Re: Re :RE: CAMEROON BILINGUALISM: A MIGHTY FRAUD!

Dear Mr. Njicha,

Thanks for your reply.

You raise another issue which has long been settled by history: whether good governance is the better or independence! You have cited South Sudan. You may as well have cited Africa itself, whether it was better to remain under the rule of White people or to become independent and suffer all the dictatorial regimes and abuses of human rights we suffer today. Is it by mistake that the world is divided into states, continents and so on? Of course, we can dream of one world in which everyone is well governed, or even of every man being able to live with every woman, just through good will. My Brother, that can never happen; those are idle dreams, like the dream of communism! Not every man can live with every woman, no matter the degree of goodwill of both parties! This is exactly the same phenomenon with people. And that is also why good fences make good neighbours! That is also why all human beings do not live in the same house, but in separate houses! A house is to an individual, what a country is to a people!

There is not much time for me to demonstrate this fully, but I wish I could post you an article on this. Freedom for the human being is higher than good governance! Independence is higher than living under colonisation, no matter the degree of good governance you enjoy under such occupation. And so, in Bangwa, it is often asked why a pig that you fence off and feed everyday still breaks that fence for its liberty! I have had a lengthy discussion with some friends concerning Southern Sudan, who were reasoning like you. I laughed and told them that such experience is not new, and yet, no people have ever accepted to give up their own state for the sake of good governance under foreign rule! Would you do it? Of course, from the comfort of safety in a foreign country, you may not value your own state. But remember that those people perhaps won that country through blood and sweat; remember that the Africa we are in today was also fought for, and many gave up their lives for it. Remember that even America was fought for! It must in fact be extraordinary wisdom today that the whole world has erred in fighting for independence and self-governance. Can you believer that?

The people of Republique have often diverted the case of the Southern Cameroons by bringing up these kinds of arguments. But ask them: if Nigeria were to persuade them to accept Nigerian rule, would they accept? If any part of their territory were occupied would they accept? Of course, it is the people of the Southern Cameroons who should have no sense of country, of state and of self-government!

Regards,

Denis.

On Thursday, February 25, 2016 2:17 PM, "FORCHEH, N. (Prof.)" <FORCHEHN@mopipi.ub.bw> wrote:

Good Day Denis and all.

Firstly, thank you all for replying to my email. I appreciate the respectful tones in all the replies, and hope that I can follow the same tone, even if we disagree in some areas.

 

I had assumed you (Denis) forwarded the email from someone else, since it was not signed off. Thanks for clarifying that you were the author.

 

Please note that  I was not aware that this was part of an ongoing political debate about the rule and mis-rule of Cameroon and the legality of its existence etc. I participated in such debates during my days as a student, and have not dedicated time to this noble cause since.

 

My response was as based on the fact that I have seen friends and close relatives who are unable to benefit from all sorts of opportunities because of some ideological positions that they hold. I got the impression from your article that you were preaching against people from English speaking parts of Cameroon learning French, and my reaction was to disagree with such a stance.

 

World history and current affairs are replete with the evil that comes with the oppression of any group of people on the basis cultural religious or any other basis, whether oppression is by the majority or by the minority elite, and the need for all well-meaning people to fight such oppression. However, there is no evidence that a successful solution to oppression can be built around division and hate.

 

As a young student, I had the opportunity to debate the conflict in Ethiopia in the 1980s.  One group was attempting to overthrow a violent dictator in Mengistu and another was fighting for Eritrean Independence. I took a minority position that nothing good was going to come out of the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia. There was just no evidence that  Eritreans would be better govern just because they had been poorly treated by Mengistu. What  was need was that all Ethiopians should be properly govern by a system of government that respected all human rights and where powers were separated between the different organs, civil society was functional, and every child had the opportunity to dream and to work towards attaining their dream. It is common knowledge now that Eritrea is one of the most oppressive government in the continent. South Sudan whose leaders spent decades fighting for independence from another bad government are not faring any better. Somalia with essentially one ethnic group is unable to function as a peaceful and prosperous nation, and our little neighbours in CEMAC surely do not offer any greater confidence.

 

There is no evidence of any kind on the ground to suggest that a "Kumba man" or "Bamenda man" would be better off in their own independent  country PURELY ON THE BASIS THAT THE GOVERNMENT WAS AN ANGLOPHONE GOVERNMENT.

 

If I had the opportunity to involve in politics and political debate, I would spend my energies working towards all human beings, all Africans, all Cameroonians and all Nweh people fought like one person to ensure that they were properly governed, took good care of the environment, of children, and ride themselves and the world of selfish and self-destroying tendencies, equip themselves and their off-springs with the knowledge of how to equitably distribute the enormous resources available in all parts of the globe, and rid the world for ever of borders – which make it easier for animals and birds to roam the world than for the so-called civilised human beings who are supposedly entrusted with taking care of the same world to visit their brethren in neighbouring countries.

