Politics

A military tribunal base in Yaounde, capital of the Republic of Cameroon has for the second time adjourned the case against Barrister Balla , Dr Fontem and Mancho Bibixy to the 23rd March 2017.

The military court hearing started this morning at precisely 10 am. The court session was attended by over 120 lawyers both Francophones and Anglophones in a strong show of solidarity to the colleague. There were some commotion in the hall as the lead counsel of Balla and co Barrister Muna rejected the reading of the charges which were read in French. The person doing the translation was so poor that the lead counsel had to stop the translation.Cameroon concord is still gathering more updates to this developing story.Stay connected

Details: Rita Akana; 13.Feb.2017; Hits: 3073

BaretaNews is reporting that there is massive arrest going on indiscriminately at Mile 17 Buea in the South West region of Cameroon. Police have stormed private homes in search for prisoners who escaped after participating on 11th February.The Governor of the region Mr Okalia had to take prisoners to participate on 11th February so as to sabotage the Anglophone consortium's call total boycott of the event, most of those prisoners ran away after the failed event. After what is seen as a big blow to the failing struggles of the regime, the government goes around arresting individuals randomly in a bid to secure these prisoners.

BaretaNews.

Details: Rita Akana; 13.Feb.2017; Hits: 2670

The statement by the Southwest elite forum on the Anglophone problem is a shameless display of crass opportunism and a betrayal of the Anglophone cause for which the verdict of history would be merciless

It would have been enough to dismiss the now infamous Buea Declaration as the ranting of overzealous, self-seeking, and misguided CPDM courtiers, parading themselves as Southwest elite. But against the backdrop of the Anglophone problem and the embarrassing spectacle of political scavengers stumping around the national stage as leaders, the Declaration cannot be allowed to stand without the benefit of a response. Expectations were high that a meeting called and chaired by former Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge would undertake a patriotic, honest and frank diagnosis of the present situation and chart a Pan-Anglophone way forward out of the impasse. To the utter embarrassment of the nation, it turned out to be a spectacle of odium with xenophobic attacks on Northwesterners, who were vilified and blamed for the ongoing teachers and lawyers’ strike that has grounded schools and crippled the justice system in Anglophone Cameroon. By any streak of the imagination, the sycophantic rally was more than disgraceful, unconscionable and irresponsible. This divisive clamor and inflammation of primordial sentiments is unpatriotic and unacceptable and all Southwesterners should feel a sense of outrage at this unbelievable shame that was contemptuously perpetrated in their name.

What happened in Buea was an aberration which fits the pattern of elite impunity in which meetings are goaded and rented crowds are requisitioned to agitate and influence political direction in the name of public engagement. At the risk of overstating what is by now so obvious, the fact that the strikes persist is proof that, these self-appointed guardians of the Southwest estate do not represent Southwesterners; their shameful and sycophantic gratification to the corridors of power notwithstanding. To these self-acclaimed elite, these pertinent questions are just appropriate: who made them leaders? Can they truly claim a mandate of Southwesterners to speak on their behalf? Were these elite unaware of the arrest and detention of Anglophone Consortium leaders; the ongoing abductions, rape, torture and killing of innocent civilians, including university students? Are they so insensitive, so emotionally disconnected and lacking even the basic humanity to empathize? How would any of them feel if their own daughters were abducted and raped? If they truly cherish the interest of the Southwest as they claim, wouldn’t meetings on these issues be a more edifying higher calling than partisan politicking?

In convening the forum, Musonge showed leadership. But by joining the perfidy of playing up primordial sentiments, the former PM; now Senator and Grand Chancellor of National Orders; to whom much has been given; and from who much is expected; misread the political climate and veered off the path of statesmanship into the quagmire of political grandstanding; denigrating beyond measure, his person, the office he holds, the institution of the Senate he represents and all Cameroonians as a people. For a detribalized Cameroonian to have committed such a great blunder and colossal error of judgment, so late in his career, is beyond disbelief.

