By EkinnehAgbor-Ebai, Boston USA
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| Ekinneh Agbor-Ebai |
A preacher once told his congregation:
“Next week, I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my
sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17”. The following Sunday as he prepared to
deliver his sermon, the pastor asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how
many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up. The preacher smiled and said: “Mark
has only 16 chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.
This
joke says a lot about human nature, but shows how Francophones are often caught
committing the sin of lying about the Anglophone problem. Francophones are wont
to wish into reality what is not there and to deny the truth when it suits
them. Lying is a sin that was committed by five Francophone ministers who told
the world at a press conference that there is no Anglophone problem in
Cameroon. The integrity deficit associated with lying about the Anglophone
problem is a travesty that insults and diminishes every Cameroonian and must
stop.
The
point must therefore be made, and with emphasis, that there is an Anglophone
problem but the problem is deeply embedded in the asymmetrical political
structure of the country, which has led to institutional paralysis engendered
by leadership failure. Anglophones are divided over the Anglophone problem,
just as Francophones are united in their bellicosity and belligerence towards
Anglophones whom they cast as treasonable felons and secessionists who cannot
be trusted. Francophones have used this self-fulfilling fallacy as an excuse to
exclude Anglophones from the commanding heights of decision-making and treat
them as second class citizens. But facts don’t lie like the lying laity of Mark
17.
Consider
this: over 55 years after independence and re-unification, there has never been
an Anglophone President or an Anglophone Secretary General or Director of Civil
Cabinet at the presidency. Nor has an Anglophone ever held the strategic
ministerial portfolio of Defense, Finance, Territorial Administration,
Communication, External Relations, National Education or even in charge of the
Police, Gendarmerie, the Army and Intelligence services; not even Ambassadors
to English speaking countries like the USA and Nigeria.
For
a region that represents about 20% of the population, accounting for over 60%
of the GDP, the fact that the lone oil refinery named in French (SONARA) is in
Anglophone Cameroon, yet has been run by Francophone General Managers with a
predominantly Francophone workforce since its creation is unacceptable. It just
cannot be that there are no competent Anglophones to occupy these positions.
As
if that was not enough, higher institutions like the National Polytechnic,
ENAM, IRIC, ESSTIC, INJS, IFORD, CUSS, Public Works, ENSPT, IRAD are heavily
laden with French courses; another way of saying, Anglophones need not apply.
Although Cameroon is officially a bilingual country where both English and
French are equal, when has the president ever made an official address to the
nation in English? All official correspondences are in French, even when
directed to Anglophones. French is the language used in the administration,
police, gendarmerie, army and the courts. Anglophones have to seek translators
at their own expense. All road signs are in French and there is not a single word
in English on the FCFA currency in circulation; is this constitutional?
The
facts and figures of Anglophone marginalization under President Biya are
staggering. Of the 700 ministers appointed since Biya took office in 1982, only
76 (10.8) have been Anglophones. In the current 63-member cabinet, there are
only six Anglophones (9%) and only, Philip NgoleNgwese (2%) out of the 38
ministers has a cabinet portfolio. There are four Anglophone Secretary General
(10%) and three Anglophone DAGs 7%) in the Central Administration. In state
corporations, there are less than 15 Anglophones (11%) out of over 130 general
managers. Of the over 130 board chairmen of state corporations, there are only
10 Anglophones (70%). Of the 58 SDOs in the country there are six Anglophones
(10%) and only three of the nations 33 generals in the Armed Forces are
Anglophones.
The
picture in the judiciary is even more pathetic and scandalous with Francophones
occupying all key positions in the Supreme Court – President of the Supreme Court;
Attorney General; Head of Judicial Division; Head of Administrative Division;
Head of Audit Division; Head of Special Criminal Court; Director of Military
Justice; Registrar-in-Chief Supreme Court and Secretary General Supreme Court.
58
(61%) of the 89 magistrates in the legal department in the South West are
Francophones. Of the 50 magistrates working in Buea (Bench and legal
Department), 20 (40%) are Francophones, while 20 (71%) of the 28 magistrates in
the legal department in Buea are Francophones. Of the 30 new bailiffs that were
appointed in January 2014 in the South West, 28 (95%) are Francophones.
The
situation in the NW is even worse. Of the 128 magistrates in the NW, 68 (52%)
are Francophones. Of the 97 magistrates of the legal department, 64 (65.9%) of
them are Francophones; 22 (48.9%) of the 45 magistrates in Bamenda are
Francophones. There are 27 magistrates in the legal department in Bamenda of
which 21, (77.8%) are Francophones. All the 21 new bailiffs (100%) appointed in
January 2014 to the NW are Francophones.
