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« Cables from the Fatherland 2: The Political Realities on the Home Front | Main | Photo: Drummer, Joseph Ngwa »

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Comments

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Bob Bristol

Konde, the functions of these so-called oversea leaders are well defined; which is to assemble Africans ( from any nationality) and distribute CPDM T-shirts and offer them some tokens to clap for Mr Biya during his visits to that part of the world.

angel christy

The so called Oversees CPDM not not organise. They can still be organise at anytime when the PAUL Biya is in Europe or USA just to get their own share of the stollen money. You need to know the President of Cameroon in in this part of the world then you are just there with your CPDM uniform, then you are served or given an envelope. You know cameroon is one of the highest country when it comes to Scamming. They also Scam their president Paul Biya by telling him I will organise the Cameroonians here snd letter inform who ever is there that the Cameroon head of state is around and they pass by as supporters.

Paul Nkamankeng

Dear Prof. Konde,

I wish to start by thanking you for acknowledging the fact that the Cameroonian Diaspora has a role to play in helping our Fatherland/Motherla nd reach its optimum potential. However, I wish to draw your attention to the following realities:

1) Most Cameroonians in the Diaspora left their country of birth for "greener" pastures abroad because the current CPDM government has failed in their more than 2 decades in power to deliver these opportunities back home. It would be ironic to believe that these very same people will become strong supporters of the CPDM while abroad.

2) I refuse to believe that the CPDM government at home does not understand the problems the country is facing or how to solve them - hence needing "new ideas" from the CPDM Diaspora. They have simply decided to ignore the suffering of the majority of the Cameroonian people and nurture the selfish and corrupt attitudes of the few elites in their click. For example, when Cameroonians decided to go on strike to protest against high food prices, the army & police descended on them with great impunity resulting to a massacre of many young lives. So is this the government who listens to its people?

3) Lack of strong leadership from the CPDM has led to corruption and mismanagement eating into the heart of the Cameroonian society. These are just some few examples of this lack of leadership:

a) How many financial institutions have been made to collapse by the current government? e.g. Cameroon Bank, BICIC, Marketing Board, Credit Agricole, etc.

b) Admissions into professional institutions (ENAM, EMIA,CUSS, etc) in Cameroon are not done on merit. People have to either be members of a CPDM click or bribe their way into these institutions! even qualified candidates have to still "buy" their place!

c) The government who is still the main employer (with a poorly developed private sector) has heavily politicised employment opportunities. They choose to ignore the fact that they are supposed to be the government of the people irrespective of their political affilliations. It is no doubt that the quality of service and performance of our public institutions and companies have been declining rapidly as our best brains are being kept out of the system.

d) Development projects have also been heavily politicised by the government. It is now common norm that if you don't have someone senior in the government, you cannot hope to have basic services and infrastructure like roads, hospitals and schools developed or maintained in your area or neighbourhood!

So as you can see, Cameroon, once deemed the bread basket of Central Africa is now a basket case because the CPDM led government has chosen for the past 27 years not to listen to the people! So it comes as no surprise that many of us in the Diaspora have chosen for a long time now to support a party (SDF) that at least listens to our worries. We will use the small resources that we have to help make our voices heard by the people of Cameroon and come 2011, power shall return to the People!!!!

The struggle continues...


Paul Nkamankeng

Provincial Secretary

SDF South Africa

Project Manager

Anglogold Ashanti Corporate

Strategic Projects Planning

Tel: +27 11 637 6769

Fax: 0866 231 263

Cell: +27 73 063 6404 / +27 82 688 6172

Email: pnkamankeng@ anglogoldashanti .com

Think before you print.

Ma Mary

Dr Konde. A court historian?

Ma Mary

CPDM people are generally in it for the neat little envelopes, not for belief in the system. It is all about graft.

angel christy

I think the CPDM diasporra is not interested in Cameroon being deveoped or the wellbeing of cameroonians.
If the diasporra are interested in Cameroon then they would have surported the president by asking him not to send huge sums of money for party uniforms. They would have advice the president that they have enough and he should use the money for uniforms to surport some hospitals, schools, or even help the needy. Instead of you taking water from the sea to the river, water was inStead taking from the sea to the river. The close to 48 million frs that was sent to France just for logistics.

Ras Tuge

Felix Moumie and Um Nyobe have more enduring legacies than Ahmadou Ahidjo! Konde...Konde! Ahmadou Ahidjo, the same guy who masterminded a United Cameroon by incapacitating Bumboklaat Foncha and rasclaat Muna, and compelling them to put their consciences on the balance? Come on man, are you conscious? Are you bloodclaat crazy? What sort of history are you teaching man?

Moreover, your scheme for connecting the Cameroon Diaspora and the Motherland is blatantly half-baked.

Lastly, the only legacy quislings can leave is that of shame and acrimony. Therefore, black heart traitors like Foncha and Muna who sold their consciences to amass enormous fortunes for their progeny shall all but sweat in Jah blazing fire. Fire burn dem all!

