By Professor Peter Vakunta
By Professor Peter Vakunta
Posted by Wuteh on Saturday, 16 May 2020 at 03:39 PM in Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Interviews, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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BByBDr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta
Poetry has the potential to serve as a double-edged weapon. In Tragedy of the Commons Vakunta stirs the hornet’s nest, calls a spade a spade and throws gibes at emasculators of social justice. The poet 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 global experience, the poet serves the reader with a bitter-sweet menu of mind-boggling aphorisms reflective of 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, the poet bemoans the fate of a world where miscreants pass for angels; wherein scoundrels speak for the voiceless; and mammon dines with God. The portrait painted in this book is that of a world where moral bankrupts proceed with nauseating callousness to trample on the rights of lesser beings. Tragedy of the Commons is the poet’s stentorian cry against the rape of social justice and the endemic moral crisis that has blighted our planet.
Tragedy of the Commons is a seminal piece of fictional writing that delves into the crevices of contemporary society. Divided into thematic realms, this book of poems is an awakening call for humanity to waken from slumber and pay heed to seemingly trivial issues of our times. The poet skillfully weaves into poetic form existential matters that human beings tend to gloss over. Readers will be at ease with the commonplace lexical choices that seem to be the poet's stock-in-trade. [Dr. Peter Ngwafu Ajongwa, Albany State University]
Posted by Wuteh on Tuesday, 05 May 2020 at 05:14 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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By Professor Vakunta
Concoction and machination,
Come rain,come shine,
All to no avail,
Foiled coup of sorts.
The duo hail from
The Heart of Darkness.
One from Yorubaland,
The other from Meukohland.
In Indianaland,
Two she devils locked horns,
Bedfellows well met,
Notorious offspring of Lucifer.
One black like charcoal,
The other banana skinned,
Both intent on playing femmes fatales,
At the expense of PWV.
The evil that Amazons concoct,
Bears fruit with offspring—
Abortive matrimonies,
Sterile wombs inept for procreation.
By fiendish mantras they operate,
The end justifies the means.
Tobasi, megan and sorcery.
Bang! Boomerang!Aborted coup!
Wrestling with Beelzebub
Amounts to a herculean task.
Sole efficacious armor against evil,
Is intimate communion with God.
God fished PWV out of an abyss,
He retrieved him from murky waters,
And set him on a Rock of all Ages,
To the chagrin of foes and faux amis.
© Vakunta 2020
Posted by Wuteh on Thursday, 09 April 2020 at 02:11 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth by Dr. Seth Antwi Ofori, Adwinsa Publications, 2017, 61pp. Paperback. ISBN 978 9964 6 3111-1
Reviewer: Dr. Peter Vakunta
Ofori’s work titled Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth is a work of divine inspiration. It is a trove of religious dogmas and dictums intended to provide clarity and sense of direction to the Christian’s existential trajectory. This book adumbrates and sheds ample light on the Christian’s mandate on earth. In sixty-one pages, Ofori delves into a myriad of themes, not the least of which is the concept of divine omnipresence: “Even when we think He is not with us, He is with us, for He never abandons His own. Our Father is right with us in this life’s furnace and so knows and shares our every pain.”(4) Notice that Ofori resorts to the use of a metaphorical expression, ‘furnace’ in a bid to paint a captivating picture of the incessant travails that render the Christian’s task on earth rather tedious. The concept of Christian earthly travail is manifest in the temptations that Satan constantly puts on humanity. Ofori observes that “Satan deceived the very people he had been sent to redeem to disrespect and to maltreat him all in an attempt to undermine his authority as a son of God on earth.”(37) But no sooner had he pointed that out than he provided an antidote to the problem: “One cannot come to any meaningful solution of one’s problems without total submission to the Spirit of God where our liberation is.”(5) He further expatiates on the concept of divine omnipotence as follows:" It is only God who has the answers to the future we need. He will lead us to His answers to the future we need, not the future (or the tomorrow) we want, for the future (or tomorrow) is not ours, but His. Tomorrow belongs to God and to God only and it is Him only who can guide us securely into it…."(5)The triple themes of divine omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience constitute the undercurrent that runs throughout Ofori’s work. This author truly believes that God is the font of all knowledge and invites believers to seek Him for salvation at all times. As he puts it, “God invites us to climb up high to Him in knowledge, understanding and performance…”(6)
Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth is a seminal work in the realm of religious studies on several counts, notably the elucidation concerning the paternal role of God as a spiritual father. In Ofori’s own words, “God, as a Father, is exemplifying to us how to be responsible citizens of this earth.”(12).This paternalistic role that God assigns to Himself is morphed into the duty of a good shepherd. As Ofori would have it, “God is, by this act, teaching and instructing us to engage all forms of ungodly and hopeless conditions everywhere to transform them to His glory and honor. God is teaching us to counter acts that contradict who He is or what He has done.”(13)The author is driven by the conviction that good shepherding derives from wisdom and perspicacity. He sums this up as follows: “In His wisdom, He has fashioned His creations to be interdependent and, by so doing, has justified their co-existence and, therefore, mutual relevance…” (14) It is noteworthy that Ofori enjoins readers to dwell on the qualities of God as a loving father. He describes God’s unconditional love for mankind as follows: “His love for mankind is beyond comprehension…” (14) A little further the author reflects on the theme of divine love as follows:"The universe is God’s handiwork and love for us. He has made the world available to us in expression of His love for us. His love is revealed in the fact that He has made available in us the potential to operate just like Him, which is His evidence of our sonship. It is the will of our God that we dwell on this earth happily to His glory and honor." (16)In a bid to underscore the notion of divine love, Ofori refers readers to the gospel according to Luke: “… Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind… (Luke 10:27)
Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth is also a reflection on Divine fortitude. To Ofori’s mind, God is an indefatigable combatant. He observes:"God simply does not give up on anything under any condition and expects us to be just like Him. God did not run away from the imperfections of the earth but worked on them to bring them to His standards. God has standards and so must we... His activities are goal-oriented and so must ours…"(15)Ofori is, nonetheless, not oblivious of the presence of evil on earth. In this light, he notes, “Any contradiction in the realm of the spirit is deception; and deception is the technique of only one, Satan.”(17)He urges believers to resist all temptations stemming from the principalities of evil. In his own words, “We drive Satan into the abyss that God has prepared for him from the foundation of the world as more and more of us resist Satan’s ways and become of God.”(18) The writer contends that it is in partnership with God that Christians will be able to conquer Satan. Ofori dwells on the concept of heavenly mandate throughout his book. In this vein, he is emphatic: “Our mandate is to sustain and advance the will of God on earth for our wellbeing and therefore to God’s glory and honor.” (21)To buttress his point, the author refers readers to the Book of Genesis: “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (30) The writer contends that mankind has been empowered by God to fill the mandate given them by Him. This implies fully engaging all human capabilities to this end. As Ofori puts it,"In his wisdom, God has empowered us to be able to engage to understand the strength of our capacities—both our physical and spiritual capacities—and also, had made available to us through His word and His handiwork the means to enhance these capacities for our wellbeing and, therefore to His glory and honor."(33)Intricately linked to the foregoing is the theme of divine/human binary interdependence that permeates the length and breadth of Ofori’s book. He points out that “Jesus understood our binary nature—man as a son of man (i.e. of the earth), and as a son of God (i.e. of heaven…” (33) This observation underscores the fact that God does not trivialize any aspect of human anatomy. He acknowledges the fact that our bodies have a role to play in our endeavor to accomplish our earthly mandate. Ofori sums this conviction up in the following citation: “Knowledge of the body and how it works, and knowledge of the best practices to improve upon its constituent members… is equally important.”(34)
Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth is an account of Jesus’s triumph over Satan and his diabolical machinations on earth. Ofori notes that Jesus undermined Satan’s temptations by abiding in His father; by refusing to submit to the whims and caprices of the devil. The writer observes that Jesus “undermined every discouraging situation meted out on him by Satan, by not submitting to and, therefore, glorifying the pain it was meant to inflict, but by trusting and submitting to the promise and the healing which are available in the Word of God for those who solely depend on Him.”(38) This book is to all intents and purposes an inspirational work, the more so because the theme of man’s conquest of evil appears to be a recurring theme throughout the book. It is hard to read Ofori’s book without reminiscing on the vendetta that transpired between David and Goliath in the Book of Samuel. Goliath is portrayed in this book as a Philistine giant that was defeated by the young David in a single combat. David’s victory over his gigantic foe is attributed to his deep faith in God. Ofori dwells on the fact we tend to grow in strength as soon as we develop deep faith in God. In his own words: “If we are of the father, then we can be successful in our life obligations because we have access to His Kingdom…To have life is to have God, and to have God is to acknowledge and act on the Word of God to God’s glory and honor.”(42-43)
Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth sheds ample light on man’s wholesome dependence on God. This life is full of misery, Ofori notes, and no matter how hard we endeavor to sail through it single-handedly, we are doomed to fail. We are reminded by the writer that “Without the life of God… without the word of God or obedience to the Word of God… it is better if one had not been born, for it is the life of God that will sustain everything beyond the current existence.”(43) It is discernible by reading this book that faith in God is the bedrock of successful human in existence. Without faith man is likely to cling onto the serpent, an incarnation of Satan, for safety. This is an eventuality against which Ofori seems to caution his readers. He observes that deep faith in God engenders truth and alienation from Evil: “Through him, we have come to know the truth, the truth about who we are and the truth about what is indeed of God and what is of Satan.”(41) Embedded in the recurrent theme of divine truth is the theme of forgiveness. The writer links salvation with forgiveness. Ofori appears to be telling his readers that there is no future without forgiveness. He enjoins readers to emulate the example of Christ: “On the cross, he had the permission to forgive eternal sin by calling on his Father and our Father to overlook our shortcomings and to embrace us once again as sons and daughters.”(47) In this light readers are urged by Ofori to seek Jesus and bond with Him in a bid to fulfill their heavenly mandate on earth.
