There is a short cut to solving the Anglophone problem. Solve the lawyers and teacher’s problems!
The government appeared to have understood this when it engaged the then Consortium in dialogue in Bamenda. Embarrassingly, the authorities suddenly outlawed the consortium, branded its leaders as terrorists, arresting and chasing both lawyers, teacher’s trade unionists and activists into exile. President Biya Paul later declared war on the people, but two years on, the same problems the lawyers and teachers raised are still staring him in the face.
Several measures have been taken to appease the Anglophone population. Yet, it is not appeasement Southern Cameroonians want. They generally consider the measures so far taken as purely cosmetic.
Else why have the problems not gone away? So, why not address the original problems the lawyers and teachers advanced. See the placards the lawyers took down the streets of Bamenda and Kumba. The message was clear: Two State Federation or Outright Independence.
To solve the problems of lawyers and teachers of Anglophone Cameroon, is to solve the anglophone problem which has now become the Ambazonia Crisis. The government appeared to have recognized this when it went into dialogue between the ad-hoc committee it set up and the Consortium of Anglophone Trade Unions. This approach was well applauded at the time as the lawyers had been joined by their twin brother, teachers. But the government would later outlaw the consortium and proceed with the arrest of its leaders. Some of the lawyers and teachers narrowly escaped into exile.
The lawyers had been very clear from the onset about their goal to get a lasting solution. They went on the streets in Bamenda and Kumba brandishing their target on placards. (See picture of on this story). T
What is wrong in bringing a dialogue about the constitution? What is wrong in upholding the view of the people who want a dialogue on the constitution? At every time in point the people remain supreme. Even if it’s only one person complaining. What is wrong in listening to that lone voice? The president is a president of all and has the obligation to listen to that one person.
Has President Biya Paul not said that he hopes people will find answers to their problems in the accelerated decentralization? The 1996 constitution does not allow the appointment of government delegates and regional governors. It is obvious that this crisis would not have escalated to the level it is today? Before the reunification there was a republic of Cameroon that existed and there was Southern Cameroons. The form of state has been changed so many times, the name has changed many times – Kamerun, Republique du Cameroun; federal Republique du Cameroon; United Republic of Cameroon; Republique of Cameroun.
President Paul has himself initiated numerous the constitutional changes that have let him stay in power indefinitely with term limit having been removed. Now that an important group of Cameroonians are calling for the form of state to be revisited, shouldn’t the president ensure that there will be done? Shouldn’t the president revisit his declaration that the form of state cannot be discussed?
The president should have by now concluded that the protesting Anglophone teachers and lawyers were pushing forward genuine grievances of their people and that the divide and rule strategy was not going to break their resolve. The huge follower-ship of the trade unionists and leaders commanded should have been an early warning that the problem would have to be solved in an innovative way. So much time and resources have been wasted for a problem which did not necessitate the argument of force. Alas, so many lives are being lost in the conflict that is only getting worse by the day.
Interestingly, Paul Biya has promised greater decentralization. Do the president’s advisers really think Anglophones half measures will provide a permanent solution to the problem that has brought the country into this bottomless pit?
Paul Biya did well when he decided to discontinue proceedings against those Anglophones arrested during the Anglophone crisis. He was applauded for moving in the direction of restoring peace in the two troubled regions. However, his good faith might have been, it seems those around him torpedoed his action by holding other leaders and suspects in jail and pursuing the terrorism charges against them.
In response to the worries of the lawyers, the road of solutions started off with the presentation of the English version of the OHADA business law by the Permanent Secretary of the organization to the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic on November 28, 2016. Then, on November 29, 2016, the Minister of Justice symbolically handed over copies of the English version of the treaty and other texts to the President of the Cameroon Bar Association. But why did it wait until lawyers hit the table?
Meanwhile a Common Law Division has been created in the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) to cater for the training of judges and other court personnel in the domain of common law. In the meantime, a competitive examination open only to English-speaking Cameroonians was organized to select 80 personnel of the judiciary to fill the void in the field, a move that will run annually for four years. This act was intended to tilt the balance in favor of Anglophones who has been edited out in the judicial system. But what would ha been a superb move was watered down with francophone who have flooded the place.
Still in the area of training, the Minister of Higher Education opened new common law departments in State universities of French-speaking character and included public law in the two-Anglo-Saxon universities of the country. Again, it is francophone who are in the majority in the enrollment list.
Even when French-speaking judiciary personnel were moved out of the courts in North West and South West and those of English expression were redeployed to the two regions and appointed in a presidential decree, it turned out francophone are still vexingly present in the courts with the consequent problems they incarnate still lingering on. Also, a common law bench was created at the Supreme Court through an amendment of a bill at parliament.
In the education sector, from December 23, 2016 the Minister of Secondary Education transferred English speaking teachers to the North West and South West regions and those of French expressions from the two regions in response to the grievances of unions. Well, check out if anything has significantly changed. Find out where Anglophone graduating from ENS Maroua are being posted to and you will realize how Anglophones are being fooled. They give with left hand and take away with the right hand.
Additional specialties have been opened in certain technical and vocational schools in both regions to cover the insufficiency of teachers in the technical fields. And to cover the gap of teachers, the recruitment of 1000 young bilingual teachers specialized in the field of science and technology, instructed by the Head of State, is under way. Ask yourself where bilingual teachers were ever trained and ask yourself if those who were finally recruited were not going to exacerbate the very problems teachers and lawyers raised about the destruction of the English system of education.
In higher education, the recruitment of English-speaking teachers is ongoing in the eight state universities. At the same time, MINESUP is redeploying teachers and administrative staff who are not fluent in English.
To give a push to private schools, government paid out FCFA 2 billion in subsidy to institutions of the English subsystem. What about the gigantic sums government was owing these schools as subsidies? How much was each school to receive and how significant was the sum to each school?
By applying these measures, government was keen to demonstrate government’s willingness to find solutions to the grievances. But is there truly a will to resolve these problems whilst upholding the Anglo-Saxon values that West Cameroonians are so proud? The sooner the government realizes that Anglophones are sick and tired of promises and cosmetic measures in solving the problems of marginalization and assimilation they are subjected, the better. The government must act now to win back the confidence of Anglophones who are continuously being driven to the extremes.
Genuine decentralization, call it a Federation must be considered. The people called Anglophones are not going to settle for anything less than a setting where they are going to do their own thing in terms of self- reliant development and progress. No one should be surprised that the drive for independence as propounded by the lawyers will continue to generate fireworks. As Hon. Joseph Wirba put it in parliament not long ago, “West Cameroon” will never be taken out of the mouth of Southern Cameroonians again. Government must truly act now because the problems that is bringing don Cameroun is the problem in Anglophone Cameroon.