Anglophone Crisis:

Biya descends from his pedestal, extends olive branch to Anglophones

President Biya has pledged more concessions to Anglophones

- The President has promised to make more concessions to the striking teachers and lawyers, when negotiations reopen anytime soon

- But the President also maintained that because the right to education is inalienable, gov’t will take all measures to ensure that children in NW and SW go to school

- Analysts say the President, in this address, has presented Anglophones with a golden opportunity that history will not forgive them if ever they missed out on it

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde

President Paul Biya has once again reiterated his willingness to address the grievances raised by Anglophone teachers and lawyers, if only to seduce them to call off their sit-in strike that has already lasted 3 months and counting.

                After the president hammered on the very worrying Anglophone crisis, promising government’s readiness to pursue frank and fruitful dialogue with the lawyers and teachers trade unions, in his state-of-the-nation address on 31 December 2016, he has once again dwelled on it in his traditional address to the youth, on the eve of 11 February, the day dedicated for the Youth in Cameroon. President Biya used almost half the time of the speech to ruminate on the Anglophone crisis.

                Like in his year-end address on 31st December 2016 when the president revealed that he was very touched by the events in NW and SW to the extent that he could not be indifferent to them, Biya again reiterated to the youths that: “As we prepare to celebrate your Day, I cannot fail to mention the challenges faced by your brothers and sisters in the North-West and South-West Regions…..Due to the strike actions initiated by some trade unions, classes have been disrupted in these regions for several weeks now. I ordered a constructive dialogue between the Government and the trade unions concerned in order to find consensual solutions to the problems raised. These negotiations, which took place within the framework of the ad hoc committees set up to that end, helped to define the issues and determine ways and means to address them…..The Government has already taken some actions to implement the recommendations made by the committees I have just mentioned. Other actions will follow soon.”

                As soon as the President ended his 15-minute speech on Friday, a keen listener wasted no time to remark: “If these are not the words of someone who is ready to make concessions, then what are they?”

                The listener noted that “President Paul Biya is not known to usually address acute and burning issues in his public utterances. If anything the President will stay mute and allow time to take its toll on the problem, believing in the notion that every revolution withers with time.”

                Our interlocutor however noted that “this time around, perhaps in acknowledgement of the seriousness and legitimacy of some of the grievances, and maybe given the rapidly decaying nature of the crisis, the president has seen the compelling need to come down from his pedestal and personally implicate himself in finding a lasting solution to the crisis.”

                In his message to the youths, President Paul Biya also noted that it has not been very easy to find lasting and consensual solutions to the crisis this, because, what started as purely technical grievances gradually but surely metamorphosed into purely political demands, rendering negotiations more complicated than was expected and making efforts by government to look inadequate.

                Hear the President: “Our efforts notwithstanding, there have been lingering difficulties, especially owing to the emergence of political demands by extremist and separatist organizations. Preaching hate and violence, these organizations have committed or caused serious atrocities against citizens and damaged their property, as well as public buildings and utilities. They have embarked on a campaign of intimidation, threats and violence to disrupt the normal conduct of business and school activities…Face with this situation, the government had to take measures to maintain order, protect citizens and their property and hand over to the judicial authorities those who committed or were suspected of committing these criminal acts. This necessary action will continue, in compliance with the laws and regulations of the republic.”

                Biya went on that “the government will continue, in a methodical and orderly manner, to work towards finding appropriate solutions to the justice and education concerns raised by the trade unions of English-speaking lawyers and teachers….and also continue, together with the trade unions, to work towards finding solutions to maintain peace, consolidate unity and living together, reason for the recent creation of the National Commission on the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism.

A commentator remarked that the mere fact that the President acknowledged in his speech that the efforts already made by government in trying to solve the problems are not wholly adequate, is a clear indication that he is ready to do even more, if just in a bid to satisfy and pacify the Anglophone component of the country.

                The commentator advised that Anglophones should read the meaning in the President’s message and especially the commission in his pledges and see the need to give peace a chance, at least in the meantime.

                Yet, President Biya did not end there; he used the occasion to hail the patriotism of those union leaders who recently signed the suspension of the strike action. “I congratulate them on that. Efforts in that connection will continue,” President Biya promised.

                The President also noted that while citizens have a right to express their opinions on any issue of national life and also take part in peaceful strikes, so too do children have the inalienable right to education. He charged that “it is unacceptable to use threats, intimidation or violence to compel anybody to heed a call for strike action, or to hold the education and future of children hostage, in the vain hope of pushing through political demands.”

                Biya maintained that “like their brothers and sisters in the other regions, the pupils and students of the North-West and South-West regions have a right to education. They have the right to prepare their future in peace.”

He said the Government will take all the necessary measures to ensure that children go to school in NW and SW.

                Knowledgeable analysts say given the seriousness in President Biya’s pledges, it now behooves Anglophone parents to come to their right senses and send their children to school, rather than continue with the ongoing ghost towns and strike actions that have only invited untold suffering and socio-economic loses on the populations of NW and SW.