Politics

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Rita Akana

17.Feb.2017

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Seven suspected Boko Haram militants blew themselves on the outskirts of a northeast Nigerian city on Friday, a local aid agency said, in an attack witnesses said targeted refugees preparing to return to their home villages. The News Agency of Nigeria said the attackers were nine.

The bombing took place outside Maiduguri, the population centre at the heart of a government campaign to eradicate the Islamist group, whose more than seven-year insurgency has killed 15,000 people and forced some two million from their homes.

The Borno State Emergency Management Agency said eight members of a local militia, the civilian Joint Task Force, were wounded in the attack, which underscored Boko Haram’s ability to continue to operate despite the government’s insistence it has crushed the group.

Witnesses told Reuters the attackers detonated their bombs

near a large refugee camp, outside which crowds of displaced people were gathering around trucks to form convoys before trying to return home.

In December, President Muhammadu Buhari said the capture of a key camp marked the “final crushing” of Boko Haram in its last enclave in Sambisa forest, once the group’s stronghold.

But since then the group, which split into two factions last year, has stepped up its attacks.

One Boko Haram faction is led by Abubakar Shekau from the Sambisa forest and the other, allied to jihadist group Islamic State, and led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, based in the Lake Chad region.

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Rita Akana

17.Feb.2017

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Boko Haram terrorists on Thursday killed three Cameroonian soldiers in the country’s far north, a newspaper is reporting.

Cameroonian newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel, said the three soldiers were killed when their vehicle climbed a landmine planted by the terrorists.

The soldiers had been deployed to Gouzda Vreket in the Mayo-Tsanaga department in the country’s far north. They died there.

Their death comes just a day after another Cameroonian soldier died on Wednesday in Borno state. He also died when the vehicle he was on climbed a landmine.

Simon Ateba

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Rita Akana

17.Feb.2017

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When through ignorance, foolhardiness, idiocy, 18th century societal governance exaction, and multiform gross miscalculations we have decided to turn our own country into the real Heart of Darkness perceived through the scribbles of Conrad, then there should be no question of how and where I have to cry, blubber or wail out laud. Everyone (including right thinking francophones and of course the usual plethora of ill-informed, half-baked pseudo intellectuals) seems to have an incredible something to articulate about how the crisis in our country should have or should not have been handled! Thank God we all have opinions and approaches. Thank God we all know what others should have or shouldn't have done. Thank God all our individual solutions are the best ever!

The issue here therefore, is one of 25 million solutions to a single crisis. Oh yes, 25 million. If we agree that the ongoing crisis has gone off hand, then let us be unassuming enough to put our finger on how the derailment sparked off. If we think the Lawyers and Teachers were never supposed to have voiced out the grievances and the gripe we all suffer, then we should rethink our pretentious claims to patriotism. In all homes, the adolescent who questions the parents has always been the intelligent one; the hope of that family!

The dumb, meek, and candy addict remains a disgrace for through such will nothing but ignominy befall the family. If the Lawyers and Teachers speak out, and we decide to give a false, forged and bogus coloring to their plight, then we have ourselves to blame for the unfortunate/ adverse upshot. As a first reaction (coming rather late) to the lawyers and teachers, the President set up a committee to dialogue with the leaders of these professional corps. But we, yes, I say WE because I have been coerced into accepting that I am part of the voodoo miscalculations that have littered this panoramic scene from inception till date. I accept! WE decided to keep aside the commissions and organize a classic march of the CPDM instead. If you like you can ask me what is wrong in that. "Nothing!" I would say but my Dear Patriot... Did the Lawyers and Teachers complain that their dear party has not marched for long??

Let's drum it down our heads (for those who have any) that derailment number 3 was this unorthodox "patriotic" decision. I put it number three because I think WE actually started by sending police to brutalize the lawyers as a token of our love for our country! I put it no. 3 because the students pulled out of their hostels in nightgowns and suffocated in sewage could not have been striking in that attire. And even if they were, that kind of treatment clearly spells it out that the security men never never considered those children to be humans, let alone they being Cameroonian! I say no. 3 to remind us that refusing to dialogue with Cameroonians when we do dialogue with Boko Haram and exchange captives is gruesome! I say no. 3 because after the shocking images of torn testicles on social media, “patriots” like Cameroon Tribune organized a funeral for the burnt flag!!!