Hahaha

Tribalist Rasta don come again oh... Fire go burn Konde before e burn Muna and Foncha [RIP]

Mr. Man

Konde, you have the potentials of a good writer, but you must apply your mind properly and focus. You seem to want to stir controversy inorder to be known. The only word you had correct in the title of this article is Change!
1. 98% of Cameroonians i the diaspora will work hard for change in Cameroon but not through the CPDM.
2.The CPDM leadership is not yearning for change; they are short sighted, egoistic and enjoy the status quo.
3. These people in the diaspora will welcome a change in the entire CPDM leadership.
4. Cameroon needs a fresh start, so that should have been your only recommendation.
5. That fresh start should be a team from the diaspora that will do clean house.
6. All from within are seriously tainted to muster any change.

Massa Moyo

Change will not come through the diaspora. Have you forgotten that some of the so called diaspora came here through fraud? Some had dubious scholarships because their parents or guardians kissed Biya's ass. How then do you think those same persons who jorneyed from Belgium,Germany, Britain to meet a master thief like Biya would change the very ideas of their mentor or god father? It would be economic suicide. Imagine what Biya would do to Achidi Achu if his relatives abroad were seen by the CENER agitating.The freebies will dry up.

NHF

Good point Massa Moyo. But when we talk of people in the diaspora who can seat at the table, discuss serious matters that affect millions in a beloved country, the beneficiaries of corruption, offsprings of corrupt lords and cheats will naturally not be able to sustain such discussions. They may be part of the diaspora by definition, but those are not the people we are talking about.

The herald

"the Good Lord who, in his infinite wisdom determines the affairs of each man and of each people, has preserved me long enough to have the opportunity of pleading before the Cameroon Nation for the correction of the wrongs which have been done, over the past three decades and more, against an unsuspecting and trusting people that I, acting in good faith and as a Cameroonian patriot, led into what I was assured would be a union of equal partners, but which has since turned out to be an arrangement for the annexation, subjugation and domination of one of the partners by the other..."

That was Foncha apologising during the all anglophone conference in 1993. So,guys let's forgive him.

Ras Tuge

Bumboklaat Foncha shall burn in the most wicked fire man, as a matter of fact that unwitting quisling was never fit to be any leader in the first place. Acting in abject stupidity in the name of good faith, Foncha actually enabled, if not sponsored the utter and horrendous subjugation and annihilation of the Southern Cameroons.

No man can go against the virtuous will of the Most High by such blatant acquiescence to enslavement, and thereby subjecting a free people to such unwarranted captivity, seen? It is a horrific error for a statesman to show such pitiful ignorance.

Cameroonian patriot! Union of equal partners! Annexation! Herald or whatever you call yourself, have you ever stopped for a moment to think about where the Southern Cameroons would've been today had the bloodclaat riffraffs not sold their consciences?

Apologising for foolishly aggrandizing himself! Yea, and what has happened ever since then? I get fucking upset each time i hear anybody mention that Bumboklaat Foncha name. I'll shed no blood for the egregious blunder of such callous and scandalous criminals. Rather, i'll get a good rope and hang the traitors and their progeny just like the fate that Saddam and his seeds met.


The herald

To err is human and to forgive is divine.

The herald

"Reuniting today people of both French and English Expressions, Cameroon will be a veritable laboratory for an African Union which will unite people who speak these two languages. She will be a bridge between these two Africas, and her role can only be increased in forthcoming African assemblies".

That was Ahmadou Ahidjo during reunification in Octorber 1961.So,Ras Tuge you see now that it needed a soothsayer to predict or forecast what the future held for us.Which was to be one of betrayal,subjugation,marginalisation,torture,annihilation and even assimilation.Has this union turned out to be otherwise things would have been different.

Ras Tuge

Herald, well yea man, Ahidjo was a very sly goatherd if you may. He had his vision, and he did his homework impeccably. Visionary leadership is instinctive, and clearly Bumboklaat Foncha's utter lack of apprehension speaks volumes of the invalid that he was.

The price Southern Cameroons have been paying for that stupidity is costly, and shall live to haunt Anglophones in tears and blood. Why!!! The more i think of this, the more i want that insane fucker to burn. Man, you beta na talk to me about dat magga dog any more.

The herald

"There is disillusionment; discontent and frustration are sinking and spreading. There is nothing so calculated to wring and crush the human spirit, before a lofty enterprise, as to know what should be done and yet to have to stand by impotent and see the opposite taking place. This desperation has become explosive."

That was Dr.Bernard Fonlon lamenting in 1964 barely 3years after reunification.Frankly,if these patriots acted in good faith as decreed by Foncha above,something could have been done as young as this marriage was in 1964.I think devorce was one of many options.This could still have been possible today as time does not right a wrong but for the so called anglophone patriots who have been bought over to wait for crumbs that fall from their master's table.Ah!Cry the beloved country.

