Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho was president of Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, which coordinated civil disobedience at the start of the Anglophone Crisis. The Biya government arrested him in January 2017 and detained for eight months in Yaounde.
Barrister Agbor Nkongho participated
in the 2019 Major National Dialogue (MND).Just a few days to the MND’s first anniversary
he shared his views on the Dialogue with The
Horizon’s Contributing Editor, Christopher Ambe, in Buea.
Excerpts:
Barrister Agbor Nkongho,
you took part in the Major National Dialogue (MND) which held from September 30
to October 4, 2019 in Yaoundé. In a few days, it will be the first anniversary
of the MND. Is there any reason for celebration?
There is a cause for
celebration in the sense that for a long time in the history of this country,
people of divergent views came together to try to find solutions to the Anglophone
crisis and the other problems that we face as people in Cameroon.
But substantially, I don’t see
any reason for celebration in the sense that the Dialogue was tele-guided by
the Government. If you look at the composition of various groups and how people
were selected, it was clearly something that was controlled by Government. In
that regard, it is not something to celebrate.
If you look at the way national dialogues have
been organized in other parts of the world, they take into consideration the
holistic approach, where invited parties have inputs. In our case, every
suggestion that was presented in the pre-dialogue consultations was not taken
in to consideration during the MND.
But in terms of the outcome, the big thing was
the “special status”, which ushered in a lot of euphoria on the one side and
skepticism on the other. What has really been the outcome of this special status?
It is an empty shell; more cosmetic but in effect, nothing is really happening.
Concerning Special Status, there isn’t much to write home about.
Reconstruction was also a recommendation but
nothing has been done yet. I understand
measures have been put in place to ensure that reconstruction and construction
begin. May be something good can come out of it depending how they implement
it.
What were your
expectations from the Dialogue?
I did not expect that the conflict that has
taken place for years would have a solution in five days. But I also expected
genuine and frank dialogue; I expected discussion that would go beyond the
themes of the National Dialogue. I expected that if the organizers were honest
they would know that the problems had gone beyond this unitary decentralization;
I thought we would ,at least, have a discussion on federalism but unfortunately,
the Dialogue looked like a well-scripted play to suit the whims and caprices of
the powers that be.
The idea of the MND
was mainly to seek solutions to the socio-political crisis in the Northwest and
Southwest regions. Closing the Dialogue, the Prime Minister said proposals made
therefrom could only be truly implemented in an atmosphere of Peace. Have you
noticed any return of peace and security?
Peace and security flip-flops, depending
on where you are. When October is coming closer, the security situation in
[Anglophone Cameroon] is tense or during elections, like what happened during
parliamentary and municipal elections. The security situation here in the
Southwest seems to be getting better, but in the Northwest it is getting worse.
The Government must be sincere so people see that while we do reconstruction
we are also trying to find out the solution to the crisis, by talking to the
people we don’t agree with.
You see, when information
filtered out that, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe( the imprisoned Interim President of the
Republic of Ambazonia) was negotiating
with Government, one could get the euphoria on the social media; for the sake
of peace, people wanted him to go ahead; they did not know about the
“infighting” in Government until when the Minister of Communication announced that nothing was happening. There is
urgent need for Government and for those who have taken arms against the State
to put the interest of the people first, in whatever actions they take.
Would you recommend
the holding of a second Major National Dialogue?
The Major Dialogue was a step in the right direction. It was a means to an
end, and not an end in itself! To me,
there are supposed to be a series of dialogues before we come out of this quagmire...
We knew why the Dialogue was called; but the government wanted to give
it national coloration which was not necessary.
I understand the State wanted to
show that, it could not be bullied by people who have taken up arms .There is
an Anglophone problem and other problems.
To me, they have done the
national dialogue where we agreed on things that touched the entire territory;
but now, let us go to the specific issues of the Northwest and Southwest
regions. During the dialogue a lot of people there were CPDM people, thinking
alike. But such a conference required also people of different ideologies-I
mean some major Players like Ikome Sako. They might not come but they have
people in Cameroon who can represent them so that they feel involved.
When you invite people from the Diaspora
to come for Major Dialogue and a few days before to it ,you arrest somebody in Cameroon who
uses the media to criticize Cameroon and you term him a separatist, are you not
sending a message to the others willing
to come ,not to.
Which of the MND
recommendations do you like most and why?
Be to honest, the one I like
most is the “Special Status” for Anglophones. Why? Because it will give us some
autonomy like what is happening in Monacco ,Quebec... The special status was
the closest to what some of us have been clamoring for. And if you have a
genuine special status, it can go a long way to make people feel empowered, that
they can elect their governors and manage their affairs.
Reconstruction is good. You
cannot wait until the conflict ends before you do that. I ask my separatist friends,
“Let us assume that we are going to have a state tomorrow, are we not going to
benefit from the roads?” There are things that we just have to look at the
interest of the people and- as leaders, allow them to be done.
The Diaspora has
been very instrumental in the Anglophone crisis. How can they be helpful to the
return of peace and normalcy back home?
Unfortunately, when we talk
about the Diaspora, during the crisis, we only see them in the negative .But we
have some of the finest Diasporas, very resourceful to and supportive of
families back home; in periods of crisis they pay school fees to family members.
I think we have to encourage them to do more for the development of the country.
But also, we have to be honest
in this country. When you ban someone from coming to the country they consider
as theirs, they may destroy to have a new country. Imagine a Cameroonian
resident in the Diaspora who loses the father back home but is not allowed to
return for burial. Why the blacklisting of people abroad? I urge that State to
grant general clemency to our citizens. Consider this issue of dual nationality
where some Cameroonians abroad wishing to return are refused visas at the embassies.
What is wrong if the state declares that Cameroonians by birth abroad whether
with a foreign passport don’t need a visa to come to Cameroon? They cannot
invest in a country where they are not sure to have access to it.
We have to engage our
Diasporas. Why is there always tense relationship between the Government and
the Diaspora? We need to have a minister in charge of Diaspora Affairs so that
they should establish that working and brotherly relationship.
But also, some of our brothers
and sisters in the Diaspora at times have very bad attitudes. It is not because
you are abroad that you say all kinds of nasty things about Cameroon. The
problem with this crisis is that, the people abroad think that they are all-knowing.
They try to victimize everybody who lives in Cameroon and at the end we are
where we are. Realistically, we need to work together; there need to be a
synergy between our leaders abroad and those in Cameroon. We cannot have a
revolution where everybody who matters is abroad, trying to blackmail or
tarnish the image of everyone in Cameroon.
So the state should do
something so that our Diasporas should feel Cameroonian. Feeling frustrated by
the State, they have turned to support those fighting against Cameroon.
Government should see how to use the Diaspora for the betterment of the Country
(This Interview was first published in The HORIZON Newspaper, Cameroon of September 28,2020)
