Up Station Mountain Club

REQUIEM FOR CAMEROON

A REVIEW OF TCHOUTEU'S CAMEROON: THE HAUNTED HEART OF AFRICA(2018)

 

 

BY PROFESSOR VAKUNTA, Ph.D.

 

I bought this book and read it in one sitting because it IS an easy read. In 102 pages the author unravels the manifold maladies that have made the Republic of CAMEROON the de facto sick man of Africa. The cankers that could be attributed to this state of affairs are threefold: dysfunctional government led by an absentee Head of State, Mr. Paul Biya, the system of lackeys set up in Cameroon by France by means of a geopolitical contraption called FrancAfrique and the Anglophone Problem. In the words of the author, "Paul Biya stands as the leader of the renegade forces that may eventually kill the Cameroonian nationalism and lead the nation into the abyss, denying it the realization of its century-old Cameroonian dream of unity, independence , prosperity and open opportunities."(p.50)

This book is actually a lampoon on the Cameroonian Head of State whom the writer portrays as a political caricature: "After becoming President in 1982, Biya has ruled Cameroon more like an absentee caretaker ..."(51). As the author sees it, this status quo has transformed Cameroon into a zombie Republic governed ineffectively by "Paul Biya and his French puppeteers."( p.63). He further notes that Cameroon has been functioning zombie-like during his quasi-presence."(p.63). The writer bemoans the fate of a country whose governmental apparatus "has been hijacked by the authoritarian system..", aided and abetted by the so-called leaders of the opposition(p.63.). In the author's view, Cameroonians have been taken for a ride.

As far as the Anglophone Problem is concerned, the author opines that the Anglophone problem stems from the disillusionment, frustration and anger of peoples West of the River Mungo( Former British Southern Cameroons)"(p.93). He argues that the forces that want to tear Cameroon apart are most visible in the English-speaking (Anglophone) part of the country."(p.101). This statement sounds like a sweeping generalization as far as I am concerned given that Ambazonians are not out to tear down Cameroon. Cameroonians who inhabit the region of Cameroon formerly known as the British Southern Cameroons want autonomy. They are fighting for recognition as a sovereign State.

The author calls upon Cameroonians of all stripes to work in tandem in order to jettison the deleterious system in the country that has kept all citizens under bondage for close to six decades. Sadly enough, the author fails to provide a dependable modus operandi that would lead Cameroonians to the realization of this goal of creating what the refers to as "the New Cameroon".(p.101)

All in all, Cameroon : The Haunted Heart of Africa (2018) is a good read. It would come in handy in political science courses where Cameroon's place on the geopolitical chess board is the bull's eye.

Professor Peter Vakunta, USA.

Ethnocracy in African Politics

 Professor Peter Wuteh Vakunta

 

The Ambazonian Question

 

 

The Ambazonian Question

 

 

Kwenane

 

 

 

 

By Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta

 

They came severally,

They came collectively,

To the Holy city of Moria,

Abode of religious stamina.

 

Congregated at Kwenane gingerly,

They sang humbly and softly,

Mpoho-o! Mopho-o! Holy hymn-o!

Eyes glued to the sky-o!

 

In their midst there I was,

Between and betwixt,

Staring rather meekly,

As shepherds enjoined calmly.

 

Thou shall love your neighbor,

Thou shall forgive each other,

Thou shall not eat mopane worms,

Nor shall thou eat swine meat.

 

Kwenane not just a shout,

River that never dries out,

Come rain come drought,

Cradle of Zionist cry out.

 

Kwenane serpentine font

Revered baptismal fief.

Kgotso a ebe le lena!

Peace be upon you!

 

On that blissful day,

On 24 December 2019,

I plunged into Kwenane,

And emerged born again!

 

Cleansed of earthly travails,

Adulated by Z.C.C kith and kin,

Singing adulatory songs,

In honor of Modimo.

 

They were legion,

Of same religion,

Female and male dancers,

Outdoing each other in mokhukhu.

 

Z.C.C Brass Band—spectacle on its own.

Thanks to His Grace, the Right Reverend,

Bishop Dr. E. B. Lekganyane,

Tumiso a e ye go Modimo!

 

South West CPDM Barons Declare Unflinching Support for the Southern Cameroons Struggle

4, January 2017

 

Highly placed government officials from the South West region have declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons nationalism. The political elites based in Yaounde the nation’s capital have reportedly addressed an anonymous letter to the Anglophone teachers and the Common Law Lawyers consortium. Our senior political correspondent in the Center region reported that tension seems to be mounting deep within the ruling party for Biya to resolve amicably the Anglophone problem. Below is a copy of the document as sent to our London news desk:

To Southern Cameroonians and

Particularly To The Consortium.

We want to applaud the efforts put forth already by the southern Cameroonians in the fight for our liberation. We understand that as CPDM militants our efforts might be hindered by party lines but with what a few of us have seen and experience these days in Yaoundé has made some of us to start having a rethink thereby choosing the liberation movement over party bonuses. We want all of you to first of all understand that this fight is legitimate as it is backed by our constitution. We all as Southern Cameroonians have been marginalized and manipulated irrespective of our political affiliations. The future of our grand and great grand children is in jeopardy.

During the last presidential address, the president ignored all our advices given to him which were aimed at either organizing a referendum for a federal state or putting the decentralization model into practice. We also asked him not to be harsh when addressing the Anglophone problem but because his believes in what Prof. Fame Ndongo tells him, he went on to call us extremist. How can he then call for dialogue with people termed as “Extremist”?.

Our main aim of writing is to encourage all southern Cameroonians not to give up now. Yaoundé the capital is in serious dilemma. If we relent our efforts and go back to school or courts it means we will NEVER be taken seriously. This is the period to double our efforts so that our demands can be made instantly. For this to be achieved we call on the various Teachers Trade Union Leaders and Lawyers. Parents most understand that this fight is for a more propitious future for their children because if we allow things they way there are now, our children will not have any voice in this Union in the next thirty years or so.

Most ministers, directors, and corrupt government officials have build many hostels in Buea and they are afraid of their investment being destroyed. Also most of their children are in Anglophone boarding secondary schools and Universities thus they will want our grievances to be resolved at all cost. We should understand at this point that the president hardly fulfils his promises. If we don’t double our efforts his promise of creating a permanent “National Institution” to look into our problems will just die a natural death just like other previous promises. What we are saying in that the STRIKE MOST CONTINUE in full swing. We have gone far and many people have died for this struggle to end without concrete solutions. We are happy because with your expertise in social media as we have experienced, this message will be rapidly spread for everyone to be aware of some of our positions to this struggle.

False Start or Decapitated Revolution in Southern Cameroons?

By Peter Vakunta, Ph.D.

 

When Southern Cameroonians resident in the diaspora learned of the strike organized by Southern Cameroonian Common Law advocates followed by yet another strike spearheaded by the Teachers' Union(TAC) we nodded in approval and started brainstorming ways and means to contribute materially in a bid to lend support to both movements. Right now we in the US are in the process of contributing dollars to send to Southern Cameroons. 

 

The question I would like for the lawyers and teachers to answer at this juncture is the following: What went wrong with the uprising in Southern Cameroons?  When the rank and file (okada guys, park boys, wheelcart pushers, and more) rose to the occasion, namely the strike organized by Common Law advocates and the Teachers Union, we in the diaspora rubbed our hands in glee  because we thought that the intellectuals that they are, were going to give perspicacious direction and leadership to the disorganized uprising that we all saw in the streets thanks to social media. Sadly enough, that did not happen and the result is history.Why did the lawyers and teachers back off? What suddenly paralyzed them all? We are now saddled with a DECAPITATED REVOLUTION with no leadership in sight. What went wrong? What did we learn from the Ghost Towns Operations of 1990s? What did we learn from the 2008 uprising in Yaounde, Douala and other major Cameroonian cities? I do not ask these questions in a bid to sound supercilious or disrespectful of the strides these two groups have made thus far. In fact, I applaud their courage in taking the bull by the horns. But I just want to know what held the lawyers and teachers (intellectuals)  back and prevented them from lending needed organizational support to the young Southern Cameroonians that joined their strike in the mistaken belief that they were throwing their weight behind a sustainable movement? What went wrong?

 

Fellow Southern Cameroonians, I am sad to say that once again we have squandered yet another golden opportunity through paranoia, internal strife, lack of foresight and strategic planning, and by this very token, have emboldened our oppressors, Mr. Biya and his cohort of vampires hibernating in Yaounde. Worse still, we have caused our brothers' and sisters' blood to be spilled with no tangible results to justify the bloodshed. I have said in many of my write-ups that the ANGLOPHONE PROBLEM will never be resolved through dialogue with nationals of LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN or with foreign bodies such as the UN, Commonwealth, British and French embassies etc. These toothless bulldogs couldn't care less about the survival of Southern Cameroonians. What they do care about is whether or not their bread baskets in Africa remain intact. Read my write-up on this subject matter: http://www.postnewsline.com/2016/11/-time-for-the-demilitarization-of-british-southern-cameroons.html

 

They are too conceited and short-sighted to see the need for dialogue with ENGLISH-SPEAKING underdogs crying out for justice in Southern Cameroons.

 

Finally, I want to state unequivocally that strategic planning is the key ingredient in defeating an enemy,regardless of how dreadful that enemy might be. Last but not least, we cannot face Paul Biya's military empty-handed or by mounting catapults as we watched the youngsters do in Bamenda lately. We have seen in the past couple of days just how blood-thirsty and sexually starved  these military bastards are. We need an armed wing of the SCNC movement if success  is our utlimate goal. Please read SPEAR OF THE NATION; UmKONTO We SizWe (2012) by Janet Cherry.  Sadly enough, on account of all that I have stated above,  the uprising that we just witnessed  in Southern Cameroons has proved to be an ORPHANED REVOLUTION. What happened?

 

Professor Peter Wuteh

United States of America

Time for a Southern Cameroons International Think Tank

By Jonathan Awasom

 

My fellow citizens of Southern Cameroon,

The Land of our ancestors under siege by strangers. Courage!

We shall overcome and be freed from bondage. Fear Not!

God is not lying low ! Let the pharaohs harden their hearts.

The time will come when the walls of injustice and oppression will fall down.

 

 

Why the Southern Cameroon International Think Thank(SCITT) will be indispensable

 

I greet you all! I appreciate your insights, foresights and recommendations from all and sundry. However, I also will like to chip in my own contribution with the hope that we find common grounds in order to work together under the same platform as a united people with one voice and one action plan. Right now there are too many divisions and contradictory actions.

 

It is not enough to send a petition to UNO.I signed it and passed it on. It is commendable but the way it is done is not going to yield results. So, while encouraging and supporting one another I wanted to make my own able propositions toward a robust plan of action. This is only my personal opinion but it is laced with acquired training, knowledge and experience.

 

It is abundantly clear that over the years many scholars, activists and advocates have made the case for our freedom and Independence. I have spoken to many people and learned with my deepest condolence about individuals who have died fighting for Southern Cameroon statehood. Some died on exile and as we speak many Southern Cameroonians are languishing in jail following the 2008 murder and arbitrary arrest of protesters. I am sure it will continue. We risk being extinct as it seems if we are not FOCUSED. We are distracted by the likes of Nji Paul Atanga etc. Please, let us think of the risk involved and the many lives being sacrificed every now and then.

 

There are paradigm shifts and dynamics but the problem is not shifting at all. I have read all the correspondences and particularly the memorandum of SCNC Chairman, Dr. Nfor Nfor Ngalla. It is a fine document in its own right. It has some technical issues that require correction. It is obvious some people are sitting on fence or acting neutral in this struggle because some people expect La republique to hand over the Presidency to an Anglophone in order to calm the Southern Cameroon people.

 

This is the kind of mentality that keeps us perpetually enslaved because we still don’t realize that once we become independent we will elect a President and Vice President and Speaker of the House under a three arms of government that will lead to self-government. So, why are we some people always acting desperate? I have also added my voice to this struggle like many others. Last week I argued that rather than malign those who are still attached to the regime, we should ask them to come back home! I am glad to know veteran warrior Dr. Nfor Nfor share the same sentiments.

 

There is no doubt that Southern Cameroonians are not united and an appearance of unity is misleading to the extent, which if anyone believes in an international conspiracy, then he or she should think about the conspiracy orchestrated by la republique to ensnare you. If we cannot handle the conspiracy of the CPDM regime, then how can we handle the one at the level of the international community if that is the case of Dr. Nfor Nfor? It is obvious to me that many different people have approached the problems of Cameroon from different angles! No matter how one looks at Cameroon, one will arrive at the same conclusion and the best word to use is ANGER. However, we must be careful how we proceed in terms of strategy.

 

I will object to the language used by Dr. Nfor about “International Conspiracy”. This is not a diplomatic language and is ambiguous when you intend to rely on the international Community to help resolve the issue. Even if we know that it does exist, we should never use such a language because it will scare people from becoming willing participants. This phrase alone is enough to sabotage any endeavor no matter how noble. You see I have been listening and also talking at my own corner.

 

I have studied the plight of Southern Cameroon also known as West Cameroon and Anglophone problem. Lately, I have read circulars from certain quarters within the struggle arguing that Francophones claim to be Anglophones, too due to the fact that many of them are sponsoring their kids in the so called Anglo-Saxon Educational system. That means it weakens the argument that we have an Anglophone as a unique problem. In this light they resolved vehemently that the name Southern Cameroon be adopted henceforth to define the struggle.

 

Now what is not clear to many people is the notion about West Cameroon? Where does this fit into the struggle? The next issue to clarify is the notion of Ambazonia ! These are some of the issues to clarify because in a struggle like this you do not want to narrow it down to yourselves and amongst yourselves as if you own the struggle inside .Many of us are not responsible for these problems and have only being trying hard to understand and be part of the solution. You must remember that we are a minority already and any further divisions amongst ourselves will only help the oppressor in Yaounde. If a minority is reduced into minority, then how can we succeed?

 

If you approach this struggle from the momentous and spontaneous action of the Common Lawyers, who revamped the struggle, then as it stands, we owe it to the people to lead them. It seems to me that many people have spent way too long into endless legal arguments and debates which serve as a weakness as opposed to a strength. In the true sense of a noble cause, lack of a solution –oriented mind set is a recipe for failure. Nobody within the cycle of the La republique cares about our plight. In fact if they are agents and participants in our problems, then why should anyone think that they should dialogue with us without a 3rd participant? So, logically if you accuse the International Community of a conspiracy, then how can you turn to them again to listen and partner with us? We must be diplomatic because we also need a diplomatic solution to this problem.

 

In my own humble view, I objected from the onset to any meeting with the CPDM regime whether represented by PM or any Minister/Governors etc. This came under the heels of Nico Halle’s publicity on the eve of their meeting with the Minister of Justice in Yaoundé. Apparently he and his delegation attended the meeting and failed. Then the Lawyers and teachers have also met with the PM and nothing good came out of these meetings.

 

The truth is, even as some people seem well spoken, some of us have not seen any mark difference in the way most people perceive this problem. While it is important to educate ourselves, I am also concern about lack thereof of self-discipline and loyalty to the struggle. The tendency of many of us rushing to meet with Yaoundé is a big problem. No independence and in fact given the complexity of this matter, can be solved in a single year. So, perhaps it is important for us to realize that we still have a long way to go . I have my own thoughts, ideas and in spite of the concerns, I am still very optimistic. Yet we must proceed speedily to unite all the factions within the struggle. The best way to unite all these factions is to establish a Southern Cameroon International Think Tank. Earlier on I proposed Cameroon Anglophone Think Tank (CATT).

 

Lastly, I just want to say that an independence of a people is never won in the court of law . It is not a force of argument based on the law because whatever law existed at the time and now is responsible for our plight. I have to be honest with many of you who are too legalistic that there are many dimensions to every struggle. You cannot make it absolutely a legal matter because clearly, the argument for legality is not embraced. So, why do you keep relying on the International courts who created the problem at some point to begin with ? While I admire the legal component of all these , please, it is about time that we begin to consider the over all big picture and be open to appreciate other ideas, perception and approach to bring about the results we are seeking collectively.

