BY DAVID ABOUEM A TCHOYI, FORMER GOVERNOR OF THE NORTH-WEST AND SOUTH-WEST
Six facets come to mind:
1- Criticism of the centralized state.
2- The transfer of decision-making centers from Yaoundé, far from the populations and their problems.
3- Failure to respect commitments relating to the equitable consideration of institutional, legal, administrative cultures and traditions, etc. inherited from the former administering powers.
4- Failure to respect solemn promises made during the referendum campaign.
5- Change of the name of the State: replacement of “the United Republic of Cameroon” by “the Republic of Cameroon”.
6- Failure to respect bilingualism in the public sector, although the Constitution makes French and English two official languages of equal value.
I will review, in a cursory manner, these different facets.
1) Criticism of the centralized state
having been stripped of the important powers exercised, in complete autonomy, by the State of West Cameroon, many compatriots from this part of the territory have developed a deep feeling of nostalgia, unease, frustration and discomfort. this feeling grew stronger over the years following the advent of the Unitary State. It is not simple nostalgia for a more or less bygone era of dreams. it is the comparison between the quality of public governance practiced since 1972 and that which was in honor in the Federated State of Western Cameroon which systematically leads a large number of actors to criticize the first and to regret the second, many of whom wish itrecovery.
restoration
reinstatement
resettlement
recuperation
pickup
re-establishment
this feeling is real even among those who have not experienced the self-government of West Cameroon as a federated state.
We can talk endlessly about the conclusions of the Foumban Conference of July 1961it is fair to recognize that it granted very important powers to the federated States, on a list of equally important matters which they were called upon to manage in complete autonomy.
the federated States had broad and exclusive powers over important matters such as the Interior, Prison Administration, Decentralization, Rural and Community Development, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Public Works, Cooperatives ,Primary and nursery education, Energy and water, Estates and Land Registry, Natural resource management, federated finances, etc. Each federated state had its own civil service which it managed sovereignly.that of Western Cameroon was managed with the help of the “Public Service Commission”, a sort of higher council of the civil service, responsible for ensuring the objectivity of appointments and promotions as well as respect for ethical principles in the management of careers.
the management of natural resources by the future federated states was of particular sensitivity in July 1961. In separate interviews, J.N. Foncha, S.T. Muna and A.Njua told me that it had been the subject of heated discussions with the delegation of the Republic of Cameroon in Foumban, then in private with President Ahidjo. they did not want possible agreements previously signed with France to apply to the Federated State of West Cameroon. according to them, it is also with a view to sharing income from the exploitation of certain natural resources (mines and hydrocarbons in particular) that they demanded and obtained that the population figure of each federated state be clearly mentioned in the text of the
federal constitution of September 1, 1961.
Cameroon has been considered a curiosity on the constitutional level, with a strong presidential system without counterweights at the federal level, but a classic parliamentary system at the level of the federated states.
in Eastern Cameroon, classic parliamentarism could not function despite the provisions of the Constitution of this State, because of the unification of political parties and the fact that President Ahidjo continued to exercise daily influence on the management public affairsin this part of the territory that he already led as President of the Republic before Reunification. we recall the resignation letter of a former Prime Minister of Eastern Cameroon, Vincent de Paul Ahanda, in which he suggested that President Ahidjo was not letting him assume his responsibilities.
but in Western Cameroon, parliamentary democracy was fully exercised, in compliance with the Constitution of this State. the elections were organized by an independent electoral commission created by a federal law of November 1961, the very first in a country sharing French. through its composition, the method of designating its members and its operating rules, it was truly independent of the Executive and the Legislative. Its President, Justice Asonganyi confirmed this to me during an interview in Bamenda.
the government had to be invested by parliament before it took office and it was responsible to it. Parliament, made up of two chambers – House of Assembly and House of Chiefs – was jealous of its prerogatives. President Ahidjo himself, despite all the authority he had, realized this on several occasions, notably in 1966.
Following the legislative elections held this year, the Kndp had the largest number of deputies in the House of Assembly. But its President, J.NFoncha, until then Vice-President of the Federal Republic and Prime Minister of Western Cameroon, could no longer combine these two functions, under a recently passed law. President Ahidjo decided to replace him with the honorable S.Tmuna whom he considered more federalist than No. 2, Augustine Ngom Jua. But parliament sent him a firm message that he would refuse nomination to a government led by a minority party. ahidjo was forced to appoint to this position the honorable Augustine Ngom Jua vice-president of the Kndp whose autonomist leanings irritated him.
