AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CAMEROON GOVERNMENT

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CAMEROON GOVERNMENT

 Today, Tuesday 22^nd November 2016 is the second day of the nationwide sit-down protest that was called by teachers` unions in the wake of street demonstrations by Cameroon Anglophone lawyers with a view to getting the Cameroon government to address injustices to which Cameroon Anglophones have been subjected for decades. In the case of the lawyers, they are making a case for the recognition of the common law which is an Anglophone legacy and in that of the teachers` union, it has been a determination to ensure that the Anglophone system of education in the country is neither diluted nor completely swallowed up.

By all indications, the sit down strike is effective because from personal observation, a large number of pupils/students and teachers have hearkened to the call and stayed at home. Even in cases where students and teachers have met on-campus and teachers have insisted on teaching, attendance has still been timid. In some cases, the few children who have turned up have simply been asked to return home. Catholic schools in Buea like the one in Mile 16 have in a downright move put locks on their doors with not a single pupil or teacher in sight.

This state of affairs has surely put the government in an awkward situation because it does not now seem to know what steps to take in order to defuse the situation. If one adds to that, the fact that the Anglophone Lawyers` dispute remains largely unresolved and the fact that there is a veritable general unease reigning in the country, then the magnitude of the problem ought to be taken very seriously indeed.

One of the first moves the government must make is to engage in dialogue during which the grieving peoples are allowed to “tell it all” without fear of intimidation or retribution. The government must also not deploy the armed forces to resort to brutal repression on protesting Cameroonians who are making known their disenchantment without causing damage to property or even loss of life. Such a line of action would only contribute to escalating the situation. The government must equally refrain from selecting just a few gullible participants and “buying” them with money in order to get them to relent or change their language, or even toe the line.

But what is really the problem? It is one of a group of people feeling cheated and disenfranchised. One glaring injustice that the people decry is the dismantling of the federation that guaranteed equality between the State of East Cameroon and the State of West Cameroon as two equal States, superimposed by a Federal Republic in which if the President came from one State, the Vice President would come from the other State. In the course of that dispensation, West Cameroon successfully ran its affairs like a tightly-managed business venture. There was duty consciousness and accountability. Bribery and corruption were not only perceived as crimes, but were largely viewed as “sins” and therefore repressed with impunity. 

As things turned out, not only was the tenable state structure dismantled, but the “identity” of the erstwhile English speaking Cameroonians was assumed in the larger configuration known as the “United Republic”. The formerly single State of West Cameroon was broken into two provinces which together with the seven already existing regions of the former Francophone State of East Cameroon, made up the new Republic that now consisted of ten provinces. An immediate consequence was that the English speakers who had constituted one linguistic block now became two distinct entities that were (or were made to be) as much “rivals” to each other as they were to the seven Francophone regions. Later, the post of Vice President of the Republic which used to be held by an Anglophone was abolished and an Anglophone, in the person of Solomon Tandeng Muna, was made President of the National Assembly. But then, being president of the National Assembly was not the same thing as being national Vice President. Furthermore, although according to the constitution, the President of the National Assembly was next in command after the President of the Republic, the then President of the Republic Ahmadou Ahidjo, later changed all of that. He had the constitution amended so that the Prime Minister (at the time, Paul Biya from the Francophone zone) instead of the President of the National Assembly, now became the next important personality of the state after the President of the Republic and the one to succeed him in case there was a vacancy. 

The sitting president of Cameroon, could have stemmed the current rising tide of discontent if he had wanted to, before things escalated to the point where they are today. One step he could have taken would have been  to address the nation alternately in the French and English languages which are Cameroon`s official languages. Instead, he has – in his record 34 years in power – only spoken to the nation in French, the official language predominant in his own zone, in total disregard of English, the other official language. Granted that when he has visited either the predominantly English speaking regions, or when in an English speaking country abroad, he has addressed Cameroonians in English. But why not also do it within the country?