Comparatively,
of 119 magistrates in Douala, only two (1.7%) are Anglophones. Likewise, only
two (1.9%) of the 107 magistrates in Yaounde are Anglophones. These are very
disturbing statistics in a bilingual country with two legal systems.
What’s
worse, there is no reference hospital and no functional airport or seaport in
Anglophone Cameroon. It is worth recalling that preliminary studies by the
consortium charged with the construction of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline had
established that the project will be cost-effective if the pipeline was built
from Doba in Southern Chad to Limbe, which has a natural deep seaport.
According to documents from the World Bank and Washington-based Environmental
Defense Fund, the then Secretary General at the presidency, Joseph Owona
re-routed the project to his native Kribi; taking the pipeline through
ecologically sensitive areas and increasing the distance by 90 miles and the
cost by 2 billion dollars. Owona warned the investors that Limbe was risky
because Anglophones might one day agitate for secession and the pipeline will
be exposed to sabotage and vandalism.
To
add insult to injury, the government has made it a point to assign Francopones
who neither speak nor understand English to Anglophone regions. A Francophone
DO in Oku, Kamdem Andre once called a meeting with traditional rulers and
started speaking in French. Not understanding what he was saying, the Fons
started dozing. Feeling snubbed, the angry DO ordered his bodyguards to wake-up
the Fons with a slap each and the meeting ended in chaos. DO Kamdem is not an
isolated case. Francophones disrespect Anglopones in positions of authority,
even the Prime Minister, Head of Government. Francophone ministers either
ignore cabinet meetings called by the PM or come late, in breach of standard
protocol. When then Prime Minister AchidiAchu appointed Raymond DinghaGwanyalla
as Director of Customs, the then Finance minister, a Francophone, openly challenged
the PM in a flagrant display of insubordination. The minister not only refused
to preside at Gwanyalla’s installation, but ordered a boycott of the event
which was heeded by all Francophone directors in the Finance Ministry surely,
nothing like this happens in any country worth of respect.
As
Prime Minister, Peter MafanyMusonge was humiliated by the paymaster general in
Yaounde. Musonge was dealing with a crisis after a timber truck derailed
killing dozens, mostly roadside hawkers in the hotbed of Mutengene. Anger was
boiling on the streets when President Biya ordered that FCFA 200 million be
given to the PM to go help the victims and deceased families. A voucher was
established to this effect; with the “visa” of the Finance Minister and the PM’s
office and sent to the Yaounde Central Treasury, but then paymaster general
EtogoMbezele refused to pay, ostensibly because the director of the treasury
had not ‘visa’ the voucher.
The
treasury director was vacationing in France and travelled abroad with his
“visa”. Informed of Nbezele’s decision an exasperated Musonge could not help
but exclaim in anger and frustration: “Oh these Francophones!” It must be
stated in no ambiguous terms that Musonge spoke from the heart. His spontaneous
outburst speaks to a deep-seated Anglophone frustration with an erratic system
of government, with its consequent value misplacement, the like of which should
never be countenanced in any civilized nation.
There
are countless instances where Francophones are appointed to boss better
educated and qualified Anglophones. It is a tragedy that after fifty-five years
of independence and reunification, we are still talking of Anglophones and
Francophones, but that is the sad reality of Cameroon. Anglophones have been
treated shabbily; they are asking whether they made the right choice in 1961,
since only they were asked if they wanted reunification with Francophones.
Despite
the fact that East Cameroon was deeply embroiled in a bloody insurgency and
terrorism, Anglopohones closed their eyes and voted with their hearts. Fifty
five years after that vote, all Anglophones are asking is to be given the
opportunity to manage their own affairs but they are being called secessionists
and enemies from within, Biafrans, and even asked to go back to Nigeria.
This
in itself is demeaning and outlandish. Our strength as a nation lies in our
diversity. The bridge towards our future will be built on lessons from the
past; hence the government must refrain from assuming that anyone calling for
restructuring of the present structure wants to breakup the country. It is not
Anglophones who threaten national unity; rather, it is the politics of
exclusion and marginalization of Anglophones that poses a threat to peace and
stability. Those who see Anglophones as a conquered people should look at those
unsettling statistics and learn the right lessons because the mood is very
scary but looming crisis is still avoidable.
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