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Has Garga Haman got the requisite leverage
to talk for government?
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Garga Haman Adji, a northern politician who
once resigned his job as a minister in frustration because he felt President
Paul Biya opposed his stance against corruption, would be heading to Anglophone
Regions in coming days to try to strike a deal with striking teachers and
lawyers there.
Adji
said Biya had asked him to undertake the mission in Yaounde on Friday during a
ceremony to present New Year wishes to the head of state and he had said yes.
It came as the reopening of schools remained in doubt, after the major disruption
of last year and a string of failed government efforts, including direct talks,
private meetings, threats and allegations of bribes.
The
former minister, who is now the leader of a tiny political party called
Alliance for Democracy and Development ADD, brings his reputation as “Mr
Clean”, which he earned during his anti-corruption campaigns as Minister of
Public Service and Administrative reforms from 1990 to 1992, to bear on the
assignment. He may also supply the good faith that all parties say has been so
lacking in earlier talks and would be perceived as a neutral interlocutor and
not as an interested party. But it remains to be seen how neutral he would be,
being a Francophone.
The
task ahead for Adji is, to say the least, daunting. So far, the government has
failed to convince teachers to return to schools and lawyers to pick up their
robes. The striking professionals have upheld their industrial actions in the
New Year, going a step further to call for “ghost towns” in Anglophone regions
on Monday. They have not budged from a four-week standoff, in spite of the
promise by Biya to set up an “entity” to “go an extra mile” and propose
solutions. Earlier this week, the prime ministers held more meetings with
different social groups in the North West, as Anglophone elite combed their
constituencies, mainly to save the school year. Divisional Officers held a
series of what looked like well-coordinated meetings with chiefs and parents
representatives. It did not appear the outreach changed much.
Instead,
more groups have emerged over the last months, throwing their weight behind
lawyers and teachers. It now looks like the crippling protests will expand to
other parts of public life in the Anglophone regions. Already, there have been
calls to boycott the Youth and National days on 11 February and 20 May, the two
most important national public holidays. In December, Wilfred Tassang, the
executive secretary of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union told us there will be
“some major boycotts” this year. The ghost towns declared for Monday, if it
works, appears to be the beginning of more trouble.
Biya
has undertaken parallel moves to those of the prime minister to try to resolve
the problem, including sending private envoys to talk directly with lawyers and
teachers. But the decision to put Adji on the task came as a surprise. Just a
week ago, the president appeared to endorse ad hoc committees already at work,
albeit, with difficulty to continue to broker peace. “All the voices that spoke have been heard,”
the president said. “They have, in many cases, raised substantive issues that
cannot be overlooked.”
Adji’s
task is unclear and how far he can go is even more doubtful. The lawyers have
for some time added federalism to their demands, posing a constitutional and
political problem that Adji may be unqualified to negotiate. Biya himself did
not seem ready to deal with federalism when he addressed the problem for the
first time on 31 December, in the speech that inspired hope but promised no
immediate action. “We should remain open to constructive ideas, to the
exclusion, however, of those that would affect the form of our State,” he said.
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