Dear Mr Dennis Tambe Mukefor,
You forget that while holding tightly to the INDEPENDENCE agenda, the CPNC - Endeley's party - flirted briefly with the UNIFICATION agenda. Endeley later became resolute against UNIFICATION with La Republique in favour of UNIFICATION with Nigeria probably based on the composition of his homefront. Prof Asonganyi suggests that the creation of the so-called NW and SW by Ahidjo created the DIVIDE. I say it only entrenched the divide. Endeley's political base - which includes Donga and Mantung incidentally - never gave up the fight even after the arrival of the gendarmes. The UN Trusteeship Council and the UN units for Decolonisation are filled and full of petitions from those divisions that made up the CPNC political base against UNIFICATION with La Republique. In fact, Endeley's political base even considered demanding a separate independent state. It can even be said that the Endeley people have shown incredible courage in dealing with the coloniser. Remember Mr Justice Ebong Fred Alobwede? Remember Dr Martin Luma? Remember Chief Ayamba? Who knows, the final leader may just be in the wings and take it from me: He or she will come from Endeley's political base.
3. Mr Mukefor, your error regarding my constituency is logical and understandable. I am of Donga and Mantung or better still of Endeley's political base. Folks out there will tell you fo one George Ntemfac Tandika who, despite being a settler, camlpaigned against unification with La Republique and was so elated with the outcome in Donga and Mantung that he got into his ricketty and wobbly landroiver and ferried the results himself to Bamenda.
4. Mr Mukefor, here, let me show you something. Herewith the Constituent Assembly of the Cameroon Anglophone Movement that invented the SCNC and SCAPO etc. Do note that this was a collective of Southern Cameroonians and that obsession with villages and divisions did not matter. I am told that you are a member of the CPDM - albeit a fringe member - your language is typical. But you are not alone. I don't scare easily but lonly last month I was really bewildered and blackmailed by this newly elected parvenu SDF top official and now member of parliament who told me to hand in my National Identity Card if I insist on talking about the Southern Cameroons. The fellow told me point blank that he has more allegiance to his fellow Oroko man from Kribi than 'that your graffi' nonsense.
On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 11:58 AM, Ofege Ntemfac <ntemfacnchwete@gmail.com> wrote:
Gentlemen, and Ladies:Permit me restate the following facts:1. That the British Government signed ONE Trusteeship Agreement to lead a singular territory called the British Cameroons to 'emancipation' or independence. Emancipation means independnce or self-governent. Where is that self-governing territory called the Southern Cameroons today? Where is the Southern Cameroons government? Where is the Southern Cameroons Parliament? The state of the Southern Cameroons has been annexted and occupied, its government obliterated under the false pretenses of re-unification and integration - francophonization. Its peoples terrorized, or are they?2. We know that the militarisation of Buea with the attendant planting of a Crematorium on the landscape not withstanding, the decolonisation of the Southern Cameroons and the British Cameroons remains incomplete. The militarisation of Buea (especially) and the attendant fictitious unholy celebration of a so-called Re-unification has not dampened our resolve. On the contrary.3. We also know that there is a swelling movement in the former British Northern Cameroons for the 'emancipation' of the BNC. The coming days will determine the tensile strength of both independent movements.2. Find herein attached the meaning of self-dertermination and its implied self-government for the dification of the doubting Thomases. The right to self-determination and self-government is a fundamental human right. These rights are guaranteed by the Charter of Nations and States.More ComingOn Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 10:04 AM, Dennis Tambe <dbtmamfe@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Dear Martin,
You and your SCNC ilk are taking South Westerners for granted. It is a shame that you cannot spell the name of a prominent South West politician who has been in the limelight for so long - "AGBOR TAMBI"! . You have persistently mispelled DR AGBOR-TABI's , perhaps in contempt.
Please take note that my vociferous agitation for the autonomy of the South West Region and its people is not transient or for political largesse as you glibly state. This is an existential campaign intended to secure the future of South Westerners whom North Westerners and culturally allied peoples derisively refer to as lazy. Educated and resourceful South Westerners who welcomed peoples from blighted hinterlands are suddenly on the defensive in their own lands, with some of them become apologists for contrived and dastardly SCNC/ and North West hegemony politics.