 

To begin with what happened to the law when in 2010 dictator Paul Biya intentionally changed the Constitution to abolish the two terms of 7 years limit to the Presidency? Part 11 Chapter 1 Article 5 (1) and (2) states that “ He shall ensure respect for the Constitution.” Yet people of the law profession did not challenge this in any court of law. The Cameroon opposition leaders who were also Presidential candidates collected 30 million frs CFA from Paul Biya claiming it was state money to participate in lies. Many of us here did oppose what happened in 2010 and 2011 but the MPS as the legislative branch of government were silent over this.

 

The dictator is definitely scared right now because he has already been preparing to run again in 2018. I am sure he has some money to spend again . This new period stretching from 2017 to 2018 is very timely. He has a lot of money to spare(corrupt) the opposition and MPs AND CO. Who is going to sell their conscience again? We must frame this debate from the fact that we cannot be part of a system of one man rule who has the absolute power to change the Constitution at will. The people of Southern Cameroon believe in the rule of law and good governance.

 

Having said this, SCITT serving as the power house and moral clarity of the struggle will establish a consistent message, an organization, leadership, vision and action plan to involve a grand fund –raising from a strategic point of view. It will embody leaders or representatives of all the different factions, professionals, scholars, leaders, opinion leaders, religious leaders and activists to come together and brainstorm against which backdrop we will then agree on a plan of action. Every protest counts. Every life count. Every effort past and present is appreciated. However, we must not think that the solution will come from without if we are not united and properly organized, and wisely led.

 

We have a good case but we lack organization, leadership, a message, vision and plan of action. Instead of overbelabouring the points, which I believe most people know already, we should lead. We must remember that our people are hungry for leadership. They want to follow and we should not wait . We should not be imagining things. If the someone asks you, Ok, what do you want from the UNO , what will you say? How do you want it? When ? Who ? Why? I have things to say but I am looking forward to the SCITT where one can act with integrity and consistency.

 

When the Lawyers strike erupted like a volcano everyone identified with them. Yet, the CPDM regime has succeeded to manipulate many people to accept the narrative that this is a lawyer’s problem. So, too is the teacher’s problem. Unfortunately, many people initially bought into that narrative until later when they realized that it was dangerous to go alone. I am afraid that we seem to allow ourselves to be told what steps we ought to take to solve our problems. The problem could because we are still to own this struggle. We must correct the idea that “ The UNO should come and solve the problem” .

 

We must also correct the notion that “ Yaounde should dialogue or solve our problems”. None of these will ever happen. We must take our problem to the UNO. We are to wait for UNO to come. In order to take our problem, we must have a strategy and plan of action. We must know that UNO has representatives inside Cameroon. I am referring to The Cameroon ambassador to UNO, the various members of the International Community like US embassy, British embassy, French and German embassy who have veto powers at the Security Council except Cameroon.

 

We have to think and act strategically. There is a lot to say but for the sake of strategy, we must wait for the appropriate forum where we can be very direct about what we all know is required for this to be successful. If anyone is expecting a solution from Yaounde, well, then they are lost. If anyone accepts appointments from Yaounde effective immediately often designed to sabotage then greed is still a moral problem. We must learn to reject any appointments no matter how prestigious they may come because that is a dead trap to us and of course those appointments have not solved our problems since 1961.

 

Thank you all for your and courage.

Jonathan Awasom

 

Cameroon: The Anglophone Problem As I see it

 

Ngalim Bernard Yongabi

Much has been written and said about the Southern Cameroons problem in Cameroon. On the one hand, proponents of the Southern Cameroons problem hold steadfast to the argument that Southern Cameroons lacks a constitutional status and is, therefore, taken for a ride. On the other hand, opponents of the Southern Cameroons problem believe Southern Cameroons enjoys the same status with East Cameroon. Some others believe that over the years, Southern Cameroons has received preferential treatment from the authorities.  It suffices to throw more light on the issue.

Most often, those who delve into arguments for or against the existence of the Anglophone problem fail to define who an Anglophone is. Failure to define this key term nurses confusion and difficulties in pushing an argument through. We can observe that most proponents and opponents base their arguments on other people’s arguments propagated through social media and televised debates. Though these could be sources of information for verification and learning, some in-depth reflection is mandatory to aptly understand the Southern Cameroons problem.

That said, before we delve into some substance, it is important to know whom an Anglophone is. Let us look at the notion of an Anglophone from a cultural perspective. Basically, an Anglophone is an English speaker.  By this token, all those who speak the English language are considered Anglophone. However, understanding the concept and use of language clarifies doubts as to the notion of an Anglophone. Language is the bond that unites a given society because language enables interactions in society, facilitating communication, business, worship, administration, administration, politics etc. According to Tatjana Ponorac, there is an unequivocal tendency of identifying language and culture. In order to identify culturing of language, one often encounters expressions such as: “language and culture are inseparable”; “language and culture are intimately connected”; “language is culture and culture is language.” Language reflects and conveys culture and cultural connections. This short extract demonstrates that language and culture are inseparable. Basing on this, it is convenient to state that an Anglophone is he who speaks English and practices a particular culture unique to English practices. In this context, Anglophones in present day Cameroon are descendants of the regions known as North West and South West. That is, the British Southern Cameroons. Culture is transmitted through diverse methods including family set up.

Now, the constitution recognizes both English and French as the official languages of Cameroon. It will be premature and absurd to limit the understanding of official languages on linguistic lines. First, Cameroon’s history instructs us that both languages are colonial legacies. French was inherited from France and English from the United Kingdom during colonial days. Colonial administrations had their beliefs, laws, educational systems, management systems; administrative and political setups etc. I agree with Hantrais’ (1989) idea that ‘culture is the beliefs and practices governing the life of a society for which a particular language is the vehicle of expression’. Adopting English and French as the official languages of Cameroon translates to accepting the beliefs and practices and noting that these beliefs and practices are only communicated through language. If follows that English is only a vehicle through which the practice of Common Law and the Anglo-Saxon system of education are communicated. The fundamentals or foundation of a cultural system are not in the language but in the practices. Before dismissing the Common Law or the Anglo-Saxon system of education as a threat to national unity and stability, it is important to understand that language in itself is empty. Adopting English as one of the official languages of Cameroon was adopting the beliefs and practices of the Southern Cameroons culture, specifically, Common Law and Anglo-Saxon education because language only transmits or communicates something intangible. On the administrative front, the British Cameroons inherited the culture of self-rule. The British administered the British Southern Cameroons through the indirect rule system whereby the citizens of British Southern Cameroons administered themselves with minimal interference from the Colonial administration.

Per the historical introduction above, Cameroon as a nation was constituted on 1st October 1961 as a federal state, though some argue there was no treaty formalizing this union as mandated by international law. Southern Cameroons was a British protectorate administered under Anglo-Saxon culture, practiced the Common Law and promoted the Anglo-Saxon system of education. Whereas, East Cameroon was a French protectorate administered under French culture, practiced Napoleonic laws and a French type system of education. Language is, therefore, an element of these heritages (culture) acquired from colonial masters. Hence, it is manifestly impossible to separate culture from language, law from education and administration from politics. The term Southern Cameroons shall be used in this article to mean Anglophone, British Southern Cameroon and Southern Cameroons.

While some opponents to the Southern Cameroons problem argue that authorities have reserved preferential treatment to Southern Cameroonians, this argument falls through the cracks. First, history dictates that Southern Cameroons voted to join and form a country in a two state federation with equal status, thereby having a constitutional status and identity. Since the abrogation of the federal system of government in 1972, Southern Cameroons has lost the constitutional status and identity they previously bargained for and enjoyed between 1961 and 1972. It is argued that the abrogation was done in violation of the federal constitution which stated that any amendment of the federal nature of the nation was supposed to win the majority in both houses of parliament. That is, the East Cameroon house of assembly was to vote such a bill in its majority. Likewise, the Southern Cameroon house of assembly had to vote for such bill in the majority too. In a case where both houses did not vote in their majority, the bill proposing the amendment of such a constitutional provision was bound to fail. All arguments on the supposed preferential treatment of Southern Cameroonians lack merit simply because Southern Cameroons lacks constitutional authority in the decision-making machinery of this country. A Southern Cameroonian handpicked by the francophone majority knows he serves the interest of the francophone majority and not the interest of the minority Southern Cameroons. In the years long gone, Southern Cameroons had an assembly as of right, Southern Cameroonian ministers were vetted before confirmed for office in Yaounde through the Southern Cameroons parliament.

Some other opponents to the Southern Cameroons problem advocate for a policy defining a Cameroonian identity. Ideally, this is a wonderful idea but practically, the idea begs for substance. Laws and policies are reformed to address a societal ill and improve on the wellbeing of the community. Seriously speaking, the proponents of the Cameroonian identity still need to educate Southern Cameroonians on the ills that befell the Cameroonian society due to the duality in culture. Granted these are foreign cultures (Anglo-Saxon and French), we cannot delete them from present Cameroon because the current Cameroon was born through the merging of the two cultures. Since the introduction of the unitary state in 1972, Cameroon has regressed year after year. The difficulty to define strengths of the new Cameroonian identity has left their advocacy lame. National unity and integration is an ideal every nation should strive to attain. However, national unity does not translate into deleting one cultural heritage to the advantage of another. Similarly, national unity is feasible and very strong when diversity is upheld through the identification and respect of the two distinct cultures. The feeling of subjugation by the minority is a given when the majority attempts harmonizing the both cultures without due process and consultation. Building a unique Cameroonian culture could make more sense if Southern Cameroonians freely choose representatives to negotiate with their counterparts from French Cameroon. Come to think Cameroon ratified the OHADA treaty whereas its unique language was French per article 42 and of the treaty. This stands in stark contrast to the constitutional provision that English and French are the official languages of Cameroon with equal status. One wonders whether violating the constitution to the credit of one cultural system is building a Cameroonian identity or imposing one culture over another. Justice Ayah Paul corroborated this when he ruled a treaty which is basically French suffers from self-exclusion from the English speaking provinces of Cameroon.

The current strife in the Southern Cameroons is testament to the difficulty and impracticable nature of the unitary state as it is. Lawyers and teachers have grounded their tools because they believe the building of a Cameroonian culture has led to wanton injustice in the Southern Cameroonian part of the country. This is because civil law trained judges and prosecutors appointed to the Common Law jurisdiction do not master the language and practice of common law. Also, it is believed the training and education of Cameroonian youth is becoming irrational with the appointment and placement of teachers who do not master the language and practice of the Anglo-Saxon system of education. Education is a subset of culture and, therefore, culture strongly influences how an individual approaches education, and a society's culture determines how that society educates its citizens. It can therefore be seen that respecting the cultural differences especially in the legal, education and administrative/political dispensations is critical for a peaceful, just and sustainable future. To clearly demonstrate the Anglophone problem, some have advocated for the term Southern Cameroon problem. I tend to lean more towards this definition because it situates the problem within a historical purview cutting across the legal, administrative and educational aspects of the inherited culture. A historical perspective leads us to a sustainable solution through the identification of divergence and respect of this divergence giving birth to a one nation and two systems concept. Southern Cameroons, therefore, is that entity that joined the Cameroon Republic in 1961 through a referendum. An Anglophone, therefore, is someone who originates from the Northwest and South West regions, speaks the English language and practices the culture inherited from colonial administration. Such that people who share solely the second and third are not considered by this understanding as Anglophones. Suffice it, therefore, to say constitutional status recognizing the two entities will facilitate sustainability.

Time for the Demilitarization of British Southern Cameroons

"This is the time for all groups to work behind closed doors together to agree on the way forward, because Republique, true to itself, will be planning its intimidation..."( SCNC)

 

Compatriots,

 

Time for dialogue and negotiation with the oligarchy in Yaounde is over! I have said in many of my books and articles (see http://www.pambazuka.org/democracy-governance/seeds-cameroonian-popular-revolution) that freedom is achieved; not given to the oppressed. The only language that dictators pay heed to is the language of force. The rhetoric about the force of language has not served the ANGLOPHONE CAUSE in Cameroon for decades and should be abandoned outright ! It's  time to change the modus operandi. I have followed with rapt attention the unfolding trajectory and momentum of the ongoing strike by Cameroon's Common Law Advocates. I laud the Teachers' Union for the sturdy support they have offered the grieving lawyers. It's now our turn to join the fray with robust material and intellectual support. 

 

 

Southern Cameroonians must extricate themselves from the claws of the Francophone-led contraption in Yaounde. The political charade is not working and should be dissolved forthwith.I am going to be very blunt here: It's time for Southern Cameroonians to declare their divorce from this unholy marriage code-named La Republique du Cameroun and secede once and for all. We have the numerical strength to form a Republic! Eritreans have offered us a lesson to learn from. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is another case in point. Make no mistake, the Francophone leeches in Cameroon will not surrender without putting up a fierce fight. They are aware that their very survival depends on the natural resources that exist in abundance in Southern Cameroons. But who said popular revolutions are a piece of cake? We have some lessons to learn from revolutionary icons like Reuben um Nyobe, Felix Moumie, Albert Mukong,  Nelson Mandela,  Patrice Lumumba, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi,  Malcolm X and Thomas Sankara. These are martyrs who believed in the sanity of the cause they fought for. We have to follow in their footsteps. 

 

The position statement written by the leadership of the SCNC is laudable and serves as a viable starting point. But we must to scale up the struggle. To do so, I offer Southern Cameroonian compatriots a blueprint of sorts:

 

1. STRATEGIC PLANNING

To move this struggle forward to fruition, we need human capital. In other words, we need strategic thinkers. Successful revolutions are not spontaneous acts. Revolutions are premeditated and  properly orchestrated events, involving the conjugation of ideas from intellectual think-tanks and the rank and file(see SPEAR OFTHE NATION: UMKHONTO we Sizwe (2012). The secession that we desire will not happen if we continue to function in silos. We must curry support from Cameroonian intellectuals at home and in the diaspora. The difficult part of a revolution is not the boots on the ground component; it is the strategic orchestration of the movement. I don't say this light-heartedly. Experience is the best teacher(See CHE GUEVARA: A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE (1997). Most importantly, Southern Cameroonians must be smart enough to steer clear of the divide and rule antics of the Biya Regime that has ruled us for 34 years by pitting grafis against southwesterners. Anglophone Cameroonians must rise to the occasion and desist from being bought over with crumbs from the master's table. We should put a premium on the role of the diaporan intelligentsia because they have witnessed other effective revolutionary paradigms that remain unknown to home-based revolutionaries.

 

2. COGNITIVE AND MATERIAL SUPPORT 

No revolution has ever succeeded without intellectual and material support. All the abortive revolutions that I have studied have failed on account of the dearth of material  resources. Malcolm X echoes this in  BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY(1992). Human beings easily lose steam and stamina when  subjected to deprivation (food and water). Those of us who are old enough to remember what transpired during the maquisard days of Reuben um Nyobe and ilk would attest to the fact that the maquisards used local populations as a source of food supply. The 1990's Ghost Towns Operations failed partially because our people ran out of steam, to put it figuratively.This means that the success of our current revolution depends on how long revolutionaries can withstand the pangs of hunger and thirst. To ensure that  we succeed in the long haul, we must ensure that during the entire duration of the revolution, our people have a means of subsistence. In the run-up to the revolution, it is not unwise to organize community cohorts whose duty would be to educate our people on the positive fall-outs of the revolution as well as the need to horde food products in the long term.

 

One thing that grassroots organs could do would be to prioritize food crop farming over cash-crop cultivation. During the normalization phase that will follow secession, the trend will be reversed in order to give our people a steady source of cash flow for non-subsistence consumption. The Diaspora has a  vital role to play in all this. Those of us who live in the diaspora are privileged in the sense we have the wherewithal to support the revolution intellectually and materially. I call on all Southern Cameroonians living in the diaspora to start Revolutionary Tontines and Njangi houses right now! The purport of these fundraisers would be to ensure that our brothers and sisters who serve as revolutionary foot soldiers never run out of cash! On the home front, we need honest Southern Cameroonians who have a proven sense of integrity to manage these funds collected from the diaspora and channel them toward to the revolution cause.

