CELEBRATING A LIE - OPEN LETTER TO NI JOHN FRU NDI, AYAH PAUL, KAH WALLAH, BEN MUNA

This article was first published on 1st March 2012

I have decided to pen these few words to you, politicians of Anglophone extraction, because I am aware you are a force to reckon with. I believe, like any other people or country who jealously and preciously love their identity and independence, it is high time you people start taking a strong, resistant and objective stance concerning the history of Southern Cameroons. It is above time for us to be biting our tongue.

Fifty-one years of a nation’s life is long enough, and you politicians should have a unified voice for a better bargaining power. Thus as a young West Cameroonian, an Ambazonian of which I am proud to be, I write with all authority and with the blessings of our fore parents that with the present dispensation, there is no reason on this planet earth for us to celebrate the so-called re-unification. It takes only an adulterated Anglophone to do so. We cannot celebrate what did not exist; it would be a miscarriage of justice.

New Year Message

Mr. Paul Biya during his New Year message to Cameroonians passively mentioned re-unification which came at the end of his speech; he said it as if it is a non-event, and he never gave an afterthought. The so called re-unification that is supposed to touch the very facet of Cameroon’s existence could not have been treated with so much scorn and as a second class message. It is therefore true that Mr. Biya was playing to the gallery either to please the embittered Anglophones, international community or to further weaken the argument of Anglophone nationalists.

My Dear Anglophone leaders, there is no gainsaying that Mr. Biya had no political will in celebrating the “re-Unification”. If not, an event of such importance would have been celebrated in 2011 despite the Presidential Elections. You all will bear with me that the 11th February 1961 Plebiscite was just an intension our fore parents made in joining La Republique du Cameroun; reason why the Plebiscite question was simply “Do you WISH to gain independence by joining the Independent Republic of Cameroon or by joining the Federal Republic of Nigeria”?

It is no secret that our people voted massively and in good faith to join La Republique du Cameroun but Britain and France in their typical Western imperialist mafia decided to trade Southern Cameroons and so at mid night on 30th September 1961, French Cameroun crossed over and annexed the British Southern Cameroons.

Young West Cameroonians Are Tired

We are aware that the UN has no document in their keeping supporting re-unification or that both countries formally unified, so I believe it is high time you people as politicians seized this ‘window dressing re-Unification celebrations’ to make a strong point against Biya as to engineer dialogue. After all, did the Court in Banjul not rule that Mr. Biya should dialogue with Southern Cameroons 

My parents, we as young West Cameroonians are tired, you need to walk down the streets and listen to the cry of Anglophones, we need our true identity, we want to feel Southern Cameroonian in all aspects, we want things put straight as originally wanted by our fore parents during the pre-1961 era. You will accept with me that whether we like or not, Anglophones are marginalised. It is now a way of life in Cameroon.

Did you people not get Nfon Mukete, one of the architects of re-unification during a preparatory meeting at CNPS Hall in Mile 17 Buea indicting government for marginalising Anglophones? Yet he shamefully declared that he will still vote for re-Unification if given the second chance. You will accept again that the marginalisation of the Anglophones is not the same like any other people in Cameroon who are marginalised like some adulterated Anglophones have been preaching. Ours is a Constitutional and Political problem that warrants a political solution.

Mr. Fru Ndi, did you not recently declare to your militants that you will join the SCNC if they fail to give you majority of seats in Parliament? I take it to mean that it is not again one of your political rhetoric, I do hope you mean everything you say, it is time you start being consistent in your political declarations. The Anglophone youth look up to you a lot.

It is true that most of our Anglophone brothers and sisters in the military and police force have been francophonised to the extent that speaking English to them is a taboo; is it not also true that Mr. Yang Philemon even addressed his own native Oku people in Yaounde in French. 

You will also get the so-called Anglophone children Parliamentarians complaining that all documents are in French; also the Pre-1961 West Cameroon assets gone; now one La Republique du Cameroun agent in North West Province (Region) Governor Bakar Ahamat is trying to ‘Boko Haram’ CAMCCUL so that it will necessitate Government take over thereby facilitating to crumble one of the last surviving asset of Anglophones.

While our appointed brothers in the French Region try to speak in French to serve them, those Francophones appointed this way West of the Mungo speak English as a matter of choice; whilst you will hardly get an English notice posted in French Cameroon Government offices, you will get offices like the treasury in Buea, Delegation of Youth and Sport, DO’s office etc posting documents in French this way West of the Mungo etc.

Wikileaks Cables

In October last year after the Presidential election when most of your votes were stolen, did you people not send out the Yaounde Decleration? What did they (Francophones) say? Did they not remind you to go back home and that Yaounde is not your home? What does that signify?

Look at the Wikileaks cable where they proclaimed without any fear that an Anglophone can never be President. Look at our parents in Tole who for over five months have been protesting but nothing concrete has been done, but immediately the workers of the Doula airport started striking, government ran to the rescue. What was government’s reaction to the Lake Nyos and Nsam fire incidents? You can better tell.

Even look at their own CPDM militants in Bamenda who lost lives and property during the 1992 post-election violence-what have they done? Are you people not aware of our road network? Are you people not aware that the Minister of Communication dished out millions of CFA Franc to French owned media during the last presidential election, but nothing was given to the Anglophone media? Are you people not also aware that in the 25.000 Government Job Scam, less than 1.000 recruited were Anglophones?

The Government was even proud to say Anglophones were incompetent; have you people not heard that the lecturers sent to teach in University of Buea and Bamenda in this recent 25.000 job cannot even express themselves in English? Again is it news that important announcements over CRTV must come first in French before it is “truncated” to the English language? The same is true with most Government ministries...The list is endless.

It is time we as a people rise up to our identity and we can only do so when our Anglophone leaders are in tandem with the Anglophone youth. You, as politicians, must start speaking one language to salvage this Constitutional hold up by French Cameroun.

Parallel Parliament in Buea

I think Mr.Fru Ndi, Hon. Paul Ayah, Madam Kah Wallah and Barrister Ben Muna have both the Political and Economic power to solve this problem. It has a simple solution if there is a political will. All of you should sit down and make sure it is a duty that this upcoming parliamentary election, all seats in North West and South West Provinces (Regions) is gripped by the opposition.

Then instruct your MPs when they move to Yaounde to institute a Constitutional discussion on the Anglophone Problem or walk out of Parliament and form a parallel Parliament in Buea. This will cause the International Community (UN) and Mr. Biya to force a dialogue. It should be noted that the same above could be done even if all the seats in Anglophone Cameroon is not gripped by the opposition, again it takes just the political will for the few opposition Anglophone MPs to do same if Yaounde refuses to dialogue. This will serve as a force of argument.

I should make it categorically clear. My position is not secession as some will want to believe. In the first place secession does not exist in this circumstance as there was and had never been any union formally between the two Cameroons.

My position is to free the Anglophone people from the political and economic annexation the French Cameroun and take this blessed land Cameroon back to the original idea our fore parents wanted-the idea of federalism with the presidency alternating between La Republique du Cameroun and the Southern Cameroons, where we shall be able to elect our governors and with the states enjoying autonomy. This is what Cameroon needs now.

Our political leaders and opposition MPs should be rest assured that should they agree to take this bold step, the Force of the Anglophone youth, the International Community and the spirits of our fore parents shall continue protecting and supporting this just cause. I am therefore prepared with all sincerity to lead the Anglophone youth in this mission if given the necessary support

I rest my case