In a nutshell, Your Heavenly Mandate on Earth is a clarion call to all believers to harken God’s call. Ofori’s invitation to commune with God is loud and clear. He speaks to all and sundry: “Brothers and sisters… do not withhold yourself from the Lord. Avail yourself to Him through obedience to His word. Avail yourself to Him through the working of His works. Allow yourself to be coalesced with Him in works….” (52) The term ‘mandate’ as used in this book may seem ambiguous. However, to disambiguate it, Ofori employs it as an invitation to know God’s truth. This semantic connotation is evident in the following citation from the book: “ … know God’s truth concerning your life, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, put on your heavenly mantle, which is your obedience to the Word of God …”(54)
All in all, this book is a priceless resource for pastors, students of the Bible and Christians in general. Its germaneness resides in the author’s deliberate choice of familiar words and comprehensible phraseology.
About the reviewer
Dr. Vakunta, former Chair of the Department Global Language and Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Indianapolis, now works as Associate Professor of French language and culture at the Defense Language Institute, Language Teaching Detachment in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA. He is author of several books in the domains of second language acquisition, translation theory and literary criticism.
Posted by Wuteh on Friday, 13 March 2020 at 04:50 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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By Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta
Introduction
Genesis of the Ambazanian Revolution is a walk down memory lane. It encapsulates the events that preceded the uprising of English-speaking Cameroonians against the government of President Paul Biya in 2016. This write-up is construed as a requiem for what used to be known as the Republic of Cameroon. The overriding objective of this article is to shine the searchlight on the manner in which the dysfunctional government of Paul Biya constitutes the raison d’être of the unsightly genocide that is ongoing in Cameroon. Those who wish to comprehend the apocalypse toward which the Cameroonian nation has been propelled by the rogue government of Mr. Biya would do well to study the actions of the men at the helm of government in Cameroon. Paul Biya and his henchmen have toyed with power to the detriment of nationhood. This is a compelling narrative of the many facets of the unresolved perennial socio-political problems that have snowballed into what has been christened the Anglophone Crisis, or the Ambazonia Revolution. This captivating write-up provides readers with an insight into the social, political, economic and cultural events that have spurred English-speaking Cameroonians to take up the cudgels to do battle with their oppressors. It is a riveting account of the manner in which Paul Biya’s lame-duck government has systematically underdeveloped Cameroon to the point of no return.
You might have read Animal Farm, the 1945 classic written by George Orwell. Many in my generation had to read this book in order to sit for the London General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination. Over the years I have come to see the relevance of the message in Orwell’s novel even more as I ponder the ongoing Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon. The plot of the book is centered on the dissatisfaction of farm animals who felt they’re being mistreated by Farmer Jones. Led by the pigs, the animals revolted against their oppressive master, and after their victory, they decided to run the farm themselves on egalitarian principles. However, the pigs became corrupted by power and a new tyranny was established. The famous line: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (92) still rings true to date and reminds me of the fate of Ambazonians in that eerie farmland code-named La République du Cameroun. The socio-political status quo in Cameroon at present is a parody of Animal Farm. The novel is a replica of what has come to be referred to as the Anglophone Question, in other words, the Anglophone Crisis.
The Anglophone Question
After fighting together to free Cameroon from French and British hegemony, French-speaking Cameroonians now tend to lord it over their English-speaking compatriots. There is no gainsaying the fact that there exists a generation of English-speaking Cameroonians who now find themselves at a historical crossroads and would like to know where they belong. Many Anglophone Cameroonians are now asking themselves why they are condemned to play second fiddle in the land of their birth. The unfair treatment meted out to English-speaking Cameroonians by arrogant, condescending francophone compatriots in positions of power is a time bomb that needs to be defused before it explodes to do irreparable damage. Unfair discrimination sows seeds of discord regardless of where it is practiced. Prejudice, in all its shades and colors, is deleterious in all parts of the world. A celebrated American literary icon, Maya Angelou (1986) once said: “Prejudice is a burden which confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” (p.5)
The cohabitation between Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians has been branded a marriage of convenience by scholars and students of post-colonial politics in Africa. In fact, the uneasy co-existence between these two linguistic communities has been likened by some critics to the attitude of two travelers who met by chance in a roadside shelter and are merely waiting for the rain to cease before they continue their separate journeys in different directions. No other metaphor could better depict the frictional coexistence between Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians. More often than not, the perpetrators of this macabre game of divide and rule are the French-speaking political leaders who take delight in fishing in troubled waters. They divide in order to conquer to the detriment of the wretch of earth[i],or the proverbial man in the street. In so doing, they stoke the flames of animosity and whip up sentiments of mutual suspicion and distrust between Anglophones and Francophones at the expense of nation-building. Many of them have been heard to make statements intended either to cow Anglophones into submission or to incite them into open revolution such as the Ambazonian revolution which we are witnessing today. These self-styled leaders have mounted the podium a zillion times to chant to the entire world that there is no Anglophone Problem in Cameroon. This type of hogwash has now come to bite them in the butt. Nemesis has uncanny ways of getting at its culprits. The plain truth is that there is a palpable feeling of discontent and dissatisfaction among Anglophones in Cameroon. Questions that remain unanswered as we trudge through the Anglophone conundrum are numerous: Are Anglophone Cameroonians enjoying equal treatment with their Francophone counterparts in the workplace? Are Anglophone Cameroonians having their fair share of the national cake? Do they feel at home in Cameroon? These and many more interrogations constitute what has been labeled the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis.
The Cameroon Anglophone Question manifests itself in the form of complaints from English-speaking Cameroonians about the absence of transparency and accountability in matters relating to appointments in the civil service, the military, the police force, the gendarmerie[ii] and the judiciary. In short, the Anglophone Problem raises questions about participation in decision-making as well as power-sharing in the country. This is not a figment of any Anglophone Cameroon's imagination. It is real, tangible and verifiable. The Anglophone Question is the cry of an oppressed people, lamenting over the ultra-centralization of political power in the hands of a rapacious oligarchy based in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital, where Anglophones with limited proficiency in the French language are made to go through all kinds of odds in the hands of cocky Francophone bureaucrats who look down on anyone speaking English. The Anglophone Crisis stems from the supercilious attitude of French-speaking Cameroonians who believe that their Anglophones compatriots are less intelligent, sloppy and worse still, unpatriotic, and therefore, should be asked to seek refuge in another country! This francophone bigotry compounded by superciliousness has given rise to the rampant use of derogatory slurs such as” les Anglophones sont gauches”[iii], “c’est des ennemis dans la maison”[iv], “ce sont les biafrais[v] and so on.
The outcome of this anti-Anglophone sentiment is the Ambazonian War which the world is witnessing today. Francophone Cameroonians have the misconception that Anglophone Cameroonians are unreliable and untrustworthy, and thus, undeserving of positions of leadership. This explains why key ministerial positions are the preserve of French-speaking Cameroonians. Such ministries include: Defense, Finance & Economy and Territorial Administration. It should be noted the current Minister of Territorial Administration,Paul Atanga Ngi, is a rarity in Cameroonian body politic. Mr. Biya chose Atanga Ngi because he hails from Bamenda, the hotbed of Anglophone rebellion in Cameroon. Ngi is there to perform Biya’s dirty job. This notwithstanding, Anglophobia has also led to the appointment of Francophones with no working knowledge of the English language to ambassadorial positions in strategic countries such as the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany, Nigeria and South Africa where they wind up making a complete fool of themselves linguistically and culturally speaking. The presidency of the Republic and its ancillary organs are “no-go” zones for most Anglophone Cameroonians. Although political appointments in this country ought to be done in conformity with the constitutional “regional balance paradigm”, it is common knowledge that distrust of English-speaking Cameroonians has made the implementation of this constitutional stipulation a dead letter over the years. It should be noted that the relegation of Anglophone Cameroonians to the periphery in matters pertaining to political appointments has nothing to do with competence. In fact, the cream of Cameroon’s intelligentsia are Anglophones thanks to the existence of world-class Anglo-Saxon secondary schools such as Sacred Heart College in Mankon, St. Joseph’s College in Sasse, Our Lady of Lourdes in Bamenda, Cameroon Protestant College in Bali and a host of others that have churned out well-groomed administrators, scientists, technocrats, and more. These colleges are trail-blazers and cradles of the solid general education that English-speaking Cameroonians identify with.
Sadly enough, the administrative system in Cameroon does not reward merit. In fact, the requiem for meritocracy was sung in this country the very day the colonizers left for Europe. Giving reward to those who deserve it has no place in Cameroon. Corruption and nepotism are the yardsticks used in the selection of candidates to work in the public service and other workplaces in this unfortunate geographical expression called Ngola[vi]. Little wonder, the Berlin-based watchdog, Transparency International, has declared Cameroon one of the most corrupt nations in the world. In the same vein, Marilyn Greene (2005), Press Fellow from the United States of America, in an interview with Jeff Ngwane Yufenyi in the November 23, 2005 edition of the Post, pointed out: “Corruption is a plague affecting everyone from top government officials to poor folks in the street.”(1) She made the statement in Bamenda as a reaction to the outcry on corruption in Cameroon at the opening of a two-day seminar on Media Excellence in Cameroon. Corrupt practices affect the manner in which revenue from natural resources is used in Cameroon. Statistics indicate that about sixty percent of Cameroon’s wealth in natural resources is located in Ambazonia, the English-speaking part of the country. Yet the Francophone region takes the lion’s share of the national budget intended for building roads, hospitals, schools and other social amenities.This state of affairs has been described by some critics as jungle justice. We are where we are today in Cameroon, saddled with an Elephant in the house because of mutual misunderstanding between la Répulique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons[vii].
