the entire world with many people from across the globe heading there to give their children the opportunity to grow up in peace. They want their children to enjoy the economic and financial prosperity that has become Canada’s hallmark.

While the world is expecting Cameroonians to work out their differences around a negotiating table, the government is quietly pursuing its own agenda. Though it disagreed with the demands initially made by Anglophone teachers and lawyers, it is now implementing some of the changes called for by those in jail in a bid to defuse the unfortunate situation that has lasted for more than seven months. It has begun implementing some of those measures, though its efforts are still not dousing the fire in many Anglophone minds. The National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) will soon be welcoming some 80 Anglophones– an Anglophone is a descendant of somebody born in Former Southern Cameroons – who will be trained and sent to the Anglophone region to attend to their people so as to put an end to the arrogance Anglophones have been accusing Francophone Cameroonians of.

A few days ago, the government posted Anglophone judges and magistrates to the entire Anglophone region and this has been hailed by many moderates who think such measures could help reduce tensions. However, the road ahead is still very long. The Common Law section at the Supreme Court is still a promise just like the appointment of Anglophones to key government positions. Anglophones are sick and tired of being considered as second-class citizens. They want the injustice to be addressed and this should be done within a broad-based forum on the country’s future where oil and other resources must feature on the agenda.

The world is watching Cameroon. The once-upon-a-time oasis of peace has become a land of chaos. The Anglophone minority is hell-bent on changing the country. It wants a federal structure that will preserve the Anglophone culture and guarantee the rights of the people. Its determination has put the Francophone majority to shame. Anglophones are prepared to walk away from Cameroon if the government does not change its views on the form of the state. After fifty-six years of marginalization, the country’s English-speaking minority thinks it is time to right the wrongs of the past. They want this to be achieved through dialogue, but the government is not yet prepared to yield a lot of ground. Having played God for five decades, the Yaounde government is yet to come to terms with the political changes Anglophones are calling for. But time is of the essence. The government has to realize that times have changed and the authority it used to wield over its people is gone for good. The Anglophone Diaspora has successfully injected itself into the political equation and it is time to recognize it or it will spend a huge amount of time plotting schemes that will destabilize the country for a long time. There is no point testing the wrong waters. Anglophone leaders should be released for Cameroon to know some peace. Cameroon will be a united and indivisible country if dialogue is given a chance.  Sticking to old ways will not help anybody. Everybody needs peace and only dialogue can bring peace to a country.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Contributing Editor, Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

With the third term of the school year scheduled to start on Monday, April 17, 2017, government officials have stepped up their actions to ensure schools effectively open in the Anglophone zone where students and teachers have spent almost the entire school year at home. A strike started by Anglophone lawyers and joined by almost all Anglophones in 2016, has left schools closed and exposed the marginalization orchestrated against Cameroon’s English-speaking minority. The strike has also exposed the government’s inability to deal with socio-professional and political issues, a situation that has eroded the government’s authority and credibility.

Over the last two weeks, government officials have had some relief, as schools closed for the much celebrated Easter break. However, with schools scheduled to start this week, the government is once more scrabbling for solutions to the Anglophone problem that has become a nightmare that will not go away anytime soon. Cameroon’s three ministers of education are once more losing sleep as Anglophones students and teachers stick to their guns. The core issues have not yet been properly addressed to ensure things return to normal. The strikes that have paralyzed the English-speaking part of Cameroon are gradually spreading to the Francophone region and this is striking fear in the minds of many government officials.

Federalism and the imprisonment of Anglophone leaders are still standing in the way of genuine dialogue. Anglophones do not trust the government and despite explanations by some government surrogates that some of these issues could only be addressed over the long term, Anglophone teachers and parents are not buying into the government’s rhetoric which, in their view,is not worth its weight in gold. The government is being accused of speaking from both sides of its mouth and despite the numerous presidential decrees and ministerial orders, Anglophone teachers, parents and students have remained frozen in their positions. They hold that the decrees and orders are not even worth the paper on which they are written. The government, according to Anglophones, has reneged on many of its promises, many of which are always designed to score political points. Anglophones point to the 1996 constitution that has been in the drawer for twenty-one years. Many hold that if key provisions of this constitution had been implemented, Cameroon would have avoided this unfortunate situation in which it finds itself and life would have been worth living in this resource-rich country.

Over the last six months, the government has used a slew of measures to ensure schools resume in the Anglophone zone, but the English-speaking minority has, through peaceful civil disobedience, made mincemeat of all government efforts to send teachers and students back to school. Government policy has so far been focused on getting schools in major Anglophone cities to resume. In rural areas, grass and rodents have taken over schools. While its efforts to have schools reopened could be commendable, the government must understand that most schools in Cameroon are in the rural areas and its inability to generate employment opportunities and create wealth for many Anglophones is pushing many parents to question the rationale behind sending their kids to school when many of them end up struggling to put food on the table after many years in school.

The government’s message seems to be falling on deaf ears. As far as Anglophones are concerned, the government is flogging a dead horse. Its efforts to please the international community are making it look ridiculous. Its numerous actions to restore its authority have always collapsed like a pack of cards and many analysts hold that the government has been shooting itself in the foot by sending out the wrong signals. It has been carrying a bloodshot eye ever since Anglophones decided to break rank and challenge it on many fronts. According to Anglophones, the government is guilty as charged and only a genuine appeasement policy will restore confidence. The government is replete with hard-liners who clearly belong to a different epoch and their heads seem to be stuck in a thick cloud. Its appeasement strategy has, at best, been shoddy. Its basket of measures has not been convincing. It is bereft of sincerity and humility, and this has given Anglophone teachers and students an opportunity to enjoy the longest holiday in the country’s educational history. Its mix of policies smacks of incompetence and bad faith, and this has made the conflict to stick around for a very long time.