 

3. RECOURSE TO ARMED STRUGGLE

The demilitarization of British Southern Cameroons will never transpire without armed struggle. In one of my articles I have called for recourse to armed rebellion in Cameroon (See link: http://www.postnewsline.com/2011/04/time-for-armed-opposition-in-the-republic-of-cameroon.html)

We have tried peaceful means to no avail. It is now time to resort to armed struggle in Cameroon. It is not arms that are in short supply in Cameroon. In fact the country is awash with fire-arms imported clandestinely from the West.

 

CONCLUSION

I am going to end this article by echoing the sagacious words of late Nelson Mandela who once said: "Dangers and difficulties have not deterred us in the past. They will not frighten us now. But we must be prepared for them like men in business who do not waste energy in vain talk and idle action.”

Mandela was a great man partly because of his willingness to use violence, not in spite of it. Many believe apartheid would have endured much longer if he hadn’t rebelled and overturned the ANC’s long-standing nonviolence policy.

 

Prof Peter Wuteh Vakunta

United States of America

Seeds of the Cameroonian Popular Revolution

By Peter Vakunta, Ph.D.

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Life is not all sunshine and roses in Biya’s Cameroon. Much water has flowed under the bridge since Mr. Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo took over the reins of leadership from his predecessor and mentor, Mr. Ahmadou Ahidjo on November 6, 1982. Put differently, this mercurial hard-hearted persona has presided over the fate of Cameroonians for thirty-four (34) years. It is time to take the pulse of the nation-state. The Cameroon that Biya inherited more than three decades ago has degenerated into a human junk-yard, where nitwits, miscreants and morally bankrupt self-seekers ride roughshod over a befuddled populace. Aided and abetted by tribal overlords and imperialistic octopuses, Biya has run the post-colony aground through ineptitude and dearth of foresight compounded by unpatriotic fervor. With the support and blessing of French imperialists, the Cameroonian lumpen bourgeoisie has organized the systematic plunder of Cameroon. With the crumbs of the plunder that often reverts to them, the Cameroonian petty bourgeoisie has been transformed, slowly but surely, into a veritably parasitic socio-economic class that no longer knows how to control its voracious appetite for foreign commodities—material and intellectual. Driven only by their own selfish interests, they no longer hesitate to employ the most disingenuous contraptions, engaging in massive corruption, embezzlement of public funds, influence-peddling, nepotism and dereliction of duty in a bid to meet their ends by over-indulging in politics of the belly.[i]

Politics of the Belly as Governmental Modus Operandi

Paul Biya has surrounded himself with a bulwark of compulsive chop-broke-potters[ii], culled from his own ethnic group, the Beti tribe, who have a knack for bulimia, impulsive spending and misappropriation of state funds. Not satisfied with living off the backs of the Cameroonian rank and file, these political misfits fight tooth and nail to monopolize positions of power within the Chop Pipo Dem Moni (CPDM) ruling party[iii] that have the potential to allow them to use the state apparatus for their own exploitative and wasteful ends. The Beti modus vivendi epitomizes the political philosophy described by Polzenhagen and Wolf (2007) as the “Kinship-based African Community Model” (p.131). This model has been described as a horizontal network that stretches laterally and embraces everybody who is perceived to belong to a particular social group (Mbiti, 1990, p.102). The problem with this sort of ethnocentric political philosophy is that it is exclusive, egregious, counter-productive, and inimical to national integration.  Paul Biya’s governmental modus operandi has created a system of endemic corruption that defies all attempts to eradicate. Corruption has crippled our national economy.  Writing along similar lines, Timah Njei (2005) makes heartrending remarks about the State of Cameroon and corrupt practices which I cite at length as follows:

"Corruption has brought our beloved country to her knees and exposed us to international ridicule. Our country has held the first position as the most corrupt nation on earth and it is on record that those governing us actually lobbied that the country be classified as one of the poorest highly indebted nations on earth! One really needs to be courageous and shame-proof to make a request like this for such an apparently rich nation. This act alone qualifies us to be in the hall of fame of corruption. The issue of corruption in Cameroon has gone past the level that can be described only as a social ill. It has effectively become part of our national culture. Corruption is embedded in every facet of our national life and it has effectively thwarted and dislocated our path to nationhood for generations to come"[8]

The forgoing remarks lend credence to the consternation of Cameroonian sociologist, Jean-Marc Ela who writes as follows:

"Le Cameroun semble échapper à toute catégorie de l’entendement. Ce qui arrive à ce pays relève de l’inimaginable, de l’incroyable et de l’impossible. Tout ce passe, en définitive, comme si, sous le règne de M. Paul Biya, le Cameroun tout entier avait basculé dans le hors-norme, la déraison ou la folie"[9]

[It would appear that the case of Cameroon defies all attempts at comprehension. What has happened to this country seems unimaginable, unbelievable, and impossible. In sum, it seems as if under Paul Biya Cameroon has plunged into illegality, irrationality, and insanity]  

The sad truth about the disheartening Cameroonian narrative is that all of this mindboggling stuff is unfolding in full view of petrified nationals who are mired in squalor, misery and abject poverty. A visit to the Briqueterie neighborhood in the capital city of Yaoundé would drive home the point. This is an urban ghetto where human beings and animals vie for personal space. In an article titled “Sodome et Gomorrhe:  Briqueterie-Mokolo: le Texas dans la capitale,” Ismaila Djida portrays this neighborhood as the Sodom and Gomorrah of the capital city of Yaounde. This holds true for other impoverished neighborhoods in the country such as Moloko in Yaounde and Nkouloulou in Doula.  While Cameroon is a paradise for the oligarchy in Yaounde, the wealthy minority, for the majority, it is a barely tolerable hell on earth. Part of this disenchanted majority, the so-called fonctionnaires (civil servants) suffer insurmountable constraints engendered by governmental dysfunction, despite the fact that they are assured a regular income. Their poverty-line wages are spent before they have even been received. And this vicious cycle goes on and on with no end in sight.  Sometimes, pressure from civil servants pushes politicians to grant some concessions, such as salary increments. But these concessions are mere make-believe because the government often takes back with one hand what it gives with the other. Thus a ten percent wage increase is announced with great fanfare in the media, only to be immediately followed by tax hikes, wiping out the expected benefits. Clearly, politics of the stomach sustained by a divide and rule contraption constitute an integral part of the system put in place by politicians in Cameroon to further subjugate the suffering masses.

Divide and Rule in the Post-colony

Part of the exploited majority in Cameroon is constituted by peasants, the well-known wretched of the earth, who are expropriated, robbed, humiliated and mistreated on a regular basis by men and women in uniform—mange-mille[iv], gendarmes and the military. Interestingly, the peasantry is the mainstay of the Cameroonian economy because they are the ones whose labor creates wealth. Thanks to their productive labor, the nation stays afloat against all odds. It is from their labor that all those Cameroonians for whom Cameroon is an El Dorado line their pockets. And yet, it is the peasants who are least served by the nation. They lack road infrastructure, healthcare facilities, portable water, electricity and good schools for their children.  It is the peasants, creators of the nation’s wealth, who suffer the most in the hands of so-called élus du peuple[v].  So much for a misnomer! It is the children of peasants who swell the ranks of Chômencam[vi], the plethora of the unemployed in Cameroon. It is among the peasants that illiteracy rate is the highest in the country— 68.9%. Those who most need to learn, in order to improve the output of their productive labor, are the ones who benefit the least from investments in education and technology. The peasant youth—who have the same aptitude like their urban counterparts end up in the wrong places.  Their initial impulse drives them to urban centers—Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam, Nkongsamba, Buea, and Limbe to name but a few, where they hope to land jobs and enjoy, too, the advantages of modernism.

Sadly enough, lack of academic qualifications precludes these compatriots from landing gainful employment. Lack of jobs drives them into illegal activities such as drug peddling, feymenia[vii], prostitution and more. Some eke out a living by working as pedes[viii]  at the beck and call of some sexually starved katikas[ix]. Others resolve to make a pittance working as bendskinneurs[x] and call-boxeurs.[xi] As a last resort, some of them seek salvation by attempting to go abroad by any means necessary. Lately, we have seen disheartening pictures in media outlets of our compatriots who have perished like chicken on high seas and oceans in a desperate attempt to flee from an uninhabitable homeland. The New York Times of May 29, 2016 reported that in three days, 700 deaths had occurred on the Mediterranean, some of them Cameroonians. Does the Cameroonian society provide these compatriots with any alternative? Stated succinctly, such is the state of the nation that Mr. Biya will bequeath to Cameroonians when he ultimately answers the call of the Divine in the not too distant future—a paradise for some and hell for the rest. When all is said and done, Mr. Biya’s track record is one of dismal failure.

Underperformance of Political Incumbency

Students of Mr. Paul Biya’s report card make no bones about the fact that he is a monumental political failure. After thirty-four years of deconstructionist leadership and retrogressive political agendas bolstered by intrusive imperialist domination and exploitation, post-colonial Cameroon under the Biya regime remains a backward nation with nothing to offer the world.  This hitherto great nation has been transformed into an underdeveloped heart of darkness, to borrow words from one of Africa’s compulsive denigrators, Joseph Conrad (1899s), where the rural poor—employing 92 percent of the workforce—accounts for only 47 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and supplies 94 percent of the country’s total exports. It should be noted that in other African countries, notably Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana and South Africa, farmers constituting less than ten percent of the population manage not only to feed themselves adequately and satisfy the basic needs of the entire nation, but also to export enormous quantities of their agricultural produce. Paradoxically, in Cameroon more than 90 percent of the population, despite strenuous efforts, experiences deprivation and is compelled to fall back on imported food items from France, China and more. The imbalance between exports and imports accentuates Cameroon’s dependency on foreign countries. An economy that functions on such a paralysis inevitably goes bankrupt and is headed for catastrophe.

Private investments from abroad constitute a huge drain on Cameroon’s economy and thus do not help strengthen its ability to accumulate wealth. That is because an important portion of the wealth created with the help of foreign investors is siphoned off abroad, instead of being reinvested to increase the country’s productive capability. Paul Biya inherited a buoyant economy from Ahmadou Ahidjo and ran it into a recession a couple of years later not only because he does not practice what he preaches but also because he lacks the cognitive ability to conceptualize economic recovery strategies.In the 1990s, salaries of civil servants were slashed drastically, in some cases by 60 percent. This writer worked as senior translator at the Presidency of the Republic at the time and endured the fiscal humiliation by keeping a stiff upper lip. In fact, he worked for an entire fiscal year without receiving a paycheck from the government because his dossier[xii] had gathered dust in the drawers of some numskull in the Ministère de la Fonction Publique [Ministry of Public Service] in Yaounde. He survived on a pittance that was called prime de technicité[xiii] in bygone days. Salary cuts were quickly followed by privatization which still leaves a sour taste in the mouths of Cameroonians to date.

The greatest weakness of Paul Biya has been in the economic sector. Almost a year ago, he posed a rhetorical question to Cameroonians when he asked the following question: “Why is it that Cameroon has everything in human and natural resources yet is not having the feel good effects?”  Five cankers suffice to provide Mr. President with a candid response:  endemic corruption, misappropriation of state funds, apartheid-style tribalism, blind-sidedness, and impunity are wreaking havoc in the moral and economic fabrics of the Cameroonian post-colony. Biya took over power in 1982 and announced with pomp and fanfare that his catchwords were going to be rigor and moralization. But the president soon found himself surrounded by a clique of diehard ethnocentric tribesmen, cronies, as well as a coterie of myopic CPDM praise-singers that sang his praises but remained blind-sided to national issues of grave importance. Consequently, Mr. Biya remains a myopic alien in the land that he purports to govern.  If fact, he governs this nation of 23+ million jobajo[xiv] drinkers and makossa dancers by remote control.

Governance by Remote Control

Biya does not live in Cameroon and, therefore, does not know Cameroonians. The president is out of touch with the Cameroonian reality. The absentee landlord spends several months in a calendar year in Europe touring casinos and nude beaches with no specific agenda in mind.  In 2009, Biya sparked global outrage after reports emerged of a 20-day holiday in France where he spent an average of £35,000 a day, totaling £700,000.Once back home, he retires to his million-dollar castle in his home village of Mvog-Meka  to play golf and drink whiskey and champagne.  It is for this reason that international observers of the political status quo in Cameroon have branded the Cameroonian Head of State le Roi fainéant[xv]. Biya does nothing to change the destiny of his country. His latest fad about les grandes réalisations[xvi] is political hogwash! The man is an under-achiever, to put it bluntly. Biya’s inept governance has brought Cameroon to its knees. Three decades ago, cities like Douala, Nkongsamba, Bafoussam, Edea, Limbe, Bamenda, Buea and Yaounde, were commercial hubs teeming with business activities and life. Nowadays, they are virtual ghost towns. Biya’s nonchalant leadership attitude has robbed Cameroon of its luster. Cameroon is no longer the Africa in miniature that it was known to be. The Republic of Cameroon is a sore finger on the anatomy of the African continent.

Biya’s lack of political foresight has transformed Cameroon into a beggarly nation. We are beasts of no nation, [xvii]to borrow words from an illustrious son of the soil who perished fighting the Cameroonian canker code-named biyaism. [xviii] Biyaism has moved Cameroon ten years backwards in terms of infrastructural development.The physical environment in Yaoundé is an eyesore.Piles of garbage litter streets here and there. Potholes left, right and center. Unfinished government buildings punctuate the already tarnished landscape of our phantom capital city. Douala does not fare any better. It is a shadow of its former self.The Douala International airport that Biya inherited from his predecessor is now in a shambles—no running water in the restrooms, no toilet paper, broken tiles on the floor, a total mess!  What remains of the Douala Port is a nefarious abyss in the bottom of which customs officers hide to steal money from Tom, Dick and Harry.The Limbe Deep Seaport is dead, buried, and forgotten. Speaking in Yaoundé on January 15, 2015 at a meeting with a delegation of South Korean technocrats, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Emmanuel Nganou Ndjoumessi, announced that the Limbe Deep Seaport will be operational soon. Cameroonians are still waiting and shall wait until Godot[xix] comes. Accountability has been thrown to the dogs in that geographical expression nicknamed Cameroon.

Conclusion

The pulse of the post-colony has been taken. And there is incontrovertible evidence that the nation-state is malignant. This discourse serves as a pointer to the legacy that Mr. Paul Biya and his accessories will bequeath to millions of Cameroonians, many of whom have never known any other president. This is a legacy that truly stinks and spells nothing but doom for the young men and women that the president took the oath office on November 6, 1982 to nurture and protect. The purport of this write-up is not to provide a panacea for the myriads of ailments that plague Cameroon under President Paul Biya; rather it is a dirge composed by a son of the soil whose heart throbs for the demise of a nation richly blessed with natural and human capital; and yet sorely lacking in strategic thinkers and leadership visionaries. No Cameroonian who loves and honors his native land can remain indifferent to the status quo at home. Indeed, valiant, hardworking people have never been able to tolerate such a situation. Because they understand that this is not an irreversible situation, but a question of society being organized on an unjust system for the sole benefit of an oligarchy. They have, therefore, waged different kinds of struggles, searching for various ways and means to overthrow the old order, establish a new order capable of rehabilitating the ordinary man, and give their country a leading place within the community of free, prosperous, and respected nations. Cameroonians have a tough call. They should not expect lynchpins of the old order to change their mentality and embrace sweeping changes any time soon. The only language that dictators respond to and understand is the language of force, the revolutionary class struggle against the exploiters and oppressors of the rank and file. The people’s revolution that I envision in this write-up is the only act by which the Cameroonian people will impose their will on the parasitic class that has hijacked the nation-state; that class has benefited perennially from the matrimony that exists between the national and imperialistic bourgeoisie in Cameroon. The Cameroonian Popular Revolution that is called for will be a class struggle by which the Cameroonian people impose their will on the ruling class by all means at their disposal, including arms, if necessary.