 

A 1999 article by  Francis  Nyamnjoh titled "CAMEROON: A COUNTRY UNITED BY ETHNIC AMBITION AND DIFFERENCE" remains as relevant a read today as it did almost 20yrs ago. He quotes Maya Angelo in his concluding remarks thus:  "Divide the masses that you may conquer them; separate them and you can rule them". Whether such division of masses is done by dictatorial regime or by a violent extremist group or even by a well-meaning group attempting to destroy a dictatorship, the effects are the same.

 

May 2016 be a blessed year filled with love, happiness and respect of our differences to all who read this.

Nkem Njicha

 

 

 

From: Atemkeng Denis [mailto:denatem@yahoo.com]
Sent: 25 February 2016 08:53 AM
To: sanda oumarou; FORCHEH, N. (Prof.); mpeterkins@yahoo.com; hassansama22@yahoo.com; sadialicha@yahoo.fr; enohmeyomesse@gmail.com; jowifor@yahoo.fr; jowifor39@gmail.com; ndongichemg@yahoo.com; jespaajereboh@yahoo.com; kebilafokum@yahoo.com; Randy.saah@gmail.com; cocorico20042001@yahoo.fr; thescooptoday@yahoo.com; esongkang@yahoo.co.uk; thespokesman1966@yahoo.fr; recorderspecial@gmail.com; gtanyileke@yahoo.co.uk; mfyembe@gmail.com; jpghonda@yahoo.com; auntymyj@yahoo.com; toulou@eisa.org.za; febertcam@yahoo.fr; moeketsilucky@yahoo.com; eomasuku@ananzi.co.za; icchongwain@yahoo.com; jfgarriba@yahoo.com; guardianpnp@yahoo.com; guardianpostnews@gmail.com; fidelisnanga@yahoo.co.uk; dmangwa@yahoo.co.uk; talamboy@yahoo.com; b_p_newspaper@yahoo.com; theheraldnewspaper@yahoo.co.uk; thepostnp@yahoo.com; thestarheadlines@yahoo.com; ezidotta@yahoo.com; h_ekwe@yahoo.fr; kininso9@yahoo.com; lecda-usa@yahoogroups.com; aataku@yahoo.com; MsJoe21St@aol.com; edenmedia@yahoo.co.uk; cerut_l@yahoo.co.uk; sanusiben@yahoo.com; ericmotomu@yahoo.com; chronicle_newspaper@yahoo.com; vsz2001@hotmail.com; youbiga@yahoo.fr; ysaydou@yahoo.fr; azedjogus@yahoo.fr; ouestechos@yahoo.fr; mmtalla@yahoo.com; SDF-FORUM@yahoogroupes.fr; weeklyp@yahoo.com; catatah@yahoo.co.uk; chrisf@ndi.org; bhc.yaounde@fco.gov.uk; biwolelm@state.gov; yunde@dfait-maeci.gc.ca; ebnjoh@yahoo.fr; yudivoj@yahoo.fr; pafrundeh@yahoo.com; thepilotnp@yahoo.co.uk; thesunnewspaper@yahoo.co.uk; chrisams@gmail.com; sbapara@hotmail.com; amunjong@yahoo.com; tusantus@yahoo.es; schinje@yahoo.com; yaoundeirc2@state.gov; wahidlj@state.gov; ngwanasamba@yahoo.com; campreneur@yahoogroups.com; soloamabo@yahoo.co.uk; bernard_acho@yahoo.com; augusteb@yahoo.fr; thehorizon.news2006@yahoo.com; themedianpaper@yahoo.com; lingocelestin@yahoo.fr; suhade@yahoo.com; wisesayings10@yahoo.com; autoauthority.esale@gmail.com; journalmutations@yahoo.fr; lejourdouala@gmail.com; lejourquotidien@yahoo.fr; info@cameroonjournal.com; lekwat@yahoo.com; bateygreig20@yahoo.ca; cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com; ambasbay@googlegroups.com; ltandap@yahoo.com; camnetwork@yahoogroups.com; awuduggna@yahoo.ca; nnkwalar@yahoo.com; chrismbunwe@yahoo.com; akonji.2001@yahoo.com; times_journal@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Re :RE: CAMEROON BILINGUALISM: A MIGHTY FRAUD!

 

Dear Mr. Minister,

My very warm and respectful greetings.

