Marginalization of Anglophones in Cameroon:An Incongruous phenomenon.

By Ewane Mbwoge Charley*

This story addresses itself particularly to the treatment of Southern Cameroonians (Anglophones). It contains general principles which are transcendent, and which in effect can be extrapolated relative to humankind in general.

    In dialectics of Cameroon history it is evident that the wheel of change has never moved as fast as the contemporary Southern Cameroonians would have wanted. The tempo of events has defied all conventional wisdom. In a circumstance such as this, it becomes incumbent on us to make sure the elements of change are for something demonstrably better, so that the Anglophone men and women in Cameroon can be put on an ever enlarging escalator toward a bigger, better, and richer future.

    If southern Cameroonians are human beings, then they have to be treated with respect and be given equal share of the national cake. If Paul Biya and his regime feel Anglophones are not human beings or are inferior to the francophone folks, then they must be relegated to the group of sophists whom Socrates spurned, saying: “you do not know your own nature”.

   It can hardly be over-emphasized that the task of every nation is that of harmonizing, humanizing, and civilizing the deepest impulses of a people. Modern Anglophones in Cameroon have become prisoners of their social, political and economic system of the Cameroonese and are fast losing touch with the deeper meaning of life. This social, political and economic machinery provides a colossal apparatus of domination perpetrated by the Biya regime on Anglophones. The Biya regime has been manifesting inconsistent personality, moral hypocrisy, increasing cruelty, and deafness to the cries of millions of poor Anglophones.

   Perhaps, nowhere is this image of modern Anglophones more dramatically revealed. There, the members of one race, as per the Foumban conference, have used the good services of the other races living in the same Republic to construct an economic, political and social apparatus enviable according to modern standards, but which excludes Anglophones from its benefits vast numbers of people of the same Republic, people still down and hopeless, reduced to beggars. What is more, Anglophones are not granted their full  human rights,they are  subjected to arbitrary arrest, the case of Mola  Njoh Litumbe, Tole tea estate workers, Southern Cameroonians in prisons, occupy inferior positions in the Republic, and are subjected to many repressive laws which have for the culminating point the governmental policy of domination.

   Marginalization is the most sophisticated type of consciously organized tribal discrimination promulgated in Cameroon by the Biya regime. According to this policy, Anglophones are suppressed and oppressed. They are treated as inferior and exposed not only to cruelty and brutality, but to contempt and blatant injustice in a land which is their birthright. Often they have been told to “go back home” by members of the Biya clan, or “Yaounde is not your capital” or “enermie dans la maison”.

On the 4^th of February, 2011, I attended a CPDM meeting at the Fako section secretariat in Buea, in preparation for the 9^th October presidential elections in 2011. The meeting was chaired by former Minister of special duties at the presidency and current chairman of SONARA, John Ebong Ngole. What I gathered from that meeting was the fact that it is the very Anglophones who are degrading themselves and who are letting the entire race down. The issue on the table was the mafia they would play in order to win the elections. An argument then erupted between the former Mayor of Buea, Mbella Moki Charles and the paramount chief of Bafaw, chief Mukete. The argument was about; where Unification celebrations would take place. Chief Mukete wanted the celebrations to be taken to Kumba while Mbella Moki wanted it Buea. Chief Mukete pointed out that he wanted it in Kumba because he has his businesses to protect and would want to showcase what he has as business, but Mbella said Buea is the capital of South West and the celebrations must take place in Buea. He then pointed out that when the 50^th anniversary of the military was celebrated in Bamenda, why was it not taken to Banso? The argument went to a point that chief told Mbella that he is not even up to his grandson. Mr. Ebong Ngole stepped in as the argument was about to go off hand and ordered them to stop or he calls the nkunkuma at etoudi. This therefore tells you how our so called elites have let the Anglophone race down by stooping so low because of politics of the stomach

   After more than 50 years of cohabiting with Francophones, Anglophones ought to be share in the possession of the country not as second class citizens. It would be an understatement to say Anglophones lack the knowledge or wisdom to stand up right. I think we have a bunch of cowards as elites who have stooped so low for many decades and who continue to so.

  The sooner the “business” of “Marginalization” against Southern Cameroonians is finished, the more humane Cameroon would be. This is because whenever a human group fails to measure up to the requirements of living peacefully and fruitfully with its neighbours, humanity is the poorer for the anomaly. This therefore is a wakeup call for all Anglophones both at home and the Diaspora that unless there is peaceful change, Southern Cameroonians will resort to violence and proclaim an independent republic of southern Cameroon. We are a peaceful race that’s why we have always had a peaceful approach to this issue, preferring to negotiate rather than destroy, to talk rather than to kill.