Incidents were not long in coming. first between the Prime Minister and the Federal Inspector of Administration for the Western Cameroon region – today we would say Governor – whom he considered to be on his territory. then between the Police, a federated force placed under the authority of the Prime Minister, and the National Gendarmerie, a federal force, who almost came to an armed confrontation! Actors and witnesses to these incidents are still alive.
Frustrations
the fact that all this was removed without being replaced, on a managerial level, by something better or even as good, generated frustrations and demands whose effects we are still experiencing today. appointments in senior administration and the parapublic sector, for example, no longer responded to a legible rationality, and Anglophones felt marginalized. whereas, until then, everything was done on site in Western Cameroon, it was now necessary to go to Yaoundé to “follow the files”. our compatriots from this part of the national territory came with the conviction that the civil servants – civil servants – were indeed at the service of users. They were stunned by the welcome given to them by public officials who, despite the bilingual nature of the State, forced them to jabber in barely intelligible Franglais, often amid laughter and jeers.
2) The transfer of decision-making centers to Yaoundé.
the decision-making centers, once close to the populations and their problems, have all been transferred far from them to be concentrated in Yaoundé. consequences: hyper centralization, exasperating delays, multiple inefficiencies in public management, lack of accountability of leaders towards the populations they are tasked with serving. Two examples will suffice to illustrate it.
the government has decided to centralize at the National Park of Civil Engineering Equipment (PNMGC) in Yaoundé all the civil engineering equipment hitherto held by the public works subdivisions, in the regional capitals and certain departmental capitals . all machinery in good condition from the former Public Works Department (PWD) of Western Cameroon was thus transferred to Yaoundé, to now be rented by the PNMGC. However, the PWD agents, who controlled the rhythm of the seasons, began road maintenance two or three rains before the arrival of the dry season, to consolidate the roadway. So they wanted to do the same thing the year following this centralization. when they asked to rent machines from the PNMGC, including those that belonged to them outright a few months earlier, they were told that the machines were on other sites; that the tank carriers were broken down; as the “card” confirming the commitment of theirsexpenditure had not yet left the Ministry of Finance; or other reasons.Faced with the deplorable state of the road network which was getting worse, the populations threatened to revolt loudly. It was necessary to go back to the President of the Republic, after knocking on all doors without success, for the beginnings of a solution to be found to this problem which was becoming explosive. centralization, when you hold us!
Second example: the transfer to the National Water Company of Cameroon (SNEC), of the management of water supply hitherto carried out by certain municipalities. This government decision was not even explained to the people. However, the water supply had been carried out on their own funds by the communes and village communities, with or without the support of certain external partners. came to manage it and without having invested a single franc, SNEC took, as one of its first decisions, to reduce the number of standpipes.
In the town of Kumbo, the revolt almost turned into riots. the UNC mayor of the city explained in vain that the pipes had been financed by the beneficiary populations themselves, that they regularly paid their receipts to the municipality, that it was dangerous for the health of the populations to deprive them of drinking water,…nothing helped. a slogan then spread like wildfire: “Beware of the snake!” It has come to bite and kill.” Ironic play on words from the word SNEC. These angry populations were accused of “rebellion against established authority”. it was necessary to go up to the government level for a solution to be found to a problem of standpipes in communities in the hinterland. Centralization, when you have us!
Cases of this nature and other areas of discontent have multiplied. it was not, quite obviously, a question of a malicious will of the central Power, but rather of an opposition between two administrative cultures: one, with instinctively centralizing reflexes, and the other, functioning by nature on the principle of accountability to different peoplehierarchical levels of organizations.It is interesting to note that the French-speaking populations, who suffered the same effects of this hypercentralization, did not have the same reactions. Another cultural problem. in fact, and our English-speaking brothers could understand this without difficulty, French-speaking people perform many acts without even realizing that they are indisposing, and not at all out of malice. I take the example of the names of our administrative districts.
When the regions were created in 1962, the administrative districts formerly known as the “Bamiléké region” and “Bamoun region” were grouped together to constitute the Western administrative region. Rightly so, because it was West East Cameroon. but the west of the territory of the federal state was Western Cameroon, rightly called there too, “West Cameroon”. When the regions were transformed into provinces in 1972, the West became the West province, while Eastern Cameroon had just disappeared! our country is thus the only one in the world where the North-West and the South-West are contiguous! Whereas, as our teachers taught us, between the North-West and the South-West lies the West.
To better understand what our English-speaking brothers feel, let’s reverse the situation.