 I say number three because those who advice the President did not tell him that Anglophone Cameroonians including some francophones all over the world have been out demonstrating. Rather WE told him that teachers and lawyers were being "manipulated". Who has succeeded to manipulate everybody just like that? If such exists, then that entity deserves the leadership of the people.

 If it’s a war of manipulation, why is gov't unable to manipulate? I earlier mentioned 25 million answers to a single question. For an Anglophone problem, Senator Musonge whom I respect very much, decided on his own solution, leaving Achidi Achu to decide on a parallel or perhaps a rival one?

 Do our so-called elite urinate in their pants when it comes to telling the head of state what they think? Do they know that to have designated the PM and his Chief of Cabinet from the beginning, the president can claim that the buffoonery came from them? Why on earth did the PM accept to go and march? May be that is the real Anglophone problem; panic and confusion at the helm.

 May be the Anglophones need their own “National Media” because if we are on an Anglophone problem, why is CRTV letting more francophones to talk about it than those concerned? If it is an Anglophone problem, why do we think pictures (fake or real) of pupils marching on February 11can be any form of solution? If this historic approach may have been taught by the French colonial masters, and must have succeeded in the former French colonies, We (You and I) find it humiliatingly worthless in such a context.

This outcome was glaringly predictable! WE, yes, WE have to stop aggravating this problem in the name patriotism and stop turning the "one and indivisible" into a laughing stock. People who are not Cameroonian have been calling to ask me if there is no sane human among the 25 million. Some of us and many more by airing out semi-sane proposals would have helped orientate even the approach to dialogue which seems to have been designed by souls foreign to negotiation and conflict resolution. When begun, dialogue should never be halted because it takes the parties to sentiments more acrimonious and rancorous than the initial state of mind (I still remember my diplomacy course). Theory? This has happened unfortunately!

For those who truly love this land, WE, again, WE should stop trying to address the striking public. Decision-making is the preserve to the governor not the oppressed. Telling people to stop ghost town with the lame excuse that it is detrimental to their businesses is by its very nature stupidity. When I go on hunger strike I don’t need a minister to tell me that food nourishes the body. As from now, the striking public can never stop asking to be given the treatment they deserve and will extend the demands with each act of repression.

Technically and scientifically, the group/groups are now too varied and multifaceted to get messages from any Elite, Fon, or even Union leaders. After the Buea sewage gruesome images, secessionists increased by 2000 % and as the days go by, many are swearing never to accept gendarmes parading our villages and harassing our grandmothers in French! The sooner a reasonable speech full of apologies is made in this country with a clear agenda for the remake, the better. WE, should tell the President what WE know is the way out. We think that if some government is too big to respect us, then we legitimately need a modest government at our level. I see that as a human right. We know it! We also know for instance that the use of words that cannot help the situation is babble squandering and may breed the unintended instead.

If people hear extremist three times, the next thing we will hear is “Nous sommes les extrèmistes!” Knack ma hand!!! A lot about life is predictable but it unfortunately requires common sense to predict the logical sequence of occurrences, not tricks. My brother Owona Nguini writes that the government will go wild with repression. I think so too but I equally know the state of mind of the average Anglophone: “Chop fire”, they call themselves. We still remember that as a means to chip away at the death of six at the launching of the SDF, “Official News”, that is CRTV, told us that Fru Ndi had escaped to Nigeria!!! Are WE at it again? I hate déjà vu especially when it brings shame and disgrace. Some of us still have self-pride. In times of conflict, if your contribution does not seek to support the oppressed or the victim, keep your mouth shut. Spare your wife and children the embarrassment of being reminded of your shortcomings. WE are worried because we love this country!!! I really mean we, not WE. I here plead with my so-called “patriots” to understand that we, LOVE THIS COUNTRY more than them!!!

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Dr Nguh Jam

17.Feb.2017

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President Paul Biya and his theory of 'one and indivisible Cameroon' is still facing tough resistance from the English speaking population of the country. While the government keeps calling for schools to resume, youths of the Northwest and Southwest regions are still to resume effective classes. The lawyer's strike is still ongoing making it impossible for the courts to operate normally.

Sporadic tensions have been witnessed recently in Ndop, Bali and Akwaya. These confrontations between the police and the population has led to numerous arrests and destruction of property. Since the government's ban and arrest of the Anglophone civil society Consortium, and the Southern Cameroon National Council's  leaders, the population has been respecting calls for civil disobedience from the Diaspora interim leaders ; Mark Bareta and Tapang Ivo.