NB:* Ewane Mbwoge Charley is People’s Action Party (PAP) Communicating Secretary and Mmember of its strategic team.

More Activists Arrested in Kumba

After the arrest of over 200 Anglophone activists who on October 1, converged under the banner of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, on Buea Mile 17 Motor Park to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Southern Cameroons, reports later emerged that similar arrests were made same day in other localities of the Southwest region -notably in Kumba where Anglophone activism is also strong.

Arrey George:SCNC Radical

       A certain Arrey George, orn on December 6, 1989, who since his joining the SCNC in 2007 is identified as a radical of the movement, was reportedly arrested alongside a few others in Fiango- Kumba by police in mufti.They were picked-up as they were mobilizing for the 50th anniversary of the Independence of Southern Cameroons. It was not the first time Arrey George, who is a native of Mbinjong in Manyu Division, was   falling into the hands of security agents in connection with his militancy in the SCNC.

       The SCNC,created in 1994 with Barrister Ekontang Elad as pioneer president, has as objective the “restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons” and as motto “The Force of Argument, Not the Argument of Force”.

 But it is now in factions due to leadership tussles, with supporters claiming to be loyal to this or that factional leader.

        It is feared that the  arrested activists could be subjected to torture, for others arrested in the past complained of molestation and torture.

       Earlier informed of plans by the SCNC to observe the 50th anniversary of the independence of Southern Cameroons, the Government ,which tags the SCNC an outlawed group intended  to destabilize  “one and indivisible Cameroon”, threatened a crackdown.

       In Buea,as police  embarked  on arresting the activists who had come f  for the  protest march, over 50 of the  activists fled in to the residence of the Nigerian consul-general for protection.Government has always described  fighters for the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroon as secessionists especially SCNC members.

rom various towns in Anglophone Cameroon

        Mola Njoh Litumbe, Home Front Leader of the Patriotic Coalition Front, which had mobilized the activists for the march, was put under house arrest for the whole day of October 1.           It was on October 1, 1961 that the former British Southern Cameroons gained independence by joining the Republic of Cameroun (former French Cameroon), which had earlier, on January 1, 1960 gained its independence.

         October 1, 2011 there fore marked 50 years of the independence of Southern Cameroons and at the same times its reunification with la Republic du Cameroun (French Cameroon)

        The so-called reunification of Southern Cameroons with La Republic du Cameroun was not legally binding, since it did not comply with the UN charter by getting the union registered at the UN as required.

         According to the UN Charter, in its  Article 102(1) : “Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the secretariat  of the UN and published by it”

        Article 102(2) states. “No party to such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations”

      Mola Njoh Litumbe, frontline advocate for the independence of Southern Cameroons, has written a book on what he calls the Colonization of the then UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons by La Republic du Cameroun.

      Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest Regions are what used to be the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons, which Mola Litumbe strongly argues has only been annexed by a neighboring sovereign state,  the Republique du Cameroun.

     Litumbe challenges La Republique du Cameroun, which claims Southern Cameroons is part of its territory “to produce the documentary proofs, based on the UN Charter provisions.”

      The arrests ptook place barely days to Cameroon’s Presidential election, billed for October 9.

               

"President Biya’s challengers have failed to demonstrate what they can do for Cameroon"

-Dr Ernest Molua, CPDM campaign team member and Lecturer, University of Buea

He spoke to Recorder Editor Christopher Ambe yesterday after a village - to- village campaign in Buea subdivision for CPDM Candidate, Paul Biya, for the coming October 9 presidential poll. Below are excerpts:

Dr.Ernest Molua, you are member of the CPDM campaign teams in the Southwest region, especially Buea subdivision. Campaigns are almost coming to an end. What is your assessment of the general conduct of the exercise this far?

Dr.Ernest Molua: Believes much in Biya Administration

We of the CPDM believe very strongly that we have to take our campaign message right to the grassroots .So since the commencement of campaigns for the coming presidential election we have organized ourselves in such as way that, various parts of the regions have been divided in to zones and resource persons have been assigned to these zones. And they have gone down to serious work. That means meeting family heads, grassroots militants and sympathizers and taking the message to them and also encouraging them to talk to their neighbors, friends, families, groups etc on the importance of re-electing President Paul Biya.

What particular message is the CPDM taking to the electorate?

