Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Bilingualism week forgets West Cameroon

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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