 Notes

 

[i] In his 1989 book L'État en Afriquel: la politique du ventre (translated as The State in Africa: Politics of the Belly (2009)Jean-François Bayart attempts to describe African politics and, in particular, the relationship between clientelism, corruption and power

[ii] Reference to Cameroonians, notably Betis, who do not save for the rainy day; spendthrifts

[iii] Derogatory name for the ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement( CPDM)

[iv] Corrupt police officers in Cameroon

[v]  People’s representatives

[vi] Chronic unemployment in Cameroon

[vii] Underhand deals of conmen

[viii] French slang for homosexual

[ix] Big shots

[x] Motor-cycle drivers

[xi] People who sell air-time to mobile phone users

[xii] File

[xiii] Professional honorarium

[xiv] Locally brewed beer

[xv] Lazy king

[xvi] Big achievements

[xvii]Reference a play by Bate Besong titled Beasts of no Nation(1990)

[xviii] Paul Biya’s governmental philosophy

[xix] Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for the arrival of someone named Godot

 

Works cited

Bayart, Jean-François. L’état en A frique: la politique du ventre. Paris:  Fayard, 1989.

__________________. The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly. New York: Longman, 1993.        

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1989.

Besong, Bate. Beasts of No Nation. Yaounde:  Editions CLE, 2003.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York:  Dover, 1990.

Djida, Ismail. “Sodome et Gomorrhe:  Briqueterie- Mokolo: le Texas dans la capitale,”  Retrieved

March 12, 2015 from  http://www.camer.be/48767/11:1/cameroun-yaounde-comme-

sodome-et-gomorrhe-briqueterie-mokolo-le-texas-dans-la-capitale-cameroon.html

Ela, Jean-Marc. Innovations sociales et renaissance de l’Afrique noire,

L’Harmattan, Paris, 1998.

Mbiti, J.  African Religions and Philosophy. Florence: Heinemann, 1990.

New York Times. “Three Days, 700 Deaths as Mediterranean Migrant Crisis Flares,” Retrieved

September 23, 2016 from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/30/world/europe/migrants-deaths-mediterranean-libya-italy.html?_r=0

Njei, M.T. “Cameroon and Corruption,” Retrieved October 15, 2016 from

                        http://www.njeitimah-outlook.com/articles/article/2076046/31946.htm

 

Polzenhagen, F. and Wolf, Hans-Georg. “Culture-specific Conceptualizations of Corruption in

African English.” In Sharidian, F. and Palmer, G.B. (eds.) Applied Cultural Linguistics:

Implications for Second Language Learning and Intercultural Communication,

125-168. Amsterdam: John Benjamin’s publishing Company, 2007.

 

The Guardian Newspaper. “32 Years of Biyaism: Those Praises of Deceit,” Retrieved on August

12, 2016 from http://www.cameroonweb.com/CameroonHomePage/NewsArchive/Editorial-32-years-of-Biyaism-those-praises-of-deceit-314291

Tori Shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English

 

 

 

 

Tori Shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English is a compendium of short stories written in Cameroonian creole, commonly called Cameroon Pidgin English (CPE). The grassfields of Cameroon serve as the nursery of these stories.The collection comprises animal trister tales, bird survival tales and human-interest stories.

In conformity with stendhalien ontological philosophy, this anthology of short stories is a mirror that reflects the folklore and mores of the ethnic groups that constitute the grassland region of Cameroon. It serves as a window to the worldview, mindset and value systems of the grafi.

Each story is an entity sufficient onto itself woven around a specific didactic theme.The stories deal with the diachronic and the synchronic; they create an anchor that links yesterday to today and today to tomorrow.These stories bridge the gap between the near and the far. In determining the order of presentation of the stories, the author has intentionally steered clear of chronology.Many readers will want to turn first to a story the title of which intrigues them the most. Whether you read the stories in the order in which they are presented or dart about as your fancy dictates, you will appreciate the narrative verve of this storyteller and sense the abundance of enjoyment that this book holds in store for you.

The didactic value of this book resides in its suitability to all age brackets. Elementary and High School students will cherish the narrative novelty that the book harbors. College and university students with an interest in African history and anthropology would find the collection invaluable. The uniqueness of this volume lies in its universal appeal— it delves into contemporaneous local and global issues—chemical dependency, AIDS pandemic, gun violence, moral crisis, culture of impunity, xenophobia, police brutality, bribery and corruption, abuse of power and more. More importantly, a few of the stories call into question the rationale behind certain time-honored African customs and traditions, namely rites of passage, arranged marriages, serial monogamy and sorcery.

The crafting of this book was motivated by the author’s keen interest in the preservation of indigenous literatures. It is his fervent hope that the publication of this book would meet this objective. We hope that Tori Shweet for Cameroon Pidgin English will be placed where the whole family can enjoy its contents; where guests can turn to it without let or hindrance.

 

Acknowledgement

My deep gratitude goes to  Jean-Paul-Kouega whose seminal work on Cameroon Pidgin English (CPE) titled A Dictionary of Cameroon Pidgin English Usage, Pronunciation, Grammar and Vocabulary (2008) came in handy during the crafting of a glossary for this book. I am intellectually indebted to custodians of oral traditions in the village of Bamunka, especiall my beloved mother of blessed memory, Nah Monica Mbiayuh, story-teller par excellence, who narrated some of the tales included in this antholgy to me in the glowing light of the evening fire during my tender years.

I am also thankful to those literati who share my firm conviction that Cameroonian orature is in dire need of salvaging through the written word.Last but not least, I  extend a hand of friendship to all Pidginophones in Cameroon and elsewhere in Africa, whose tenacity has kept them unfazed in the face of punny threats from linguistic terrorists hellbent on assassinating Pidgin English in Cameroon. 

About the Author

Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is professor of French and Francophone Literature at the University of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America.

 

New Book: Takumbeng and Other Poems from Abakwa

 

 

This collection of poems celebrates the prowess of the Takembeng, a militant female secret society in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. The poems address human rights violations, rape of democracy, misgovernment, and other forms of societal ills that plague post-colonial Cameroon. It is written in impeccable Standard English. The strength of the book resides in the vastness of the thematic terrain broached. 

The Takumbeng, a female secret society in the Northwest Region, has played a critical role in changing the political landscape of Cameroon. The militancy of this group has empowered rural and urban women in their strife to ensure democratic governance and human rights protection under the regime of Paul Biya. It should be noted that Takumbeng has been in existence since the pre-colonial era but came into the limelight in the 1990s in the wake of political liberalization in Cameroon that ushered in a new dispensation, following the launch of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) on May 26, 1990. The group derives its name from the society of Princes in the Bafut fondom (Fonchingong and Tanga, 2007) but its members hail from the fondoms of Akum, Bafut, Bambui, Bambili, Kedjom Keku, Kedjom Ketinguh, Mendankwe, Chomba, Nkwen, and Santa. The strength of the Takumbeng resides in its numerical value and mobilization for the course of social justice. They became prominent at the time of Cameroon’s uneasy transition from unitary to multiparty politics in the early 90s (Takougang & Kieger, 1998).

There is no gainsaying the fact the Takumbeng and its precursors, the Anlu and Fombwen have contributed significantly to shaping the course of political activism in Cameroon. These valiant women have lent their voice to opposition parties’ demands for political freedoms in the country. The role of the Takumbeng in matters of social cohesion cannot be underestimated. The group functions as agents of ritualistic cleansing, enjoining women to refrain from of acts deprecation such as adultery, alcoholism, witchcraft, and gossip.

This secret society plays a role analogous to that played by male secret societies in the Grassfields of Cameroon such as Kwifon, Tifuan, Nwo and Ngwerung. Takumbeng uses occult powers to check excesses in the community. Their modus operandi of using nudity to cast aspersions on evildoers has been transformed into a powerful tool now used by women to press for political freedoms in Cameroon. Kah (2011) observes that “The display of nakedness of the African woman was and remains her expression of anger and outrage at both public injustice and private male viciousness” (73). The women utilize their bodies as combat tools; stripping themselves naked when threatened by authority figures.  This is based on the belief that an exposed vagina is an ill omen in the Grassfields of Cameroon. 

Kah (2011) notes that the symbolic power of the vagina was used by the Takumbeng to cow gun-toting soldiers in Bamenda into submission in the early 1990s following the re-introduction of multiparty politics in Cameroon. The militancy of the Takumbeng gained leverage during the Ghost Town operations or Villes Mortes in Cameroon initiated by opposition parties in a bid to force Paul Biya out of office. At that time, these women used their bodies as symbolic and metaphorical devices to subvert the dominant discourse of manipulation. The practice of undressing and exposing their nudity constitutes the magic wand employed adeptly by these women. 

In general, the Takumbeng is composed of post-menopausal women believed to be immune to witchcraft, sorcery and effects of traditional medicine or megan. These women exert considerable influence on the community,and are sometimes capable of performing ritual roles that were, hitherto, denied them (Awasom, 2002). It must be underscored that during the current dispensation in Cameroon, the Takumbeng has metamorphosed from an indigenous secret society into a contemporary resistance group determined to put an end to political intransigence, abuse of human rights, economic doldrums and social asphyxiation. The political activism of the Takumbeng is comparable to the momentum gathered by the activities of other female resistance movements in Africa, such as the Aba riots of 1929 (Fonchingong and Tanga, 2007), the activities of Kenyan women involved in the Mau Mau war of liberation (1952-1957), the Pare Women’s resistance in Tanzania (Feierman, 1990) and the protest movement of women in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

The collective resolve of the Takumbeng and commitment to social justice are legacies that Cameroon owes this group of resilient women. The evolution of the Takumbeng from the status of a secret society to that of a resistance movement has yielded dividends for opposition parties in Cameroon given the unalloyed support that this group has lent to proponents of democratic governance and social purgation in Cameroon.  The actions of the Takumbeng have engendered a culture of social protest and political consciousness in Cameroon. 

In sum, the militancy of the Takumbeng has had economic, cultural, social and political ramifications for the New Deal in Cameroon. During the pro-democracy turbulence in Cameroon, the Takumbeng showed proof of women’s leadership capabilities by playing a myriad of roles—mobilization and raising awareness of the public through civil disobedience campaigns, lampooning acts of injustice through demonstrations, educating the masses on questions of human rights violations, monitoring the voting process and more. For all these reasons and more, this collection of poems is intended to be a celebration of the prowess of the Takumbeng, a sorority that has become a force to reckon with.  

Notes:  Takumbeng and Takembeng are orthographical variations of the same lexeme.

Termites in Cameroon!

 

 

 

 

 

By Peter Vakunta, Ph.D

Termites everywhere in Ongola!

The makanana and ilk are termites.

Termites don’t build;

They're not bridge-builders;

They're grave-diggers of the nation.

They destroy; they annihilate.

That's the modus operandi of termites.

The folks at the helm in Ongola are termites!

 

Emasculators of the nation-state.

They’ve destroyed the national economy.

They thrive on sodomy!

They’ve destroyed the education system.

They have destroyed the judicial system.

They have destroyed our ecosystem,

They have destroyed the pride of the nation,

And rendered us a skeletal nation!

 

The oligarchy in Yaounde are termites,

The mbeng-mbeng kiri are termites

They have destroyed our nationhood,

They’ve destroyed our moral fiber.

They’ve destroyed the morale of workers.

The folks at the helm in Ongola are termites,

They eat like wolves;

And defecate like swine.

 

These termites have destroyed our self-confidence,

And rendered us beasts of no nation.

They’ve destroyed our self-worth.

They’re hard at work destroying

The legacy of our founding fathers.

Termites are in charge of our collective destiny.

Shall they make or mar?

It’s time for fumigation!

Cry of the Environment: A Review of Ngong’s Blot on the Landscape (Langaa, 2015)

 

Reviewer: Peter Vakunta, Ph.D.

Blot on the Landscape is Ngong’s lament for an abused environment.  The poet uses poetic license to engage with issues relating to the intersection of poetry, politics and  environmental activism as seen in the following excerpt: “I remember G.R.A./Buea, once so green and clean/now so brown and repulsive/thick with unsavory smells/and infectious diseases.”(3) The poet devotes several poems to the theme of eco-terrorism, a leitmotif that takes the form of a narrative metaphor and runs through the entire anthology: “The beautifully trimmed lawns/the gardens and their flowers/ that made me beam like a child/ each time I visited them/are now blots on the landscape.” (3)

Ngong can be described as an environmentally conscious poet whose consciousness stems from ecological literacy. The poet resorts to poetry as a medium to address sensitive questions related to eco-criticism and environmental advocacy. The title of the book itself raises serious ethical questions about the deleterious impact of human activities on biodiversity and the ecosystem. The title crystalizes a vexing issue that pre-occupies the poet, namely environmental abuse. Having highlighted the imminent danger that faces humans and non-human species, the poet turns the spotlight on the imminent apocalypse that awaits humanity if nothing is done to halt the ecological carnage: “The garbage bags are full/and crows sing above us/ their beaks red with booty/The dirt and filth of fear/thrash us through thin and thick/thinning down our thin lives/ lingering in the cold/at the edge of collapse.”(4) The worrisome specter of an apocalypse is preempted in the following verses: “Livestock and dogs drop dead/ in sunbaked villages / Savage beasts kneel over/ crumple and come to dust in the measureless wild.”(24) Notice that the poet has recourse to the metaphor of the dry season in a bid to underscore the callousness of heart associated with folks at the helm in his native land: “The prima donna here/ gargantuan corrupt flesh/ does not acknowledge you/nor the vermilion tears/burning your roasted cheeks/It is your dry season.”(23)

A myriad of environmental issues constitute the crux of the discourse in Blot on the Landscape, not least of which is eco-terrorism: “Leave me the ravished landscape/the flora and fauna/ brutalized day in day out/by hunters and lumberjack/to keep body and soul warm/My heart is split between  them and our scarce ecosystem/faced with total destruction.”(41) This book of poems portrays human beings as eco-terrorists. The poet does not simply label human beings as environmental despoilers, he enumerates the acts of terrorism that man exerts on the natural environment—air pollution: “The smell of dead livestock/drives the rich to wear masks,” (4); “The stomach-turning smell/compels the lungs to scream,”(6); deforestation: “…floods devastate our homes/and bush fires fell forests”(1);ozone depletion: “Pollution everywhere/has knocked holes in the lungs/of the ozone layer/our last hope of living,”(11) and water pollution: “… if we emptied our bowels there/ or dumped carcasses in the stream.”(30)

It is remarkable that Ngong resorts to anthropomorphism as a stylistic trope to drive home his point as the following excerpt shows:” The sick city wakes with mist in her eyes.”(5)  The stylistic device of anthropomorphism enables the poet to attribute human qualities and motivations to non-humans as the following citation illustrates: “The sun rises slowly/creeps across the pale sky/and then clenches its hot fists/to strike the head of the earth.”(5)   By having recourse to the technique of personification, the poet succeeds in painting the portrait of a country in a state of putrefaction: “Breathing with difficulty/ in the tight embrace of dung/the spokesman of dirty dogs/ lies silent in his vomit.” (7) This book of poems passes for political satire. The poet satirizes the status quo in his land of birth: “If the mouthpiece of carrion/looks carefully around him/ with the eyes of Romeo/ he will see the land in waste/and feel the itch of decay.”(7)  Irony is another trenchant weapon wielded with dexterity by the poet logged in an endless vendetta against a government that has degerated into physical and psychological decay: “We live where refuse is wine/in the heart of the nation/ where mucus and afterbirth/are fresh as daisy.”(7) This sort of irony is situational. It alludes to instances where events do not turn out as they were expected to be and emphasizes the incongruity between some expectations or beliefs and the reality of a situation. In the example above, there is remarkable incongruity between man’s psychological bliss in the mist of physical malaise. Notice the poet’s predilection for scatology in his bleak portrayal of a country that has become uninhabitable: “You always flash a broad smile/ willing to have fun on dung/ like maggots in a dead dog.”(7) In this light, the poet poses an ontological question that is intended to be rhetorical: “Why must my life be dung/because of my birthplace?”(11)

In Blot on the Landscape, the poet poeticizes the ferociousness that man’s dogs of war have unleashed on our fragile planet. This warfare is both real and symbolic.  In these poems warfare is portrayed largely as a result of human beings’ nonchalant attitude toward Mother Earth. The fierce war waged against the planet leaves it deprived of thousands of species: “Factories churn out lethal smoke/my flesh crawls with wire worms/in the height of pollution/I cannot have a field day/in the backyard of slovens.”(78) This book of poems is also a rap on chemical warfare as the following excerpt indicates: “People who set out to live/to make life worthwhile living/ in a world worn down by wars… are not better than the dead.”77) Having highlighted the havoc that wars wreak on human lives, the poet dwells on the nefarious impact of drones on the environment: “…the forgotten toothless poor/and the drunken drones who run/ over protesting voices/and drive over their bodies.”(77)  Ngong focuses on man’s symbolic warfare against Planet Earth. He desires to call the reader’s attention to the fact that warfare and its concomitant outcomes can have undesirable consequences on both natural and built environments.