First, the consolidation of peace in Cameroon. No prosperity can be achieved in war, and Mr. Biya since assuming office as president of Cameroon in 1982, has ensured that his primary focus on governance is peace. In addition to ensuring constant peace, he has put in place laws and policies that allow Cameroonians to freely express them. So, there are two things we take to the people for them to be able to appreciate Cameroon vis-à-vis other countries in the sub-region: the peace that we have enjoyed in Cameroon that have allowed them to excel in what ever they are doing; the development has taken and the potential s Mr. Biya has to achieve more in the coming years.

Cameroon is naturally endowed with natural resources, but corruption and unemployment are common. Many blame President Biya for not doing enough to curb these vices .As a CPDM diehard, what is your take on that?

     Corruption, just like adultery and fornication, is a natural vice. We are all guilty of it in one way or the other. Therefore, we must fight to eradicate it. It not a secret that President Biya has demonstrated publicly that, he is willing and ready to fight corruption. You are ware that some of his closest collaborators found guilty of embezzlement and corruption have been jailed .This is a clear indication that Mr .Biya stands firmly against Corruption.

Take note that the fight against corruption is not the sole responsibility of the president. Every Cameroon must make it a duty to fight against corruption.

In some European countries, peer pressure and strong institutions have been used to fight Corruption.

But what is lacking in Cameroon is peer pressure.  Could you imagine, someone knows that his brother, his friend, his relations are stealing from the state, that they are corrupt but he does not expose them.

In fact, Cameroonians by nature have tolerated corruption.Then, this becomes very difficult for the police and the law courts to be able to check it. It is unfortunate that while Mr.Biya is struggling hard to wipe away this ill, many Cameroonians lack the will-power to look at people who are corrupt and say  ‘you are not going to be my friend because you are corrupt or this is not the kind of uncle or brother I wish to have’

We tolerate corruption when it favors us and strongly criticize it when we are not the beneficiary.

What makes you personally think that Mr.PaulBiya is the best out of the 23 presidential candidates as you claim in your campaign speeches, when he has ruled Cameroon for close to 30 years and all, many agree, is not well?

    The very first thing to appreciate is the opportunity offered to the 23 candidates. Cameroon is one of the countries word-wide where freedoms of expression and the press exist. There is freedom of communication and now freedom to aspire to assume the highest office of country.

Second, among these 23, Mr .Biya is the most experienced; one of the most educated among the 23 candidates.

Third, Mr .Biya has a track -record of what he has done for Cameroon and Cameroonians to show; and what he can still do more for Cameroon when reelected

Fourth, his challengers have not lived up to expectation by demonstrating what they can do for Cameroon. A good case is the SDF presidential candidate. He squandered the glorious opportunity to show Cameroonians what he can do. Assuming that he was the Mayor of Bamenda Council, he would have used that office to demonstrate to Cameroonians how he can manage an office, a country and bring in development. He failed to present that to the public and to convince Cameroonians that he can lead them to prosperity.

In brief, the other 22 candidates are no match to Mr.Biya in terms of experience, educational qualities, relationship, and loving peace.

How would they get the presidential experience when they have not had the opportunity?

   In other countries, when people begin to aspire to higher offices, they start doing things in their municipalities or communities at the grassroots that people look at them and say ‘Whoa, look at what Mr. A or B is doing for us. We are proud of him. Therefore we can push him higher and give him a higher office with more responsibilities’.

But unfortunate, that is the not the case in Cameroon.

After presidential elections, the socalled candidates disappear for years and only resurface at the eve of another election to invest a small fee and reap much from the state. This is very unfortunate for the kind of Cameroon we are trying to build-a prosperous and modern Cameroon.

By law the State is supposed to give financial subvention to presidential candidates for their campaigns. You should be ware that the CPDM government, many pundits hold, has not been fair to some presidential candidates   by delaying their disbursements. This negatively affects the campaigns, while the CPDM rides on smoothly with its campaign. What is your reaction?

   Firstly-there is a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to money, checks and balances. These are some of the good things that the Biya Administration may have in place. So, it takes time to get this money out. But I am sure before the Election Day all candidates would have received the firs tranche of their money

Secondly, I am so surprised that some body aspires to occupy the highest office of the land and he relies solely on the state to fund his campaigns. That means such a candidate is unprepared and lacks a solid financial base from which to get funds and get going, while waiting for state assistance. It is quite unfortunate.

You cannot be running for the highest office and you want popular support from about 20 million Cameroonians and you rely mainly on state subvention. You need to raise a lot of funds from friends, sypathisers, and families-within Cameroon and from the Diaspora.

Personally I think some of the presidential candidates are disingenius.They may have a lot of money but keep it very close to their chest. They may not want to spend the money to stimulate the Cameroonian economy. A good leader should be able to sacrifice.