Open hostility toward Anglophones reached its acme many years ago when English-speaking Cameroonian students protesting against discrimination on the basis of the language of instruction at the University of Yaoundé went on strike and chanted the “We shall overcome” rallying song. Francophone members of government with limited proficiency in the English language accused them of singing the national anthem of a foreign country, namely Nigeria, and told Anglophones students to go and live in Nigeria if they were not happy in Cameroon. In other climes, these officials would have been asked to resign without further ado. Not so in Cameroon where nonsensical statements such as the aforementioned actually earn accolades. In a similar vein, the Anglophone clamor for the decentralization of the political system in Cameroon has been branded by some narrow-minded Francophones as an Anglophone-Bamileke[viii] conspiracy to overthrow the government of President Paul Biya Mbivodo. Political myopia is one of Cameroon’s cankers. There has been unbridled attempts by French-speaking Cameroonians to whip up anti-Anglophone sentiments in order to score political points. The Cameroon GCE Board imbroglio that bred fire and brimstone in the early 1990s is a case in point. The saga to create a separate examination board for the General Certificate of Education Examination for Anglophones brought Cameroon to a virtual standstill because French-speaking Cameroonians could not fathom how Anglophone underdogs could have the temerity to demand equal treatment with their overlords. There is no gainsaying the fact that the colonial linguistic legacy that makes Cameroon a bilingual (English and French) post-colony is a divisive factor.
The Language Question in Cameroon
The question of language policy in Cameroon remains a bone of contention. There is no language policy put in place to prevent the marginalization of linguistic minorities. 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 judicial system works. It should be noted that one of the events that triggered the outbreak of the Ambazonian War was a strike led by Anglophone lawyers[ix]. The disparity between the Anglo-Saxon Common Law system inherited from Great Britain and Francophone Napoleonic legal system has resulted in several instances of miscarriage of justice in Cameroon. Miscarriage of justice was self-evident, for example, during the infamous Yondo Black trial way back in the 1990s when an Anglophone witness was deprived of his right to testify on the grounds that the presiding judge could not understand English. One wonders what has become of the pool of translators and interpreters who are vegetating at the Presidency of the Republic and other ministries in Yaounde.
The Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV) is another case in point. It has been so “french-fried”[x] that ninety-five percent of the programs are broadcast only in French to the detriment of English-speaking Cameroonians. Programs in English obtained from overseas are rapidly translated into French to serve the needs of the Francophone majority. The language of training and daily routine in the military, police and gendarmerie is French. This is the root cause of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. There is no turning a blind eye to it. It will come back to haunt not just the present generation of Cameroonians but also posterity. It may even affect Africa as a whole because Cameroon is, indeed, Africa in miniature. The onus is on Cameroonians to face reality and seek a lasting solution to this perennial problem. Of all the burning issues that remain unresolved in Cameroon in the wake of independence, the language question is the thorniest. The imbroglio has degenerated into the well-known identity crisis among English-speaking Cameroonians, a crisis which this writer has captured in a poem titled “Identity Crisis”:
I don’t quite know who I am.
Je ne sais pas au juste qui je suis.
Some call me Anglo;
D’autres m’appellent Frog.
I still don’t know who I am
Je ne sais toujours pas qui je suis.
My name c’est Le Bamenda;
My name is L’Ennemi dans la maison;
My name c’est le Biafrais;
Mon nom is underclass citizen;
My name c’est le maladroit.
Taisez-vous! Shut up!
Don’t bother me!
Ne m’embêtez pas!
Don’t you know that je suis ici chez moi?
Vous ignorez que I belong here?
I shall fight to my dernier souffle
To forge a real name pour moi-même.
You shall call me Anglofrog!
Vous m’appelerez Franglo!
Shut up! Taisez-vous!
Don’t bother me!
Ne m’embêtez pas!
Vous ignorez que I belong here?
Don’t you know que je suis ici chez moi?
I shall fight to my last breath
To forge a real lingo for myself.
I’ll speak Français;
Je parlerai English
Together we’ll speak camfranglais;
C’est-à-dire qu’ensemble,
We’ll speak le Camerounisme,
Because ici nous sommes tous chez nous
A bon entendeur salut!
He who has ears should hear![xi]
More than forty years after accession to political independence, it is unimaginable that there is no reliable indigenous language policy in Cameroon. Unlike most other African countries which give pride of place to their indigenous languages, French and English, languages of colonial masters, remain the official languages of Cameroon in stark defiance of the national constitution(1996) which stipulates:
The State shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country. It shall endeavor to protect and promote national languages (Article 1.3: 5)
In this regard, Cameroon stands out as a sore finger in the African linguistic landscape. The question that begs asking here is why Cameroon, which boasts two hundred and forty-seven indigenous languages, does not have an official indigenous language policy. How come we are still dressed in borrowed robes many decades after independence? How can we talk of a Cameroonian national identity without an indigenous language policy? Are Cameroonian policy-makers oblivious of the fact that language conveys the culture of a people? Language does not only serve as the cultural repertory and memory-bank of a people; it is also an embodiment of continuity and change in the historical consciousness of a community of speakers of the language. Each native language in Cameroon reflects the concerns, attitudes and aspirations of its speakers. In other words, our indigenous languages carry with them the habits, mannerisms, and identity of its native speakers. Don’t Cameroonians have the right to articulate their own cultural identities? They cannot portray their cultural identities by speaking in foreign tongues; by bowing to assimilation. Bjornson (2001) has described assimilation in Africa as: “The adoption of European tastes, languages, customs, and colonial government policies by Africans.”(p.19) Arguing along similar lines in his world acclaimed song Redemption Song (1980), late Bob Marley urged colonized peoples the world over to “emancipate themselves from mental slavery.” Language is the soul of a people. Language transports culture. If you destroy a man’s language, you have destroyed the man. Sadly enough, Cameroonians relish borrowed cultures to the detriment of their indigenous cultures. We continue to speak in foreign tongues many years after the departure of our banana-skin former masters. This is attributable, in the most part, to government lack of interest in promoting indigenous language education. Albert Gerard (1988) is right when he points out:
…Les gouvernements issus des l’empire français ne prennent guère de mesures efficaces pour encourager l’activité écrite dans les langues du peuple. Ils ont pour cela des motifs politiques valables(265).
[Governments that were formed in the wake of political independence from France do not take effective measures to foster the codification of indigenous languages. They have valid political reasons for not doing so]
This leaves us with the irksome feeling that we have not yet liberated ourselves from mental slavery. Is it not true then that a true slave is not necessarily the one in chains? The acculturation that has taken deep root in Cameroon has had as a corollary the denigration of our traditional values. How many times have you heard mind-boggling comments like “this man na kontry, he no sabe tok gramma”[xii] in reference to someone who strives to promote his mother tongue by speaking it as often as he can? Confiant et al. (1990) perceive this self-abnegation as an anomaly and points out that the tragedy of the colonized is the servile manner in which he tries to “portray himself in the color of elsewhere.”(p.80) Franz Fanon (1964:15) describes Africans who behave in this manner as people having “black skin” but wearing “white masks.” To fight cultural imperialism, it is incumbent on Cameroonians to defuse what Ngugi wa Thiongo (1986) calls the “cultural bomb”. He maintains:
[…] But the biggest weapon wielded and actually daily unleashed by imperialism against that collective defiance is the cultural bomb. The effect of a cultural bomb is to annihilate a people’s belief in their names, in their languages, in their environment, in their heritage of struggle, in their unity, in their capacities and ultimately in themselves.”(p.3)
Language experts have pointed out that multilingualism is indispensable in today’s global village. In fact, monolingualism, they argue, is now an anachronism in the contemporary multicultural societies in which we live. Bilingualism is an added advantage to the bilingual individual and to the nation as a whole given that what is acquired in one language is transferable to the second language. This is an enriching acquisition. It broadens the mindset of individuals in the linguistic community, and lubricates social intercourse. Studies have shown that multilingual individuals exhibit a higher degree of cognitive ability than monolinguals. Surprisingly, Cameroon’s bilingual education system has proven to be a nonstarter on account of tribal hostility and bigotry. The linguistic question is an offshoot of the animosity that separates Anglophones from Francophones in Cameroon. Revolting disdain for the English language has led French-speaking Cameroonians to downplay the use of English as an official language although the constitution of the Republic is explicit:
The official languages of the Republic of Cameroon shall be English and French, both languages having the same status (Article 1.3: 5).
It needs to be pointed out that the second fiddle role that has been assigned to English-speaking Cameroonians by French-speaking members of government has made the implementation of the nation’s bilingual education program a stillborn. There seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of Francophone Cameroonians to undermine and eventually destroy the Anglo-Saxon culture in Cameroon. Among their many grievances, Ambazonians are protesting against linguicide (linguistic genocide) in Cameroon. It irksome to realize that in some English-speaking towns and cities in Cameroon such as Buea, Tiko, Kumba, Bamenda, Bali, Nso and Nkambe one finds billboards with inscriptions written in French only. Tiko, a town in the South-West province is a case in point. At the entrance into this town, there is a billboard that reads: “Halte Péage!” [Stop Toll Gate!]How do the powers-that-be expect the average man who has never been exposed to French to understand what this inscription means? The case of Tiko is not an isolated one. There are myriads of such billboards throughout the national territory.