Blot on the Landscape is a clarion call to all and sundry to take action against ecological spoliation: “Dog days will kill us unless we stand up/against both blue funk/and bloody beasts/ tearing our hearts out for more leaves to fall.”(26) By the power of poetic verve, the poet raves against environmental abuse; he chastises governmental officials for dereliction of duty in environmental protection matters. By this token, Ngong’s poetry could be characterized as protest poetry par excellence. The thing that irks this poet the most is prevarication and outright lies that have become the trade-mark of the powers-that-be in his native land: “Leave me a place my beloved/on the cushion of your heart/ where I can lie down and rest/when tongues yellowed from decay/ drive me crazy with their lies.”(50) Desperate for a solution to the aforementioned problems, the poet seeks solace in magical realism as the following excerpt seems to suggest: “Before we ceased to be anything/ we could ride on the wings of a storm…/ we spent much time searching between cracks/scorpions and other poisonous bugs/ to keep our offspring from dying young.”(51)

The poet is strong in his conviction that poetry is not social dead wood. Poets reserve the right to adjudicate over the affairs of the world. That is why in the poem titled “Time to Clean” (77), the poet describes those who sit on the fence as dead wood. As he puts it, “People who set out to live/ to make life worthwhile living/ in a world worn down by wars/ but are at ease not speaking/ in the face of oppression/ the blot on our landscape/ are not better than the dead.”(77) The poet calls a spade a spade; he couldn’t care less whose ox is gored.  He remains unfazed by police and military brutality: “…the drunken drones who run/ over protesting voices/and drive over their bodies.”(77) There is no gainsaying the fact the Ngong uses poetry as a cannon to fire ammo at corrupt regimes in Africa in a bid to “…bring to light the bright green/ face of a brutalized land/ and a corrupted landscape.”(77)

This poetic anthology is captivating in many respects but the feature that distinguishes it from the works of other poets is the poet’s impressive choice of poetic devices. Ngong’s choice of a metaphor, the “blot on the landscape” as a leitmotif is germane to the themes discussed in all forty–two poems in the anthology. By choosing this metaphoric medium of expression, the poet is able to create a nexus between physical and psychological pollution in Cameroon. Similes or poetically generated synonyms permeate Ngong’s poetry as seen in the following excerpts: “I can call to mind/ the very last time/ I laughed like the moon.”(69); and “I stared at it lame and felt rage well up /inside me like rain…” (55) Other poetic devices used with noticeable dexterity in these poems include personification: “At the drop of the hat/ the overburdened sky/emptied its large bladder/on the bald head of the earth.” (44) The poet frequently resorts to satire as a versification device: “The blood on their laps/reminds me of vamps, /torture and abuse.”(22) The technique of reduplication is used effectively by the poet throughout the anthology to underscore intensity: “It rained and rained hard” (44) and “Stretches of green here and there/ sometimes very very thick.”(54) The device of narrative reduplication permeates the anthology as seen in the following excerpt:  “Storm on, storm on wild wind/ for darkness to tremble.”(66)

In sum, Blot on the Landscape is the poet’s lamentation for the ecological holocaust that seems imminent in Cameroon. In forty-two well-crafted poems, Ngong opens a can of worms on the environmental time-bomb on which Cameroonians are poised today. Written in impeccable English, this anthology of poems is suitable for all age groups. The subject matter—environmental sustainability—is a theme of global interest in contemporary society. This book is a masterpiece that should be read by environmental activists, students and instructors of environmental education as well as environmental scientists and political role-players all over the world.

About the reviewer

Dr. Peter Vakunta is a prolific writer with over forty works on literary theory and fiction under his belt. He teaches in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Indianapolis in the United States of America.

 

 

New Book! Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal

Poetry has the potential to serve as a double-edged weapon. In Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal, Vakunta stirs the hornet’s nest, calls a spade a spade and throws gibes at emasculators of social justice. Vakunta refuses to sit on the fence and watch the world go by.Strong in the conviction that poets must adjudicate upon the affairs of men, the poet picks up the cudgels to do battle with forces of evil the world over. He gives to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.Widely traveled and seasoned by his worldly experience, the poet serves the reader with a bitter-sweet menu analogous with the ontological labyrinth to which he has been exposed in the course of his peregrinations around the globe. In this anthology of poems spanning a quarter century, Vakunta bemoans the fate of a world where miscreants pass for holier-than-thou; wherein scoundrels speak for the voiceless; and mammon dines with servants of God. The portrait painted in this book is that of a world where moral bankrupts proceed with nauseating impunity to trample on the rights of lesser beings. Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal is the poet’s loud cry against the reign of impunity and the endemic moral crisis that has become the canker of this blighted planet.

 

On perusing ''Stream of Consciousness: Poetics of the Universal '' by Peter Wuteh Vakunta, one is struck by the eclectic and englobing nature of themes broached. Vakunta’s poetry is both a transversal and longitudinal dissection of our world. The poet assumes the posture of a divinity casting interrogative glances at the deeds of humans. Not a single terrestrial creature evades his prying eyes. Even the most subtle creatures on Planet Earth are scathed by the poet’s effusion of vitriolic emotions. The poet pursues evil-doers right into their graves. Even in their death throes, he continues to deal them fatal blows. Armed with a caustic pen, this chronicler does not sit on the fence and watch events transpire. Instead, he speaks for the downtrodden of all races and social strata: black, white, yellow, Papuan, Andalusian, wretched, opulent. This adds grist to the title of the book. The poet distances himself from the rigor of Kant and the moralism of La Rochefoucauld.  Weary of hearing the voices of humans in distress, he paints the portrait of another kind of Humanity. Vakunta’s poetry celebrates the harmonious cohabitation of verbal sophistry with the power of the word. [Tamegnon Demagbo, University of Indianapolis, United States of America]

 

About the author

Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is translator, novelist, poet, storyteller and literary critic. He is a prolific writer with over 40 books to his credit. His seminal works include: Lion Man and Other Stories (2005), No Love Lost (2008), Grassfields Stories from Cameroon (2008), Indigenization of Language in the African Francophone Novel: A New Literary Canon (2011), A Nation at Risk: A Person Narrative of the Cameroonian Crisis(2012), The Life and Times of a Cameroonian Icon: Tribute to Lapiro de Mbanga (2014), Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature (2014). Dr. Vakunta is current Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Indianapolis, USA.

 

New Book: Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English

 

Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English is the poet’s attempt at capturing in print the speech mannerisms of the proverbial man in the street in Cameroon. Pidgin English, also called Cameroonian Creole, is a lingua franca spoken throughout the national territory of Cameroon and beyond. Of the 200-odd languages that  Cameroonians speak, only Pidgin enjoys the rare privilege of being spoken by people from all social strata and ethnic groups. Mbangwana (1983) lends credence to the importance of Pidgin English as a lingua franca in Cameroon as follows:"Pidgin English is very crucial as a communication bridge, for it links an Anglophone to a Francophone. It also links an Anglophone to another Anglophone, an educated Cameroonian to another educated one, a non-educated Cameroonian to another non-educated one, and more importantly an educated Cameroonian to a non-educated one"(87).

Ayafor (2005) recognizes the importance of  Pidgin English in language planning in Cameroon when he underscores “the role of Pidgin English as a linguistic bridge between the two linguistic communities both in official and private domains” (128). He further notes that Pidgin English is not only the most widespread variety of English but it is the only language in Cameroon with the pragmatic ability to function as a contact language for all linguistic groups.

Pidgin has acquired the status of an independent language in Cameroon.It is no longer restricted to small talk, business and music; it is now the language of Anglophone Cameroonian literature. Francis Njamnjoh, Patrice Nganang, Mongo Beti, Peter Vakunta and Gabriel Fonkou to name but a few,tend to imbue their literary works with Pidgin English and Camfranglais, the language that Mercedes Fouda calls ‘le camerounais’(2001).These creative writers constantly resort to pidginization as a mode of linguistic and cultural appropriation.

This anthology is inspired by the poet’s desire to salvage a language that has been subjected to denigration on account of its being non-standardized.Pidgin English translates not only the worldview of Cameroonians but also their sensbilities and lived experiences.Well educated Cameroonians now resort to Pidgin English for the purpose of phatic communion in informal contexts. To put this differently, they use Pidgin in order to ensure group solidarity and to reinforce a sense of belonging.Although for a long time, Pidgin has survived as a lingo used mostly by the uneducated and semi-literate, this mixed language has now gained currency among the educated in Cameroon. It is important, I believe, to conceive of language mixing as an attempt to make language respond more realistically to the prevailing circumstances under which discourse takes place. Pidginization is no longer equated with imperfectly learned English.  Pidgin English has become the mother tongue of children born to parents from different ethnic/linguistic backgrounds.

 

 

Poems from Abakwa in Cameroon Pidgin English is one patriotic rage. An anthology of sorts, this book of poems contains wisdom, inspirational reflections and witticisms for all. Through apt descriptions, ilustrations, dialogues, interrogations and incisive phraseology, Peter Wuteh Vakunta creates an effective balance of colorful images that traces and documents disturbing accounts and evidences of corruption, greed, skewed values and life experiences that have assaulted his fatherland, betrayed  political leaders and institutions, court judges, and parliamentarians as the police-cum-military continue to put their ambitions above the country’s needs while forsaking future leaders—children. Vakunta describes how civil servants represent selfish interests and aspirations. Judges are intimidated as the nation’s laws continue to be transgressed. The police and military continue to abuse the trust invested in them by civilians and misdirect their patriotism while virtually the entire nation continues to live shaky lives with a punctured integrity. Vakunta does this in popular lingos commonly used by musicians, businessfolks, and the common man under several labels—Pidgin English, Camfranglais, Cam-tok, Camspeak, Majunga tok … [Dr. Fidelis Achenjang, Union College, USA]

Tribute to Takumbeng

 

 

Takumbeng,

Women of steel; women of valor,

Fire-splitting females unfazed by Mbiayaism[1],

You refuse to be cowed into submission

By the gestapo of LRC[2]

 

Takumbeng,

Female dare-devils

In whose unyielding hands

Scatology and nudity serve as lethal ammo

Against emasculators of social justice.

 

Takumbeng,

Women of age, women of candor,

When the hawks came after Titabet[3]

You stood hands akimbo and refused

To budge in the  face of intimidation, beatings and rape.

 

Takumbeng,

Sorority of the post-menopausals,

Whose might astounded the world

In the 1990’s in Abakwa during

The wee hours of demo-craziness in Ongola.

 

Takumbeng,

Backbone of the Social Democratic Front

Harbinger of political liberalism.

You stood firm when the SDF

Saw the light of day at Ntarikon on May 26.

 

Angered by the demise of six young Abakwans,

Unperturbed by the heavy handed attempts

To abort the event by forces from LRC,

You counter-attacked

With brimstone and venom.

 

True to yourselves,

You’ve remained the backbone

Of the opposition in Nooremac[4],

Stimulating militancy and adding beef

To the democratic bare bones in Ongola.

 

Takumbeng—a string of nomenclature—

Takembeng,  Akeeken, Tamanjong—

Offspring of many fondoms in graffi land—

Bafut, Bambili, Kedjom Keku, Kedjom Ketinguh,

Mendankwe, Chomba, Mbatu, Nkwen, Santa.

 

Takumbeng— life-blood of womenfolk,

Entrusted with a myriad of duties—

Purification, exorcism, social justice,

Communalism,  decision-making, mediation,

Cleansing, funeral rites, social pacification,

And communion with Kwifon.

 

Takumbeng,

A formidable force to reckon with—

Endowed with mystical prowess.

Avant-garde of  the infamous Villes Mortes,[5]

Takumbeng lives in the hindsight of Abakwa citizenry.

 

Takumbeng,

Indefatigable women whose

Role in the  civil disobedience

Is no sinecure at all,

You blocked the flow of goods

And foodstuff to the cities.

 

Large blades  of grass

In the mouth of the Takumbeng

Symbolise “no talk but action”

The nkeng, dracaena plant,

Symbol of peace  in graffi land.

 

Another lethal weapon

In the hands of the Takumbeng,

Celebrated for nocturnal rituals,

Symbol of womanhood,

Incarnation of occultism.

 

Takumbeng,

Queens of the earth,

And architects of life,

By virtue of procreation,

Takumbeng is no trifling matter.

 

Takumbeng,

Indigenous secret society,

Metamorphosed into a militant group.

To counter male chauvinism,

Abuse and misgovernment.

 

Takumbeng transcends ethnic frontiers.

Agents of ritualistic cleansing,

Nocturnal witchdoctors,

Purveyors of ominous signs,

You ensure social cohesion.

 

Takumbeng,

Your agenda includes  rallying

Womenfolk for communal labor.

Your resolve to right

The wrongs of society is a creed.

 

Takumbeng's nudity is far being

A sign of vulnerability,

Rather it’s fortitude ,

Queens of the earth.

Hail Takumbeng!

 

Takumbeng,

Architects of life.

Your resolve to protect humanity,

By virtue of womanhood,

Admirable affront aimed at evil-doers.

 

Even more laudable is your use  of

Traditional symbolic rituals,

Mystic powers and shaming as  combat tools.

Recourse to  symbolism

Is extra ammunition to your stock in trade.

 

The exposed vagina,

Harbinger of ill-omen,

The exposed bare breast,

Another lethal weapon,

The whistle a rallying call for war.

 

Awe-inspiring ululations,

Formidable bulwark against

Forces of oppression.

Bodies adorned with

Macabre paraphernalia—

 

Torn male dresses, dry banana leaves,

Fresh creeping plants, charcoal,

Wood ash and dry grass knots,

All means of desecration

In the hands of Takumbeng.

 

Takumbeng take matters

Seriously when despised,

Performing mock burials,

That send cold shivers down the spines of  victims

Who take to their heels Or drop dead!

 

© Peter Vakunta 2015

 Notes

---

[1] Creed according to Paul Biya, President of  Cameroon

[2] La République du Cameroun

[3]  Ni John Fru Ndi

[4] Cameroon

[5] Ghost Town Operation

Cameroonian Sodom and Gomorrah!

By Martin Eyong Tabe

IRIC ADMISSION SCANDAL AND THE YAOUNDE REGIME
……..President Biya intervening in the matter simply confirms the spirit of Nicolas Machiavelli, the father of all lies and deceit in leadership. This entails someone creating a problem in the back ground and allowing the problem to inflict untold suffering on the masses for a very long time and the creator of the problem later comes up with a solution and he is hailed like a god……It’s a shame that Cameroonians call for Profs Fame Ndongo and Tabi to resign when the actual architect of the regime is the Head of State? It’s worth asking if the presidency is situated in Yaounde or in Switzerland. Is there a difference between president Biya and Mr. Biya? It’s surprising the president Biya is on a private visit out of the country yet he acts in official capacity at the same time and no one seems to bother or mention it anywhere. Instead, Cameroonians hail him for intervening in the IRIC matter although an extra name was added to the existing scandalous extra lists. It’s such a big shame.

 This is not the first time such scandals have rocked our infamous institutions of state:
1) In 2001-2003, National Advanced School of Posts and Telecommunications Yaounde under a certain Paul Nji Tumasang now SDF Member of Parliament for Santa. Prof Gervais Mendo Ze came up with a list of 7 people who never wrote the exam. This list came up 40 days into the school year, people who never wrote the exam in the first place. Tumasang outrightly rejected the list. Prof Mendo Ze later sent the same list under the tutelage of the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Maximin Kwe Kongo, threatening  Tumasang of his director post and after a long stand-off, Tumasang ceded and Mendo Ze’s cousins from CRTV found their way into the school without ever sitting for the entrance exam.

