Beyond
Language -two different nations, two distinct histories
The ongoing
genocide in Southern Cameroons has dealt a devastating blow to any claim by
those propagating the big, fat lie that Cameroon is one, united and
indivisible.
By Ekinneh
Agbaw-Ebai*
The regime in
Yaoundé has totally lost the force of argument. Its blind use of the argument
of force; the only option left for it, will fail because violence has never
successfully prevented a people yearning for freedom from achieving it. It is
important to remind French Cameroun politicians who hardly draw lessons from
history that Cameroon was a union of two distinct nations involving two
different peoples with two different histories and political culture, beyond
French and English languages. Great efforts were made by East and West Cameroon
to develop their resources and use same to better the lot of their people, as
there was a sense of healthy competition among the two federating states. It is
just enough to say that by unilaterally abrogating the federation in 1972,
Ahidjo snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and Cameroon’s manifest
rendezvous with glory was halted. This was probably the most wicked act ever
perpetrated against Southern Cameroons and current efforts to defend this
anomaly only gives a bad name to democracy as a government of the people; for the
people and by the people.
After unification in 1961,
French Cameroun and Southern Cameroons were developing at their own pace, under
a federal system of government and the two nations were never one and
indivisible. That French Cameroun lacked the main foundation of nationhood
owing to the absence of a sense of belonging to one entity, as tribal loyalty
competed with national cohesion, is a fact that contrasts markedly with the
political maturity in Southern Cameroons. No one can dispute the abysmal level
of understanding of French Cameroun politicians when it comes to the majesty of
democracy. No one should be surprised, therefore, at their lack of
sophistication in its practice. The French Cameroun political class has shown
an impetuous proclivity to foster a recruitment process that allows the worst
to access public offices. Politics in French Cameroun was so much debased that
electoral competition was an odious rat race or an all-comers affair of tribal
jingoists, political hangers-on and sundry jobbers, all lacking in the
requisite knowledge for leadership and governance.
Unlike Southern Cameroon,
primordial sentiments animated French Cameroun politics. In the 1956 elections
into the French Cameroun parliament, Ahidjo’s UC party which won the majority
was a loose amalgam of contending tribal interests comprising - Union de
Diamare (Jean Akassou, Maigari Bello, Yaya Daicro, Kakiang Wappi, Mohamadou
Ousmanou, Yerima Daicro, Ninine Jules and Guyard Joseph); Union de Bamoun,
(Arouna Njoya and Seidou Njimoulouh Njoya); Union de Defense des Interests de
la Benoue(Ahidjo, Babale Ousmanou, Buhari Bouba, Haman Aboubakari, Hadji
Mohaman, Rene Tagrand); Defense des Interests de Logone et Chari (Garba Gueime,
Sultan Marouf Youssouf); Union de L’Adamawa (Alfred Mandon, Nana Djafarou,
Adamu Iyawa, Sekou Cheick); Defense des Interests de Margui-Wandala (Talba
Malla, Haman Adama, Bobo Souaibo, Lamine Yerima, Andoulaye Yero, Amaoua
Abdoulaye.
Andre-Marie
Mbida’s party platform was basically a coalition of tribal groups which elected
Gaston Medou & Ebo Ndoundoumou (Action Paysanne de Dja et Lobo); Marigoh
Mboua, Ndibo Mbarsola (Defense des Interests de Lom et Kadei); Pierre Yinda,
Yakana Jacques (Union Social pour la Lumiere, le Progres et Fraternite du
Mbam); Jean-Baptiste Mabaya, Pierre Ninekam (Independante pour la Defense des
Interests du Pays du Haut-Nkam). Also elected were Chief Djoumessi Mathias,
Marcel Lagarde (Défense des Interests Bamiléké in Dschang ; Etienne Djuatio,
Imatha Jean (Defense des Interests de Mbouda); Kamga Joseph, Pierre Ngayewang,
Samuel Wanko (Union et Progress Bamileke in Bafoussam); Ekwabi Ewane, Gaston
Behle (Auctotones des Moungo); Charles Assale, Francois Obam (Union Nationale
in Ntem Valley) and Betote Akwa, Soppo Priso in Wouri. Needless to say there was no political
party in Southern Cameroons, created to specifically articulate and defend
tribal or sectional interests.
Besides, while French
Camerounians were electing Frenchmen to represent them in parliament, the March
1957 elections into the SCHA produced a constellation of candidates
representing the different political parties which served as platforms for
nation-building ideas and a breeding ground for leadership and policy
articulation. There was a robust opposition which was the motor-force of
democracy. In Victoria Division, Dr. EML Endeley (KNC) and PM Motomby-Wolete
(KPP) were elected. NN Mbile (KPP) and FN Ajebe Sone (KNC) were elected in
Kumba; Ambrose Fonge (KNDP) and SA Arrey (KNC) emerged from Mamfe. In Bamenda
Division, ST Muna (KNC), VT Lainjo (KNC) and JN Foncha (KNDP) were elected; in
Wum, two KNDP stalwarts, AN Jua and P Mua were elected; in Nkambe, Ando-Seh
(KNC) and P Nsakwa (KNDP) were elected. Five of the six elected NA members were
KNC – JM Mukambi (Kba), TC Lekunze (Mfe), HD Tankoh Tah (Bda), JE Kum (Wum) and
W Nformi (Nkambe). John Manga-Williams (Victoria) was an Independent. Power
alternation was one of the cornerstones of Southern Cameroons democracy because
of the presence of a strong opposition with a distinct ideology and policy to
the governing party.