Similar linguistic hotchpotch is found at the Nsimalen Airport in Yaoundé. At Nsimalen commuters find some stomach-churning gibberish that reads: “To gather dirtiness is good.” This is a word-for-word rendition of the French: “ramasser la saleté c’est bien.” The French in this sentence leaves much to be desired. But it is even more annoying to realize that there is no English language translation of the notices posted on the billboards. The creators of this unintelligible stuff know very well that in bilingual countries the world over, all official communication: billboards, memos, letterheads, road-signs, application forms, court forms, police documents, health forms, driver’s licenses and hospital discharge forms are all written in the official languages of the country in question. Failure to do so is tantamount to a violation of the constitution, an illegal act punishable by law in any country where there is rule of law. I have no doubt at all in my mind that diplomats accredited to Yaoundé find our official language policy and its implementation utterly ludicrous. More often than not, one finds on billboards inanities such as: “Not to make dirty is better”. This incomprehensible inscription is meant to be a translation for: “Ne pas salir c’est bien.” If the situation were not so grave one would be laughing but the language question in Cameroon brooks no laughter.
Public authorities, namely mayors, governors, divisional officers, police officers and gendarmes are expected to maintain zero tolerance in upholding Cameroon’s bilingual policy. Breaches of official language policies ought to be punished. It should be noted that there is a pool of translators and interpreters at the Presidency of the Republic spending time on trivialities. Why not use them to perform this important task? These technocrats who were educated with money collected from Cameroonian taxpayers should be made to serve the nation by translating official documents aimed at public consumption. Let myopia, bigotry and blind allegiance the powers-that-be not deter them from valuing the priceless work that translators and interpreters are capable of doing for the nation.
Personally, I couldn’t care less how much cosmetic surgery French-speaking Cameroonians want to perform on the language of Voltaire. As a matter of fact, psycho-sociological factors have made me totally callous to the mastery of Voltaire’s mother tongue beyond the ability to ask for water to drink when I am on a visit to the world of La Francophonie.[xiii] If I have acquired a smattering of French it is because it enables me to put an additional loaf of bread on the dining table. What I do care very much about is the need to do justice to every indigenous language community in Cameroon. I care very much about my own mother tongue, Bamunka that occupies its own spot in the linguistic landscape of Cameroon. It is the duty of each and every Cameroonian to prevent the demise of their own indigenous language, the more so because language abuse has become the hallmark of formal education in Cameroon. The importance of indigenous languages has been stressed by scholars in the field. It is noteworthy to point out the views of Nkrumah on the role of autochtonous languages as an indispensable part of our heritage. In his speech titled “Ghana is Born”, Nkrumah sees the use of European languages in Africa as one of the problems compromising the freedom, equality and independence of African countries. He thus suggested the following blueprint:
It is essential that we do consider seriously the problem of language in Africa[…] Far more students in our universities are studying Latin and Greek than studying the languages of Africa. An essential of independence is that emphasis must be laid on studying the living languages of Africa for, out of such a study will come simpler methods by which those in one part of Africa may learn the languages in all other parts.(Quoted in Kwame Botwe-Asamoah, 2001, p.747)
In this discourse, Nkrumah not only saw the danger in neglecting indigenous African languages, but he also underscored the significance of the linguistic factor in African unity, the more so because as Ngugi (1986) points out, ”Every language has a dual makeup; it is both a mode of communication and a bearer of culture.”(p.13) Asante (1988) has a point when he posits that “If your God cannot speak your language, then he is not your God.”(p.4)Years ago, I read some material that lent credibility to Asante’s charge of linguistic abuse in postcolonial Africa. The offensive document that I read was the C.A.P examination in Cameroon. The following is an excerpt culled for Francis Nyamnjoh’s (1996:114) book:
Each candidat should pick by bilot a sujet. Each sujet is mark over 40 marks. For each port, candidat shall establish the working mothed card. Fill in the analysis car in annexe B.
Anyone in his right mind reading this except should be wondering what on earth is going on in Cameroon. One wonders how Anglophone learners are expected to succeed in an examination in which the phraseology of the questions has been tinkered beyond intelligibility. The unintelligible stuff cited above was meant to serve as an examination that would determine the fate of thousands of Anglophone students who had spent four years studying at technical colleges nationwide. Little wonder they fail in drones. The good thing about this conundrum is that Anglophone parents and teachers are not willing to allow this sort of linguistic bastardization to go on forever. This rape of the English language speaks volumes about the disrespect that Francophone educators and decision-makers have for English-speaking Cameroonians. When the erstwhile Minister of National Education, Robert Mbella Mbappe, was confronted by some irate Anglophone parents and teachers over the tinkered nature of the aforementioned examination and called for the need for an independent Examination Board for Anglophones, here is the response he gave to the representatives of TAC and the SONDENGAM Commission: “You can do whatever you like with your so-called GCE board, none of my children studies in Cameroon.” (Op cit, 114) It is hard to believe that these words are coming out of the mouth of a Minister of National Education, paid with taxpayers' money. In another country, he would have been asked to step down from his position without ceremony.
Conclusion
In this article, we have endeavored to show to what extent the language question has fueled the flames of discontent among English Speaking Cameroonians and engendered the ongoing fiery Ambazonian War. It is one of the root causes of the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis. It would amount to living in fool’s paradise to dismiss the legitimate complaints of English-Speaking Cameroonians as the ranting of a few disgruntled individuals as some French-speaking Cameroonians have claimed so far. When all is said and done, Cameroonians must ask themselves the inevitable question: Is there light at the end of the tunnel as far resolving the Anglophone Crisis is concerned? As far as this writer is concerned, the response is in the affirmative. What needs to be done at this juncture given that the smoldering flames of discontent have metamorphosed into a bush-fire, is to cease acting the ostrich. Paul Biya and his cohort must take giant steps toward addressing the Anglophone Crisis by all means necessary. If convening a national conference would serve this purpose, there is no reason why Cameroonians cannot be given the opportunity to sit down and talk this problem through. Cameroonians are living in what some perspicacious observers have termed “pre-independence nostalgia.” In other words, post-colonial Cameroon has gotten to a point where some Cameroonians think back wishfully about the days of colonial administration!
Nearly sixty years after gaining political independence, it is a shame to realize that Cameroon is still tied to the apron strings of France. By now, Cameroon should be in a position to assert itself and conceive a framework that would lead her toward lasting peace and prosperity.Most importantly, Cameroon needs capable leadership. Paul Biya is a senile lame-duck president and should be overthrown pronto. The people that govern Cameroonians today are absentee landlords with no vision at all. Under an enlightened leadership endowed with goodwill, Cameroon should be a terrestrial paradise.
All in all, I have argued throughout this article that the root cause of the ongoing imbroglio in Cameroon stems from the linguistic and cultural dichotomies that distance Anglophone Cameroonians from their Francophone compatriots. I further contend that on account of the Anglophone Question, Cameroon has remained an open sore on the African continent for far too long. Cameroonians of all walks of life cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this problematic status quo. In the words of Ngugi (1986): “They must discover their various tongues to sing the song: ‘A people united can never be defeated.” (3) In order to salvage Cameroon from the brink of collapse, Cameroonians at home and in the diaspora must take a number of realistic measures:
Works cited
[i] Reference to Franz Fanon’s book titled The Wretched of the Earth (1963)
[ii]Police force in the French-speaking region of Cameroon and other francophone countries.
[iii] Anglophones are clumsy
[iv] They are enemies in the house.
[v] They are Biafrans
[vi] Native name of Cameroon.
[vii] Southern Cameroons is the name given to the southern part of the territory under British administration in West Africa. Since 1961 it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory have sought independence from the Republic of Cameroon, and the Republic of Ambazonia was declared by the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organization (SCAPO) on 31 August 2006.
[viii] Though francophone, the Bamileke have more in common, culturally-speaking, with English-speaking compatriots than they do with French-speaking Cameroonians.
[ix] Common law lawyers of Anglophone Cameroons were said to have written an appeal letter to the government over the use of French in courtrooms in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon. In an effort to protect the English culture, they began a sit-down strike in all courtrooms on October 6, 2016. It all began with a call for sit down strike from all court actions after a meeting of Presidents of the lawyers’ associations from the Northwest and Southwest regions held on the 6th of October 2016. The lawyers blamed the failure of government authorities to respond to their demands and appeals. This culminated in the decision to launch protest marches in Bamenda in the Northwest and Buea and Limbe in the Southwest.
[x]Tailored to meet the needs of French-speaking Cameroonians.
[xi] Poem published in the author’s poetry anthology, African Time and Pidgin Verses, Duplico, 2001.
[xii] This man is uncivilized; he can’t speak English.
[xiii] La Francophonie is an international organization of French-speaking countries and governments. Formally known as the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) or the International Organization of La Francophonie, the organisation comprises fifty-five member states and governments and thirteen observers. The prerequisite for admission is not the degree of French usage in the member countries, but a prevalent presence of French culture and French language in the member country’s identity, usually stemming from France’s interaction with other nations in its history.
Posted by Wuteh on Monday, 09 March 2020 at 04:26 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Dibussi Tande, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Gravitas: Poetic Consciencism for Cameroon is the poet’s requiem for the geographical expression code-named Cameroon. Vakunta speaks with the audacity of a daredevil and the certitude of a seer. This long poem has the twin virtues of gravity and clarity of purpose. The poet eschews the banality and sophistry characteristic of poetry for poetry’s sake. Passion, sarcasm, and incisive irony are the hallmarks of this long didactic poem. The poet subscribes to Salman Rushdie’s pronouncement that a poet’s duty is to say the unutterable, name the unnamable, unmask masquerading miscreants and shame the scum of society. In this poem, music serves as a clarion call for examination of conscience, and alcohol ceases to serve as opium of the people. A bittersweet potion, this book echoes the defiant voice of a son-of-the-soil at odds with his native land gone topsy-turvy.