Ebullient men will fight thanklessly to protect their primordial lands and resources from geometrically procreating and marauding hordes. Ebullient leaders must emerge to lead their people to generational survival - the future of their children.
The benevolent host should never become a laughing stock victim. The benevolent host must self-defend against scheming and contriving guests. When you are pushed to the wall you must fight back to survive. Those who have ears should hear.
Chief Charles Taku, Mr. Agendia Aloys, Professor Tochoa Asonganyi, Mr. Ntemfac Ofege, please join us in defending the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our South West Region. This is not a parochial agenda. It is existential battle for our own good. There is no Anglophone cause; there is regional fight for survival. North Westerners have always understood this. South Westerners have still to understand this.
Mukefor
Gubernatorial Aspirant
South West Region.
o: cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com; ambasbay@googlegroups.com; camnetwork@yahoogroups.com; manyu@yahoogroups.com
From: tumasangm@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 19:53:50 +0000
Subject: [cameroon_politics] DenisTambe Desperate to Catch Agbor Tambi's Attention for a Government Post: An insight into the NW/SW distrust: SCNC CASTIGATED.
Hi Tambe,
stop being a coward. Say what you have to say and stop hanging behind my mails and giving it a different spin in order to catch the attention of Agbor Tambi and get an appointment. Your desperation is becoming alarming. Must you get this appointment through Agbor Tambi at all cost?. You have been shamelessly trying unsuccessfully to ride on the back of the SCNC to have a government post. You have no government administrative experience and even with the usual Cameroun favouritism, even Agbor Tambi will be reluctant to recommend you for any senior government job.
Please leave the SCNC alone and stay in Cameroon to continue feasting on your insurance payment or largesse. I thought that should be enough to keep you going at least for sometime.
Regards
Tumasang
To: cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com; ambasbay@googlegroups.com; camnetwork@yahoogroups.com; manyu@yahoogroups.com
From: dbtmamfe@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 19:33:19 +0000
Subject: [cameroon_politics] An insight into the NW/SW distrust: SCNC CASTIGATED.
On the futility of the SCNC effort and how their errant leaders take cover when the push comes to the shove. An activist Dr Martin Tumasang castigates SCNC:
"Dear Mr. Nfor,
Biya comes to Southern Cameroons to celebrate his purported re-unification. No protest from the SCNC, no official statement and all we get from you is a thank you to Mola Njoh?. How are the mighty fallen. Why fight for these positions/jobs and then fail to perform the work required. It might be sickness, age etc. but your performance these days is not acceptable.
Only once have I ever criticised you and it was again when Biya came to Bamenda and you were silent.
There is a time to talk, and there is a time to stay silent but not now. When a big red bear was digging in America's backyard in Cuba, Kennedy did not stay silent, he woke up, shouted loud and clear and the big red bear with its tail between its legs retreated to Siberia where it rightfully belong.
In similar manner, when a big red crap (njanga) comes and is digging in the backyard of Southern Cameroons in Bamenda or Buea, the SCNC as the rightful and mandated voice of the people of Southern Cameroons should wake up and shout loud and clear so that the big red crap can retreat to Vokmeka in the neighbouring state of La Republique du Cameroun where it rightfully belong.
Regards
Dr Tumasang"
To: cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com
From: benawaah@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:22:26 -0600
Subject: RE: [cameroon_politics] An insight into the NW/SW distrust (Excerpt from TRIPLE AGENT DOUBLE CROSS, the 1992 historical/political thriller on Cameroon)
Mr. Tchucham:
Golden opportunities do not come many times. AACs I & II gave the Cameroun government two golden opportunies to work with Southern Cameroonians to forge a workable and working governmental system. That government paid no attention. A third such opportunity came when the African Commission on Human and People's Right directed that government to dialogue with the leaders of Southern Cameroons. That government violated the six months period when the parties were supposed to report back to the Commission and asked for an extension. It was granted. Nothing has happened since. Southern Cameroonians are wising up every passing minute. They know that in a polictical arrangement where they would remain a political minority, they would never have a fair shake. Why would they accept such arrangement with 50+ years of a terrible experience? Sir, let's keep things in perspective.