DANGO TUMMA

all of you guys including the man in southafrica
are mother fucking stupid. ask your self is paul biay reads or speak the language you are writing? ASSUMING you are from west cameroon, ie british southern cameroons.

facts clearly shows that this country is under paul biya colonial rule. why not atleast ask him to withdraw his illegal military and french sponsored administration, soo , southern cameroons citizens can rebuild?
is that much to ask? after all southern cameroons and french cameroun have nothing in common, except the name cameroon, but congo, guinea, etc all have the same shared name but are all independent countries.

VA Boy


The Social Connotations of the Word "Graffi"
by Emmanuel Konde

The word "Graffi" is a concept that defines a
particular kind of Cameroonian- -neither necessarily
nor exclusively of Northwest origin, even as it refers
to characteristics exhibited by those from the
Cameroon Grassfields who settled on the coastal
lowlands. Although the word "Graffi" may have been
derived from the nomenclature "Grassfields" , as a
social concept its meaning transcends regional
boundaries and is applicable to Grassfielders and
non-Grassfielders alike and to a multiplicity of
situations. Some of these situations are derogatory
and others laudatory. I do not propose to do justice
to he varied uses to which Graffi is applied; I will
only attempt to infuse some degree clarity by
outlining a few examples based on my personal even if
limited experience.
Granted, the word Graffi, as I know it, was
used to designate the peoples of the Bamenda and
Bamileke Grassfields who migrated to the coast with
behavioral patterns at variance with those of coastal
peoples. The descendants of these migrants born on
the coast, even though of Graffi ancestry, were never
considered Graffi because they were nothing like
Graffi.
In Victoria, the word "Graffi" referred to the peoples
of the Bamenda and Bamileke Grassfields. Graffi
attitudes, customs, and general comportment were
markedly different from those of the coastal peoples.
They dressed differently, spoke differently, ate foods
that were different from ours, and seldom mixed
socially with coastal people. These differences
separated the coastal peoples from the Graffi peoples.

Consequently, any coastal person who tended to
behave like the Graffi people would be chastised with
these words: "I beg commot me de with dat Graffi
fashion." (Notice that my Pidgin English is also
markedly different from that of my compatriots who
grew up in the Bamenda hinterlands. ) Graffi, in at
least this sense, did not refer exclusively to people
from the Grassfields.
There is another important distinction that needs to
be understood. People like Mr. Bernard Somdah and
others who had assimilated the coastal culture were
not considered "Graffi". There is something
intricately nuanced about who is and who is not
Graffi; when and when not to call a person Graffi.
That something is just there and those who know it
will always discern it whenever it pops up. The
simplest way to explain that something is the presence
or absence of "savior faire", a touch of coastal
sophistication civilization, in the manner in which
one conducts himself or herself…. It has nothing to
do with level of education… nothing to do with
expensive clothing or cars. One simply had that
coastal sophistication or one did not have it.
There are some very positive aspects to the
designation Graffi. These include thrift and
industriousness. Thrifty and enterprising coastal
peoples have always been referred to as "Graffi" by
their own brothers and sisters as well as some of
their Graffi friends because the Graffi outlook on
life was from the coastal outlook. There is no
denying that the word "Graffi", as a social concept,
is loaded with both negative and positive meanings.
It is not surprising that those who have never seen
the Atlantic Ocean have a different take on the word,
are one-dimensional, and can only see the derogatory
side of its usage.
In the past, a lot of negativity was attached to the
word "Graffi" as a social concept that was employed to
the task of defining all people. For example, ugly
and fat were always associated with Graffi people
proper because that is what was perceived. Today,
however, a lot has changed. Some of the most
beautiful people are of Graffi ancestry. The mixing
up of our peoples, as well as nutrition and
miscegenation, are partially responsible for this
transformation.
For those of us who understand the multiple meanings
of Graffi, we are able to distinguish its negative
from its positive connotations. We are also able to
discern Graffi in terms of attire (such minute things
as color of tie, socks, handkerchief) , mannerisms,
speech pattern, and even word choice in postings on
this forum. Take for example, a coastal person knows
the difference between "bestow" and "bestore," "coast"
and "coos". And this is not a problem of just
pronunciation but writing. A Graffi would write
certain words the way he mispronounces them; a coastal
person may mispronounce but will always write the
words correctly. Lastly, a Graffi is tenacious even
in error; a costal person is always willing to eschew
his mistake and learn from them.
My take is that the word "Graffi" has a
multiplicity of meanings which have changed and are
still changing with the changing times. But the
defining distinction has not changed much over the
decades perhaps because many Grassfielders who settle
the coast are conscious of the distinction and are
therefore resistant to change.
I once got into a heated argument with friends
in Boston because I dared to tell the truth about the
derogatory side of the word Graffi. I was branded by
compatriots because of my candor. I hope this
exposition will be received as a "pedagogical"
instrument by Dr. Lillian Yengi & Co. and that none
would rise to accuse me of "vendetta".

Africana

VA Boy, could you please direct me to where Konde's comment that you reproduce here was originally posted?

Va Boy

It was on camnetworks and camnet, both yahoo groups. If you subscribe, you can search the archives.

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