 

You have dismissed this issue the way all Cameroun Francophones dismiss the charges of the illegal occupation of the Southern Cameroons by Republique du Cameroun. Fortunately, we are talking about the policies declared by your country, not by the Southern Cameroons. If La Republique du Cameroun had declared, in view of the apparent irrelevance of the topic, that Cameroun was not bilingual, who would have ever raised such an issue? But having so declared, should it not be held to its word and policy? And should the fraud involved in such a policy not be exposed? I have replied to Mr. Nkem Njicha, whose reaction to my article did not at all address why a country should adopt a bilingual policy or what the meaning of bilingualism is. And I ask anyone to show me another country in this world which practices the kind of "bilingualism" going on in Cameroon. Of course, I suppose we can say all those countries are stupid and Cameroun is Cameroun! And by the way, if language was so unimportant, why does La Republique not adopt English instead of French! I hear it is called "pays bilingue francophone"!

We are Africans, but unfortunately, our Africanness contributes almost nothing to our modern states: the structure of the state, parliament, languages, judiciary, legislature, policy, etc. Ah, how sweet it is to hide our injustices under the carpet of our being all African! Of course, even twins from the same stomach need not share the same room or say because they are from one womb, they cannot speak different languages.

A few days ago there was a stand-off in South Africa between Afrikaans speakers and other students who do not want Afrikaans to be used again as a teaching language in the university. Francophonie spends enormous sums to influence the use of French around the world. Parents insist on their children learning their native languages. Wars have erupted over language issues. All of this, I guess, is irrelevant?

I do not expect someone who is suffering nothing to be in the shoes of those who are suffering the colonization and assimilation. Jesus said it all: "Do onto others what you would have done onto you"

 

Regards,

Denis.

 

On Wednesday, February 24, 2016 8:12 PM, sanda oumarou <osandababuka@yahoo.fr> wrote:

 

Hello Mr Njicha and all; 

I Can't tell how relieved and rejoiced i am while reading your no nonsense reaction. You masterly said it all. Please let's stop engaging in such a wasteful exercice. 

A child should first identify himself with his/her parents,  in my case both my mother and father did not speak french (i hail  from Ngaoundéré).

I wouldn't let anyone dismiss my sense of being truly an African Cameroonian 

Brotherly esteem 

Sanda  Oumarou 

Former Minister

Ngaoundéré

Envoyé depuis Yahoo Mail pour Android

 

Le mer. j févr. PM à 17:03, FORCHEH, N. (Prof.)

<FORCHEHN@mopipi.ub.bw> a écrit :

Hi Denis,

 

I am not sure why you choose to include me in this posting. Nevertheless, I have read the article. Sadly, the author has not signed, and it is not clear what the take home message is.

 

Using  Anglophone/Francophone to describe Cameroonians is akin to using the word negro to describe African Americans in the early part of the last century. After his first visit to Africa, the great comedian, Richard Pryor joked that he could not find a single negro among the hundreds of millions of people that he saw. I am sure, if we walk through Cameroon with  similar lenses, we shall not see a single Anglophone or Francophone. Rather there are Bamileke, Nweh, Beti, Mbo, Bali, Basa, etc.

 

As a language, English does not face any eminent dangers of extinction, neither in Cameroon nor anywhere else in the world – including China. Those who still wish to be identified by their slave masters need not fear. No government in Cameroon can close down the ever growing number of schools in which English is the only medium of instruction.

 

Despite the pride that the Germans, French, and other European groups have for their languages, they all learn and speak English as their second language and you can take University degrees with instructions in English in many of these countries. Highly paid sports stars from golfers to tennis to Boxing to Formula I etc. learn English as their primary medium of communication – mainly for economic gains.

 

Secondary Schools in the North West are increasing being dominated by Children from French Speaking Cameroonians, and if you spend time at internet Cafes in Buea, you could be forgiven for thinking that you are in a French speaking part of Cameroon.

 

Anywise person would want to learn any language that would give them a relative advantage in life – especially if it was the language of your enemy!!.

 

In the 1960s to the end of the last Millennium, Europeans learned Japanese and set up University faculties to study Japanese because of the trading relations with Japan that they had just defeated in a World War. Today, they have turned to Chinese, that they would rather despise as a communist anti-capitalist state.

 

 

I happen to watch News on CRTV fairly regularly, and it intrigues me to note the extent to which all senior administrators across the country from Mayors to DOs, to Ministers try to speak in English when interviewed by English Journalists. Even the likes of Bouba Bello speak in fluent English these days. I have also had the opportunity to participate in many African region conferences and policy workshops, and it is very clear that if you wish to play a role in the continent then being able to speak at least two of English, French and Arabic are major advantages, and now Portuguese has been added. When I meet French speaking Cameroonians in these workshops, they are not interested in speaking in French, but rather to speak in English as a means of improving their English. They are refusing to be bound by colonial chains – even if they were made from Gold, and are embracing the reality that being multi-lingual is an unparallel advantage in today's competitive world. So if your Chi has given you a Country in which you can learn and practice these languages at relatively no cost – grab it with open arms – and go to church and thank Him for the opportunity.