Awaah
"Permit Yourself to Learn to Forgive to be Forgiven"B.U. Awaah
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From: tchucham@yahoo.fr
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 18:57:38 +0000
Subject: Re: [cameroon_politics] An insight into the NW/SW distrust (Excerpt from TRIPLE AGENT DOUBLE CROSS, the 1992 historical/political thriller on Cameroon)
Many thanks to Prof. Asonganyi Tazoacha for laying the emphasis on that which UNITES People facing the same troubles than on that which DEVIDES them.His write up sheds more light in the debate that took place in these Chambers a week or more ago about the "anglophone" issue, the "colonization" through La Republique, the community or divergence of interests and the future faced by the Peoples of Cameroon on the both sides of the River Mungo. As it appears from the analysis of Prof Asonganyi, these People have more in common than one could imagine, and they have a great interest in uniting their efforts against the same tyrants. Dividing is equally dangerous for each part.I do believe that Ni Boh Herbert will agree on this?Fraternally,Bonaventure TchuchamLes deux clefs principales de la Science:"Il n'y a qu'une seule Loi, et Celui qui travaille est Un.Rien n'est petit, rien n'est grand dans l'économie divine."
"Les hommes sont des dieux mortels
Et les dieux sont des hommes immortels."
De : Tchouteu Janvier <j_kamerun@yahoo.com>
À : "cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com" <cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com>; "camnetwork@yahoogroups.com" <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>; "camfoot@yahoogroupes.fr" <camfoot@yahoogroupes.fr>; "Cameroonpatriots@yahoogroups.com" <Cameroonpatriots@yahoogroups.com>; "cameroonforum@yahoogroups.com" <cameroonforum@yahoogroups.com>; "SDF-FORUM@yahoogroupes.fr" <SDF-FORUM@yahoogroupes.fr>; "scncusasouth@yahoo.com" <scncusasouth@yahoo.com>; "camnet@yahoogroups.com" <camnet@yahoogroups.com>; "cameroonianjournalists@yahoogroups.com" <cameroonianjournalists@yahoogroups.com>; "cameroonianconnection@yahoogroups.com" <cameroonianconnection@yahoogroups.com>; camdesg <camdesg@yahoogroups.com>; cam <cameroongroup@yahoogroups.com>
Envoyé le : Jeudi 20 février 2014 18h06
Objet : Re: [cameroon_politics] An insight into the NW/SW distrust (Excerpt from TRIPLE AGENT DOUBLE CROSS, the 1992 historical/political thriller on Cameroon)
Dear Prof,
Thanks for the reply. It is very contributive and insightful. I take to heart your view of situations where what a person perceives to be betrayal could actually be a case of cowardice. Often times, it is better for the leader who is accused of letting down those he is leading to be honest about his stance, that's all.
There was no intention on my part, and there has never been one before, to fan the flames of distrust between individuals or peoples. A famous writer whose name I do not remember once wrote that the job of an artist is not to be right, but to tell the truth. In the 1991-1992 book “Triple Agent Double Cross", I merely stated the views of differing groups and individuals. And the ultimate intention, as concluded in that chapter, was to unite and galvanize, pointing out that Bamenda had just picked up the baton to lead the country to freedom, democracy and liberalism.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clearly state my position, and hope the outcome of our debates help us to forge ahead in the task to found "THE NEW CAMERRON".