Its carrot and stick approach is only helping to dent its image as the people have turned down even its most luscious carrots. Anglophones understand that what could be as luscious as locust today, could one day be as bitter as “coloquintida”. For the stick, Anglophones are simply not paying attention to it. The wall of fear has collapsed and Anglophones are determined to wear down the government until it understands that old ways and strategies can no longer work in an era where many Cameroonians are self-reliant and less dependent on a government whose corruption and ineffectiveness are spreading death, pain and suffering across the country.

The country’s English-speaking minority wants its young students to go to school, but not in the context where they will be taught by Francophone teachers whose knowledge of English is, at best, embryonic. The government’s harmonization and integration policy has hurt many Anglophones. It has unfortunately resulted in Anglophones being “Francophonized” and this is leading to the creation of “intellectual hybrids” among Anglophones who, in many cases, end up being unemployed because their knowledge and skills are inadequate. Without the proper skills, language level and knowledge, these “half-baked” Anglophone graduates cannot ply their trade in a global village that is very demanding when it comes to intellectual refinement. While many countries are embracing the new mantra that calls for citizens across the globe to think globally and act nationally, the Cameroon educational system seems to be fostering the opposite and this is robbing many Anglophone Cameroonians of great opportunities abroad. The world has become a global village and a sound education is the master key to a better life even beyond a citizen’s territorial borders. Anglophones think they do not have that master key and the government is investing little or nothing to put them on the same pedestal with their Francophone colleagues.

While educational authorities are trying to put their best foot forward to clean up the mess they created six months ago, their colleagues of the justice ministry are still caught up in their cobweb of confusion. Like Anglophone schools, Anglophone courts have also been closed for more than six months. This has given criminals the liberty to ply their trade without fear, especially in places like Akwaya and Eyumojock. In these places, many administrative officers have been rendered helpless and some have even been fired by the local population. In Akwaya, in particular, the locals have been replacing the Cameroon flag with the Nigerian flag. They are currently considering themselves as Nigerians until such a time that an appropriate solution to the Anglophone problem is found. They hold that the Yaounde government has marginalized them for decades, pointing to the absence of roads and modern hospitals in their region.

They view the arrest of Ayah Paul, an illustrious son of Akwaya, as an insult to honest citizens who have been victims of a well-orchestrated marginalization scheme. They insist that until Paul Ayah is released, the government will never have its administrative officers in that part of the country. They contend that the government will never send troops to that part of Manyu Division as there are no roads and Nigeria will never allow large numbers of troops to transit through its territory in order to get to Akwaya. In such a context, it will be hard for courts to operate and deliver the justice that is supposed to ensure peace. The country’s administrative and legal systems, they say, are ineffective and dysfunctional. The judges, they contend, are corrupt and many have only rudimentary knowledge of English. This explains why Anglophone lawyers have called for the practicing of Common Law and the withdrawal of Francophone judges and magistrates from courts in the English-speaking part of Cameroon.

In a bid to get the legal system running once again in Anglophone Cameroon, last week, the President of the Cameroon Bar Association, Barrister Ngnie Kamga Jackson, announced that striking Common Law Lawyers would next month call off their strike. This implies that the courts will be open for business on May 2, 2017. But many Common Law lawyers are already characterizing his statement as part of the Laurent Esso staged “comedy of helplessness”. They contend that the strike was never called by the Cameroon Bar Association president, adding that Mr. Ngnie Kamga had no right to call off the strike. Many of the Common Law lawyers hold that they are no longer part of the Cameroon Bar Association as they have formed their own bar association which has, unfortunately, been proscribed by the government.

While the government has yielded to some of the demands of Anglophone lawyers, the lawyers, for their part, are looking forward to the implementation of those measures the government has announced. The government, they hold, cannot be trusted as it has, on many occasions,reneged on its own promises. They argue that the government is noted for creating many commissions on many important national issues, but no concrete actions are ever taken after many years of investigations. Many presidential decrees, they argue, have remained dead letters, as their implementation leaves much to be desired.

If the government has to stop flogging a dead horse, it must change its strategies. Old strategies have failed and have gone a long way in causing the Anglophone problem to take root and snowball. If schools and courts have to resume, the government must release Anglophone leaders who, the population contends, were kidnapped by the government and shipped to Yaounde. The government must establish a comprehensive appeasement programme and put in place implementation mechanisms that will inspire hope and confidence in the people.Many observers hold that Cameroon is gradually sliding into chaos. The presence of the UN Secretary-General’s special representative, Mr. François Louncény Fall, in Yaounde last week speaks to the fear the international community has regarding the country’s Anglophone crisis. Mr. Fall used the occasion to urge Cameroonian authorities to examine with diligence the difficulties of the populations and entrepreneurs of the English-speaking regions of North West and South West, which have been deprived of Internet since mid-January 2017. “This is a deplorable situation. But I am convinced that this important development and communication tool will be gradually re-established throughout Cameroon”, he said before leaving Cameroon on 13 April after a four-day official visit.

Cameroon has to avoid chaos because in the event of chaos, the impact could be far-reaching. The government has the responsibility of ensuring that Cameroon remains stable. If Cameroon fails as a nation, the entire Central African sub-region will be thrown into a pretty mess that will destabilize the entire sub-region for decades. If it wants to spare the country such a tragedy, it must release all those arrested following the outbreak of the Anglophone problem. It must also understand that the law was made for man and not man for law. If it continues to stick to the law, then it really wants to see Cameroon go down the dangerous path of political chaos that has weakened its neighbours.

Dr. Joachim Arrey

Contributing Editor

Cameroon Concord News Group