As if Musonge was not shocking enough, Chief Tabetando boasting that the government-imposed internet shutdown and social media communication blackout in Anglophone regions was at the behest of Southwest elite, was a deeply distressing sight beamed to the world. Coming from a legal luminary and Senator, with the gravitas to have a clear understanding of government and politics, this is unacceptably irresponsible. With his petulance and foul temperament, Chief Atem Ebako set a new low, in what, unfortunately, has become the unedifying trademark of his favorite pastime - graffi-bashing. Chief Ebako obviously lacks Musonge’s urbane disposition and Chief Tabetando’s pedigree and power of elocution. But traditional rulers ought to be wise and profound men, able to sift the fad from the enduring and offer their views with such premium as would distinguish their voices from the rabble. His claim that strikes in the Southwest are perpetrated by Northwesterners is confounding.

But even more embarrassing was Prof. Nalova Lyonga. In a fit of bad judgment, she directed a barrage of condemnable invectives at students of Northwest origin, blaming them for strikes and unrest at Buea University, where she is the vice-chancellor. Lacking in the cultured intonation expected from someone in academia, this perverted kind of politicking is uncomplimentary to her status and beneath her office. In the judgment of an average sense of decorum, her garrulous banter betrayed a moral weakness of asinine proportion which is inexcusable. Certainly, Prof. Lyonga needs to execute her office with greater competence and grace than she has done.

One of the values of democracy as the people’s government remains its support of, and respect for, free speech in an open decision-making process. In this regard, everyone is entitled to his opinion. Yet this process is verily endowed by the dignified public comportment in deeds and words called decorum. It is a denigration of the collective spirit and a negation of the inviolability of the Cameroonian people, for holders of hold high public office to cheapen their exalted position as leading lights of the people with comments which portray them as imprudent loose cannons and anarchists. In civilized democracies, even just for reasons of decency, of self-respect, of a sense of propriety, and consideration for best practices in public office, these elites would have been relieved of their duties for bringing their public offices, to so much odium. This absence of stately comportment displayed by persons, who by authority and common trust are supposed to be epitome of civility, is highly disturbing as it sends the wrong message to the lower rung of the political ladder. If the sensibilities of law-abiding citizens are assaulted by bigotry and intolerance; does it surprise anyone why there is a high level of official rascality by mediocre politicians like Mayor Ayuk Takunchong in Mamfe and his Buea counterpart, Patrick Ekema, who, willfully and ignorantly, lack the requisite leadership capacity and temperament for governance?

Graffi-bashing is nothing new; it has gone on for so long, and has become something of a political culture for Southwest CPDM elite. True, NW/SW relations have had its challenges, which have been overplayed for propaganda purposes by selfish politicians and elites on both sides. These elite seem blinded by messianic delusions not to realize or accept that times have changed. Fact is, there is much that unites Northwest and Southwest than divides them. And in the context of the Anglophone fight against marginalization, the unhelpful reasoning that the Northwest is responsible for the economic retardation of the Southwest is patently misplaced and has no redeeming political value. It is a claim of crass ineptitude, to see demands for a return to two-state federation as a ploy by Northwesterners to dominate the Southwest in a future Anglophone state, because of their demographic advantage. The present generation of Southwesterners have nothing to fear from Northwesterners and the discord being sown by some Southwest elite suggest crass ignorance or outright mischief and betrays a lack of political sophistication. Anglophones are politically savvy to see through the hypocrisy of those fighting to maintain and expand their private economic and political estates on the back of our collective misery.

Animosity towards citizens from another region of the country is not only wrong and downright divisive; it is a brutal assault on national unity and a violation of the constitution that gives every Cameroonian “the right to settle in any place and to move about freely.” Nation-building is not a task for simpletons or irredentists. Anglophone and Francophone intellectuals and opinion leaders have a responsibility to educate those who pretend or actually do not understand that unity and sovereignty are better when peacefully negotiated than when forcibly foisted. Forced nationhood is not only wrong; it breeds conflict and serves no useful purpose. Within one generation, the forced Soviet empire collapsed like a pack of cards into different entities. Yugoslavia disintegrated into a collection of warring states. Germany once forcibly divided eventually evolved into one country. Eritrea came out of Ethiopia even as Menelik II had sold Djibouti to the French almost 116 years ago to fund the modernization of Addis Ababa. Sudan was forced to let Southern Sudan go after years of war as a result of injustice from centralization. Within just a quarter of a century, India, the world’s largest democracy, evolved from one territory into three countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).