On January 1, 1960, Southern Cameroon became independent. He negotiates the conditions of reunification with French-speaking Cameroon. This reunification was achieved on October 1, 1961During the negotiations, French-speaking Cameroon obtained the guarantee that the federal form of the State would be forever intangible. An article of the Federal Constitution of September 1, 1961 enshrines this guarantee. The federal state was nonetheless ended on May 20, 1972, and a unitary state was established. From Kribi to Ndikiniméki, from Batouri to Tibati, from Poli to Kousséri…. people are now forced to go to Buea to follow up on their cases. They are required to speak English. in front of haughty and mocking public officials, quick to deride them, even those who have never learned English find themselves obliged to jabber in a Camfranglais that is difficult to intelligible…
who could, honestly, maintain that French speakers would have been satisfied with such a situation, to the point of complacency and remaining silent?
3) Failure to respect solemn promises made during the referendum campaign.
the promises made during the campaign for “Yes” in the referendum and which had determined a large number of voters to vote in this direction on May 20, 1972, were barely respected. this is particularly the case for the acceleration of development which, in these two regions, was to result from the savings made thanks to the abolition of the institutions and organizations of the federated States. the proxies of the federal government and the UNC party had indeed promised the asphalting of roads, the construction of dams, the urbanization of cities, the development of border areas, etc. I personally attended some of these speeches, having been part of the team of the Political Secretary of the UNC and Minister of Federal Territorial Administration (I then served as director of territorial organization in this ministry).
4) Failure to respect commitments relating to the equitable consideration of institutional, legal, administrative cultures and traditions inherited from colonization.
Whether we like it or not, British colonization, just like French colonization, produced an institutional, political, administrative, managerial and other culture and traditions. It has also shaped ways of reasoning and living. it was therefore necessary to take into account, in an equitable manner, despite the end of the federal State, this double heritage of the Anglo-Saxon and French systems. The State of Cameroon was committed to this.
thus, following the institution of the unitary State, the political discourse placed strong emphasis on the bilingual and multicultural character of the State. it was emphatically affirmed that taking into account the positive elements of our double colonial heritage would enrich the positive values of our centuries-old traditions, the invigorating lifeblood of our march towards progress. the National Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research, as well as the National Council for Cultural Affairs, organized in
1974, helped to define the profile of this new Cameroonian
It was also one of the strong commitments made by President AHIDJO to S.TmUNA and J.N. FONCHA, when he consulted them on the immediate institution of a unitary State before delivering his speech on May 6, 1972. These two former Vice-Presidents of the Republic affirmed this to me, during interviews in their residences.
in the eyes of certain populations in the North-West and South-West, this commitment has not been respected
French-speaking compatriots often criticize their English-speaking brothers for their tendency to refer, in an almost obsessive manner, to the Anglo-Saxon colonial heritage, as if it is the colonial heritage which should structure the relations between communities long united by ofmultiple links, even before the start of colonization.at the same time, they resort with relish to “their” French colonial heritage.our Constitution, our institutions, our administrative organization, our decentralization system, our financial regime, the overwhelming majority of our legislative and regulatory texts… come from the French colonial heritage. sometimes we even engage in simple transpositions, some going as far as photocopying, as during the establishment of the National Elections Observatory (ONEL).
However, we could – and we still can – capitalize on this multicultural heritage to give our country more appropriate and higher quality standards. Isn’t our Code of Criminal Procedure there to provide eloquent proof of this?
This penchant for institutional mimicry pushed protest movements like the “Cameroon Action Movement” to assert that French-speaking Cameroon was continuing, by proxy, French colonization in Western Cameroon. Emerging in 1979, and probably based abroad, this movement circulated numerous leaflets in Cameroon, most of them posted from Canada and the United States. these leaflets denounced pell-mell the marginalization of English speakers, treated as second-class citizens; the Frenchification of Cameroon, disregarding the equality of the two colonial heritages; the transformation of the National Assembly into a simple registration chamber, contrary to whattook place in West Cameroon; excessive centralization; the multiplicity and complexity of procedures; the abandonment of the development priorities which were those of Western Cameroon before unification, with the consequence of slowing down development in this partof the territory; etc.Aware of the impact of these messages, the support for which was accumulating, President AHIDJO dispatched strong delegations to Bamenda and Buea made up of members of the government, the political bureau and the central committee of the UNC. their mission was to restore the facts in their truth, to give explanations to the populations, to warn them against the harmfulness of such messages, and to reduce tension. then he set up a high-level ad hoc committee to reflect on the Anglophone problem.
