Political analysts have always said:
“whenever Bamenda sneezes, Yaounde catches a cold”. Although this cannot be
independently confirmed by The Median newspaper, some salient politico-social, economic,
cultural, and religious events that marked the year 2015 in Bamenda are
believed to have sent shockwaves to the regime in all mighty Yaounde.
Compiled by Douglas A. Achingale and Ndjodzefe
Nestor in Bamenda
Anglophone Lawyers’ ultimatum to Biya
In May 9, 2015 after a confab under the
theme "The Security and Future of the Common Law in Cameroon" over
700 Cameroon Common Law Lawyers issued a memo to government requesting that a
federal system be reinstated in Cameroon whereby both the Common and Civil Law
can function independently, condemned biased practices and opposed the
appointment of notaries in the South West and North West Regions.
The lawyers through the strongly worded
memo gave government six months to look into their concerns or they will be
forced to take more drastic action. It was not surprising therefore that
without convening the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, President Biya sacked
the Francophone Procureur-General of the North West region and replaced him
with an Anglophone. Even though the lawyers said that was not enough they at
once admitted it was a step in the right direction.
Fru Ndi storms Santa toll gate
The National Chairman of the Social
Democratic Front, SDF, Ni John FruNdi, on August 22, stormed the tollgate at
Matazem – the gateway into Bamenda, Northwest Region – and chased away the
tollgate collectors. FruNdi said he was forced to make the “spectacular and
unprecedented move” because the populations of Bamenda had suffered enough on
the very strategic yet almost impassable road linking Mbouda in the West region
and Bamenda in the North West region.
“I
came here because the people have been complaining a lot that the roads are bad
and these fellows keep collecting huge sums of money on a daily basis and the
Government is not investing the money in building the road. Until the road from
Bamenda to Mbouda is tarred, nobody will collect a franc here in the name of
tollgate. People cannot continue to pay money (FCFA 500) every time they cross
this gate, with the bad roads we have here. No!” FruNdi charged.
Understandingly,
the Yaounde regime took FruNdi’s move seriously and since then no collector has
again been seen at the tool gate.
B’da rejects Ebola vaccine trial
On October 30, the Biya regime announced
its intention to test the efficacy of an Ebola virus vaccine on some 400
Cameroonians without any hint of the virus’ presence in the country or even any
threat of its imminent arrival. Bamenda and Yaounde were selected as pioneer
venues for the Ebola experiment.
After
the announcement, a concerned group of civil society organizations, social
workers and members of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, as well
as pressmen confronted authorities of the Bamenda regional hospital over the
controversial Ebola vaccine trial.
Government
indefinitely suspended the clinical trial of the Ebola vaccine at the Bamenda
Regional Hospital and the Centre Pasteur laboratory in Yaounde. The decision
was broadcast Thursday morning November 19, on state-owned CRTV national station.
Though
the exact reasons for the suspensions were not made known, it emerged that
government was only yielding to pressure from Bamenda civil society activists.
François
Hollande spends 3hrs in Y’de
After spending a couple of days elsewhere
in Africa where he went visiting, the President of France, François Hollande,
made a brief stopover in Yaounde on 3 July 2015. Critics called the visit a
mocking one because of its undisguised brevity. It lasted no more than three
hours.
The
high points of the visit were the speeches the two Presidents made and their
responses to questions asked them by journalists at the Unity Palace. While
Hollande regretted the maltreatment by his country’s officials of Cameroonian
soldiers who fought alongside the French in the First World War, President Paul
Biya told the press indirectly that he was going to run for the 2018
presidential election.
Although
François Hollande did not mention this as a reason for his visit, it could be
understood that one of the things that brought him to Yaounde was the
LydienneEyoum palaver. This Cameroonian born lawyer of French nationality is in
the Douala New Bell prison for the embezzlement of public funds.
This
is the first time a French Head of State is visiting Cameroon since 1999. The
last occupant of the Champs Elysée who did so was Jacques Chirac. It did not
even cross the mind of Hollande’s successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, to do so probably
because of his resentment for President Biya who has been in power for 33 long
years.
MPs desert parliament during session
The leading opposition outfit in Cameroon,
the Social Democratic Front, SDF, is the lone party that has been known over
the years for walking out of the National Assembly in full session, when its
members are not satisfied with any particular issue raised for deliberation.
However, in the November parliamentary session, the last for 2015, many MPs of
all the seven parties represented in the National Assembly deserted the House.
The
bone of contention centredaround the state budget for 2016. The 180 deputies of
the lower house of parliament were divided into two camps as their opinions on
and understanding of the budget differed in many ways. And the angry ones made
their positions clear on 12 November when the session began.
It
was therefore not surprising that 134 MPs stormed out of the hall during the
question-and-answer session with members of government, leaving behind 46 to
carry on with the exercise. Critics saw in their storming out their lack of
interest in discussions concerning the very people they represent in
parliament.
Boko Haram change tactics
When the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram
started the “war” they are currently fighting against Cameroon, what they did principally
was the abduction of Cameroonians and foreigners living in Cameroon as well as
the looting of property. Later on, they added the killing of innocent
Cameroonians to their agenda.
Boko
Haram decided to change their tactics in 2015 when they realized that some
powerful resistance was coming from the Cameroonian forces of law and order who
have been deployed to the Far North region to ward off the attacks of the
terrorists.
They
deceive ignorant young girls aged between 8 and 14 years to serve as human
bombs, against a phoney reward in heaven. In one of their attacks in December
2015, they also made use of young boys in the same manner. The government had
to create vigilante groups in almost all the localities in the Far North. These
vigilante groups did (and are still doing their all), even at the expense of
their lives, to counter the terrorist group.
Thanks
to the collaboration of the population, the vigilante group and the army, some
young girls with bombs have killed only themselves and not members of the
population they target. And to facilitate their work, President Biya, just
before the close of the year, provided them with vehicles.