Do you have any fears about the coming presidential election?

   I don’t. It is clear that President Biya is the people’s choice -the only choice. Cameroonians are peace-loving people and want a conducive environment to live in.Mr.Biya is the man who can offer that opportunity of peace and tranquility for them to operate.

I am convinced Cameroonians on October 9 will show their gratitude to Candidate Paul Biya for modernizing Cameroon, by overwhelmingly reelecting him. I am confident he will win with a wide margin.

Presidential Election: Biya regime accused of molesting , intimidating opposition Supporters

By John K.Tanchong

 The coming October 9 presidential election which will see 22 contenders challenge the incumbent Paul Biya appears to be making the Biya regime nervous and doubtful of its chances of survival.

 The regime, described by critical minds as a dictatorship, is reportedly suppressing dissenting political views, intimidating and molesting the opposition.

 State audio –visual CRTV, Biya’s challengers say, is biased in its campaign coverage, giving more air time to the incumbent, Paul Biya

Opposition supporters have repeatedly complained of intimidation and molestation, accusing Biya’s ruling CPDM, of being the brain behind such acts.

A certain Colins Djimeli Mensah, said to a student of the University of Buea, UB and member of the University of Buea Students Union, UBSU was reportedly brutalized by security agents in mufti, for his outspokenness against the regime.
Mensah, a political science student, said it was not the first time his human rights were being violated.
 But Mensah has insisted that he would continue to advocate greater freedom, good governance, social justice and the rule of law, inspite of the odds.

Mensah’s family, nervous over the mistreatment of their son reportedly advised him to leave Cameroon for his safety and continue with his studies elsewhere; a piece of advice he heeded and is now said to be in the USA where he has joined many other Cameroonians political activists.

 Cameroon’s Minister of Communication, Bakary Tchiroma recently in press statement condemned Cameroonians who are now abroad mobilizing to foment trouble back home.
Colins Djimeli Mensah is cited as one of these Cameroonian agitators abroad, who are painting Cameroon black. Others include former UBSU members, who, while students, instigated strike actions against the Biya regime in and out of the UB campus.  

It would be recalled that some Cameroonians in the Diaspora have been galvanizing Cameroonians through the social media to emulate the Arab uprising.
This prompted Cameroon Government to block internet facilities in the country during the early months of the Arab uprising.

The opposition- and the SCNC which is said to be fighting the restoration of Southern Cameroonians but is described a separatist group by the Cameroon Government, have left the security operatives on the red alert

Buea CPDM on aggressive door-to-door campaign to win votes for Paul Biya

By Christopher Ambe Shu

Buea subdivision  with a population of about 200,000 people,is highly cosmopolitan and has various political parties functioning there ,with two having their headquarters there .They are the Social Liberal Congress (SLC) of Professor George Nyamndi and Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA) of Mola Njoh Litumbe.

But the ruling CPDM appears bent on projecting the subdivision as its bastion.

Since the official launching of presidential campaigns last September 24, Buea CPDM officials and militants have embarked on a daily aggressive door-to door campaign , visiting all the nucks and crannies of the subdivision in a bid to win more - if not all registered voters  on the side of Presidential Candidate Paul Biya.



Buea CPDM frontline campaigners at  Mukunda village ra

Frontline Buea CPDM campaigners include: Hon Emilia Lifaka Monjowa, Vice President of Cameroon National Assembly, Hon Meoto Paul Njie, and former Director of Cabinet at the Prime Minister; Mayor Charles Mbella Moki, Hannah Etonde Mbua, Buea WCPDM President; Mbome Motomby Emmanuel, Buea YCPDM president; Paramount Chief of Buea, SML Endeley, Dr. Amos Namanga Ngongi, and Dr. Ernest Molua, of the University of Cameroon.

These campaigners go round with one strong message: that Paul Biya, baptized the People’s Choice, is the best and only candidate who can  continue keeping  Cameroon on the path of sustainable development, peace, social justice, democracy and progress.

They cite  major projects in Buea that have been realized by the ruling CPDM government such as the  Buea Regional Hospital Annex,the Buea Hemodialysis  Center, the university of Buea, improved roads,  schools and other social amenities, adding that more would be realized in the subdivision if Paul Biya is reelected come October 9.

They note that Paul Biya ‘s next presidential term is placed under the banner of ´’Major Achievements”, reiterating that he recently vowed that under his leadership no part or locality would be left out in his development blue print.

Speaking yesterday in Mukunda village, Hon Meoto Paul l Njie, advised the villagers: “In every region or locality, everybody is fighting to vote for Candidate Paul Biya, and we here cannot afford to identify with the opposition”, which the CPDM thinks has little or nothing to offer.