Posted by Wuteh on Tuesday, 11 February 2020 at 12:06 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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As Southern Cameroonians maintain their resolve to commemorate the independence of Southern Cameroons come October 1 2017, the government of La Republique du Cameroun has switched to panic mood. Panic is manifested by the hyper-militarization of the Republic of Southern Cameroons, incessant abductions, uncontrolled torture and murder of citizens of
Southern Cameroons. The possible negative effects of the hyper-militarization of the Southern Cameroons have prompted the Secretary General of the United Nations (UNSG) to weigh in with recommendations.
On the September 28 2017, the UNSG issued a statement through his spokesperson expressing his deep concerns about the situation in the Southern Cameroons related to October 1, 2017. He encourages Cameroonian authorities to continue efforts to address the grievances of the Southern Cameroonians urging them to find measures of national reconciliation aimed at finding a durable solution to the crisis including addressing the root problem.
The UNSG also supports the values of unity, territorial integrity and urges parties to refrain from acts that could lead to the escalation of tension and violence. This request reminds concerned parties to note the people of Southern Cameroons have always based their movements on the force of argument and not the argument of force. This motto was tested on September 22 2017, when citizens of Southern Cameroons peacefully demonstrated their love for fatherland through upholding the peace plant and singing songs of freedom. The UNSG sends a message across to the government of La Republique du Cameroun that he has taken note of the murders and abductions against the people of Southern Cameroons.
The UNSG seized this occasion to reecho the call Southern Cameroonians have made over the years to genuine and inclusive dialogue in the presence of the UN. Other key international partners like the African Union, the Commonwealth and the Bishops of Cameroon. This call has often been spited by La Republique du Cameroun.
The UNSG’s call to dialogue between the government of La Republique du Cameroun and the people of Southern Cameroons brings out the clear dichotomy between La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons. This reiterates the international law notion of peoples and the right to self-determination enshrined in international treaties and conventions. In international law, the right to self-determination that became recognized in the 1960s was interpreted as the right of all colonial territories to become independent or to adopt any other status they freely chose. The African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights grounded their decision in the case of Southern Cameroons vs La Republique du Cameroun on this principle of international law. They ruled interalia, The Commission states that after thorough analysis of the arguments and literature, it finds that the people of Southern Cameroons can legitimately claim to be a “people”. Based on that reasoning, the Commission finds that “the people of Southern Cameroons” qualify to be referred to as a“people” because they manifest numerous characteristics and affinities, which include a common history, linguistic tradition, territorial connection and political outlook. More importantly they identify themselves as a people with a separate and distinct identity. Identity is an innate characteristic within a people. It is up to other external people to recognise such existence, but not to deny it. . The Commission is aware that post-colonial Africa has witnessed numerous cases of domination of one group of people over others, either on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity, without such domination constituting colonialism in the classical sense. Civil wars and internal conflicts on the continent are testimony to that fact. It is incumbent on State Parties, therefore, whenever faced with allegations of the nature contained in the present communication, to address them rather than ignore them under the guise of sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Commission shall address the question, whether the people of Southern Cameroons are entitled to the right to self-determination. In so doing it shall contextualise the question by dealing, not with the 1961 UN Plebsicite, or the 1972 Unification, but rather the events of 1993 and 1994 on the constitutional demands vis-à-vis the claim for the right to self-determination of the Southern Cameroonian people. The Commission has however accepted that autonomy within a sovereign state, in the context of self-government, confederacy, or federation, while preserving territorial integrity of a State party, can be exercised under the Charter. The Commission believes that the Southern Cameroonians’ grievances cannot be resolved through secession but through a comprehensive national dialogue.
The UNSG recommends that the root causes be addressed. It should be noted that Cameroon as it is today was founded in 1961 by the coming together of two parties. The UNSG recognizes this fact and recommends dialogue should be between two parties, the people of Southern Cameroons and the government of La Republique du Cameroun. It is my submission that the root causes of the crisis are twofold.
As early as 1952 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) noted that a territory had three options to attain self-government: independence, "other separate systems of self-government," or free association." According to resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 all peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
The resolution further states that immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-SelfGoverning Territories (Southern Cameroons) or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed wishes, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom. Contrary to these provisions of the resolution, the people of Southern Cameroons gained conditional independence obliging them to either ‘join’ Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun. By obliging Southern Cameroons to ‘join’ Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun facilitated the disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of Southern Cameroons which has been incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. According to principle 1541, non-self governing territories would be said to have reached a measure of self-government by:
By subjecting or obliging the people of Southern Cameroons to join either Nigeria or Cameroon, the UN failed to uphold her principles and procedures. This has caused untold harm to the people of Southern Cameroons because the ‘joining’ was not only illegal and void from the beginning but lack legal backing and legal consequences.
Similarly, the UN failed to enforce the obligations of the Resolution 1608 requiring the United Kingdom (UK), government of Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun to finalise the arrangements and policies under which the decision of the plebiscite will be implemented. Unfortunately, the UK did not sit at this meeting and the results of the arrangements have not been submitted to the UN as required by policy. This is the fundamental cause of the conflicts in Southern Cameroons from the part of the UN.
Despite the failure of the UN and the UK to ensure the enforcement of UN Resolution 1608, Southern Cameroons and la Republique du Cameroun met, negotiated a constitution and agreed that the constitution will be adopted only after each house of parliament adopted it separately. This was compounded by the violation of Section 47 of the constitution by decreeing the conduct of a referendum to amend the constitution despite the provisions of Section 47 (3) which provided that the amendment (of the cosntitution) may be passed by a simple majority of the membership of the Federal Assembly: Provided that such majority include a majority of the membership elected from each Federated State. Besides rubbishing the gentlemen’s’ agreement between the people of Southern Cameroons and la Republique du Cameroun, by abrogating the constitution of 1961, la Republique du Cameroun outrightly violated the right to self-determination of the people of Southern Cameroons.
The UNSG’s deep concern regarding the events leading to October 1 2017 is clear manifestation that the peaceful and non-violent revolution by the people of Southern Cameroons has reminded the UN that she owes the people of Southern Cameroons a duty to right the wrongs of history.
The non-respect of UN resolutions has put the people of Southern Cameroons in harm’s way. The people of Southern Cameroons in the case cited above requested the African Court to hear their case on the illegality of 1961 plebiscite but the Commission recused herself on the grounds that it couldn’t entertain cases that happened prior to her founding. It is the unbending duty of the UN to cause the reversal of the root causes the problems of Southern Cameroons. The people of Cameroon have a right to self-determination and the UN is duty bound to respect her Charter, UNGA declarations and resolutions. It is on this note that the people of Southern Cameroons call on the UN to enforce the independence vote of April 21, 1961. In this vote, the people of the world recognized the people of Southern Cameroons as an independent people. Conditioning the independence of people of Southern Cameroon has exposed them to untold harm. LRC has simply recolonized the people of Southern Cameroons thereby violating international law and spiting UN resolutions 1608 and 1541.
Posted by Wuteh on Tuesday, 03 October 2017 at 05:49 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Magnum Opus: A Tribute to Ntarikon is a dirge; a long melancholic walk down memory lane by a poet who bemoans the demise of his native land. This long poem documents a momentous event in the political history of the Republic of Cameroon—the launch of a bona fide opposition political party—the Social Democratic Front (SDF) on 26 May 1990 at Ntarikon Park in Bamenda. Throughout our sojourn here on planet earth, from the cradle to the grave, we internalize information culled from our lived experiences, from the experiences of others, and try in some way to make sense of it all. When we are unable to make sense of the events that have scarified our lives, we tend to exteriorize the information in writing or through speech acts and non-verbal language. By so doing, we are afforded a different perspective, thus allowing us to think more clearly about the things that have transpired in our lives. Poetry is one of the ways in which I externalize my thoughts. Versification provides me with an outlet for pent-up emotions. Poetry allows me to communicate issues that I might not be able otherwise to openly discuss. It affords me the opportunity to self-evaluate, ponder the relationship with my target readership; conceptualize the nexus between my life and the world around me.
Magnum Opus: A Tribute to Ntarikon is in many ways a cathartic poem. It is important for readers to know that this poet is a grafi from the grassfields of Cameroon, the capital of which is Bamenda, the Cameroonian equivalent of Aleppo in Syria. On account of its fierce opposition to the dysfunctional government of lame-duck President Paul Biya, Bamenda has become the bête noire of the francophone majority government in the country. In fact, the people of Bamenda have borne the brunt of Paul Biya’s wrath for thirty-five years (1982-2017). Another historical piece of information that this poet owes readers is the fact that he worked as Senior Translator at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon in Yaounde from 1991-1996. During this psychologically tumultuous stint at Etoudi, seat of the presidency in Cameroon, the poet bottled up so much unsettling information that he became ill at ease. That is why this book is immensely therapeutic. It is important for readers to bear in mind that each verse in the poem is the voice of a dissent, the expression of a mind that yearns to bring sanity to an insane world. There’s no gainsaying the fact that recalling our yesterday gives birth to our tomorrow.
Commendation
“Magnus Opus: A Tribute to Ntarikon” is a scathing indictment of the political status quo in the Republic of Cameroon where the ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), rides roughshod over the populace. In this long poem, Vakunta cries out poignantly against dystopia and the deplorable moments lived by members of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) at Ntarikon Park on May 26, 1990. One cannot read this poem without feeling the despair and helplessness experienced by members of this political party as they were maimed, killed and reminded that the future holds no good for them. The prosody and semantics of the poem amplify the ontological angst experienced by Cameroonians on a daily basis.
