Interview

Joshua Osih speaks:

Biya should solve the Anglophone crisis or resign

Joshua Osih

According to the Deputy Vice National Chairperson of the SDF, President Paul Biya is responsible for the ongoing crisis in Anglophone Cameroon and should take all necessary measures to solve the crisis. Joshua Osih notes among other things that 79% of Cameroonians are in favor of a Federal system of government in Cameroon. He made these and other remarks at the Ntarikon headquarters of the SDF, on Saturday 5 August 2017, on the sidelines of the National Executive Committee meeting of the SDF. He spoke to The Median’s Francis EkongangNzante. Excerpts.

*What was on the agenda of today’s NEC meeting?

We’ve have had a very intense meeting during which important decisions and declarations have been made on the Anglophone issue. We also are aware that responsibilities have to be well defined. We talked about the President of the Republic, his prerogatives and the moves he has so far taken to resolve the Anglophone problem. We talked on the life of our party as well as that of the state and expressed our horror on the attacks of Boko Haram especially that of this evening that resulted in a number of deaths.

               

*What is the SDF proposing for a way forward to the current Anglophone crisis?

               

We noted that most of the negotiators who sat at the Prime Minister’s table for negotiations ended up in jail and now it is necessary for President Paul Biya to take a decision because he is the only one who can take that decision to liberate all political prisoners in our jails before we can start talking about political dialogue that can take Cameroon out of its problems and whether kids should go back to school or not. The Social Democratic Front recognises the need for children to go to school because education is paramount. So we deplore the fact that schools are closed; we frown and are devastated by the fact that schools have remained closed for a whole school year. But the person responsible for all of this is called Paul Biya. He is the one who can solve the problem and who should have solved it since a year ago. It is clear that people should understand our stance on this as it is clearly spelled out in the declarations of our meeting. Biya should demilitarize the North West and South West Regions; he should release those detained for a cause that he and his government have recognised as just and have even taken some measures to address them. Since the President of the Republic has recognised that there is a problem he should solve the problem.

               

*Yaounde has sent out envoys to go and talk with Diaspora Cameroonians. What is your take on this?

               

I think they should stop wasting useful money. They should solve the problems at home before moving out of the country. They shouldn’t just go around in some sort of a tourist tour out of the country. Everybody knows there is a problem but what we are waiting from the government is solutions. Cameroon cannot continue to be ruled as it was ruled in the fifties. The major problem of Cameroon is the form and structure of the state. 79% of Cameroonians are in favor of a Federal System in Cameroon. It is a system in which powers are separated from the centralized system that we have now which is at the heart of bad governance in Cameroon.

               

*With the build up to the reopening of schools in September, there is already a vast amount of debate ongoing on the issue; in your opinion should children go back to school?

               

It is true that there is a national debate on whether schools should reopen or not but the problem is much deeper. Paul Biya has recognised that the problem is deeper and has taken a series of actions which point to the fact that he has recognised this fact. The SDF came out today with a declaration called Declaration of the 5th of August 2017on the Anglophone Crises. We are very clear that Biya is solely responsible for the present predicament in which the country finds itself, for the terrible situation in the North West and South West Regions and for the terrible situation in which Anglophones find themselves. President Paul Biya is solely responsible for the Anglophone Crises in Cameroon. He is the only one who can find a solution. Since he has refused to solve the problem therefore he has de facto abdicated from his functions so he should go right to the end of that logic and resign from his position.