For his part.Hon Emilia Lifaka Monjowa, campaign leader for Buea, urged the population to regard all the promises made by the various opposition candidates as deception.

Luma Stephen:local CPDM leader promising victory for Paul Bi

Mayor of Buea,Charles Mbella  Moki, said the only way  Buea people can show gratitude to President Paul Biya for all the realized projects in the municipality is to Vote for him 100%,so to attract more projects.

Earlier in his welcome speech, Stephen Luma who is CPDM subsection president for Buea Central 1 which includes Mukunda, on behalf of the villagers, assured the CPDM of an overwhelming victory.

It is worthy of note that for close to ten years, the ruling CPDM has won all elections in Buea-municipal, parliamentary and presidential.

The CPDM Buea  campaigners have mobilized themselves to cover all the over 30 villages that make Buea subdivision before Election Day.

Cameroon: Over 250 Anglophone Rights Activists arrested, 60 others flee into Nigerian Consulate for Asylum

By Christopher Ambe Shu. 

 Police yesterday arrested about 300 English-speaking Cameroonians who converged on a road junction (Mile 17) in Buea to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the independence of Southern Cameroons.

Some Activists fled into Nigerian Consul's Residence in Buea

As police paraded the town of Buea arresting the unarmed rights activists who had come from various towns in Anglophone Cameroon to stage a non-violent protest, at least 60 others fled in to the residence of the Nigerian consul-general for protection, even as the Consul –General was absent.

 Cameroon Police vehicles were then stationed out side the residence and as more activists tried to enter the residence, they were arrested. Those arrested were detained in the various cells in Buea up to the time of posting this report.

 Cameroon Government has always described those fighting for the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroon as secessionists.Several rights groups especially the Southern Cameroon National Council(SCNC) are championing the cause

Two journalists –Tah Elvis and Bouddih Adams of The Post Newspaper, who were covering the  Saturday arrest, were also arrested and detained but were later released.

Solomon Amabo of Equinox Radio, Douala was beaten while Tamfu Harrison of the Equinox TV had his Video camera confiscated by Police.

Mola Njoh Litumbe, Home Front Leader of the Patriotic Coalition Front, which had mobilized the activists for the peaceful march, was put under house arrest for the whole day of yesterday, with heavily armed police on guard.

“The forces came and sealed my gate so that I could not go out. I asked them who gave them the orders to do that, and ‘One said it was the governor and another said hierarchy. Nobody could enter my premises all day; no domestic help to even give me food. But this morning my gate was opened by the forces. 

 “Those who fled into the residence of the Nigerian Consul-General  have also left. The only people in captivity are the over two hundred arrested and detained. I don’t know what they intend to do with them”, Mola Njoh Litumbe told this reporter today evening on telephone.

 It  would be recalled  that it was on October 1, 1961 that the former British Southern Cameroons gained  independence by joining the Republic of Cameroun (former French Cameroon), which had earlier, on January 1, 1960 gained its independence.

Yesterday October 1, 2011 there fore marked 50 years of the independence of Southern Cameroons and at the same times its reunification with la Republic du Cameroun (French Cameroon)

But facts have emerged that the reunification of Southern Cameroons with La Republic du Cameroun was not legally binding, since it did not comply with UN regulations. 

 And with Anglophones feeling grossly marginalized by the majority Francophones, the former now want a walk out of the union and have been lobbying the UN to ensure a peaceful separation

According to the UN Charter, Article 102(1), “Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the secretariat  of the UN and published by it”

(2)No party to such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations”

 Mola Njoh Litumbe,84,who is now one of the frontline advocates for the independence of Southern Cameroons, has written a book on what he calls the colonization of the then UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons by La Republic du Cameroun. 

Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest Regions are what used to be the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons, which  Mola Litumbe strongly argues has never gained independence- going by UN regulations, but has only been annexed by a neighboring sovereign state, a Republique du Cameroun.

Mola Litumbe challenges La Republique du Cameroun that is claiming that Southern Cameroons is part of its territory “to produce the documentary proofs, based on the UN Charter provisions, as well as the constitutive Act of African Union”

 “In the absence of such verifiable proofs”, Mola Litumbe maintains, “La Republique du Cameroun is committing an act of annexation and imperialism over Southern Cameroons by denying the latter their legitimate right of self-determination”

The arrest of the rights activists took place just one week to Cameroon’s Presidential election, which is billed for October 9 and will be contested by 23 candidates including the incumbent, Paul Biya, 78, who has ruled Cameroon for close to 30 years.