[Kashama Mulamba, Ph.D,Professor of English and French, Olivet Nazarene University, USA.]
Posted by Wuteh on Sunday, 02 July 2017 at 09:25 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Dibussi Tande, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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By Peter Wuteh Vakunta, Ph.D.
Introduction
The recent civil disobedience that transpired in the Republic of Cameroon during the latter part of 2016 and spilled over into 2017 has caused a ripple effect in the two English-speaking regions of the nation, namely the Northwest and Southwest regions. What follows is a reproduction of the declaration made by the consortium of teachers’ trade unions and associations in Cameroon on October 26, 2016 prior to embarking on the strike action:"We the teacher’s trade unions and associations of Anglophone extraction – SYNES-UB, CATTU, TAC, PEATTU, CEWOTU, BATTUC and parents, under the banner of UPTA hereby declare an indefinite strike action beginning on Monday 21 November 2016. During this strike, there shall be a definite shut down of all schools, public, private and confessional; from the nursery, primary, secondary to the university under the English sub-system until definite steps are taken by the government to stop the plunder of Anglophone education" (Online communication)[i]
The teachers were angered by the arrogance of the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Jacques Fame Ndongo (French-speaking Cameroonian) who had ignored repeated requests from English-speaking teachers to effect changes in the Anglophone educational system. The teachers had tabled a series of demands, a synopsis of which is re-captured verbatim below:
When government officials refused to respond to the aforementioned grievances, teachers backed by disgruntled unemployed youths, many of them university graduates, engaged in running battles with the military protesting what they called the overbearing influence of French in the country, which has English and French as official languages. The call to strike initiated by English-speaking teachers is the effusion of pent-up emotions stemming from unresolved Anglophone problems. Their main grievance of English-speaking teachers who walked out of classes in November 2016 was that Francophone teachers with no smattering of the English language have been sent by the Biya regime to teach in schools in Anglophone Cameroon, thus creating cultural/linguistic dissonance between teachers and learners. English-speaking teachers asked the government to stop sending teachers who speak only French or Pidgin English to schools in the Northwest and Southwest regions. It should be noted that Cameroon’s official bilingualism which is high-sounding is flawed in its implementation. The revised constitution of 1996 (Sec.1.1.3) is explicit on the equality of the two languages inherited from French and British colonizers. It stipulates: “The official languages of the country shall be English and French, both having the same status. The State shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country. It shall endeavor to promote and protect national languages.” Interestingly enough, this is a far cry from the reality in Cameroon. Anchimbe (2006: 96) notes that in “promoting its bilingual language education policy, the government has largely disregarded the multilingual makeup of the country. Indigenous languages play only a secondary role…” Not surprisingly, the majority of official documents disseminated throughout the national territory by government officials are written solely in French. Some ministers deliver speeches only in French, even in English-speaking regions. Thus, the ongoing unrest translates the dystopia with which Anglophone Cameroonians have lived under the callous regime of President Paul Biya from 1982 to date. As Teachers’ Trade Union President, Wilfred Tassang, puts it, "For over 50 years Anglophone students have not been able to have a head way in Cameroon in those disciplines that will bring about development like science and technology because they have refused to train teachers for our schools"(Online communication).[iii] It should be noted that Tassang has since fled Bamenda to seek refuge in one of the Western embassies in Yaoundé in order to evade arrest by Paul Biya’s gestapo.
English-speaking lawyers who also objected to the imposition of French on English-speaking lawyers, notably in courtrooms by officials who do not understand the spirit and letter of British common law joined the strike shortly after it had started. They refused to go to work until the government had taken took steps aimed at putting an end to the use of French in courtrooms in Anglophone regions of Cameroon. They pointed out that the government is sending French-educated civil law judges who do not understand English common law to courts in English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Mr. Harmony Bogda, a lawyer and one of the organizers of the protest by lawyers stated that the lawyers wanted all French-speaking judges who cannot speak, write or understand the English language removed from courts in English-speaking regions of Cameroon. As he puts it,” We are gentlemen. We are peaceful and we have never meant any violence. It is now more than a month that we have been on strike after having notified the government about our dissatisfaction with the erosion of the common law” (Online communication)[iv] It is noteworthy that Cameroon has two legal systems. One is based on French civil law, while the other is based on English common law. The striking lawyers point out the system in Yaoundé is giving the French legal system leeway over the Anglo-Saxon legal system. A case in point is the Supreme Court in Cameroon where since independence in 1960 that court has had only French-speaking chief justices even though the country is supposed to be bilingual. Consequently, the striking lawyers asked for the creation of a separate section for common law in the nation that would train magistrates and judges. This, in a nutshell, is the genesis of the Anglophone Question in Cameroon which lies at the bottom of the ongoing strike action masterminded by teachers and lawyers last year. The Anglophone Problem that saw the light of day as linguistic malaise shortly after the reunification of Southern Cameroons and La République du Cameroun has gained momentum and has now reached the proportion of a time-bomb that will soon explode any time soon if nothing is done to defuse it in a timely manner. Anglophones in the country have long complained that they face discrimination of all sorts in hands of their French-speaking compatriots. English-speaking Cameroonians have complained repeatedly that they are often excluded from State jobs as a result of limited proficiency in the French language. In typical French repressive modus operandi, Paul Biya’s reaction to the peaceful protest has been brutal and inhumane.
Governmental High-handedness
Without addressing the nation even once on the subject matter, Mr. Biya simply sent thousands of French-speaking soldiers from Yaoundé, the national capital, to the English-speaking regions of Cameroon in combat gear to brutalize protesters. University campuses in Buea and Bamenda were raided. Hundreds of students were arrested, savagely beaten and raped. Uncountable numbers of female students lost their lives after being gang raped by sex starved, illiterate soldiers. Okada boys (motorcycle riders) who took to the streets in a peaceful protest against the wanton killings by the military were rounded up and transported in vans to unknown destinations. Hundreds were taken to the maximum security prison in Yaoundé, infamously called Kondengui, where they are chaffing to date. According to media reports, an undetermined number of English-speaking Cameroonians have been killed by members of the armed forces who did not refrain from using tear gas and live bullets to disperse crowds.Executive high-handedness was also noticeable in the manner in which leaders of the civil unrest were treated by some members of President Biya’s cabinet, notably the Prime Minister, Mr. Philemon Yang (ironically an Anglophone from Oku in Bui Division). After lengthy deliberations between the Prime Minister and strike leaders in Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda, Harmony Bogda, spokesperson for striking lawyers, came out and said that attorneys had the impression that the government was negotiating in bad faith and was not really interested in listening to them. Consequently, Bogda reiterated the fact that the strike would continue. As he puts it:"We are not going to work. He [Yang] has opened up the channel for dialogue with the government in complement with what the parliamentarians need. He has even insisted that we should approach our minister of justice, but since the minister of justice is under him, we are hoping that he will be able to deconstruct the wall the minister has built so that we can have an across-the-board dialogue for the interest of this country." (Online communication)[v]
Dismayed at the way strike leaders were shabbily treated, Barrister Ben Muna, former President of the Cameroon Bar Association had this to say:"Any lawyer is free as a citizen to make a demand, even if it is political. So there can be no excuse to ignore them. I say, it is not because they want secession that they should be vandalized and beaten. The way forward is that the minister of justice should go to Buea. Speak to them. A Cameroonian is a Cameroonian." (Online communication)[vi]
Minister of Communications, Mr. Issa Tchiroma, a Francophone, was not conciliatory in his remarks. He simply blamed the strikers and likened them to outlaws as evident in the following remarks:"Those who are responsible for such abuses must know that nowhere in the world, disorder has ever led to anything constructive. We, therefore, call on all our compatriots to show proof of reserve, self-control, high sense of responsibility and citizenship in a spirit of dialogue.' (Online communication)[vii]
It should be noted that at the time of going to press, one of the strike leaders, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla remains behind bars in Cameroon. Nkongho is a human rights lawyer educated in the United States of America. He is African Bar Association (AFBA) Vice-President for Central Africa. He is also the Fako Lawyers’Association (FAKLA) President, and President of the now outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC). Nkongho is founder and current Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa. He has worked consistently in defense of the rights of citizens of the English-speaking regions in Cameroon. Arrested in Buea in January 2017, together with his Secretary General, Dr. Fontem Neba, Barrister Nkongho was transferred to Yaoundé by a security -hit-squad. In Yaoundé, both men were subjected to long hours of interrogation before being thrown into a detention cell at the Secretariat of State for Defense in charge of the National Gendarmerie known by its French acronym as SED. On June 7, 2017, the Military Tribunal in Yaoundé upheld the decision to deny bail to Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla. He has been charged on eight counts, some of which carry a death penalty sentence in conformity with the 2014 anti-terrorism law in Cameroon. In retrospect, it should be noted that on December 5, 2016, Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla formed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) in order to address the human rights issues raised in ongoing protests in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. Primarily, CACSC was founded to do research and to propose policy alternatives to improve human rights conditions in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. On December 27, 2016, Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla participated in a group dialogue with government officials to discuss the protests, and to request the release of students who had been arrested and detained during the uprising. As no concrete changes were implemented following the meeting, CACSC called for a peaceful civil disobedience where people were asked to stay at home, refrain from protesting in the streets, and engaging in any business transactions. They called the strike “Operation Ghost Town”. Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla is alone in being scape-goated by the Biya regime.
