THE VERDICT FROM THE FRENCH EMBASSY

The French Embassy in Yaounde has issued a confirmation of the validity of my PhD degree in Mass Communication obtained from France as well as the recognition and accreditation of the institution that awarded it.

I make this declaration because ever since I earned the qualification, some people and authorities in certain places where I have worked have deliberately refused to recognize that I obtained a PhD in Mass Communication. Forget about my professional performance in radio journalism, television journalism and print (newspaper and magazine) journalism at the national and international levels.

I have been put through a lot of frustration, denigration and pain because of this problem. Authorities have deliberately refused to forward my file for promotion and I have been excluded from teaching courses at the university. In that way, I have been deprived of sharing knowledge with young Cameroonians and contributing my own quota towards nation building. Yet, that was the very reason why I returned home. By the way, mind you that this staunch opposition was coming from Anglophones and not Francophones. In fact, the Francophones who were in a position to do something about it, shouted out their indignation but they were largely ignored by the Anglophones who persisted! So, what do you say to that?

Yet, those people could have verified the qualification, if they had really wanted to. There were three possibilities: contacting the awarding institution in France, calling the Cameroon Ministry of Higher Education which has a Department specifically charged with verifying qualifications obtained abroad, or even communicating with the French Embassy in Yaounde (which is what I have done). They intentionally did none of the above, despite the fact that they were in possession of the full contact details. I gave them!

At one point, I wrote and complained to the Head of State whom I had met in Togo during the celebration of President Gnassingbe Eyadema`s 20 years in power, and he, President Paul Biya encouraged me to come back and serve my country. At the time, I was a London-based journalist and was invited among other European and American journalists to travel to Lome and cover the event.The President of the Republic wrote back to me, acknowledged receipt of my letter and grievances and informed me that he had sent the letter to my minister, the Minister of Higher Education, to look into the problem. Later, the Vice Chancellor of the University where I was teaching told me that the Minister had written to him about my problem. But after that, what really changed?

Recently, I contacted my university in France and asked them what I needed to do for the French Embassy to confirm my degree to the doubting Thomases. The University asked me to go to the embassy, get the name of the official who performs such duties there and send it to them so that they in France would write to that person and give me the green light to go to the embassy. That was what I did and the university wrote to the embassy. Following that, the French Embassy sent me an email (which I have enclosed), asking me to bring the original and the number of photocopies for which I would like them to stamp with the approval “copie certifiée conforme”.

Anybody who still doubts it can contact the French Embassy in Yaounde. The Service that did the job at the embassy is the Service de Coopération et d`Action Culturelle. This Department is not at the Plateau Atémengué location which is the seat of the Embassy proper, but is rather inside the Centre Culturel Français which is between the Marché Central and the Cathedral.

 Please, note that for security reasons, I have blotted out some parts of the Certified True Copy presented here as a scanned version. If there is any detail you require, ask me.

I would advise any other Diaspora returnees who have suffered the same fate to have the embassy of the awarding country confirm their qualifications.

I also feel strongly that this public “coming out” on my part was necessary. It`s time one learned to speak up instead of suffering in silence.