 2) 2006- University of Buea faculty of Medicine under Prof Lambi. This scandal heightened the atrocities of this regime. After the publication of the list of successful candidates, Prof Fame Ndongo came up with another list that included many students who did not even sit for the exams yet these students were declared admissible into the Buea faculty of Medicine. Prof Lambi mounted stiff resistance against Fame Ndongo and the private press joined in denouncing the scandal. Intense pressure from the Yaounde masters caused a university strike that lead to the death of 3 people including 2 post graduate students, one of them was a certain AMBUER from Ekona town.  9 years today no one has been held convicted of the killings in cold blood.  No one even knows who gave the orders to shoot unarmed civilians in the Buea strike as is the case in America today, under the distinguished patronage of the black baboon from Kenya. . The then South West Governor was a certain Ejake Mbonda who invoked the obnoxious Louis 14 French declaration…l’etat c’est moi”.  Like the February 2008 killings, the culprits got away with the murder. When it became clear that Lambi could not win the case against the Yaounde barons, the former had to go on his knees and beg in a live CRTV telecast in a bid to save his seat but the die had already been cast. As though that was not enough, Lambi was fired and to further humiliate him, he was retained in the same institution and given a small cave in amphi 750 so that he could be destroyed psychologically. Once again, Fame Ndongo got away with it.

 3) IRIC SCANDAL FEBRUARY 2015 UNDER PROF TABI. IRIC has been shrouded with a lot of secrecy, mystery and mysticism over the years. Most of the diplomacy students come from the ruling tribe and the common man can only stand and glance the institution from afar though it is situated at a populated Anglophone neighbourhood in Yaounde. The first list of 15 candidates was published February 27th and a few days later, yet another list was published, this time by Fame Ndongo with some names of the first list removed like the second name, NTI ESTELL NADIA which did not appear in the second list and a waiting list of 7 people. The publication of the second list sparked a lot of commotion on the internet and within the ranks of the private press who took turns to denounce such a scandalous atrocity. Thanks to the private media, pressure mounted and Fame Ndongo took the podium to disgrace himself, citing the infamous 1982 regional balance as the reason behind his act. Criticism heightened and president Biya had to intervene, ordering the 7 candidates on the waiting list to be included in the final list. A total of 3 lists were published for a single exam.

Motions of praise and of support were sung to president Biya. The curiosity that was ignored or omitted by Cameroonians is the fact that there was a mystery name added to the list bringing the total to 22 admitted students for the first time in history. So who is this mystery person? (15+7+1=22). Mal practices in public exams in not a new thing in Cameroon. Examples of people who NEVER SAT for ENAM entrance yet are civil servants in today’s administration are legion. Talk less of those who made the written part but could not bribe their way through the orals. Or do you want to mention sexually transmitted admissions and successes in our institutions? Of late, married women are preferred in ENAM for satanic reasons so the devils kingdom continues to gain strength in our beloved fatherland. (Initiation rituals during military training). A certain culprit who was investigated for several counts for the theft and liquidation of ORANGE airtime is today a State Counsel in Fako. The case was investigated by notorious MEFIRE Pefaqueu Roger. Thank God he is still alive so anyone who doubts can challenge me by contacting him.  I do not want to talk about regional balance. That should be an argument for another day but let me give you an anecdote. A certain A has 16/20 but must forfeit his seat for a certain B with 10/20 or even less because of regional balance. Well, thanks to this we have the mediocrity we see around. Regional balance simply means that there is no meritocracy at all.

Let’s not be blinded by emotion and miss the substance. If after these repeated malpractices the culprits seem to get away with it then who is to blame? Since the 2006 University of Buea scandal Fame Ndongo is still in office so who is to blame? President Biya is the brain behind this system and if after all these atrocities, the culprits get away with it then Biya is to blame. If you side with a thief then you are equally guilty of the crime. Rather than calling for Fame Ndongo and co to resign, let’s be courageous enough to call for the entire Biya government to resign because his New Deal CPDM regime has simply flopped, failed to deliver the goods or meet the aspirations of the people.
The same argument goes for the fight against corruption. President BIYA has no intention of fighting corruption. The few under arrest are those who have fallen out of political favour with the regime, who have challenged the seat of the Head of State or who have simply been scapegoats. The Director General of Customs Minette Libong transferred 9 billion CFA to her children abroad but she remains a free woman till date. If she transferred that much to her children, how much does she herself have? It’s worth guessing. Though she is due retirement and had made her send off party, she was confirmed on her post, yet Paul Eric kingue was given a life jail sentence for misappropriating 10 million francs. Yet Cameroonians rejoice when spectacular arrests are made to divert attention of the masses when corruption remains the order of the day in our society.

 Principal Police commissioner DINA ESSOKA HELEN was suspended for 3 months and has had no salary since June 2014 for honestly investigating into the theft of 2,800 hectares of Fako land which has been baptized as the FAKO LAND CALAMITY. Big mouthed CHARLIE NDI CHIA was bold enough to publish in front page that the governor was at the centre of the land grabbing scam. It’s so strange how BAKWERI MONKEYS under the blessings of MAFANY MUSONGE with swollen jaws can stand by and watch their native land being torn apart by hoodlums. Sure he doesn’t want to jeopardize his political ambition. He thought he will be Senate president. He even renovated his house and bought drinks in anticipation. We all know the result. He is surely nursing his Constitutional Council ambition now though he is not a lawyer. Well what does it matter in Cameroon? If an ex convict like ATANGA NJI Paul with no background in security matters can head the national Security Council then Musonge with a bigger CV is more qualified to be in the constitutional Council, that’s Cameroon for you.

The south west has always been a no man’s land…south west puppets. If CONAC is anything to go by then MEBE NGO’O, RENE SADI, EKEMA PATRICK, OKALIA BILAI, CHIBILI MAUREEN, ZANG 3 and the BUEA BISHOP should be rotting in jail by now, not leaving out all the FAKO CHIEFS who have connived with the administration to rid the Fako indigenes of their land. It’s so interesting how NJOH LITUMBE single handedly sued Cameroon government in the Gambia under the Bakweri Lands claims committee and today every monkey from Bakweri fence wants to become chief, whether he inherited the right or not, of cause in complicity with the administration since chieftaincy in the SOUTH WEST is no longer hereditary but is now for sale by the highest bidder. LITUMBE received stiff opposition from his kin since he had SCNC affiliation but here we are today. Fako land has become gold and everyone wants to become chief, every village with 5 hits and 3 inhabitants is chiefdom. To get a chief’s attestation in Buea now costs upwards of 200,000 FRS tax free and the amounts are not regulated by any government text.

Readers will be surprised that the Bishop (acting in proxy by his able “intercessor” lieutenant) is also part of the scam. The Buea diocese with the help of the Buea State counsel have used all unorthodox means to procure vast amounts of land in God’s name. the height of the catholic land grabbing saga lead to the death of Molyko chief JOKE who died mysteriously in his Molyko neighbourhood, a wretched taxi driver who rose from grass to grace through the confiscation of the indigenes land and selling it to the Catholic mission. The intercessor spearheaded of the shady deal and the procurement procedure was illegal and the intercessor in cassock received a bashing in a brawl over a girl friend from a one-time municipal administrator who told him in the face that he IS NOT a man of God. Yes, puppets will quickly come to the defense by quoting the famous… touch not my anointed…….balderdash. Question is, who is anointed? A man whose entire life is
mired with all kinds of repeated scandals and immorality, children here and there, affairs with all kinds of women including married women and even lesbians yet someone will dare call him anointed? Two years now and no work is going on in the Molyko Cathedral sight, the priest in charge of the funds siphoned hundreds of millions and got away with it and the famous 200 million CFA scandal that disappeared from the Bishop’s house with the intercessor as prime suspect. Yet someone would dare call him anointed.

The catholic land grabbing saga in Fako is done with the support of the Buea State Counsel perhaps as a way to pay for her since but sorry, God is not a respecter of persons and all that doesn’t count. I would like to mention a few actions of this individual. A certain chief Njombe of Lysoka single handedly diverted 40 hectares of Lysoka land that was destined for the indigenes and till that, the case against him has not seen the light of day thanks to the complicity with Buea State Counsel. Doubting Thomas’ can verify with the Lysoka natives. A certain TITA KEVIN (one of his names though), a renowned scammer who brought in more than 1 Billion from abroad and was tried and jailed is now a free man thanks to the complicity with the State Counsel. Tita Kevin regained his stay abroad after a few years in jail and is now a free man. No one needs to know that money changed hands with the State counsel. CHARLIE NDI CHIA of The Post newspaper covered the story extensively. Anyone who doubts can challenge me by verifying with the former in Buea (his number 677 235 530) for I am sure he has copies in his archive.

Needless mentioning that the ex husband of the State Counsel was involved in a multimillion francs embezzlement scandal in BICEC Buea but with the help of his wife, the Buea State Counsel, he was released and travelled to the USA where he is now happily married with children. And she has got away with all these. She was even promoted and confirmed on her seat, a seat she has occupied for about 10 years now. Who is her God father? Mafany Musonge.   Yet people will claim that president Biya is fighting corruption.
All the BANDITS of the Fako land theft are known. First on the list is:

1). EDGARD ALAIN MEBE NGO’O with his puppet relative ZANG 3 (SDO FAKO). (A manipulation was done to replace BONA EBENGUE with Zang 3 in the mid night because the latter had to do the dirty job in favour of Mebe Ngo’o. Zang 3 was in charge of all the money that all the south west councils contributed for the reunification celebration apart from the 35 billion cheque offered by the Government and what national companies and business men contributed for the event, hundreds of millions that have never been accounted for till date yet he remains a free man, thanks to his god father mentioned above.

 2). RENE SADI acting under his puppet relative OKALIA BILAI (SW Governor) (governor owns hectares of land in Buea and Limbe, has many hectares in Sokolo Limbe where Chariot group is building his 4 storey building hotel. Though Okalia Bilai has been due retirement for 4 years now and with all the scandals in the reunification celebration, the gentleman is comfortably in office and was even confirmed in office during the last shake up….god fatherism.

 3). EKEMA PATRIC ESUNGE ( Buea Mayor) who has sold lots of lands in Buea including State land around the Buea stadium, the new GCE board and even part of Buea University land. Man lives in affluence; BMW American series 700, Mercedes 500, Land Cruiser America Sequoia V8, all in one year in office. Man raised building permits by extra 75,000 CFA in complicity with the SDO, partners in crime. He diverted some Muea and Mile 16 reunification roads to Bakweri wilderness. Man won the admiration of many locals by started his tenure on a high note by challenging administrative bureaucracy by civil administrators but it took less than one year for him to show his true colours. As unpopular as he is the Buea mayor won the best mayor award in some moronic Bamenda event, what a shame. Man has become a Hollywood actor by brandishing his gun at every instance, threatening to shoot down anyone who dares challenge his authority and he gets away with it, after all, Mafany Musonge and the Buea State Counsel will block the any case. The Buea people now live in absolute fear lest the sledge hammer of the LORD TYRANT of Buea falls on them and their houses demolished or their property confiscated.

4). BUEA STATE COUNSEL (LYSOKA LAND 40 HECTARES, BULU LAND and many others). Godfather’ Mafany Musonge.

 5). BUEA DIOCESE (now fighting with national icon, Mount Cameroon Queen SARAH ETONGUE to snatch/grab her government-built house gift, the only legacy she has for her numerous participations in the maiden mountain race), that’s the church for you, preaching what it does not practice. Bishop Nkea of Mamfe own & hectares of land behind Molyko stadium, a man of God, likely with the objective of opening his own church save from the one he officiates in now. The church! Judgement day will shock so many people
6). ALL FAKO CHIEFS (For conniving and contriving with the administration, leading to the massive theft/confiscation of 2800 hectares of Fako land). It is worthy of note that a good majority of these so called chiefs are illegitimate hence their sizzling romance with the D.Os and S.D.Os to misappropriate land that belongs to the indigenes as ruled by the Gambia court.

Needless repeating that HELEN ESSOKA, Principal Police Commissioner was not only suspended for 3 months but has had her salary suspended since June 2014 for her assiduous and honest investigation into the massive theft of Fako land. That’s what you get for trying to be honest in this forsaken fatherland. Often times multiple reports have put the police top in the corruption pedestal but here is one honest and dignified officer who is being penalized for doing an honest job. It’s a shame. Let’s see what CONAC which has been investigating the land case will do. Most of the above owners have been selling the land since the CONAC case started. There is no hiding place for the wicked and nature is just. These people must pay for their crimes and if they don’t pay, their families will pay. Someone has to pay for these. Let’s wait and see how president Biya will intervene in this matter like he did with the IRIC exam. The private press has been investigating this land grabbing scenario until when PETER ESOKA was used to do the dirty job by summoning publishers and suspending their media organs from the air. The old fool who although on retirement for many years now, he is the only one competent enough to translate presidential speeches. Some of us can’t wait to have that old gruff voice off the air. Demons hide behind the scenes and use Peter Esoka to stifle and muzzle any organ that dares expose the atrocities of the regime. God help this country!

Existential Maxims: A Review of Lamnyam’s Strive to be Happy

 

Reviewer: Peter Vakunta, Ph.D.

 

Esther Lamnyam, celebrated author of Love under the Kola Tree: What City Moms Didn’t Tell You about Creating Fulfilling Relationships (2009) has come up with yet another powerful tool intended to enable readers to live impactful lives. Strive to be Happy is a compendium of epigrammatic reflections on human behavior.  The ontological wisdom embedded in the bosom of this 148-page non-fictional book is priceless. Like François de la Rochefoucauld’s Maximes (1665)[1], Lamnyam’s aphorisms are the condensed sagacity of a writer who has traveled many roads. Hers is a clear-eyed, worldly view of human conduct that indulges in neither condemnation nor sentimentality. She posits that our virtues are usually only vices in disguise. Perceiving life as a ritual, Lamnyam offers the following counseling to her readers: “Have a ritual you practice daily. This will help position you and give you your bearings for your present location.”(35). Come to think of it, life is, indeed a ritual, be it the drudgery of existential humdrum or the repetitive monotony of daily chores.  Even the friendships that we create, opines Lamnyam, are ritualistic and tend to be evanescent if we fail to nurture them. As she puts it, “When we abuse and choose to not honor relationships and other humans, they might leave us…"(37). Many a friendship has been broken on account of mutual ingratitude and disrespect. In this vein, Lamnyam argues, to give relationships longevity, it is incumbent upon individuals involved to say or do little things that manifest thankfulness. In her own words, “Many broken hearts are born from being ungrateful” (37. Her words of caution to ingrates ring true: “Do not take others and partners for granted… They have the choice to leave the relationship any given day…” (37

Lamnyam has a predilection for proverbial sayings that remind readers of existential vicissitudes: “Everything that is hot eventually becomes cold” (45). This binary juxtaposition of antonymic words drives home the point lucidly. This writer broaches the importance of nomenclature in social intercourse as seen in the following excerpt: “Give a baby a name/it grows with it…/Fear is in a name when it belongs to a tyrant/A name has personality /when the bearer is subtle/There is credit in a name/ it has honor and influence”(43). Lamnyam’s book harbors the key to a happy life provided we do the little things that matter such as greeting the people we meet every day with a smile: “Start by smiling…One of the most powerful good energy generating tools is a smile”(49). Lamnyam appeals to readers to be mindful of the impact their demeanor has on the people in their entourage: “Think about the effect your demeanor or sadness has on those around you” (49). These words of wisdom may sound trifling but they really do matter and may be the dividing line that dissociates a life of failure from one of success.

Lamnyam’s Strive to be Happy is an inspirational work replete with didactic messages as the following extract illustrates: “Evil energy needs something to feed on just like a hungry person needs food… Evil energy needs evil energy as its food…” (94)These sagacious words brook no contradiction. They are applicable to all and sundry—indigent and opulent, slave and master, governor and governed. This is Lamnyam’s way of admonishing readers against evildoing because evil begets evil.Throughout this book Lamnyam’s voice sounds like that of a quiet peace-maker. She calls for nonresistance as a modus operandi needed to ward off the pangs of pain occasioned by social injustice, exploitation and disenfranchisement.  Hear her voice in the following excerpt: “Learn non-resistance in (different situations)…. this technique of nonresistance can be used in so many ways to diffuse potentially explosive situations” (94). Another didactic lesson that Lamnyam places at the disposal of readers is the importance of keeping promises. As she puts it, “The only thing you can keep when you give out is your word…” (128) By this token, she stands opposed to prevarication and falsehood. She has the conviction that people who tell lies and half-truths eventually lose credibility: “You corrode your credibility when you do not keep your word” (128).Lamnyam envisages a symbiotic relationship between human beings and animal beings: “Learn from the animals” (138). By elevating beasts to the pedestal of human beings, Lamnyam, by the same token, lowers humans to the level of animals. This is food for thought.

