Error or oversight?

George NgwaneEssambe

Biya appoints Consortium member

George NgwaneEssambe, one of the 15 members of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism recently appointed by President Biya, was also a member of the outlawed Consortium by virtue of Consortium Press Release no 3 signed on 3 December 2016.

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Y’de

Was it deliberate or was it an oversight? It is now confirmed that one of the 15 members of the Bilingualism Commission appointed by President Paul Biya on Monday 13 March 2017 was also an executive member of the now outlawed Consortium of Anglophone Civil Societies, some of whose leaders were arrested and are presently facing trial on charges of terrorism and terrorism-related offences.

                According to Press Release NO 3, issued by the Consortium, on 13 December 2016 and signed by Dr. Fontem A. Neba, Mr George Ngwane was one of the advisers of the Steering Committee of the Consortium. The other advisers included Prof. James Abangma, Barrister Bobga Harmony, MawumFuh J.C and Abia David.

                By virtue of the same release, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla, Dr. FontemNeba, Barrister Eyambe Elias Ebai and Wilfred Tassang were respectively the President, SG, Deputy SG and Program Coordinator of the Steering Committee of the Consortium.

                Observers say it is intriguing and incomprehensible that while some leaders of the Consortium have been arrested and imputed charges that carry up to a death sentence, some others are going about freely and are even appointed by the Head of State.

                It should be mentioned that no sooner did the Minister of Territorial Administration signed an order in January this year declaring the Consortium null and void than security operatives picked up Barrister AgborBalla and FontemNeba in Buea and ferried them to Yaounde. As Balla and Neba spent their first nights at the gendarmerie headquarters SED in Yaounde, news made the rounds that Tassang and Bobga had vamoosed into hiding. We also later learnt that Prof. James Abangma, also sensing danger, took to his heels. Intriguingly, nothing was said about George Ngwane and the other advisers- Mawum and Abia.

                The questions that beg for answers now are: Why was Ngwane not arrested like Balla and Neba? Why did he not escape like the others after the arrest of Balla and Neba? Was Ngwane co-opted into the Consortium Steering Committee upon his prior consent? Did he participate at Consortium meetings? Did the person(s) who proposed Ngwane to President Biya know that he was a Consortium member? If so did they inform the President that Ngwane was a Consortium member? Can the President revoke his appointment decision if ever he is convinced that Ngwane was in the Consortium or if the Military Judge eventually decides to rope in Ngwane? Etc etc.

                Yet, it must be stated that George Ngwane was a former regional delegate of Culture for the SW. He is also an acclaimed essayist and prolific author; an informed socio-political vanguard, civil society player and avowed Pan-Africanist. Ngwane was one of the first persons to suggest the creation of a commission to foster and promote Cameroon’s Bilingualism in English and French and harness the heterogeneous cultures of the country in such a way as to permit for a harmonious living together of Cameroonians in a one and indivisible Cameroon. It is not however known whether Ngwane’s suggestion inspired President Biya’s subsequent creation of the National Commission on Bilingualism.

                Yet, his admirers say even if he was co-opted in the Consortium, Ngwane remained a moderate voice that was never known to take any extremist or radical positions on any questions of national interest.