The Southwest elite who met in Buea must understand that Cameroon cannot make progress with the current centralized arrangement which encourages indolence on the part of some while they feed fat on the resources of others. Of course, it appears the only people who do not understand federalism are those cocooned in the corridors of power. And many of them dishonestly interpret federalism to mean a political ploy to break up the country. This divisive and puerile misrepresentation of federalism as secession by politicians and elite is dubious, self-serving and unpatriotic. With all the benefits of federalism, including the fact that all regions in the country have one comparative advantage or the other to exploit in strengthening fiscal federalism, the issue now is how to reform governance institutions to create a true federation with viable, autonomous regions running their own affairs.

It is worth reiterating that elite imperviousness to reason and lessons of history will continue to endanger Cameroon’s unity. And such disposition as seen in the government so far to the issue of federalism will do more damage to the unity of the country than anything else. President Biya should no longer be fooled; the proponents of federalism are the true patriots who want a solid foundation for a united and prosperous Cameroon. The parochial irredentists who interpret federation as secession are the real enemies of the nation.

Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Details: Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai; 13.Feb.2017; Hits: 3524

Northwest Governor, Adolph Lele L’ Afrique, has said that certificate examinations must be written despite the on-going boycott of schools.

Lele L’ Afrique made this declaration as he visited some schools across the Northwest Region to assess the level of school resumption after the Anglophone teachers’ trade unions issued a release suspending their strike on February 3, 2017.

The Governor first visited Mesaje, Nkambe Central and Ndu Subdivisions of Donga Mantung Division.

At Government School Mesaje and GBHS Nkambe, there were more than 90 pupils and students mostly Francophones.

In Ndu, there were no students or pupils in any of the schools that the Governor visited.

Embarrassed by the failure of schools to resume as expected, Lele L’Afrique summoned the Mayor of Ndu Council, Emmanuel Bunyuy, and the Fon of Ndu, Nfor Nformi, to one of the Community Radio stations and asked them to appeal to parents to send their children to school.

Fon Nfor Nformi and Bunyuy respected the Governor and made the appeal in the local language as well as in English.

The appeal seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as on Monday, February 6, schools in Bamenda City and all major towns of the Northwest Region were paralyzed by the ghost town.

Some parents, however, braved the ghost town and escorted their children to school. These parents have cultivated the habit of dressing their kids in uniform at school gates.

Cameroonpostnewsline

Details: Rita Akana; 12.Feb.2017; Hits: 2977

In the fight between Government and the Ghost, which is raging in the Anglophone Regions, the latter seems to have overpowered the former and is now reigning supreme.

Despite the campaign on the State broadcaster that schools would resume on Monday, February 6, following a communiqué signed by some of the teachers’ trade union leaders calling of the teachers’ strike, school compounds were deserted on that day. The ghost was even more present than ever before. Its presence was so overwhelming and overbearing that could be felt even by the troops deployed in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, to stop the looming ghost.

Gendarmes deployed in Bamenda were overheard complaining: “Comment les gens si sont têtues comme ca? On les dit d’amenez leurs enfants a l’école, ils ne bougent pas. On les coups l’internet, ils sont la. Il n’ya personne dans les routes. Il n’ya pas l’eau à boire … meme pour payer. (Why are these people to stubborn like this? They have been told to take their children to school, no one has budged. They are cut from internet connection but they are not bothered. There are no people in the streets. There is no water to drink, not even to buy [our translation].

When Governor Lele visited schools in Bamenda and found out there were no children in the schools, he decided to tour the Region and exhort parents to send their children to school. From Mezam through Ngoketunjia to Bui and Donga Mantung Divisions: “Strike or no strike, exams must be written!” He thus urged parents to send their children to school. But parents are not heeding to the plea and are apparently promoting the strike by keeping their children at home.