Only three of the members of this committee are still alive, by the grace of God: H.E.MPaul Biya, then Prime Minister; Ms. Dorothy Limunga Njeuma, then Deputy Minister of National Education; myself, then Governor of the North-West Province. Everyone else has already preceded us. I will quote from memory: Solomon Tandeng Muna, President of the National Assembly, Chairman of the Committee; Ministers of State/Ministers Samuel Eboua; Sadou Daoudou; Victor Ayissi Mvodo; Emmanuel Egbé Tabi; Namata Elangwe; Christian Songwe Bongwa; Joseph Chongwain Awunti; the deputy andAdministrative Secretary of the UNC, Thomas Ebongalamé; the Permanent Secretary for National Defense, Samuel Kamé; the Director General of DIRDOC, Jean Fochivé; the governor of the South-West; Fon Fosi Yakum Ntaw….
I was appointed rapporteur of this Committee. Professional secrecy prohibits me from disclosing here the findings, conclusions and recommendations contained in our report. However, out of respect for historical truth, I must point out that none of the members of this committee expressed the slightest doubt about the existence of an English-speaking problem in Cameroon.
The work lasted a whole week. after reading our report, the President of the Republic decided to receive, individually, each of the members of this committee. I remember that on this occasion, he gave me his point of view at length on the different contours of this question, before requesting from me concrete proposals on the aspects specific to my province.
recognized at the time as real by the highest authorities of the State, has the English-speaking problem disappeared, as if by magic? Certainly not. Especially since certain facts have been added to an already complex situation.
5) Change of the name of the State: replacement of “the United Republic of Cameroon” by “the Republic of Cameroon”
Upon its accession to independence, the former state under French supervision took the name “Republic of Cameroon”. it is with the Republic of Cameroon that Southern Cameroon negotiated the conditions of reunification. at the advent of this, the Republic of Cameroon became the Federated State of Eastern Cameroon, and the Southern Cameroon, the Federated State of Western Cameroon, within the Federal Republic.
The Change of name of the State in 1984 – abandonment of the United Republic of Cameroon and return to the Republic of Cameroon – was perceived in many circles as a simple phagocytosis of the former Western Cameroon by the former Eastern Cameroon. the most pessimistic saw in it a clear desire to eliminate, even on a symbolic level, the contribution of the former West Cameroon to Reunification and the construction of a larger nation.
this change of name also brought back, among many compatriots from the North-West and South-West, the feeling of constituting a “distinct entity”. the one whose populations, sovereignly, had chosen to find brothers and sisters from another “entity” from which they had been separated, so that the two could live in harmony and equality. for the extremists, it was therefore necessary not only to resist “this phagocytosis”, but also to perpetuate this “entity” through a name which would recall the history of this part of the national territory. The name “Ambazonia” seemed to address this concern.
Where does this name come from? before Portuguese explorers reached the Wouri and gave it the name “Rio dos Cameroes”, they had docked in the Bay of Limbé. The saint of the day was Saint Ambrose, in the Julian calendar (we are in 1492). They therefore gave this bay the name “Ambass Bahia”, Ambroise Bay. Under the influence of English, this name became “Ambass Bay”. This is the origin of the dance whose spelling was Frenchified to become “ambass-bé” or “ambassibé” or something else. but the name Ambazonia was not unanimous. Hence the return to that of “Southern Cameroon”.
For the sake of truth, it should be noted that the people behind this name change were in good faith: I discussed it with some of them. brilliant academics newly integrated into the strategic decision-making circles at the top of the State, they were still little informed about certain realities of deep Cameroon, and only in the process of developing the reflex to summon them when preparing the authorities’ decisionspublic, in order to guarantee healthy reception by the different segments of society.At no time had it occurred to them to make some of their compatriots uncomfortable. Their reasoning was rather the following.
National unity had been the credo of the Public Powers under the federal State and the United Republic. The election of President Biya at the end of December 1983 marked the entry of Cameroon into the era of National Renewal. the National Renewal postulating that it was necessary to move from national unity to its higher phase, national integration, this transition constituted a real mutation, which had to be reflected through the very name of the State. the United Republic of Cameroon should therefore “become” the Republic of Cameroon.
The bill submitted to the National Assembly was worded as follows: “As of the date of promulgation of this law, the United Republic of Cameroon becomes the Republic of Cameroon”. it is a parliamentary amendment which resulted in the current formulation: “…the United Republic of Cameroon takes the name of Republic of Cameroon”; wording that is otherwise incorrect, from a legal point of view. the instigators of this project did not realize that instead of a change, it was rather a return to the name of the State of Cameroon under French supervision upon its accession to independence , a quarter of a century ago.
