For the first time, National Bilingualism
week was celebrated in major towns and cities in Cameroon without the
participation of Anglophone regions of the Northwest and Southwest.
The
events launched last Monday, January 30, and concluded on February 3, in
Yaoundé by the Minister of Secondary Education, Jean Ernest Massena
BibeheNgalle were celebrated under the theme, “Bilingualism: A driving force
for promoting excellence and social inclusion.”
During
the launching ceremony, the Minister reechoed President Biya’s message of “one
and indivisible Cameroon,” but refrained from making any mention of the current
strike action in the Southern Cameroons.
As
the Minister’s interview on the event was being aired over some television
channels, some residents of the South West could be seen laughing and making a
mockery of him saying, “the event concerns La Republique and not Ambazonia,”
the name that has become synonymous to Anglophone parts of Cameroon. “This man
is still dreaming, does he think it concerns us, he should say La Republique is
celebrating its bilingualism day, we Ambazonians are not part of that mascara,”
they said. A local reporter in Kumba snapped “it is evident, there are two
Cameroons.”
In
the past, caravans of government officials, pupils and students in the North
West and South West would use the occasion to go round promoting the use of
both French and English. They will grant interviews and organized public
manifestations in schools and ceremonial grounds highlighting the use of both
languages. However, this year, the purported ghost hovering around seized the
stage in every town and village in Anglophone Cameroon excommunicating the
celebration.
The
National Bilingualism week was first launched in 2006.
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