The Anglophone Struggle:Going Down Memory Lane

By Kini Nsom

What has metamorphosed to be today the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, onslaught began in 1961 when Southern Cameroons (English-speaking) joined La République du Cameroun (French-speaking) in a UN-conducted plebiscite.

The results of the plebiscite, proclaimed on February 11, 1961, indicated that Southern Cameroonians chose to join La République in a federation instead of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a way of gaining its own independence.

The nitty-gritty of the deal was brokered in the Foumban constitutional conference in which politicians of La République, led by late President Ahmadou Ahidjo, somehow outwitted Southern Cameroonians, led by late statesman, John Ngu Foncha.

In the circumstances, Southern Cameroons that had become West Cameroon staggered on in the federation until 1972. The West Cameroon which had a Prime Minister at its helm was administered as an independent state. Anglophones in this state handled their affairs with little influence from the Francophone regime in Yaounde.

But in 1972, the federation was arbitrarily abolished in what many critics qualified as a "heavily rigged" referendum. According to the results of the vote that the Ahidjo regime published on May 20, 1972, citizens of both states voted overwhelmingly to become one state, one country called the United Republic of Cameroon.

Assimilation

Some Southern Cameroonian politicians like SML Endeley who stood against any union with La République from crass qualified the referendum as a ruse for total assimilation.True to this statement, assimilation it was. The state of West Cameroon lost its identity and the much cherished Anglo-Saxon values in the management of public affairs were adulterated by elements of the Francophone culture.

Anglophones cried the beloved country as corporations of the former West Cameroon like POWERCAM, Cameroon Bank; the National Produce Marketing Board etc succumbed to the poor management of the Francophone-led government in Yaounde. Road infrastructure in West Cameroon was neglected, and the Tiko Airport, the Mamfe and Bali air strips were abandoned as the Ahidjo regime began to fully call the shots.

The 1972 Constitution stated clearly that the two official languages in the country are English and French, but it became clear that French has taken an upper hand while English was relegated to the background. For one thing, President Ahidjo never addressed the nation even once in English to give the Anglophones a sense of belonging in the United Republic of Cameroon. His predecessor has never done so either.

Change Of Name

Worse, in 1984, President Biya changed the name of the country from the United Republic of Cameroon to simply Republic of Cameroon. Late Albert Mukong, an Anglophone rights activist qualified such an act as a provocative act of assimilation by the Biya regime. He said simply calling Cameroon, the Republic of Cameroon was the regime's criminal attempt to distort historical facts.

"Two states came together to form one nation. They are distorting everything to look as if Cameroon was only one country from the beginning," the activist recalled as he chatted with this writer in 1997 in Yaounde.

It was a futile attempt by Yaounde-led government to distort historical facts about the travails of Southern Cameroons nationhood.Such a manoeuvre coupled with the marginalisation of Anglophones in government appointments helped to give birth to the various Anglophone pressure groups.

The activism accelerated with the birth of the Cameroon Anglophone movement, CAM, and the Ambazonia idea led by Barrister Gorji Dinka emerged. These groups and many others hammered on the return to federation.

Outcry!

But the cry against the marginalisation of Anglophones was properly articulated in the All Anglophone Conference AAC1 that took place in Buea in 1993. The Mount Mary event brought statesmen of the former Southern Cameroons and the cream of the Anglophone society in Cameroon.

The conference was a forum for the articulation of the grievances of the citizens of the former Southern Cameroons. It preceded the constitutional talks that led to the amendment of the 1972 constitution in 1996. But the bone of contention remains the fact that the amendment largely ignored the call for a return to a federation as contained in the document that sanctioned the AAC1 deliberations known as the Buea Declaration.

When it became clear that the Yaounde authorities were paying no heed to the Buea Declaration, the AAC trio, Barrister Ekontang Elad, Dr. Simon Munzu and Dr. Karlson Anyangwe convened AAC II in Bamenda in April 1994. The authorities responded with the deployment of troops in the town.

Government was on a full-scale war to make sure that the meeting did not hold. The state radio even broadcast a fake announcement to the effect that the meeting had been postponed, but its convenors immediately countered it.

Troops toting sub-machine guns, truncheons with teargas canisters hanging from their outfit made Bamenda looked like a town under siege.The spectre of a full-blown confrontation loomed. Journalists covering that event were arrested and detained. As a young reporter, this writer received his baptism of fire during that event with Valentine Zinga of La Nouvelle Expression and late Achuosih Nyouh of the defunct Today newspaper.

As the forces brutalised journalists and other victims, ACCII convenors outsmarted security forces and secretly held their meeting in a chapel at the Ntambessi neighbourhood. The meeting rose with what became known as the Bamenda Declaration. It was an ultimatum to the Biya regime to return to federation or face zero option which means secession.

The Bamenda Declaration gave the Biya regime what it called a reasonable time frame to act. The time elapsed and nothing was done.This was when ACC then metamorphosed to the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC. It was charged with the responsibility of ensuring Southern Cameroon Independence. The 1997 terrorist attacks in the North West was blamed on SCNC. And it was also in this logic that Justice Fred Ebong proclaimed what he called the independence of Southern Cameroons on radio Buea in 1999.

