Former Minister, Marafa Hamidou Yaya gives opinion on the ongoing strikes in Southern Cameroons

The former Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Marafa Hamidou Yaya has given his opinion on the ongoing tension in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Though the former Secretary General at the Presidency, presently incarcerated disagrees with a return to federalism, he however believes that key aspects of the federal period be incorporated in modern day Cameroon.

Full letter below, Translated from the Original French text.

Cameroonians, Cameroonians, dear Anglophone and Francophone compatriots,
In recent weeks the anguish of Anglophone Cameroonians has turned into anger when lawyers and teachers have taken to the streets of Bamenda and Buea to demand greater respect for the bilingualism of our country in its judicial and educational systems. In recent days, this anger has unfortunately been transformed into violence: in these streets, young partisans of the independence of the English-speaking provinces are now confronting the forces of order. Blood flows, men die. How did we get there ? Why do Cameroonians today face other Cameroonians? Why this outpouring of fratricidal violence?

Through the referendum of May 20, 1972, the people of Cameroon chose to put an end to federalism to give birth to a "United Republic of Cameroon", the ambition of all, anglophone and francophone, He said, to prepare for the arrival of a new, bicultural Cameroonian, an equal heir to the "lessons" retained by the two regencies and likely to draw the best from these two inheritances. Current events prove enough that this project has failed. Two distinct Cameroonian identities coexist today, and Anglophones rightly feel a sense of being marginalized, of being citizens of a lower rank than Francophones. Since bilingualism enshrined in our Constitution is applied in a profoundly unequal manner in administration, justice and education, they do not enjoy equal opportunities which should be granted to all citizens of a modern and democratic state. This inequality also affects their living conditions: they suffer, even more than their Francophone compatriots, from unemployment and the lack of infrastructure. And the anglophones have no recourse, no relay to denounce these discriminations, since, finally, their community is largely kept apart from the key positions of the State and the administration, including within their own regions .

Anglophone Cameroonians, who today feel that their destiny escapes them, rightly denounce the betrayal of the spirit of the unification pact established in 1972 between the representatives of the two communities. Failure to respect this pact, the primary responsibility lies with francophones, and the latter must acknowledge their wrongs. In addition, from "United Republic", our country became simple "Republic" by the change of the law by a simple majority, a semantic sliding announcing the gradual forgetting of the bicultural identity of Cameroon by a monoculture power! And centralizing. Francophone leaders did not fulfill the commitments they made in 1972 to their English-speaking compatriots. But the Anglophone leaders who had taken part in this unification pact also failed in their duties: this drift of French power, they did not know - or not wanted, too satisfied with their personal privileges - to denounce it.
Do the new generation of Anglophone Cameroonians, who suffer the combined effects of this betrayal and renunciation, have to turn their backs on their Cameroonian identity, our common history? Not to mention the illusory and suicidal character of Anglophone Cameroon's independence, the return to federalism, which many Anglophones are calling for today, is not a solution to their difficulties.
To return today to two federated states, one English-speaking and one French-speaking, would definitively devalue the failure of the 1972 pact and would only accentuate the marginal economic and geographical character of the English-speaking regions. On the contrary, it is necessary to give life to the 1972 Pact, and finally to build a United Republic of Cameroon.
Because bilingualism, a legacy of our history, is now an opportunity for our country. As the only bilingual Franco-British country in the world with Canada, an inspiring model, Cameroon could be more effectively integrated into the practices and codes of a globalized world by introducing an egalitarian bilingualism.

To achieve this, the ghost of federalism must not be resurrected, but rather the choice of modernity and progress, that of diversity in unity, and finally the decentralization of the country. Representatives of the two communities must sit down at a table and write a new code of living together on the basis of past experience and the decentralization laws of 2004. This enhanced consultation will be constructive to the development of Anglophone Cameroon's infrastructure and could, for example, lead to the construction of a new international airport in this area or the construction of a university twinned with a prestigious international institution offering specific training and advanced (pilot, high-tech, ..) and non-existent in the French-speaking area. I propose today that a National Council of Unification be created at the highest level of the State: it will meet every six months to evaluate the implementation of this code, the purpose of which will be the advent of Cameroonian New, rich of its double culture. To mark symbolically but powerfully the break with the centralizing policy that the government has been leading for more than 30 years, I also propose that our country regain its name of "United Republic of Cameroon" as well as the flag sporting two yellow stars on the green band, Instead of a yellow star on the red band as is currently the case. The return to the spirit of 1972 is the best guarantee of a harmonious and prosperous future for all Cameroonians.
Yaounde, 12 December 2016
Marafa Hamidou Yaya