 

 

Any Cameroonian with ambitions of living and working beyond their village shall do very well to learn both English and French, and while at it add Arabic. Such are the Cameroonians who get international jobs, they are the ones who can work in any part of the country at a time when work is scarce. They are the young doctors who can be sent to any part of the country to attend to the sick and needy, or teach English in French dominated villages or teach French in English dominated environments.  

 

During the struggle for independence many Africanists warned against the folly of naming ourselves after our slave and colonial masters. The preached the benefits  of grouping into countries that were large enough to be sustainable and not be susceptible to manipulations by the foreign interest groups.  They preached the importance of fostering the cultural unity that we shared across colonial boundaries.

 

 

Nkem Njicha

 

 

From: Atemkeng Denis [mailto:denatem@yahoo.com]
Sent: 24 February 2016 10:48 AM
To: mpeterkins@yahoo.com; hassansama22@yahoo.com; sadialicha@yahoo.fr; enohmeyomesse@gmail.com; jowifor@yahoo.fr; jowifor39@gmail.com; ndongichemg@yahoo.com; jespaajereboh@yahoo.com; kebilafokum@yahoo.com; Randy.saah@gmail.com; cocorico20042001@yahoo.fr; thescooptoday@yahoo.com; esongkang@yahoo.co.uk; thespokesman1966@yahoo.fr; recorderspecial@gmail.com; gtanyileke@yahoo.co.uk; mfyembe@gmail.com; jpghonda@yahoo.com; auntymyj@yahoo.com; toulou@eisa.org.za; febertcam@yahoo.fr; moeketsilucky@yahoo.com; eomasuku@ananzi.co.za; icchongwain@yahoo.com; jfgarriba@yahoo.com; guardianpnp@yahoo.com; guardianpostnews@gmail.com; fidelisnanga@yahoo.co.uk; dmangwa@yahoo.co.uk; talamboy@yahoo.com; b_p_newspaper@yahoo.com; theheraldnewspaper@yahoo.co.uk; thepostnp@yahoo.com; thestarheadlines@yahoo.com; ezidotta@yahoo.com; h_ekwe@yahoo.fr; kininso9@yahoo.com; lecda-usa@yahoogroups.com; aataku@yahoo.com; MsJoe21St@aol.com; edenmedia@yahoo.co.uk; cerut_l@yahoo.co.uk; sanusiben@yahoo.com; ericmotomu@yahoo.com; chronicle_newspaper@yahoo.com; vsz2001@hotmail.com; youbiga@yahoo.fr; ysaydou@yahoo.fr; azedjogus@yahoo.fr; ouestechos@yahoo.fr; mmtalla@yahoo.com; SDF-FORUM@yahoogroupes.fr; weeklyp@yahoo.com; catatah@yahoo.co.uk; chrisf@ndi.org; bhc.yaounde@fco.gov.uk; biwolelm@state.gov; yunde@dfait-maeci.gc.ca; osandababuka@yahoo.fr; ebnjoh@yahoo.fr; yudivoj@yahoo.fr; pafrundeh@yahoo.com; thepilotnp@yahoo.co.uk; thesunnewspaper@yahoo.co.uk; chrisams@gmail.com; recorderspecial@gmail.com; sbapara@hotmail.com; amunjong@yahoo.com; tusantus@yahoo.es; schinje@yahoo.com; yaoundeirc2@state.gov; wahidlj@state.gov; ngwanasamba@yahoo.com; campreneur@yahoogroups.com; soloamabo@yahoo.co.uk; bernard_acho@yahoo.com; augusteb@yahoo.fr; thehorizon.news2006@yahoo.com; themedianpaper@yahoo.com; FORCHEH, N. (Prof.); lingocelestin@yahoo.fr; suhade@yahoo.com; wisesayings10@yahoo.com; autoauthority.esale@gmail.com; journalmutations@yahoo.fr; lejourdouala@gmail.com; lejourquotidien@yahoo.fr; info@cameroonjournal.com; lekwat@yahoo.com; bateygreig20@yahoo.ca; cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com; ambasbay@googlegroups.com; ltandap@yahoo.com; camnetwork@yahoogroups.com; awuduggna@yahoo.ca; nnkwalar@yahoo.com; chrismbunwe@yahoo.com; akonji.2001@yahoo.com; times_journal@yahoo.com
Subject: CAMEROON BILINGUALISM: A MIGHTY FRAUD!

 

Greetings to everyone.

Please find attached en enlightening article on Cameroon bilingualism for your reading.

Enjoy.

Denis.