Another high-profile personality of Anglophone extraction that is in the radar of the Francophone-led government in Yaoundé is Honorable Joseph Wirba, a member of the main opposition party in Cameroon, the Social Democratic Front (SDF). Honorable Wirba hails from Bui Division, a hot spot of political militancy in Cameroon. Irked by the reality of Anglophone marginalization under the regime of President Paul Biya, Wirba mounted the podium during a parliamentary session in Yaoundé in December 2016 and denounced the oppression of Anglophones who constitute a numerical minority in Cameroon. He lambasted the Biya regime for turning a blind eye to the brutal mistreatment of unarmed protesters in the South West and North West regions. Wirba said Francophone administrators sent to English-speaking regions of Cameroon comported themselves like ‘armies of occupation’. He referred to the Francophone-led administration and military as oppressors and described them as part of a “master plan to finish our culture, our people” (Online communication)[viii] Wirba’s speech was fiery and whipped up strong anti-Francophone sentiments throughout the Anglophone community. The MP’s choice of words was tantamount to a show of defiance and an endorsement of recent calls for a return to the pre-72 federation by some Anglophones. Wirba was very blunt in his call for an end to tyranny by the Francophone majority in Cameroon. He had recourse to expressions such as “oppression”, “armies of occupation”, “slaves” and “colonial masters” to convey Anglophone aversion for subservience and servitude. As he put it, “The people of West Cameroon cannot be your slaves,” The people of West Cameroon are not. You did not conquer them in war. If this is what you are saying we should live in, I say no. It would not work” (Online communication)[ix] Wirba’s speech was in response to clashes between protesters and armed security forces in the South West and North West regions in which several people, including university students died. Many others were either injured or arrested. Wirba was very blunt in his call for secession:" I was one of the believers in a unified Cameroon and I want to tell this House that what has happened to those children in Buea and Bamenda has convinced me that the people who say we should go in two parts are correct. And, there are more and more of us out there who now believe that it is the ultimate end." (Online communication)[x]
At one point during his historic address, Honorable Wirba turned to address the Minister of Territorial Administration who was in as follows: “Mr. Minister, I said here in December that the reign of terror over West Cameroon is bringing down this country and nobody seemed to be listening and then I come here and am told that we cannot talk on behalf of those people?” He asked the Minister in bewilderment (Online communication)[xi] Wirba underscored the fact that the uprising in the Southwest and Northwest was a result of years of oppression and the refusal of the central government in Yaoundé to address the Anglophone Question. Citing an expression often attributed to American politician, Thomas Jefferson, he said: “When injustice becomes law; resistance becomes a duty.” (Online communication)[xii] Wirba then went on to emphasize the fact that the people of West Cameroon had a duty to resist Francophone oppression. In the summation of his speech, he said: “We the people of West Cameroon will resist you and if you want to take that territory by force, you will kill to the last man before you take it. And, you can start with me.” (Online communication)[xiii] Wirba’s speech encapsulates the unresolved Anglophone Question.
The Anglophone Question
You may remember Animal Farm, the 1945 classic written by George Orwell. Many in my generation had to read this book in order to take the London-based General Certificate of Education (GCE O/Level) examination. Over the years, I have continued to see the relevance of the message enshrined in this novel even more as I ponder the Cameroon Anglophone Question. The plot of the book is centered on the dissatisfaction of farm animals who felt they’re being mistreated by Farmer Jones. Led by the pigs, the animals revolted against their oppressive master. After their victory they decided to run the farm themselves on egalitarian principles. However, the pigs became corrupted by power and a new tyranny was established. The famous line: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” (92) still rings true to date. The socio-political status quo in Cameroon is a parody of Animal Farm. The plot of the novel is a replica of what I have labeled ‘tyranny of the majority in Cameroon’ in this article, an epithet carefully chosen to depict the brutal subjugation of the Anglophone minority by the Francophones who happen to have the numerical advantage in Cameroon. The Cameroon Anglophone Problem manifests itself in the form of complaints from English-speaking Cameroonians about the absence of transparency and accountability in matters relating to language policy, official bilingualism, and appointments in the public service. In sum, the Anglophone Problem raises pertinent questions about shared governance, participatory democracy, national identity, language policy and official bilingualism in the Republic of Cameroon. The Anglophone Problem is not a figment of anyone’s imagination. It is real and ubiquitous. The Anglophone Question is the cry of an oppressed people who feel like citizens without a nation. Bate Besong; one of Cameroon’s Anglophone literary virtuosos has likened English-speaking Cameroonians to citizens without a nation in his docu-drama titled Beasts of no Nation (1990). He notes that Anglophone Cameroonians abhor the ultra-centralization of political power in the hands of a rapacious French-speaking oligarchy in Yaoundé where Anglophones with limited proficiency in the French language are made to go through all kinds of odds in the hands of cocky bureaucrats who look down on anyone speaking English. The Anglophone Problem stems from the supercilious attitude of French-speaking Cameroonians who believe that their Anglophones compatriots are unpatriotic, and, are therefore, untrustworthy. This bigotry compounded by conceit has given leeway to the usage of derogatory remarks by French-speaking Cameroonians such as” les Anglophones sont gauches”[xiv], “c’est des ennemis dans la maison”[xv], “ce sont les biafrais[xvi], les bamenda ne savent pas s’habiller[xvii], and so on. As the foregoing narrative clearly shows, President Paul Biya’s regime thrives on bigotry, tyranny, abuse of human rights, brutal suppression of free expression, and gerrymandering stratagems. Interestingly, the socio-political tohubohu that has come in the wake of the civil disobedience initiated by teachers and lawyers has its price hidden in plain sight to be paid by ordinary Cameroonians.
Conceptualizing the Cost of Civil Unrest
The hardest hit is the education sector. Teachers and learners in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon from kindergarten to University level have lost an entire academic year (2016-2017). In spite of repeated attempts made by the Prime Minister to persuade teachers and learners to resume classes, the former have remained adamant in their refusal to call off the strike before their grievances have been met. Prime Minister’s intention had been to convince education stakeholders in the Anglophone regions to allow pupils go back to school and avoid a blank school year. That did not happen. Interviewed last year by journalists on Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), UNESCO’s (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) ambassador to Cameroon, Mr. Paul Ombiono, said that the academic year will be declared blank in Cameroon if sixty percent of the regulatory 900 hours of school time had not been invested in school work in Cameroon. The ambassador further reiterated the fact that if that happened, then all certificates issued in Cameroon for academic year 2016/2017 shall not be recognized anywhere internationally. It is noteworthy that these predictions have come to past. School children are now vegetating at home in full glare of bewildered parents who are at a loss about what to do with children stuck in the homestead. Worse still, this wasted year will never be regained. Time is a scarce commodity the world over. It is like money; once spent it’s gone. In order words, while the rest of the world is forging ahead and making quantum leaps toward academic attainments, Cameroonians are retrogressing on account of the myopia of our leaders. Out of frustration, some parents have asked their children to abandon school altogether and learn a trade for survival.This attrition has left an indelible mark on the academic landscape of the Republic of Cameroon.
Another consequence of the ongoing civil unrest in Cameroon is brain drain and loss of human capital. Highly qualified Anglophone Cameroonians have fled in drones into the diaspora in order to evade the tyranny of a benighted Francophone majority in Cameroon. This spells doom for nation-building. I have the conviction that any nation that dances tango with its intelligentsia is a nation doomed to failure. The economic costs of brain drain to the Cameroonian economy stare us all in the face. Coupled with brain drain is loss of human capital. Hundreds of able bodied and brilliant Cameroonians have lost their lives on the high seas in an attempt to flee from tyranny of the majority in the homeland. The third price that Cameroonians must pay as a consequence of the ongoing crisis is governmental dysfunction. Come to think of it, what is the track record of Mr. Paul Biya and his Beti nitwits? All there is to it is corruption, lethargy, administrative ineptitude, blind-sidedness, economic doldrums and environmental decay. Sadly enough, that is the buffet meal that has been served to Cameroonians for thirty-five years of retrogressive governance under President Biya’s dysfunctional regime.
Conclusion
In sum, I feel compelled to remind President Biya and his cohorts in Yaoundé that facts are facts. Facts do not suddenly dissipate simply because someone has opted to not acknowledge their existence. The fact of the matter is that Cameroonians in their generality are hurting badly as a result of President Biya’s inability to pull the country out of doldrums for more than three decades. Anglophone Cameroonians are hurting even more because they feel like citizens without a nation. These are facts. Mr. Biya needs to get out of his surreal bubble and experience the realities facing the people of Cameroon, the geographical expression he claims to govern. Burying his head in the sand and ignoring the grievances of his compatriots will only aggravate the magnitude of the problem. The Cameroonian people are sick to the stomach with a President who is too arrogant to address citizens on serious matters concerning the very survival of the nation-state such as the Anglophone Problem. Cameroonians are fed up with an octogenarian who is unwilling to pass on the baton to younger blood. Cameroonians have had enough of a roi fainéant[xviii] who perennially spends half the calendar year in European countries chasing shadows. The Cameroonian people can no longer live and let live with a persona who shows outright disregard for the Constitution he swore in 1982 to protect. In brief, Cameroonians would stop at nothing to get rid of a president who has proven in word and deed that he is a political misfit, an anachronism of sorts. Mr. Biya ought to be reminded that it does not suffice be labeled ‘president’. Bona fide presidents are not tyrants; they are servants of the people that elected them into power. It is incumbent upon this sit-tight president to buckle up and start to perform the duties for which Cameroonians ‘elected’ him as president. Otherwise, exeunt!
Works cited
Anchimbe, A. E. 2006. Cameroon English: Authenticity, Ecology and Evolution. Frankfurt am
Main: Peter Lang.
Besong, Bate. 1990. Beasts of No Nation (a docu-drama). Limbe: Nooremac Press.
Cameroon, Government. 1996. Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon. Yaoundé:
Government printer.