In her ontological peregrination, Lamnyam draws inspiration from the indigenous knowledge of her people, the Wimbum, as seen in her recourse to the following proverb: “Truth is slow, but it always arrives” (138). This maxim is pregnant with meaning. She has more to say in this light: “Whatever is done in darkness eventually comes to light” (104). As she sees it, truth begets happiness. When all is said and done, what is happiness according to Lamnyam? She defines happiness in spiritual terms as follows: “Happiness is to know the Savior/Living life in His favor/ Having a change in my behavior/ Happiness is the Lord” (141). The message nestled between the lines in this excerpt is a pointer to the writer’s perspicacious spirituality. In her mind, a life devoid of spirituality is an unfulfilled life: “Living a life that’s worth the livin’/ Taking a trip/ that leads to heaven/ Happiness is the Lord” (141). God is Love but God is also truth. It is for this same reason that Lamnyam calls upon readers to steer clear of tall tales: “Many of us are liars… Be truthful, else all this good stuff I share with you will be hard to come to grounded fruition” (129) Lamnyam does not speak tongue in cheek. She tells it like it is, not caring whose horse is gored.

This book contains cosmological messages intended for readers who nurse skepticism about the symbiotic relationship that exists between natural and spiritual cosmoses as seen in this extract: “… we must understand the interconnectedness of the universe in multi-dimensions to make better progress” (127). Lamynam seems secure in her conviction that the universe is a network of disparate entities needing coordinated harnessing for human progress, without which the results of human endeavors will be “abysmal in many cases” (127). To lend more credibility to her belief system she contends that “the spiritual and physical aspects of human beings have rules that apply and are constantly in motion, like the clouds in the sky” (126). The didacticism contained in Strive to be Happy touches on race matters. Using the colors of the rainbow as a starting point, Lamnyam appeals to human beings to learn to cohabit peacefully without undue attention to racial differences: “Use the colors of the rainbow to harmonize your day, week and life” (105). Figuratively speaking, the colors of Lamnyam’s rainbow are symbolic of terrestrial racialism.

This book brings to readers important lessons on how time and money should be spent:  “Spend time and money on yourself and your aspirations” (82). This message is not an endorsement of inordinate self-love or narcissism; rather it is a call for parsimonious utilization of the recourses that God has bestowed on humanity for the common good—the summum bonum.  Lamnyam’s call for the judicious utilization of planetary resources is echoed in the following extract: “Determine what you need and spend your money to get it.”(82). Strive to be Happy is a futuristic work as this excerpt seems to suggest: “Lay the groundwork or foundation today for your older age … Plan your nights in the day. Plan your evenings in the morning, your summers in winter” (78). These are words of inspiration at their best. Lamnyam’s book is also a clarion call for religious tolerance: “If your religion is very important to you and someone’s religious affiliation is different from yours, discuss that upfront…” (77) The author is certainly not oblivious of the religious upheavals that are rocking the very foundations of contemporary society. The book also satirizes religious hypocrisy in no uncertain terms:” People have many faces, one for work, one for personal life, one for wooing others…” (77)

Style plays a non-negligible role in Lamnyam’s narrative and calls for a comment. She writes in a conversational fashion, opting for words that do not create room for double entendre.  Her recourse to a non-erudite style of writing makes her work accessible to the learned and not so learned, the initiated and the neophyte. Her diction is commonplace and poses no comprehension challenges what-so-ever. This is a masterpiece that should be on the reading list of all philosophy courses nationwide. I thought I noticed a few very light-hearted authorial impositions in the narrative; however these moments of interjections from Lamnyam do not cause any prejudice to the overall flow of the narrative.  The translation of orality into the written word is a noteworthy aspect of Lamnyam’s writing style. She uses poetics like the one on pages 41-42 to communicate culture-specific messages. Proverbs, these pithy wise sayings that communicate profound messages, populate Lamnyam’s written work.

In a nutshell, Strive to be Happy is a hybrid text that combines aphorisms, proverbs, and desiderata to produce a poly-semantic work that appeals to readers across social strata.  The plurality of themes broached in the book constitutes one of its unique strengths. I would recommend this work for inclusion in the required readings of college-level psychology courses. The uniqueness of this book resides in its accessibility to all age groups.

About the reviewer

Dr. Peter Vakunta is Professor French and Francophone Literature at the University of Indianapolis, United States of America. He is chair of the Department of Modern Languages.

 

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[1] François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. His principal achievement is a collection of 500 epigrammatic reflections on human behavior, expressed in the most universal terms.

Linguistic Apartheid and the Quest for Freedom and Identity in Cameroon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Wuteh Vakunta, PhD— University of Indianapolis

Introduction

The language question in Cameroon has become the elephant in the room. Of all the burning issues that continue to plague Cameroon, the language question is the most problematic. This paper argues that Cameroon’s Official Bilingual Policy has fallen short of expectations.  We propose a Quadrilingual Language Policy that would lay the foundation for effective Multilingual Education that guarantees national unity and integration.  Our model incorporates Cameroonian official languages, indigenous languages and a lingua franca—in our case Cameroon Pidgin English (Cameroonian Creole). The merit of this MODEL is that it would normalize Cameroon’s linguistic anomalies. More than five decades after gaining token independence from imperial powers—France and Great Britain; Cameroon still does not have an implementable language policy that protects linguistic minorities.  Writing along similar lines, Ayafor (2005)notes that “language policy and planning suffer a political hijacking in which language measures are monopolized by political authority and are used as a form of blindfolding against the civil society and linguistic principles”(138).

This political bad faith violates Article 1:3 of Cameroon’s national Constitution which puts French and English at par. It states: “The official languages of the Republic of Cameroon shall be English and French, both languages having the same status. The State shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country. It shall endeavor to protect and promote national languages.” The fundamental flaw of this constitutional stipulation on official ‘bilingualism’ is that it fails to provide a clear working definition. It is not clear what level of linguistic proficiency must be attained by Cameroonian citizens in order to demonstrate officially sanctioned bilingualism.  Worse still, the constitution glosses over the dichotomy between individual and state bilingualism. In a linguistically pluralistic nation such as Cameroon, Bilingualism could mean anything from fluency in English and French; English and a national language; French and a national language; Pidgin English and a national  language; a national language and another national language, etc.  Besides, proficiency in any of these languages could vary from zero to near-perfection. It is in this perspective that Rosendal (2008) makes the following observation: “The extent of bilingualism in French and English in Cameroon is hard to estimate. Bilingual proficiency varies from zero to near perfect at the universities, depending on how semi-bilingualism, functional bilingualism and passive bilingualism are defined.” (25)  An interesting dimension of the discourse pertaining to official bilingualism in Cameroon is its correlation with biculturalism. Scholars such as (Echu, 2012; Tadadjeu, 1975; Fonlon, 1963, 1969) have pointed out that biculturalism is an integral component of official bilingualism. Sadly enough, official bilingualism in Cameroon has been treated with such levity that it has virtually been rendered dysfunctional. Jikong (1983) attributes the failed implementation of Cameroon’s official bilingualism to inadequate language planning. That’s why  Bobda and Tiomajou (1995) observe that “In Cameroon there is no government position on language policy and planning apart from the statement that French and English shall be the official languages of the Republic”(127).

To put this differently, Cameroon’s official bilingual policy has been presented as a mere statement of intent. According to Soule (2013), “the State is doing quite a lot to ensure the promotion of bilingualism, as stated in the Constitution, but is doing very little to ensure practical implementation of bilingualism”(13).There is no legislation on the practice of bilingualism in Cameroon. Consequently, Cameroonians who infringe the constitutional stipulation cited above cannot be held accountable because there is no institution charged with the implementation of the nation’s bilingual policy. Though strongly articulated in policy documents, Cameroon’s bilingual policy remains a mere manifesto on paper. In daily practice, French has dominance over the English language in the spheres of administration, education and the media.

The position of dominance accorded the French language is attributable to the absence of an effective language policy that safeguards the rights of linguistic minorities.  This status quo does not bode well for the nation’s quest for freedom and identity because as Echu (2004) would have it, “The Policy of official language bilingualism has created an Anglophone/Francophone divide in Cameroon that is seen in recent years to constitute a serious problem for the State” (6). Thus, though conceived to play the role of a unifying factor, Cameroon’s official language policy embodies germs of disunity.  The lackluster implementation of the nation’s language policy has been described by scholars as a harbinger of national disintegration (Soule, 2013; Echu, 2004; Ayafor, 2005; Tiomajou, 1991; Bobda and Tiomajou, 1995). Ayafor for instance, argues that “language has become one major factor among the socio-political grievances of Anglophones’ so-called ‘The Anglophone Problem’ since 1980s” (133).

The ‘Anglophone Problem’ stems from the second fiddle status assigned to English-speaking Cameroonians by francophone members of government. This probably explains why in English-speaking towns and cities such as Bamenda, Buea, and Tiko, to name but a few, there are billboards and toll-gates with inscriptions written entirely in French. Rosendal (2008) notes that “bilingual policy implies that official documents and laws are published in both languages” (29). These examples lend credence to the fact that English remains a mere afterthought in the minds of government officials in Cameroon. In Cameroon official documents such as decrees and more are endorsed with an official seal and their content implemented without official versions in English. It is not uncommon to find English translations of important government documents fraught with mindboggling spelling and grammatical errors. These are pointers to the fact that the implementation of Cameroon’s official bilingualism has failed woefully.

There is no gainsaying the fact that what prevails in Cameroon today is tantamount to linguicide, a term used throughout this paper to describe the linguistic genocide that has been given leeway in Cameroon. Linguistic genocide is observable in all spheres of government business. In the judicial branch of government, the interpretation of the letter and spirit of the law is left to the whims and caprices of French-speaking judges who are ignorant of how the Anglo-Saxon legal system functions. This has resulted in countless miscarriages of justice. For instance, a travesty of justice was evident during the infamous Yondo Black trial[1] in the 1990s.

The National Radio and Television Corporation (CRTV) is another case in point. The preponderance of French news at the CRTV is no secret to anyone living in Cameroon. During electoral campaigns, little or no time is allotted to the campaign speeches of Anglophone opposition leaders desirous of addressing the nation in a bid to sell their political platforms. The language of instruction and daily routine in Cameroon’s armed forces, police and gendarmerie [2]is French. Anglophones recruited to serve in these forces have to fight or flee; in other words, they must learn French or perish.

Such is the crux of the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon. To eradicate these policy bloopers and save Cameroon from linguistic disintegration, this paper proposes a Quadrilingual Education System that is linguistically inclusive. Our model is calqued on previous models proposed by two of Cameroon’s most acclaimed experts in the field of early childhood second language acquisition, namely Bernard Fonlon (1963) and Maurice Tadadjeu (1975).

A Quadrilingual Educational Model in Cameroon

The Model that we propose is anchored on the acquisition of four (4) languages: English, French, a National Language and a Lingua Franca (CPE) before the Cameroonian child gets to University. We argue that a quadrilingual education model that gives pride of place to the acquisition of both official and national languages serves as a catalyst for the attainment of national unity and economic advancement; the more so because language constitutes the bedrock of nationhood and self-identity.  

In our conceptualization of the Quadrilingual Model we have espoused the  stance of Tadajeu (1975) who argues that “if language is to be the primary concern of the primary school then there is no reason for not including the vernacular languages in the curriculum at this level”(58). Tadajeu actually echoes Fonlon’s thoughts on this theme: “I must confess that the expression Cameroon bilingualism is a misnomer. It would be correct to speak of Cameroon trilingualism because even before the Cameroon child comes to school to learn English and French, he should have already learnt his own native tongue” (“A Case for Early Bilingualism…,”p.206).  Other scholars in this field have argued for the inclusion of indigenous languages in the educational system in Cameroon (Mba and Chiatoh, 2000; Todd, 1983; Chumbo, 1980; Ngijol, 1964; Achimbe, 2006). Achimbe argues that the language education policy in Cameroon largely ignores the importance of national languages. As he puts it: “In promoting its bilingual language education policy, the government has largely disregarded the multilingual make-up of the country. Indigenous languages play only a secondary role…” (96).

Similarly, Tadadjeu advocates the inclusion of national languages in the education system in Cameroon in his trilingual Education Model. The Quadrilingual Model proposed in this paper envisages the inclusion of a lingua franca (Cameroon Pidgin English) for several reasons.

Lingua Franca as Component of the Quadrilingual Model

The rationale for including CPE in our model is three-fold. First, the number of households in Cameroon where Pidgin English is the primary language of communication is on the increase. Just as French and English are mother tongues for the majority of urban kids today, Pidgin English has supplanted these hegemonic languages in many homes, especially in instances of mixed marriages between Francophone and Anglophone Cameroonians. Second, Pidgin English is the only language spoken by over 85% of Cameroonians. According to Achimbe (2006), Pidgin English acquired a national character, “representing the mother tongue of fifty percent of the population” (99). He further notes that Cameroon Pidgin English (CPE) is fast becoming the mother tongue in some urban communities. Breton and Fohtung (1991) buttress this point when they refer to Pidgin English as a language of “wider communication in Cameroon” (12).  Mbangwana (1983) lends credence to the importance of Pidgin English as a lingua franca in Cameroon as follows:

Pidgin English is very crucial as a communication bridge, for it links an Anglophone to a Francophone. It also links an Anglophone to another Anglophone, an educated Cameroonian to another educated one, a non-educated Cameroonian to another non-educated one, and more importantly an educated Cameroonian to a non-educated one(87).

Ayafor (2005) recognizes the importance of lingua franca in language planning in Cameroon when he underscores “the role of Pidgin English as a linguistic bridge between the two linguistic communities both in official and private domains” (128). He further notes that Pidgin English in not only the most widespread variety of English but it is the only language in Cameroon with the pragmatic ability to function as a contact language for all linguistic groups.

The third reason for including Pidgin English in the Quadrilingual Model is that Pidgin English is no longer just a language of the streets. It has evolved into a medium of literary expression. Cameroonians are now producing works of literature in Pidgin English. A few examples would drive home the point:  Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English(2008), CamTok and Other Poems from the Cradle (2010), African Time and Pidgin Verses(2001) Stories from Abakwa (2008), Je parle camerounais (2001), Moi taximan (2001)and Temps de chien (2001).

What we would like to do at this juncture is provide a succinct description of the Quadrilingual Model.

A Blueprint for Quadrilingualism in Cameroon

In our conception of a Quadrilingual Education System in Cameroon,  we have made a clear distinction between a first official language(O1), which is the medium of instruction and the second official language(O2) which is a subject to be learned at school.  At the same time, we have underscored the dichotomy between a national language (indigenous language) and a lingua franca (hybrid language used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages).  

The long-term objective of the Quadrilingual Education System would be to prepare Cameroonian learners linguistically for university studies.  The ideal would be to see each Cameroonian child literate and fluent in their mother tongue or a related regional language, the two official languages as well as a lingua franca as they work their way toward university studies. To be labelled fluent, the individual must be able to function at level 3 of the Inter-Agency Language Roundtable Scale of Descriptors.[3]

 The Quadrilingual Blueprint

• Primary School Level

At the primary school level, the mother tongue should be the medium of instruction and the first official language (English for Anglophones and French for Francophones) would be a curricular subject. This stipulation would apply to both rural and urban schools. A proportionate number of indigenous language teachers will have to be trained in order to see this project through.

• Secondary School Level

At secondary school level, a gradual switch would be made to the learner’s first official language (English for Anglophones and French for Francophones) as a medium of instruction. The mother tongue, lingua franca and second official language (French for Anglophones and English for Francophones) should become curricular subjects.This model ensures that learners are exposed to three languages before they get to High School.By the end of secondary school, the Cameroonian child should be Quadrilingual in the strict sense of the word as it is used in this paper.