Such a vibrant opposition was
nonexistent in French Cameroun. For example, in the April 1960 elections into
ALCAM, there were no competitions for the 44 seats in the North where Ahidjo’s
UC party held sway. Once Ahidjo with the support of Aujoulat took over the UC
leadership from Ninine Jules, his strategy was to cripple the opposition. By
1963, Ahidjo had virtually stifled all political parties and there was just one
party in French Cameroun. In a streak of authoritarian madness, Ahidjo then
undertook an insidious lynching of West Cameroon democracy in 1966 when all
political parties were disbanded to form the CNU. The Federal Republic of
Cameroon officially became a one-party state. Going forward, power, money and
vanity became instruments of statecraft in the hands of CNU barons.
In addition, the Southern
Cameroons civil service was very apolitical. Cabinet Secretaries were career
politicians but the bureaucracy was run by Permanent Secretaries, who were not
allowed to participate in politics. This tradition was maintained after
unification as PJ Alpress, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural
Resources was appointed Chief Electoral Officer for the first post-independence
election under the federated state of West Cameroon in December 1961. The
reverse was true in French Cameroon where at independence in I960, a civil
servant, Ahmadou Ahidjo, was handpicked by the French to become head of state.
The tribalism, impunity, nepotism, abusive patronage and notorious corruption
that is the official currency of governance in Cameroon today had its roots
deeply embedded in the political culture of French Cameroun, where political
leaders drew their electoral strength from tribal associations like Ngondo (Soppo
Priso); Kumze (Chief Djoumessi Mathias); Bassa Mpo’o (Mayi Matip); Efoula
Meyong (Charles Assale) and Koupé (Ekwabi Ewane).
And unlike in East Cameroun
where traditional rulers were appointed by the colonial government and forced
to wear official uniforms with ranks on their epaulets, the West Cameroon House
of Chiefs was an integral part of the governance architecture and served as a
quasi-upper legislative chamber. It is trite to say that there can be no
democracy without democrats. Southern Cameroons having entrenched the
democratic culture and ethos, a man could leave office, but the institution
stays. In circumstances such as this,
there is usually a predilection to invoke primordial sentiments that are inimical
to nation-building. To the ordinary Francophone, government is a profit-making
business and political power is a selfish tribal equation, where holders of
high public office have to cater to the tribe above all else. Southern
Cameroonians see high public office as a call to service; whereas to
Francophones, a cabinet appointment is an invitation to “come and chop.” It was
normal for an incoming Minister in French Cameroun to replace all his
top-ranking collaborators with his tribesmen because “it is their turn to
chop.” In such situation, the stress to governance and efficient delivery of
democracy dividends from sycophancy, indiscipline, corruption and mediocrity
cannot be over-emphasized.
Despite the preachments of
Francophone politicians about the imperative of a one, united and indivisible
Cameroon, the ethnic reactionary politics of self-preservation still pervades
their psyche. A very telling situation that was a national embarrassment was
when President Biya publicly declared all-out war against Anglophone
terrorists. That Biya would descend to such shameless demonization of
Anglophones, especially amid the ongoing genocide when the nation is in
mourning and sober soul-searching, is the height of insensitivity and sheer
dishonor for the dead and brutalized. In the judgment of an average sense of
decency, Biya’s action is a moral weakness of asinine proportion.
In conclusion, a nation can
never outgrow the performance of its leader. Such is Cameroon’s tragedy at the
moment. The failure of leadership by the President, who by authority is assumed
to be the father of the nation, is highly disturbing. If the president views
Anglophones with such hatred, does it therefore surprise anyone why some of the
president’s henchmen have been beating the drums of war? Given his apathetic
refusal to dialogue, Biya wittingly or unwittingly sent a message of disdain
and unwelcome to all Anglophones, including those in his cabinet, that they are
terrorists, instead of patriotic citizens with a different vision on how the
nation should be governed. Biya’s depth of ill feeling towards Anglophones is
unhealthy for a nation in distress. He must therefore be told in whatever
language he understands that Southern Cameroons and French Cameroon are not
one, united and indivisible; never were, and never will be one, united and
indivisible!
*Ekinneh
Agbaw-Ebai is a Public Intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F.
Kennedy School of Government, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard
Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for
Freedom House, he is a Consultant and lives in Boston, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com
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