Chi Asafor Cornelius appointed Secretary General of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism

The appointment of Chi Cornelius is contained in a presidential decree read yesterday on CRTV, the national state-run broadcaster. Dr Asafor is the pioneer secretary general of the multi-task commission placed under the unshakeable control of the Head of State.

The commission headed by former Prime Minister Peter Mafani Musonge has the daunting task of ensuring equality between English and French as well as the promotion of the different cultural backgrounds that make Cameroon unique.

This comes at a moment when the commission members are preparing for their official start of duty on Thursday.

The fifteen members of the Commission for the Promotion Bilingualism and Multiculturalism are to be commissioned on Thursday 27.04.2017.

The ceremony will take place at the Conference Centre in yaounde under the watchful of eye of Prime Minister Philemon Yang.

The fifteen-member commission was created in January 2017 by President Paul Biya as one of a series of measures to solve the current Anglophone Problem besetting the country.

The creation of the commission was one of a host of measures meant to curb the unrest in West Cameroon.

Government has so far put in place an ad hoc committee to propose solutions to the concerns raised by Southern Cameroonians. Two billion francs CFA has equally been put in place to assist lay private schools.  A department of Common Law has equally been created in all Francophone state-owned universities. A department of French Private Law has also been created at the University of Bamenda and its sister, the University of Buea.

The creation of this commission does not seem to solve the problem as many people still believe that bilingualism is not the target. The most important thing is rather the preservation and promotion of the culture of West Cameroon.

Since reunification, the constitution of Cameroon demands equal treatment for both official languages: French and English. Yet more than sixty years later English has been relegated to the position of subject while French takes central stage as the king of the jungle.