All the best,
Janvier Chouteu-Chando
On Thursday, February 20, 2014 10:41 AM, Chief Charles A.Taku <Charto_us@yahoo.com> wrote:
Thanks Prof for this very insightful contribution.I just listened to another version of the so-called "re-unification" story that was more about Paul Biya than any of the historic leaders, people and events whom he ( Paul Biya in his speech) lacked the courage to acknowledge by name.Along shot in his speech came when at long last, he unlike many of his supporters in this forum and elsewhere publicly acknowledged Southern Cameroons and October 1, 1961 for what that acknowledgement may be worth.By innuendo, he uncharacteristically acknowledged the influence and capability of the Southern Cameroons, the SCNC and all the progressive forces active in the territory agitating for an end to colonial rule even though he did so in a belligerent tone. He also acknowledged that opposition followed the so-called " re-unification" ( colonial rule), which is a critical element of interest in our case. Flexing military might in intimidating terms as he did in his speech makes him the aggressor that he is. On the whole, for the purposes of the Southern Cameroons case, that speech like several publications prior to circus are of high probative value.He addressed an international community which apart for a some diplomats accredited to Yaoundé, he for 3 years finally failed to bring to Buea to provide the legitimacy he badly sought to use this circus to give to this historic contentious colonial imposition.Probably in tacit reference to this rebuff, he stated his resolve and deference to rely on the UN to resolve conflicts without specifying which.The fall out from this circus will be analyzed as it unfolds.Meanwhile the citizens of Buea who have been restricted in their homes this while will have a sigh of relief that the circus is over so they get back to their delay activities.Once the rented crowd and security operatives that took the town and its environs hostage will hopefully leave, the people who were neither participants nor spectators will indeed pray that this uneventful invasion should be the very last.Chief Charles A.Taku
On Thursday, February 20, 2014 8:02 AM, Asonganyi Tazoacha <asontaz@yahoo.com> wrote:
[Attachment(s) from Asonganyi Tazoacha included below]There is an effort to perpetrate the hoary myth of the NW/SW divide – the posting of Javier Chouteu-Chando here is in that realm - as if peoples that live together should have a homogenous nature and character. Friction is one of the incalculables of history. Human life is rarely simple, and the value of history lies in its ability to tease out the complexities and the constraints confronting human relationships that shape the course of history.Since the neocolonial regime in Cameroon was born some fifty years and more ago, there are people of fifty and more who have managed more or less successfully to brave the vagaries of the regime and carved out lives within an order perceived as bad but accepted nonetheless in complicity and compromise; in essence, some felt that they were betraying no one by expressing an element of human nature - cowardice.This is why our Javier Chouteu-Chanto can say things like “Democratic and liberal-minded Cameroonians watched with horror the birth of a monolithic state” and “English-speaking Cameroonians, like their counterparts in Francophone East woke up to find that they too had become marginalized…” Somehow, he is saying that the people were being led like sheep, and they even went to sleep, hoping for somebody from the moon to come and save them!Then the lies: “Anglophone students rioted in the NWP.” No! All Anglophone students rose like one man to send Minister Ngango packing…I “watched” it live with my friend Ngwasiri from his office in DGRST, for those who know the story well from my past writings, especially related to Ngwasiri/Mukong.Whatever the case, NW/SW “divide” if it exists, is no argument against the two entities living together in a nation of their own; if such an argument existed, it would be even a stronger argument against “Unification” and “integration.”In any case, this is a write-up that was published by “The Star Magazine” to mark the famous “50th Anniversary.”Paying the price of reunification in the coins of Northwest/Southwest DivideFollowing the injustices of slavery and colonialism suffered by Africa, and the European wars of greed and territorial conquests, Africa ended up being divided as war booty to various European countries. Kamerun that was under German colonialism was shared between the French and English, with what is today “Cameroon” being the large chunk, while little other chunks ended up in Nigeria, Gabon, and so on. This is how “Southern Cameroons” ended up as a United Nations Trust Territory of the English, while the “Republic of Cameroun” ended up as a UN Trust Territory of the French.These “territories” were supposed to undergo tutelage under these “mother” countries. Tutelage meant that the territories had to be “brought up,” so to say, so that they could gain self-government either as “independent” countries or as overseas territories of the “mother” countries – England or France, in either case. England and France had different political cultures and histories that shaped the attitudes and beliefs of the territories under their tutelage. The two cultures were shaped by two different concepts of natural law.The Anglo-Saxon school of natural law that influenced English political culture is usually said to be optimistic. According to it, that which is natural is good; this