The tense situation in Cameroon is not only affecting the 35 year old regime but recent developments between the different Anglophone groups fighting for the restoration of the Southern Cameroon state, has portrayed the weaknesses of these new leaders. Apart from the Interim leaders, Mr. Tassang Wilfred(Secretary General) of the Consortium, on the run, and others have resurfaced. Mr. Tassang has been sending out video messages to encourage the population to respect the strike actions. Meanwhile, many other groups with different strategies are becoming more vocal thus leaving the population confused. Citizens back home are now calling for an All Anglophone conference to bring all these groups under one umbrella. Critics have condemned the power struggle witnessed within these groups.

It is important to note that we are in a learning process,  and such conflicts are just normal. Cameroonians have been so used to seeing the same policies and faces without change for the last 35years. No real opposition, and especially, the fear factor has been a big problem. The regime successfully bribed opposition leaders and governed with an iron fist. What we are witnessing is democracy in action where people debate and push their ideas and policies to the public. By trying to compare the leaders of the different groups fighting for the restoration of Southern Cameroon to President Biya is an aberration.
The Democratic process in Cameroon since 1990 has been marred by corruption and nepotism. Southern Cameroonian should not expect their struggle to be a perfect one. The All Anglophone Conference will be a good solution but, it is time when people start asking what can I do to help my country. Problems will not be solved overnight even if federation or total separation is achieved. Conflicting debates, strategies, and planning is what will make things change. Leaders who will emerged from the struggle having proved their unifying force are certainly those who will gain the  trust of the population.

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Rita Akana

17.Feb.2017

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The case of Ayah Paul Ebine, supreme court judge arrested by the Biya regime has exposed the frailty of the political structure and to a broader extends, the separation of power between these structures in Cameroon.

A democratic government normally has 3 branches; the executive, legislative, and judiciary with each being totally independent.The purpose of the judicial branch is to interpret the Constitution and other laws. The judicial branch is independent from the executive and legislative branches in order to hold them in check. 

In Cameroon, the executive branch of government has usurp all the powers, turning the judiciary and legislative to mere spectators taking orders from the authoritarian regime of the supreme Emperor who in this case is the 85 year old, ailing president Paul Biya. In a country where the ruling party has won all elections since multiparty was reinstated in 1990, democracy is practised only on paper. President Biya's democracy is a sham. He appoints hand-picked judges to the judiciary who are his stooges and will stop at nothing to satisfy him. The judiciary is not independent in Cameroon. In this fallacy, anyone who questions Biya is seen as an enemy of the state and civilians are regularly dragged to the Military courts. The case of Justice Chi Valantine, formally of the Manyu & Fako High Courts and currently Deputy Attorney General for the West Province, arrested following orders from the supreme executive president only proofs the weakness of the judiciary.

It is important to note that the legislative and judiciary are normally checks and balances vis a vis the executive. Once there is no balance of power, the executive becomes a monopolistic government totally disconnected from the realities facing the population. The legislative branch in Cameroon has been turned to hand clappers who represent their selfish interest rather than that of the citizens. The CPDM has reportedly rigged elections in Cameroon to gain majority in the Assembly and Senate, so as to easily implement its centralized policies. The result is a failed state where the constitution has constantly been violated by the president. All bills tabled by the government in Parliament are voted and promulgated into law regardless of their legality. This has led to a disparity between the government and the governed.

The crack down by the Biya regime on English speaking judges in Cameroon and a call by Southern Cameroonians in their majority for Parliamentarians to walk out of the Assembly in Yaoundé, is a refusal by the Anglophones to accept the bureaucratic nature of government. Reports say the government is in a deadlock. Francophone judges are beginning to question why justice Ayah Paul and others were arrested. What an embarrassment to a regime that is facing the toughest opposition to its policies in 35 years.

Cameroon needs an overhaul of its political system. The judiciary and legislative should be totally independent for good governance to prevail. Underdevelopment, corruption, favouritism, poverty, huge international debt are all a result of this poor bureaucratic system.  While the government can quickly accuse English speaking Cameroonians of depriving their children of the basic right of education, and foster its claims of manipulation from those it term 'extremists', its of utmost importance to restructure the running of state affairs and only a return to federalism will address these ills. Not even the best political analyse can project the outcome of the Anglophone problem in Cameroon. Government should call for frank dialogue before its too late⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

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Rita Akana

16.Feb.2017

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