The tabling of this bill stirred up many people in the North-West and South-West provinces. .In Buea where I was serving then, I was personally challenged by dozens of people, including UNC officials, who asked the meaning, the opportunity and the justification of this return to the situation before Reunification . In Yaoundé, the ministers from the two English-speaking provinces were all upset. Many are alive and can testify to this.Some deputies from the North-West and the South-West even advocated an open rebellion, and recommended a negative vote. they all gathered around the President of the National Assembly, the Right Honorable S.T. Muna.after long and lively exchanges, they rallied to the position of the President of the Assembly and other moderate deputies who found it inappropriate to raise a rebellious wind, due to the circumstances of the moment. Their argument was both logical and patriotic. noting that the conflict between the former President of the Republic and his successor had reached worrying proportions, they believed that a wind of rebellion in the English-speaking provinces, at this precise moment, would undoubtedly weaken the new President, and would give rise to arguments tothose who opposed him.April 6, 1984they renounced the revolt, but instructed the President of the National Assembly to draw the attention of the President of the Republic to the state of mind of the populations in their electoral districts, and to ask him to find, with the wisdom of father of the Nation, a solutionsatisfactory for all.concerns relating to this law only faded due to the occurrence, in this troubled period, of serious events: the death sentence of the former president of the republic, and the mutiny of the Republican Guard on 06 April 1984everyone understood that in times like this, the entire people had to stand together behind their leaders.
6) Failure to respect bilingualism in the public sector, although the Constitution makes French and English two official languages of equal value.
of the six facets of the Anglophone problem recalled above, which would be insusceptible to solutions? None ! Absolutely none. So what to do?
History has presented Cameroonians with a sublime challenge: that of building, based on the unique journey of their country, a united State, capable of constituting a model of integration of the various colonial legacies and its centuries-old traditional values. if it succeeds, it can serve as a model, even a reference for all English-speaking, French-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. It could thus constitute the epitome of African Unity. This challenge can be met. It must be.
this can, however, only be done with humility, in dialogue, consultation and cordial understanding. Neither the power of numbers nor military force can achieve this. Indeed, it is well known, “opinions are like nails: the more you hit them, the more you drive them in”.
no error!
Let us not make the mistake of looking down on this problem. We risk having bitter awakenings; or else, it is our children and grandchildren who will have them.
When I first read the word Boko Haram in a newspaper, I was abroad. I then asked a fellow Nigerian consultant for information on this group. With a smirk, he replied: “You know, it’s just an insignificant group of enlightened fanatics.” faced with the thousands of deaths, the hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people, the hundreds of billions of francs used to fight this nebula, or the nameless suffering that it continues to inflict, no one could use such language today . What happened? Boko Haram has found support outside. Let us not wait until compatriots who are uncomfortable and who cry out about their discomfort will one day come, out of despair, to seek support from outside.
We talk to criminals to free hostages! let us discuss with all compatriots who feel the need, to free Cameroon from threats to peace, its stability and its security.
In the 1960s in France, a unitary and millennial state, the Front for the Liberation of Brittany (FLB) denounced what it called “French colonialism in Brittany”. trainee in a prefecture in the west of France, I saw some of its activists brandishing the FLB flag instead of the French flag. Today, only historians still talk about the FLB. it is not the result of a war; nor of an embattlement of all the protagonists of the FLB. It is the consequence of a political offer, the result of a republican dialogue.
A few years ago I was chatting with Drngwang Gumne, one of the main leaders of the secessionist movement, with whom we had served in Bamenda. By chance, we found ourselves in Sweden, very happy to see each other again. At the end of more than two hours of discussions, he had this sentence: “my brother, since no one wants to listen to us, everyone will end up hearing us.” I pointed out to him that he always called me his brother, even though, during all our discussions, I argued against secession. With a smile, he said to me: “It’s you in Yaoundé who don’t want to listen to us.”
Let us listen to all the children of the homeland. without prejudice, as requested by the President of the Republic in his message to the Nation on December 31, 2016. Let us offer all our compatriots frameworks for discussion and consultation, to address our problems without bias, and resolve them with sincerity , in truth.
what is underway with lawyers and teachers is going in the right direction. But let’s not limit ourselves to the treatment of what constitute only manifestations, or even simple symptoms. Let us address, in all its complexity and depth, the English-speaking problem. with courage and determination, let us provide satisfactory and convincing solutions. All citizens of our country will benefit. For peace with justice. For the good of the nation. For the salvation of the homeland.
David Abouèm A Tchoyi
Consultant
former governor of the South-West, then the North-West;
Former Minesup;
Former Sg/Pr
THE SIX FACETS OF THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS – AMBAZONIA PROBLEM