good – natural society – can be deformed or corrupted by external intervention. Society enjoys a natural freedom; the task of politics and political action is to maintain society in its natural freedom; a freedom that allows the unfolding of society according to its natural motion – a freedom that society alone is capable of administering.It is such concepts that led to the emergence of The Magna Carta as early as 1215 being the first effort to limit the powers of the English Monarchy by law and protect the privileges of the subjects. This was followed by the radicalization of society about “rights,” culminating in the Petition of Rights of 1628, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, the (Glorious) Revolution of 1688 which overthrew King James II to institute English parliamentary democracy and introduce the Bill of Rights of 1689 that established a constitutional monarchy. England thus gave itself a form of republican state balanced on the basis of corporative relations of social estates in a socially mixed government composed of a House of Commons, a House of Lords, and the Monarchy.The Southern Cameroons they provided tutelage to, quickly put in place the same structures – a House of Commons (Parliament in Buea), a House of Lords (The House of Chiefs in Buea), and the Monarchy (the Colonial Officers that represented the Queen of England – the Monarch). This set-up provided a “democratic” structure that saw democratic elections right back in 1959 which led to the opposition KNDP of Foncha winning power from the CPNC ruling party of Endeley, and the ruling CPNC of Endeley willingly and peacefully handing over power!On the other hand, Continental natural law which influenced French society is said to view society as corrupted, with the task of the state (government) being to influence society in a positive corrective manner. Continental natural law is rationalist; it does not hesitate to construct a state capable of imposing itself upon the disorganized movement of society. This is what motivated the French Revolution, which, in essence, was the rational transformation of society by the state. Indeed, the French Revolution which lasted from1789 to1799 was a period of radical social and political upheavals in France. France under the absolute rule of King Louis XVI was governed by three “estates”: the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of France. The French Revolution was marked by events like the proclamation of the Tennis Court Oath by members of the Third Estate (the rest of France), the assault on the Bastille, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the march on Versailles, all of which culminated in the proclamation of a republic and the execution of King Louis XVI. The French revolution instituted constitutional republicanism.The Republic of Cameroun that France provided tutelage to, quickly became a highly centralized Jacobin-type “republic” with an oppressive state charged with transforming society with the force of arms or the force of law. This set-up saw politicians with divergent views arrested and imprisoned as early as 1962 following reunification in October 1961.In any case, whether in England or France, the aspiration that prompted human action was called democracy – Freedom. Democracy can be defined as free, unimpeded social activity; the “republic” is the political form – the structure - that preserves the public space where this free, unimpeded social activity is carried out. That space is called society. The political structure of society is the stateWhether in England or France, “Government” is an agent of the state; it embodies a constitution which, invariably, defines the institutions of the state and their specific functions. Because of the influence of the socially mixed government in England made up of three centres of power, and the three “estates” of the French, modern government is based on three centres of power: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary – each operating as a machinery of government to ensure the welfare of the polity; each is organized to ensure the proper management of the res publica – the republic - the public thing. Indeed, this design is said to have been hammered out by the Americans, following the “sudden” disappearance of two centres of power – the Monarch and the Lords - after their war of independence. Left with society alone, and guided by the principle of three governing centres they brought along from England, they crafted the three new centres of power that checked and balanced each other.The struggles in England, like in France were to democratize society. In principle, for society to be democratized, its political structure – the state - must also be democratized. It is in these complicated frameworks of English and French societies and cultures that Southern Cameroons and Republic of Cameroun were brooding over independence following their tutelage, and the possible reunification of the two countries.Indeed, it is in this context that the two Cameroons – Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroun, brought up in two distinct systems of democracy and politics were dealt the hand of reunification. In the melee, Southern Cameroons suffered the fate that Guinea Conakry suffered in the hands of France following its famous “No” vote. Since Southern Cameroons voted “No” to joining Nigeria, which was the wish of the British, they were abandoned to their own designs, like the French abandoned Guinea!As for the Republic of Cameroun, it became “independent” by 1960, but suffered the fate that