After the xenophobic outing in Buea against Northwestnerners (graffi), some Ministers, Ngolle Ngwesse and Paul Elung, reportedly visited their native Kupe Muanenguba Division and invited traditional leaders to Tombel. Having piled a huge mound of money on the table, they told the Chiefs that the money was for them; so that they can go and convince parents in their villages to take their children to school.

One of the Chiefs looked at the money, starry-eyed, and then raised his hand. Permitted to speak, he got up and asked: “So, this kind (amount) of money is in this country and we haven’t even a kilometre of tarred road in our area here? I am sure you Ministers had to bump into stones and tear through the bushes to come here. Can’t you use this money to give us a road? Well, I just thought I should make this point.”

When he sat down, one of the big men, in response to the issue raised, explained that the money on the table was for the pressing, urgent issue of children going back to school. He said when that is done with, they would come back to discuss the road issue.

The money was then shared to the Chiefs and the Ministers travelled back to Yaounde. But the following Monday, February 6, what was expected did not happen. The ghost seemed to have descended to the area and there was not even the soul of a child in any of the schools around.

Irked by this, one of the local administrators decided to conduct a tour of the schools and make a roll call of teachers, head teachers and principals. In one of the Government colleges, he met the principal and teachers but not all of them were there.

He asked for a list of those who were present, promising hell to those who were absent, but the principal advised that he should rather take the list of those who are absent. When the list was made, the principal took it to the administrator and, behold, top on it was the name of the administrator’s wife who is a teacher in that school. He got furious. Apparently, someone got to the wife on phone and, about half an hour later, she rushed in panting. On the list, it was added against her name that she came at 1.00 pm and that she has always been absent. The DO, seemingly did not want to take it along. He finally left saying the principal should send the list to his office.

In Buea, education authorities decided to tour schools to assess the responsiveness to the call by Government. On their way to Bokwaongo, they met a few students going back home. Asked why, the children said there had been only a few of them in school and classes were not going on. Hence, they decided to go home. The authorities were dumbfounded.

The Governor of the Southwest, Okalia Bilai, was so disappointed and became so apprehensive when he visited schools and found out that they were deserted. In the frenzy, he verbally assaulted a few teachers, head teachers and principals that he met in school compounds.

At Lycee Molyko in Buea, only Francophone students were found on campus, some playing on the playground.

At GTHS Molyko, the Governor asked for all the teachers to come out. They did but there were no students at the school. He then pointed at one teacher and accosted him: “You! Where is your child and why didn’t you bring him to school?

The teacher replied that he doesn’t have a child. That he is not married.

“What are you waiting for, at this age?” the Governor fired

The man replied that it his right to marry or not to.

The Governor then turned to another teacher and asked why he didn’t bring his own child to school. When the man answered that he has no child, the Governor got furious, grumbling that this must stop.

At GHS Buea Town, the Governor confronted the principal of the school by asking why she did not bring her children to school.

“At this [advanced] age, your Excellency, can I have children still in secondary school?” she quipped.

The Governor then asked why she did not cause her teachers to bring their children to school. The principal explained that the school was still new and most of the teachers still young – some of them must have just started thinking about marriage.

The Governor asked the principal to compel the teachers to get married and make children so that they can bring them to school.

“L’état c’est le pouvoir. Que c’est que vous voulez montrer?” the Governor fumed.

In a meeting with proprietors of private schools, the Governor gave them a 48-hour deadline to open the gates, beyond which, he would seal the schools forever. The threat also included mission schools.

Proprietors could be heard grumbling that they borrowed huge funds from banks to build their schools. They asked if the Governor would pay back the money to the banks or rebuild the schools if they are burnt. Some asked if the Governor and Mayor have already compensated those shop owners who heeded their threats and opened their shops during ghost town and they were burnt. The 48 hours elapsed but the school gates remained closed.

Cameroonpost

Details: Rita Akana; 11.Feb.2017; Hits: 3310