Biya mocks Anglophones with commission to promote Bilingualism and bi-cultural values

55 years after West Cameroon decided to gain independence by reuniting with the already independent republic du Cameroun, Biya thinks it’s now time to promote the Bilingual and Bi-cultural values of the nation. But the big question Cameroon Concord could not get an answer to is why now? Why wait for 55 years before you decide to put into effect a commission to promote the values that bind Cameroon together?

While others have been quick to embrace the head of states decision to create the commission which will be placed under his supervision and have a total of 15 members, political pundits have simply described the move as a desperate attempt by the president to put an end to the current political atmosphere in the English speaking regions of Cameroon. The announcement that was first aired over the state broadcaster states that the members of the committee will equally be charged with examining complains tabled to them by citizens who are victims to violators of the bi-lingual and bi-cultural nature of the state.

However, President Paul Biya who has being in power since 1982 either deliberately or unknowingly left out the bi-jurial nature of the country which opinion leaders say should have been included in the commission. As if to say the legal department was completely void of any problems it will be good to remind the head of state that the current strike action that has since last year grounded activities in the North West and South West Regions started first with the lawyers strike. It should be noted that this is not the first commission the head of state is creating since the commencement of the Anglophone strike.

The first was an adhoc committee headed by Paul Gogohmo charged with finding a solution to the teacher’s problems. After holding several unfruitful meetings with teacher’s representatives and trade union, Paul Gogohmo dissolved the committee and forwarded an “empty and unsigned” report to through the Prime Minister to the Head of State.

Equally, Garga Harman, national president of Alliance for Democracy and Development, ADD, one of Cameroon’s numerous opposition political parties was charged by the head of state to hold talks with aggrieved Anglophone. But as a newspaper in Cameroon reports, “he went to the dialogue hall empty handed and came back empty handed.”

While it is the hope of many that this commission will not fail like many other that have been put in place by the government, all eyes are now focused to Yaounde where the headquarters of the commission will be based on their first plan of action. Afaire a suivre…