Confusion, Cacophony

Many years after the onslaught was launched, the SCNC has remained an outfit of warning factions basking in the cacophony as to who is who. The council has lost its steam to internal squabbles. For many observers, it is difficult to say which the genuine faction of the SCNC is. Ambassador Fosung, Justice Ebong, Chief Ayamba, Dr. Martin Chia Ateh and Dr. Anyangwe all claim to be leading the SCNC.

And what about Ebenezar Akwanga? The struggle seems to be no longer focused. A divided house can only be fragile and vulnerable to the enemy. Until the SCNC leaders reunite themselves under one umbrella clearly stating their objectives, they will remain a group of clowns, self-seeking schemers who are acting a play of the grotesque.

Comments

[JN Royal]

Well said Kini...

Unity is a an integral part to progress; envision all oppositions parties in Cameroon under one “Travelers” say CUOP (Cameroons “United” Opposition Parties) with a cohesive plan and an egalitarian elected honcho among the 208 or so opposition parties there exists...that's only when they will post as peril to the ruling RDPC...too many chiefs can't rule one kingdom...we have too many of those...worst still, it is alleged that some of them have personal raison d’être and vendetta only imaginable...Else the weaknesses and falls are inevitable and only a matter of time.

In politics…it is always the intend of a political party to stay in power until infinity…If my memory serves me right, I think history has it that, ever since FDR, only Bill Clinton, on the Democratic (U.S.) party ticket has won back-to-back and been elected to “La Maison Blanche” to wit, the Republicans use their years of experience, contrive and political wit to maintain and influence U.S. policies. We can argue for and against this assertion as such…but truth be told: A party’s ambition is to stay in power (the political i.e) until infinity (In the case of CPDM, it chooses to retain H.E. Paul Biya, as its head honcho)…may be…until she feels he can’t lead the party or other such reason, then she may want to request an election and seek other proficient leaders, or heck! Biya could decide and pass the baton to an aboriginal Anglophone, Bami, et al. just like Ahidjo did to him.

Politics, just in case you didn’t know, in political science 101: “1 a: the art or science of government b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government”. Hitherto, CPDM has emerged the Master, with PHD in this theory… The party reinvents and proceed with cautions, knowing well, the sun doesn’t shine forever, but as long as it is here: Their militants with exclusively shine together.

Stay blessed, and Let Cameroon be United.

[TAGRO]

For more please click here:October 1 Video Address

[red flag]

KINI, SAYING MUCH WITHOUT TAKING A STAND
TANTAMOUNT TO SAYING NOTHING, PLUS YOUR WRITUP ATE FULL OF SELF SUGESTIONS AND LIES
THAN FACTS, YOU SAID AHIJO, THE POST OFFICE CLERK OUT WITTED PDHS LIKE THE ENDELLEY...
HMMM. YOU MUST BE OT OF YOUR MIND, ALL AHIJO DID, WAS TO WAKE UP INONE DAY IN THE MORNING AND SAY I HAVE DECIDED, THAT WE ARE A FEDERAL REPUBLIC, WITHOUT WAITING FOR THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS PARLIAMENT TO DECIDE, AND COME BACK AS THEY TOLD HIM IN FOUMBAN, THAT THEY WILL GO HOME AND DEBATE THEN GET BACK TO HIM. AHIJO KNOWING WHAT HE HAD DONE KILLING THOUSANDS OF BAMILIKES WITH FRENCH MILITARY SUPPORT, AND SEEING SOUTHERN CAMEROONS STACK NACKED NOT EVEN A SCOUT TO PROTECT IT, TO ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION, THIS ISNT JUST CRIMINALISTIC BUT VERY UN DEPLOMATIC, NO ONE SHOULD REWARD HIM BY SAYING HE WAS WITTY, HE WAS AN ILLETRATE SAVAGE, JUST LIKE LIKE PREDECESSOR BIYA WHO WENT TO A UNIVERSITY BUT HAVE BECAOME A MONSTER, WHO SURVIVE ONY BY SUCKING THE BLODD DRY OFF BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

[Legima Doh]

Kini you have written some good points here but u want to watch you tongue on the qualifications you give to the Southern Cameroons struggle.This is a period of constructive education about the historical facts, political aspirations and directions of the Southern Cameroons to the youths.The ScNc is not a perfect entity but the failings of some of its leaders cannot be used as tools to drag its name through such a mire.They come and derail but the legitimacy of the stuggle is immortal.It cannot be distorted nor destroyed.That is why even in the wake of people drifting apart due to selfish reason or so,before long right minded people are there and the speed with which the regeneration occurs is astonishing.You can count those names as those who have fallen from the reality but that of those who have stood on the truth till date and those who have died as martyrs on the truth are innumerable.Every struggle is fraught with black legs.I know of Elad Ekongtang so well, of Chief Oben, of Ambassador Fosung whose lips have not been closed as if padlocked.To me these are now nonentities about the struggle.Akwanga himself is without any commendable activism.But then, the struggle keep on forging forward,God blessing it and our motherland.
Legima Doh,
ScNc,New York

[Legima Doh]

correction,
whose lips have now closed as if padlocked.

[UnitedstatesofAfrica]

Legima GOAT, why do you keep signing "New York" after every post? who the hell cares where you are? people come here to debate issues and not to find out which cities fake asylum papers can get you into. You might even be making these things up for all we know.

Debate without any embellishment...the substance of your words should convey your message, not signatures.

Have a good Tuesday!!