Reading Meaning into the Closure of Foundation Radio in Bamenda
In 2003, fourteen natives of the Southern Cameroons dragged the
government of the Camerounse state to the African Commission on Human
and Peoples Rights and charged the Gvt of La Republique du Cameroun
with COLONIZATION.
The ACHPR observed that this charge was very serious and asked for
proofs. Those proofs have been tabled and are currently under review
by the ACHPR.
A very acidic-insidious form of COLONIZATION is the control of the
narrative via outright corruption of English-language newspapers,
bribery and corruption of the newspaper owners, intellectual and
actual terrorism of both staff and newspaper owners, censorship of
dissident English-language voices and then the tyrannical closure of
media houses.
These things are designed to, not only keep the colonized people
subservient but, in the specific case of Camerounese colonization,
completely assimilate the English-speaking folks. For 50 long years
that this unseemly co-habitation between the so-called anglophones and
francophones - or rather Southern Cameroons and la Republique du
Cameroons - has endured, Southern Cameroonians have never been allowed
to have a say about the management of their affairs let alone the
management of their state. We had no say in the 1961 Unification
process and the eventually concoction of the so-called Federal
Constitution; we had no say in the 1966 dictatorial inception of the
One-party state; we had no say in the abrogation of the State of West
Cameroon in 1972 and the invention of a so-called United Republique;
we had no say in the 1984 SECESSION of La Republique du Cameroun from
the illegal union and the re-invention of a francophone state called
La Republique du Cameroun as it was in 1958; Southern Cameroonian
representatives were thrown out of the Constitution-crafting process
that led to the 1996 Constitution; Southern Cameroonians had no say in
the constitutional modification that invented Life-president for the
Camerounese state in short our VOICE has been stifled at every turn
and the majoritarian-colonial francophone regime in Yaounde has
annexed+colonized+dominated the narrative. This explans why a daft
Camerounese gvt minister, a certain Hamadou Moustapha, once said : '
A un certain moment on avait oublié que les anglophones étaient la. On
a cru qu'ils étaient tous francophonisés.'
The fear of GENOCIDAL-EXTINCTION is the main reason why a group of
Southern Cameroonian patriots have made a representation of the
Southern Cameroons Case to UNESCO.
And UNESCO takes a rather dim view about colonization tactics as
enforced by La Republique du Cameroun.
I do recall that Mr. George Ngwana did wonder in these set of chambers
why there was this terrifying paucity of English-language broadcast
media. Investor dread of closure is just one of the plural reasons. It
speaks volumes that the so-called Camerounese Communications
Commission is yet to react to the closure of Foundation FM.
Hats off to Mr Donat Suffo, representative of the Syndicate of
Camerounese Journalists in Bamenda, who told the BBC this morning that
it was absurd for the government to continue banishing other voices in
a so-called democracy.
A lutta continua
On 5/2/13, Eric acha <eracha2001@yahoo.fr> wrote:
>
>
> Misinformed Mezam SDO Seals Foundation Radio
>
>
> By Ngwainbi Afuh
> Timescape Journal
>
> Listeners of the Bamenda based FM
> station got up to an unexpected dead-air April 22. Unlike it has been the
> custom with radio stations momentarily witnessing epileptic seizures because
> of
> failing electric supply, the sudden loss of signals that fateful Monday
> afternoon was far from this perennial motive. The Senior Divisional Officer
> for
> Mezam, Mr. Nguele Nguele Felix and his arsenal of forces of law and order
> had
> sealed the premises of the station.
>
> According to the SDO, the sealing of
> the station is not unconnected to a radio programme broadcast two months ago
> on
> the station's wakeup talk show – Good Morning Bamenda Show" whose content
> he
> claimed, propagated secessionist's propaganda of the Southern Cameroons
> National Council, SCNC.
>
> "Sealed by virture of prefectoral
> Order No151/PO/E29?712?SI of 22nd 2013 closing down the premises
> /activities of the Foundation Radio Station Bamenda," the administrative
> decision has grounded all operations of the Foundation; the Fomunyoh
> Foundation
> TFF, which harbours other services like a library, information and
> communication technology ICT Centre, and a multipurpose hall.
>
> Whereas the SDO claims the programme
> identified with the SCNC struggle for the Anglophone Cameroon to secede from
> La
> Republic Du Cameroon" (French Cameroon), the two guests on the programme
> who
> claimed to be SCNC activists rather received a lashing and thorough
> grilling
> from the Anchor and Station Manager, Dr. Tikum Mbah Azongha. Excerpts from
> the
> programme which the Timescape Journal procured rather portrayed the talk
> show Coordinator, as an informed and
> patriotic Cameroonian who through his fine journalistic prowess let his
> guests
> understand how unfounded, illegitimate and illegal the SCNC struggle was.
>
> Contrary to claims from Mr Nguele Nguele that Foundation Radio is notorious
> for broadcasting
> pro SCNC programmes, the station's programmes department takes exception to
> that, stating the now controversial programme is the only one in which they
> ever talked about SCNC related developments.
>
> Many who listened to the programme, in
> a vox pop conducted by the Timescape
> Journal rather appreciated Foundation Radio to have thrown light on the
> controversial issue and spared them the risk of joining the movement which
> they
> claim is an "illegitimate pressure group" thanks to the radio programme.
> Over
> the years, many Anglophones Cameroonians have been incarcerated and
> tortured
> for identifying with the SCNC movement.
>
> Some observers have been quick to tag
> the prefectoral order to victimization of the proprietor of the FR and the
> founder of TFF, Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh whom the Cameroon government has
> always considered a threat to its autocratic leadership.
> Dr. Fomunyoh is currently Senior Associate
> and Regional Director for Central and West Africa at the National
> Democratic
> Institute NDI Washington DC. He is one of the NDI members whose report of
> the
> 1992 Presidential Election in Cameroon labelled it to have been conducted
> void
> of basic democratic tenets. Since then political observers hold that the
> US-based Cameroonian has been under government surveillance.
>
> The prefectoral order has been
> received in Bamenda with utter mis-givings by the radio listeners and
> journalists
> alike.
> Hear one of the journalists who talked to the timescale
> Journal:
> "I was disappointed and frustrated
> when I got news on the closure of Foundation Radio by the Senior Divisional
> Officer for Mezam. Is the press in Cameroon surposed to be controlled by the
> administration?
> When a media organ or a journalist goes out of the way the law should take
> its
> course. That to me is the duty of the National Communication Council and not
> territorial
> administrators.
>
> So please Bamenda needs Foundation
> Radio. Let me ask: how free is the Cameroonian media then? The Southern
> Cameroons National Council, SCNC is a historic issue in Cameroon. Definitely
> it
> cannot be ignored in a hurry. For the Administration to treat it as a
> subject
> is a forbidden subject is a big mistake because it will only give rise to
> gossip
> since citizens will have nowhere to know the truth. It is unfortunate that
> stopping others from talking about it the government is not equally saying
> anything about the origin, existence and the future of the Southern
> Cameroons.
>
> AS we celebrate world freedom I hope
> its positive energy get to Cameroon. The Theme Safe to Speak: Securing
> Freedom
> of Expression in All Media. Foundation Radio is no exception. As a reputable
> media
> outfit, it has the right and competence to professionally treat what the
> government refers to as "sensitive" information. I am certain the
> Francophone
> who closed Foundation radio didn't even understand the language used
> properly." Derrick,
> Abakwa FM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Eric Acha
>
> ----------------------------------------------
>
> Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
>
>
> We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given
> by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed (Martin Luther King
> Jr. Letter from a Birmingham City Jail 1963 )
>
--
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in
a thing makes it happen.
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