most African nations suffered after gaining “independence.” Their leadership was torn between two habits of thought, emotions, and mental approaches to life, which, invariably determined what the leaders did, and their vision of the world. On the one hand the injustices suffered by Africa left an internal bitterness and hatred of the colonizers and the colonizing nations; on the other hand, the leaders somehow believed internally what the colonizers told Africans about Africans – that they are inferior beings! Since the leaders of the newly “independent” nations admired and respected the standard of management of society by the colonizers and aspired to meet the same standards, they looked forward to replacing the colonizer figuratively and in essence.Indeed, they looked up to the “mother” country - France - to show them the way. In the process, Francophone Cameroonians felt closer to France than they felt to Southern Cameroonians that reunited with them. Their bond to France was maintained by the imperialism of the French language and French culture, which, in Europe, was in a do or die struggle with the English language and culture that Southern Cameroons represented here in Cameroon. This bond led to the transfer of the cultural struggle to the reunited Cameroon, with the French forcing some version of the French constitution and other French texts on us; and signing different pacts that gave the French undue advantage in different domains in the reunited country!This is how the agenda of the reunited Cameroon became a desperate attempt to please the French at the detriment of the brotherhood and solidarity that brought us together in the first place. Pleasing the French meant using “expert” upon “expert” from France; opening a boulevard for borrowed ideas from France.This, of course left the leaders of Southern Cameroons jittery, since they had seen reunification as an effort to “marry the best that was inherited from Britain and France;” they had seen reunification as an effort to “raise the level of Cameroonian nationalism and enable the people to eventually extricate themselves from the umbilical cord of Britain and France … and enjoy genuine independence.” Indeed, they saw reunification as an effort to “promote common values, common understanding and common aspirations, without which the idea of national unity would remain mere rhetoric.” There is no doubt that the reunification idea has remained rhetoric in the reunited Cameroon!To keep the jittery lot of Southern Cameroonians in check, Ahidjo, and then Biya used corruption as a trump card: they manipulated the self-interested, easily beguiled, and irresponsible among Southern Cameroonians to do their bidding in exchange for material reward or social honours. They activated the politics of divide-and-rule!First, they divided “West Cameroon” into South (West Cameroon) and North (West Cameroon), but left “East Cameroon” essentially as it was before the advent of “East Cameroon.” Then they made the southwest and northwest to understand that although they were now two entities, they would still be considered in essence as an entity called “West Cameroon” when it would come to sharing the cake. So South (West Cameroon) and North (West Cameroon) had to fight over the same posts since the post that one occupied was always the post that the other would have occupied – President of the National Assembly, Prime Minister, Assistant SG at the Presidency, etc. And so they started to fight, to compete, to tear each other apart – all to please he who threw the corn to the chicken.This is why a journalist today can write the following: “…You know the southwest man has no interest in northwest. He would instead want to see things crumble in NW so that SW remains favourable to Popoul. Can you imagine that he instigated NW journalists to castigate CPDM in NW? … Luckily your town crier was not part of it. I hear that some hungry journalists fought over the amount, while others rejected it…”It is also why the 1961 plebiscite has suddenly become a source of ridicule and blackmail – to please the conqueror, and court favours! I have always maintained that I do not think that the Southern Cameroonians that voted to join the Republic of Cameroun are more Cameroonian or more patriotic than those who voted to join Nigeria. Either way, the opinions expressed at that time, represented the free expression of democratic convictions on a national issue. So I was surprised to read in a newspaper front-page headline the following: “Tumi Speaks Out! ... SW voted against reunification….”In the body of the interview, the following question was put to the Cardinal: “What striking memory do you have of reunification?” He responded: “I remember the campaign by Foncha…It was the North West that voted largely for reunification. The South West did not want us to leave Nigeria. Dr. Endeley spearheaded it…”Even in a fictional parliamentary debate titled ‘Parliamentary Immunuity for Palmwine Drunkards’ in The Oracle (March/April 2011) we read: A South West MP said timidly, “That leaves the battle ground for Biya only in the South West. The reason is that they would want to declare that the South West is against Biya. They want to be the good boys/girls and declare us the bad guys....The North West and South West are brothers only when the North West wants to win advantages...The fake doctrine of North West is that we are one. We know that is untrue...If the UN were to come back and have another plebiscite, the results would be obvious. North Westerners in the North West would vote “Cameroon” while they would vote “out Cameroon” in the SW region. And if every person has to go and vote in his/her place of origin, it will be for Cameroon in both regions. The indgenes of the South West would vote “Cameroon” anytime, anywhere...”From the results of the plebiscite summarized in the table below, these statements are historically, scientifically, and logically untenable. There were populations (constituencies) in both the “northwest” and “southwest” that voted against reunification with the Republic of Cameroun. Once more, it is important to stress that, that was their democratic right, and I do not think that they have any apology to offer to anybody for that.Result of 1961 Plebiscite in Southern Cameroons (From EA Aka, 2002, p.278)
On Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 18:18, Tchouteu Janvier <j_kamerun@yahoo.com> wrote:
The Northwest Province gained a reputation for itself as the most agitated administrative entity in Cameroon in the 1980s. The history of the geographic and political entity made the rules—rules that are not based on permanence. They say the people do not have faith in the future unless it is clearly revealed by the palimpsest, and that they prefer to make do with living for today. Some outsiders claim that the land and its people are plagued by far too many logic-defying inner contradictions. Even some clear-eyed insiders buttress the stereotype with further claims that by nature, the peoples of the Northwest Province are open and calculating, stubborn and docile, proud and humble, loyal and treacherous, honest and knavish, respectful and rebellious. Some would go as far as pointing out that the Germans acknowledged the pervasive inner contradictions among some of the peoples of the region during their four-decade colonial rule, adding that the calculative approach of the British administration met with a lot of resistance when they tried to be too assertive in that part of British Southern Cameroons.But it wasn’t until British Southern Cameroons’ reunited with the newly independent former French Cameroun in 1961 that other Cameroonians felt deeply impacted by the enigmatic nature of the people whose input was the most decisive in realizing reunification. Cameroonians could not understand why the peoples of the area failed to support the related Bamileké people against the French-backed Ahidjo regime. The political leadership from the area intrigued the majority of Cameroonians even further by merging their parties with Ahidjo’s Union of Cameroonians (UC) in 1966 to form the grand unified party—Cameroon National Union (CNU).An unusual feeling of distrust gripped the Anglophone Bantus of the Southwest Province in 1972, when the Northwestern-led Anglophone leadership succumbed to Ahidjo’s drive to do away with the federal structure of the country that comprised English-speaking West Cameroon and French-speaking East Cameroon. Democratic and liberal minded Cameroonians watched with horror the birth of the monolithic state known as the United Republic of Cameroon, viewing the whole process as capitulation by the political leadership from the Northwest Province. English speaking Cameroonians, like their compatriots in the Francophone East, woke up to find that they too had become marginalized with no say in the affairs of the country. Two decades after, the two Anglophone provinces had little to show from the integration, despite their newly disproportionate contribution to the nation’s economy.The demise of Ahidjo and the rise to prominence of Pablo-Nero Essomba brought up fresh hopes to Cameroonians, especially the Anglophones of the Northwest Province who dreamed of change in the horizon. The anticipatory spirit transformed into a festive one following Pablo-Nero’s much-publicized visit to the Northwest Province, whereby the notables there venerated him with the province’s highest traditional title of Fon of Fons or King of Kings. After all, any Cameroonian leader who could disavow Ahidjo had to be a nationalist and savoir, many of the elites in the province reasoned.It did not take long for the people to find out that they had made a grave mistake. Pablo-Nero Essomba had nothing to offer. This time around, the people of the Southwest Province accused their Northwestern counterparts of having sold Anglophone Cameroonians cheap again by using their numerical superiority. It is one thing to be fooled, and another thing to be taken for a fool all the time—politicians from the Southwest Province grumbled against their counterparts from the Northwest Province.It came as no surprise to those versed with the history of the land when Cameroon experienced an upsurge of demands for the redress of past betrayals of the Cameroonian dream, of which the Northwest Province was the latest victim. Soon, cries for a new and democratic Cameroon rose to resonant pitches.When Anglophone students rioted in the Northwest Province against the government’s drive to make a pass in the French language a prerequisite for admission into higher institutions of learning, without giving the same status to the English language for francophone students, they drew nationwide support for their cause. It was a preposterous attempt at assimilation that Cameroonian nationalists of all shades rejected. The Pablo-Nero regime budged and dropped the policy, thereby leaving Bamenda to emerge as the rebellious capital to the oppressive system. Bamenda became the birthplace of the people’s power, otherwise called by the people as ‘The power of the once powerless’.Janvier Chouteu-Chando
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