The national newspaper, Cameroon Tribune, which is said to be bilingual, is on a daily basis dominated by the French language. The problem posed here is not only a language one but also a commercial and business one because the paper is the main carrier of offers of tender for public contracts advertized by government ministries and services. Usually, it is very rarely that any advertizing authority bothers to translate tenders so that they are published in both languages. They are often rushed to the newspaper for publication only in French. That means that contractors and business people of English expression are by implication, excluded from bidding for the advertized contracts.

The government has been reluctant, if not actually unwilling to balance the equation. Although the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister have in the past instructed government officials to ensure that official documents they send out must be in the two official languages, these instructions have been ignored; yet no sanctions have been taken against the disobedient officials. Instead, the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister have carried on as if there was nothing wrong.

Suggestions and recommendations have been made to the president that he should restructure the manner in which translation of official documents is carried out in the country, all in vain. Right now, there are translation departments at the Presidency of the Republic, the National Assembly, the Prime Minister`s Office, ministerial departments, other public offices such as parastatals, and the regional governors` offices. But that is about all, to the exclusion of other needy departments.

Similarly, suggestions that the President of the Republic should set up a ministerial department to be specifically in charge of translation and the promotion of national languages have not been heeded. If this had happened, then all public services including those at the regional, divisional and even sub divisional levels would have regular translation services too. In addition, such a provision would ensure that there is an ombudsman to keep an eye on the implementation of the translation policy and official bilingualism which Cameroon is the only country in Africa to enjoy.

Equity between the two peoples has not been taken into account when it comes to appointments to public offices. The prescribed quota that used to be half or fifty per cent for Anglophone Cameroon ceased to be implemented since the demise of the Federal Republic in 1982. This has led to the incredible situation where at one point, the total number of government members and other top ranking officials from the two Anglophone regions, when put together, was not up to that of ministers from a single Division such as Benoue (Former President Ahmadou Ahidjo`s Division of origin in today`s North Region) and Dja and Lobo, which is President Paul Biya`s Division of origin. People notice these things and grumble about them on a daily basis.

Another source of pain and humiliation for the country`s Anglophone people is the treatment being given to Religious Studies as a subject on the secondary school curriculum. In the Anglophone sub system of education, the subject is taught and examined at both the Ordinary and Advanced Levels of the General Certificate of Education (GCE). The Cameroon GCE Board which is actually a structure set up by government to run the GCE is the one that examines candidates in the subjects and awards the certificates. But shockingly, the government does not recognize a pass in the subject either for employment or further education, when it mentions entry qualifications. The usual hurtful phrase is “a pass in at least two GCE Advanced Level subjects excluding Religious Studies”. No one has ever stepped forward and explained convincingly the reason for this discrimination. Yet it is all the more telling, when one considers that religious studies is a subject on the curriculum only in the Anglophone sub system. So, who can blame Anglophones for complaining of being specifically targeted?

Additionally, it is a paradox that at a time when the government professes to be fighting corruption in the country with a view to routing it out completely, the one subject – namely religion – whose teaching lends itself more to moral rectitude and nearness to God than any other curricular subject is instead the one that is downtrodden and derided. Yet, in the country`s courts, the bible is still used by people who are called up into the box, as proof that they will tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. For how long shall we continue to deceive ourselves?

It is to be noted that one factor that brought Anglophone lawyers out into the streets was that their offer of the olive branch which the government could have accepted a long time ago and sued for peace and dialogue was ignored. So it all left the lawyers in a situation in which it looked to them as if they were talking to themselves instead of to the intended interlocutor. It was faced with this brick wall that the lawyers  took to the streets. Yet, as children of the state, they had a right to be listened to and responded to. That was the least that could have been done. Even when it was done, it was done more out of pressure and consequently halfheartedly. The government really needs to rethink its strategies to conflict resolution.

Whatever is the case, there is a saying that there is time for everything, and this may be that time when these wrongs can at last be righted. To solve the problem, it is necessary that the government should invite for dialogue not just those who are striking but also other national stake holders who can make a useful and meaningful contribution to the talks. That is the only way in which this ugly stage in the life of the nation can be turned into a thing of the past. A stitch in time saves nine.