Anglophone Crisis:

Catholic Bishops urge gov’t to pursue dialogue

His Grace archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda

Bishops of the Bamenda ecclesiastical province have told government they are very worried about the present crisis in Anglophone Cameroon and they cannot continue to stay aloof while the deadlock persists and with the situation degenerating further. The Bishops have indicated their readiness to offer their good offices for fresh talks between government and the striking Anglophone teachers and lawyers.

                The Bishops made the appeal during a meeting they had with higher education minister, Fame Ndongo recently in Yaounde. It was the fourth session of the inter-ministerial committee set up by government to look into the demands of teachers and seek solutions to them.

                A lingering sit-in strike undertaken by the two groups has since October 11, 2016, seen courts and schools in the North West and South West Regions of the country completely grounded. Government efforts so far in arresting the situation have proved abortive.

                An inside source at the in-camera meeting that was held at the Higher Education Ministry said the Bishops, led by the Archbishop of the Bamenda, His Grace Cornelius FontemEsua, were frank in their exchanges with the Higher Education minister. Cameroon Tribune quoted Daniel Ojong as saying the Bishops regretted that schools were still largely paralyzed in the English-speaking regions of the country.

                “They urged government to be open and to continue with dialogue. They said they were ready to give their services as mediators between the government and striking teachers’ trade unions,” Ojong reportedly said.

                Anglophone Bishops, it should be recalled, had in the wake of the current crisis, addressed a lengthy memorandum to the Head of State in which they raised a litany of burning issues surrounding the crisis. They urged the government to engage frank dialogue with the aggrieved parties so as to end the stalemate.

                Though Minister Fame Ndongo did not immediately respond to the proposal of the bishops he however announced the imminent holding of a National Forum on Education to discuss the challenges facing Cameroon’s educational system.