• High School Level

At high school level German, Spanish, and Latin courses should be replaced by courses in Cameroonian indigenous languages.  Also, some language majors would be encouraged to participate in indigenous language literacy programs. No specific modifications are anticipated at this level as regards the teaching of French and English, except where instructional pedagogies are concerned.

• University Level

At university level two things could occur.

                                 i.            The extension of current indigenous language courses in a bid to transform them into inter-lingual translation courses covering all national languages as well as Pidgin English.  Program designers and coordinators could conceive incentives that would encourage a greater number of students to sign up for languages related to their own mother tongues if there are no courses in their mother tongues.

                               ii.            Students with linguistics as minors or majors could be encouraged to take indigenous language literacy courses that would enrich their mastery of the phonology, morphology and syntax of indigenous languages.

 Conclusion

This paper has unearthed the root causes of the bilingual policy abortion in Cameroon. Incontrovertible evidence has been unraveled to lend credence to the contention that Cameroon’s language policy is a non-starter and has, therefore, failed to serve as guarantor of national unity and territorial integration. To fill this lacuna, this paper has proposed a Quadrilingual Blueprint that is inclusive of Cameroonian national languages and Pidgin English. The merit of this paper resides in the fact that it has broadened the scope of the national language policy discourse in Cameroon by arguing for the inclusion of indigenous languages and Pidgin English. Most importantly, it has made the point that national language policy decisions ought to be made on the basis of sound pedagogic principles rather than on the whims and caprices of uninformed political role-players.

 Works cited

Achimbe, Eric A. “Anglophonism and Francophonism: The Stakes of (official) Language Identity in Cameroon.” Alizés: Revue angliciste de la réunion 25/26(2006): 7-26.

____________________.

Amvela, Zé. “English and French in Cameroon: A Study in Language Maintenance and Shift.” In Echu G. and Grunstrom, W.A. (eds.) Official Bilingualism and linguistic Communication in Cameroon. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.

Ayafor, Isaiah, Munang. “Official Bilingualism in Cameroon: Instrumental or Integrative

Policy?’ Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. Ed. James Cohen et al., Somerville: Cascadilla Press, 2005.

Bobda, S. and Tiomajou, D. “Integrating ESL and EFL: The Cameroonian Experience,” In British Council, Senegal. Across  the West African Divide. Proceedings of the West African English Language Conference, Mbour, Senegal, 1995.

Breton, Roland and Fohtung, Bikia.  Atlas administratif des langues nationales du Cameroun. Yaoundé, Paris: CERDOTOLA, CREA – ACCT, 1991.

Cameroon, Government. Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon. Yaoundé: Government

printer, 1996.

Chumbo, B.S. “Language and Language Policy in Cameroon,” In Kofele Kale (ed.) An Experiment in Nation-Building: The Bilingual Cameroon Republic since Reunification. Boulder: Westview Press, 1980.

Chumbo,  B.S.  and  Pius Tamanji. “Linguistic Identity across the Borders of Cameroon Triangle,” In Kweshi K. Prah (ed.) (2000):53-74.

Echu, George. “Influence of Cameroon Pidgin English on the English and

Cultural Development of the French Language” (1991). Retrieved on

 March 12, 2014 from https://www.indiana.edu/~iulcwp/pdfs/03-

 hu03.pdf

 _______________. “Pidginization of French in Cameroon” (2006). Retrieved on

                February 12, 2014 from

                http://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/01_5/echu16.htm

 _______________. “The Language Question in Cameroon.”(2004). Retrieved

                January 13, 2012 from http://www.linguistik-

                online.de/18_04/echu.html

Echu, G. and Grundstrom, A.W. Official Bilingualism in Cameroon: Francophone Cultures and  Literatures . New York. Peter Lang, 1999.

Fonlon, Bernard. “The Linguistic Problem in Cameroon: An Historical Perspective,” ABBIA 22  (1969):5-50

____________________. “A Case for Early Bilingualism,” ABBIA 4

(1963):56-94

 Fouda, Mercédès. Je parlecamerounais: pour un renouveau francofaune.Paris:

Karthala, 2001.

Hirsch, E.D. Cultural Literacy: What Every American Should Know.  New York: Vintages Books,1988.

Jikong, S.Y. “Official Bilinguallism in Cameroon: A Double-Edged Sword,” Alizés:  Revue angliciste de la réunion 19(2001): 7-26

Kouega, J.P. (2003): “Camfranglais: A Novel Slang in Cameroon Schools,”

English Today 19-2(2003): 23-29.

Kuitche, F. Gabriel. Moi taximan. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2001.

Mba G. and Blasius Chiatoh. (2000). "Current trends and Perspectives in Mother Tongue Education  in Cameroon,'' African Journal in Applied Linguistics (AJAL) No. 1 (2000) 1-2.

 Mbangwana, P. “Flexibility in Lexical Usage in Cameroon English,” Retrieved December 12, 2012  from d_praqz5Z4#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9C%20mbangwana&f=false

 _____________________. Mbangwana, P.N.  “Invigorative and Hermetic Innovations in English in Yaounde.” World Engishes 10.1(1991):53-63.

Nganang, P. Temps de chien. Paris:  Serpent à Plumes, 2001.

Ngijol, Pierre. "Nécessité d'une langue nationale,"ABBIA No. 7 (1964): 83-99.

Nyamnjoh Francis. Stories from Abakwa. Bamenda: Langaa Research and

Publishing Common Initiative Group, 2007.

Rosendal, Rove. Multilingual Cameroon: Policy, Practice, Problems and Solutions.Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg Press, 2008.

Soule, S N. “Official Bilingualism in Cameroon: Farce or Reality? The Need for Texts to Govern the  Practice of Official Bilingualism in Cameroon,” Retrieved on October 2, 2014 from  https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=official bilingualism in cameroon: farce or

reality%3f the need for texts to govern the practice of official bilingualism in cameroon

Tadadjeu, M. “Language Planning in Cameroon: Toward a Trilingual Education System.” In Patterns in Language, Culture and Society: Sub-Saharan Africa. Ohio:  University of Ohio Press, 1975.

Tiomjou, D. Bilingualism in the Mass Media in Cameroon:  A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Cameroon Radio Television. (Unpublished Dissertation). Yaounde: University of Yaounde.

Todd, Loreto. "Language Options for Education in a Multilingual Society: Cameroon."In Kennedy, Chris (ed.): Language Planning and Language Education. London, 1983.

Vakunta, P.W. Majunga Tok: Poems in Pidgin English. Bamenda: Langaa

                RPCIG, 2008.

_________________________. African Time and Pidgin Verses, Pretoria, Duplico,

                2001.

__________________________. Cam Tok and Other Poems from the Cradle. Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, 2010.

Wolf, H.G. English in Cameroon: Contributions to the Sociology of Language. Berlin: Mouton de Grutyer, 2001.

Notes

---

[1] On April 4, 1990, the Yaounde military tribunal was the focus of national and international attention as arguments in the trial of Yondo Black Mandengue and 10 others began.They had been arrested in February of that year for trying to create a political party. Officially, however, the accused were charged with holding clandestine meetings, fabricating and distributing tracts hostile to the Government, rebellion, and insulting the Head of State.

[2]  Police officers in francophone countries.

[3] The following ILR descriptions of proficiency levels 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 characterize spoken-language use. Each higher level implies control of the previous level’s functions and accuracy. A skill level is assigned to a person through an authorized language examination called the Oral Proficiency Interview(OPI). Examiners assign a level on a variety of performance criteria exemplified in the descriptive statements.

 

Translation or Treason? On Translating the Third Code

Download Video-2012-07-01-10-20-04

 

Tribute to a Fallen Hero

By Peter Vakunta, PhD

Revolutionary ideas tend to outlive their originators. It takes a selfless hero to change a society. Lapiro de Mbanga, born Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger on April 7, 1957 was a conduit for social change. He fought for change in his homeland and died fighting for change in Cameroon. Lapiro believed in the innate goodness of man but also had the conviction that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He was noted for contending that “power creates monsters.” His entire musical career was devoted to fighting the cause of the downtrodden in Cameroon. He composed satirical songs on the socio-economic dystopia in his beleaguered country.  In his songs, Lapiro articulated the daily travails of the man in the street and the government-orchestrated injustices he witnessed.

Initiated into the pro-democracy movement of his own accord in the early 1990s  in the wake of the launch of Ni John Fru Ndi’s Social Democratic Front (SDF) at Ntarikon Park in Bamenda, Lapiro remained steadfastly committed to his crusade against misgovernment, politics of ethnicity, tribalism, corruption, culture of impunity, influence peddling, electoral fraud and gerrymandering.  Lapiro was laureate of many prizes, the most prestigious of which is the Freedom to Create Award, conferred on him by Freemuse in November 2009 at a ceremony in London. This write-up is my celebration of one man’s vendetta against a cancerous regime that thrives on the rape of democracy and human rights abuses. Paul Biya, Lapiro’s pet-peeve, symbolizes inhumaneness, misgovernment and the abortive democratization process with which Cameroon has come to be identified. The leitmotif in Lapiro’s musical composition is the entertainment of resistance in Cameroon against overwhelming odds.  As a songwriter, he distinguished himself from his peers through bravado, valiance and the courage to say overtly what many a Cameroonian musician would only mumble in the privacy of their homes.

Lapiro was an anti-establishment songwriter who walked tall where angels dread to tread.  For daring to compose an acerbic song titled Constitution constipée (constipated constitution) in which he lampooned the Cameroonian Head of State for tinkering with the national Constitution, the singer was arrested on September 9, 2009 and incarcerated in the notorious New Bell prison in Douala for three years on trumped-up charges. He was ordered to pay 280 million CFA francs (640,000 US dollars) as compensation for damage caused during riots where protesters had taken to the streets, angered by high living costs and a constitutional change that would allow the country’s president to stay in power indefinitely. Released from prison on April 8, 2011 he was later given political asylum by US authorities. On September 2, 2012 Lapiro relocated with some members of his family to Buffalo in New York where he died on March 16, 2014 after a long illness.  What a loss for Cameroon and the international community!

I am working on a book that will provide the world with ample information on the issues that motivated this fallen musical virtuoso.

Dr.  Peter Vakunta is professor of modern languages at the University of Indianapolis, USA

 

Download Video-2012-07-01-10-20-04

 

Tribute to a Fallen Hero

By Peter Vakunta, PhD

Revolutionary ideas tend to outlive their originators. It takes a selfless hero to change a society. Lapiro de Mbanga, born Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger on April 7, 1957 was a conduit for social change. He fought for change in his homeland and died fighting for change in Cameroon. Lapiro believed in the innate goodness of man but also had the conviction that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He was noted for contending that “power creates monsters.” His entire musical career was devoted to fighting the cause of the downtrodden in Cameroon. He composed satirical songs on the socio-economic dystopia in his beleaguered country.  In his songs, Lapiro articulated the daily travails of the man in the street and the government-orchestrated injustices he witnessed.

Initiated into the pro-democracy movement of his own accord in the early 1990s  in the wake of the launch of Ni John Fru Ndi’s Social Democratic Front (SDF) at Ntarikon Park in Bamenda, Lapiro remained steadfastly committed to his crusade against misgovernment, politics of ethnicity, tribalism, corruption, culture of impunity, influence peddling, electoral fraud and gerrymandering.  Lapiro was laureate of many prizes, the most prestigious of which is the Freedom to Create Award, conferred on him by Freemuse in November 2009 at a ceremony in London. This write-up is my celebration of one man’s vendetta against a cancerous regime that thrives on the rape of democracy and human rights abuses. Paul Biya, Lapiro’s pet-peeve, symbolizes inhumaneness, misgovernment and the abortive democratization process with which Cameroon has come to be identified. The leitmotif in Lapiro’s musical composition is the entertainment of resistance in Cameroon against overwhelming odds.  As a songwriter, he distinguished himself from his peers through bravado, valiance and the courage to say overtly what many a Cameroonian musician would only mumble in the privacy of their homes.

Lapiro was an anti-establishment songwriter who walked tall where angels dread to tread.  For daring to compose an acerbic song titled Constitution constipée (constipated constitution) in which he lampooned the Cameroonian Head of State for tinkering with the national Constitution, the singer was arrested on September 9, 2009 and incarcerated in the notorious New Bell prison in Douala for three years on trumped-up charges. He was ordered to pay 280 million CFA francs (640,000 US dollars) as compensation for damage caused during riots where protesters had taken to the streets, angered by high living costs and a constitutional change that would allow the country’s president to stay in power indefinitely. Released from prison on April 8, 2011 he was later given political asylum by US authorities. On September 2, 2012 Lapiro relocated with some members of his family to Buffalo in New York where he died on March 16, 2014 after a long illness.  What a loss for Cameroon and the international community!

I am working on a book that will provide the world with ample information on the issues that motivated this fallen musical virtuoso.

Dr.  Peter Vakunta is professor of modern languages at the University of Indianapolis, USA

 

Tewuh Bros Freelance Services, Inc.

Building Linguistic Bridges for Better Business

About the Owner

Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is a professional French-English translator and interpreter. Before launching a full-time career as a translator-interpreter, I worked in the education industry. My professional background and language skillset are a perfect fit for companies working in the fields of intercultural communication, education, marketing, law, medicine and pharmaceuticals. I have worked with several organizations to develop culturally appropriate communication networks that resonate directly with global economic trends.

My educational qualifications include: Master of Arts in Translation Studies, Master of Science in Education, with specialization in Curriculum & Instruction, and a Doctorate in French and Francophone Studies. I am a certified translator and member of the American Literary Translators’ Association (ALTA). I have been a practicing translator-interpreter since 2001. During my leisure time, I write poems, short stories, novels and essays.I have over forty publications to my credit(paperbacks and kindle editions). I blog at http://vakunta .blogspot.com

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Just Published: Speak Camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais

Ce recueil poétique passe pour un miroir qui se promène dans les coins et recoins de la République du Cameroun. Façonnés dans le parler de l’homme de la rue, ces poèmes font le plaidoyer des sans voix camerounais, de tous ceux qui vivent à la lisière de la société camerounaise nantie. Les thèmes abordés sont nombreux à savoir la culture d’impunité, le cercle vicieux de la corruption, l’abus du pouvoir, le trafic d’influence, le viol constitutionnel, le truquage électoral, et l’inéptie de la bourgeoisie nationale pour ne citer que ceux-là. En somme, Speak camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais fait un appel de clairon à une nouvelle donne camerounaise.

The poems in this collection are a mirror reflecting the goings-on in the nooks and crannies of the Republic of Cameroon. Crafted in the lingo of the man in the street, these poems speak for the voiceless in Cameroon, for all those who live on the fringe of a rich Cameroonian society. The themes broached are numerous, namely the culture of impunity, the vicious cycle of corruption, abuse of power, influence peddling, rape of the constitution, electoral gerrymandering, and the ineptitude of national bourgeoisie to name but a few. In sum, Speak camfranglais pour un renouveau ongolais is a clarion call for a new deal in Cameroon.

La poésie de Peter Vakunta s’inspire des rues d’Ongola et sa verve la destine à celles-ci. Par ces poèmes, il nous montre que la poésie est parole gestuelle, et le camfranglais, autant qu’une langue est une geste. La geste des pauvres, des laissés-pour-compte, des jeunes, la geste du futur donc. C’est un triomphe de la parole camerounaise que par sa plume, elle devienne poésie. Cette poésie est enceinte d’actions.

Peter Vakunta’s poetry draws inspiration from the streets of Ongola; its verve is destined for the streets. Through these poems, Vakunta portrays poetry as gestural language, and Camfranglais is gestural by virtue of being a language. It is a gesture of the destitute, of the downtrodden, of the youths, and by this token, gesture of the future. That Camfranglais is versified under Vakunta’s pen marks the triumph of CamTalk. This collection of poems is pregnant with action.

Dr. Patrice Nganang is Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature Stony Brook University (SUNY) New York, United States of America

Dr. Peter Vakunta is professor in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Indianapolis, United States of America. He is author of several books and blogs at http://vakunta.blogspot.com