Orwell, George. 1945. Animal Farm. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press.
Notes
[i] “All Schools in Anglophone Cameroon to shut down.” Online at http://bareta.press/schools-anglophone-cameroon-shut/ (Accessed November 7, 2016).
[ii] “All Schools in Anglophone Cameroon to shut down.” Online at http://bareta.press/schools-anglophone-cameroon-shut/ (Accessed November 7, 2016).
[iii] “Cameroon teachers, lawyers strike in battle for English.” Online at http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/cameroon-teachers-lawyers-strike-english-
[iv] “Lawyers in Cameroon are fighting the Justice System. Online at https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lawyers-in-cameroon-are-fighting-the-justice-system/3600857.html
[v] “Lawyers, Teachers in Cameroon Strike for More English in Anglophone Regions.” Online at https://www.voanews.com/a/lawyers-teachers-strike-cameroon-more-english-anglophone-regions/3616197.html (Accessed November 16, 2016).
[vi] Lawyers, Teachers in Cameroon Strike for More English in Anglophone Regions.” Online at https://www.voanews.com/a/lawyers-teachers-strike-cameroon-more-english-anglophone-regions/3616197.html (Accessed November 16, 2016).
[vii] Lawyers, Teachers in Cameroon Strike for More English in Anglophone Regions.” Online at https://www.voanews.com/a/lawyers-teachers-strike-cameroon-more-english-anglophone-regions/3616197.html (Accessed November 16, 2016).
[viii] “The People of West Cameroon Cannot be Your Slaves.” Online at http://thestandardtribune.com/2016/12/14/mp-the-people-of-west-cameroon-cannot-be-your-slaves
(Accessed December14, 2016)
[ix] The People of West Cameroon Cannot be Your Slaves.” Online at http://thestandardtribune.com/2016/12/14/mp-the-people-of-west-cameroon-cannot-be-your-slaves
(Accessed December14, 2016)
[x] The People of West Cameroon Cannot be Your Slaves.” Online at http://thestandardtribune.com/2016/12/14/mp-the-people-of-west-cameroon-cannot-be-your-slaves
(Accessed December14, 2016
[xi] The People of West Cameroon Cannot be Your Slaves.” Online at http://thestandardtribune.com/2016/12/14/mp-the-people-of-west-cameroon-cannot-be-your-slaves
(Accessed December14, 2016)
[xii] The People of West Cameroon Cannot be Your Slaves.” Online at http://thestandardtribune.com/2016/12/14/mp-the-people-of-west-cameroon-cannot-be-your-slaves
(Accessed December14, 2016)
[xiii] The People of West Cameroon Cannot be Your Slaves.” Online at http://thestandardtribune.com/2016/12/14/mp-the-people-of-west-cameroon-cannot-be-your-slaves
(Accessed December14, 2016)
[xiv] Anglophones are clumsy
[xv]They are enemies in the house.
[xvi] They are from Biafra
[xvii] Folks from Bamenda dress shabbily
[xviii] Lazy king
About the author
Dr.Vakunta is Associate Professor at the University of Indianapolis in the United States of America. He’s author of several books on African affairs, intercultural competency curriculum development and translation theory and practice.
Posted by Wuteh on Sunday, 02 July 2017 at 09:07 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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By Peter Vakunta, Ph.D.
Posted by Wuteh on Sunday, 11 December 2016 at 05:19 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emmanuel Konde, Gems from the Web, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, News Dispatches, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Posted by Wuteh on Monday, 05 December 2016 at 12:35 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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"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)
Prof Peter Wuteh Vakunta
United States of America
Posted by Wuteh on Wednesday, 23 November 2016 at 04:01 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Cultural, Diaspora News, Emmanuel Konde, Gems from the Web, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Gravitas: Poetic Consciencism for Cameroon is the poet's requiem for the geographical expression code-named Cameroon. Vakunta speaks with the audacity of a daredevil and the certitude of a seer. This long poem has the twin virtues of gravity and clarity of purpose. The poet eschews the banality and sophistry characteristic of poetry for poetry's sake. Passion, sarcasm, and incisive irony are the hallmarks of this revolutionary poem. The poet subscribes to Salman Rushdie's pronouncement that a poet's duty is to say the unutterable, name the unnamable, unmask masquerading miscreants and shame the scum of society. In this poem, music serves as a clarion call for examination of conscience,and the fumigation of a rotten society; alcohol ceases to serve as opium of the people. A bittersweet potion, this book echoes the defiant voice of a son-of-the-soil at odds with his native land gone topsy-turvy.
Excerpt from the Book
Huruje! Huruje! Huruje!/
Kunkum Massa! Oh!/
Kunkum Massa!Oh!/
Hands on deck!/
Huruje! Huruje! Huruje!/
Kunkum Massa! Oh !/
Kunkum Massa!Oh!/
Huruje! Huruje! Huruje!/
One time! GO! GO!GO!/
THE BARD/
Voice of the voiceless/
Quiet peace-maker/
Loquacious griot/
Taciturn zombie/
YOU…/
Scavenger of social scum/
You create your own world/
A world of intoxication/
YOU… ME…TOWN CRIER/
Basking in the solace/
Of mediocrity and myopia/
The ‘People’s Representatives’/
Metamorphosed nitwits/
Yap like hoodlums/
In the bowels of the/
Ngoa-Ekelle Glass House/
Handclapping semi-literates/
Kowtowing to the dictates of/
Diabolical machinations/
Orchestrated by an inept Executive/
Enchained by the wheeling and dealing/
Of foreign overlords/
Toying with the supreme law of the land/
Gerrymandering being their stock-in–trade /
Posted by Wuteh on Friday, 28 October 2016 at 05:45 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Music, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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
Posted by Wuteh on Monday, 17 October 2016 at 07:08 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emmanuel Konde, Gems from the Web, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Peter Wuteh Vakunta, Ph.D.
Recourse to the term ‘pogrom’ seems a befitting epithet to describe the wanton killings and verbal vendettas that characterized the campaign rallies preceding the August 3 local government elections in the rainbow nation of South Africa. As in the past, the running of this year’s elections has been tainted by cut-throat competition, unbridled recourse to racial slurs, ethnocentric witch-hunting, mudslinging, and outright physical elimination of political opponents much to the dismay of shocked citizenry nationwide. Little wonder, the slogan “use the ballot, not the bullet” became the rallying cry of petrified political militants and observers during the run-up to the municipal elections. To date, South Africa boasts scores of political parties, some as thinly populated as the average household in the country. The major contenders in this year’s polls are the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance(DA), Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF), Inkatha Freedom Party(IFP), United Democratic Movement(UDM) and National Freedom Party (NFP).Some political light-weights vying for votes are the African People’s Convention (APC), Congress of the People (COP), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), and the South African Communist Party among others.
The mind-boggling anomaly about the just concluded municipal elections in South Africa is the penchant for lethal inter-party rivalry among contestants. In a bid to canvass for votes for the ruling party (ANC), incumbent president, Jacob Zuma has simply tossed decorum to the dogs and resorted to name-calling and racial slurs to cast aspersions on political opponents. Speaking to throngs of party supporters in Polokwane in the Limpopo Province on July 26, 2016, the president singled out his most dreaded political opponent, Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party and called on voters to shun the EFF on the following terms: “Don’t vote for the boy from Limpopo” (Sowetan, July 26, 2016, p.12). In yet another tirade, Zuma likened Malema to a liar: “Don’t vote for the party of the boy from Limpopo who is disrespectful and a liar” (Sowetan, July 25, p.4). There is consensus among the rank and file in South Africa that President Zuma’s political rants are preposterous and unbecoming of a president. Zuma has repeatedly taken pot shots at the DA party, accusing it of being a race-conscious party. At the same time, he appoints members of this party as ambassadors. It is this incongruity and selective amnesia that Thembo Sono alludes to when he posits that Jacob Zuma’s racist taunts reach “lunatic proportions when he himself appoints DA white members as ambassadors, like Douglas Gibson, while denouncing Maimane for consorting with whites”(Sowetan,July 22, 2016.p.20). It should be noted that Mmusi Maimane is leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) party.
Writing in the same paper, Richardson Mzaidume took umbrage at the president’s comments: “It’s very unfortunate that during his campaign for votes, President Jacob Zuma, infamously known as the dancing truant, used racism to drive his point home” (Sowetan, p.12). Zuma has repeatedly referred to the Democratic Alliance (DA) party as a resurrected National Party (NP), the party that institutionalized apartheid in South Africa. Mzaidume qualified Zuma’s remarks as unfortunate and points out that “Zuma is not just the president of black people but also of the same whites he is now blasting. The ANC also has a sizeable number of white members” (Sowetan, July 26, 2016, p.12).
A spate of politically motivated murders has left militants of all political parties petrified. The killing of two Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) members by suspects allegedly wearing ANC t-shirts was reported in the Sowetan (July 27, 2016, p.8). The paper reports that Bongani Skhosana, age 29 was shot dead while returning from an IFP door-to-door campaign. Skhosana was wearing the party’s t-shirt when he was shot four times in the stomach by a man wearing an ANC t-shirt. Another IFP party militant, Siyanda Mnguni, was shot and killed outside a tavern just hours after Skhosana’s killing a street away. Mnguni was also wearing an ANC t-shirt. These gruesome murders have sent chills down the spines of candidates who have been nominated by their wards.
Nationwide, voters are crippled with fear of being killed for simply exercising their constitutional right to vote. Indubitably, this status quo is a slap in the face of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) which seems to be a toothless bull dog. In spite of these ‘pogroms’ jeopardizing the likelihood of free and fair elections in South Africa, the IEC has remained indolent and incapable of taking bold steps to put an end to the blatant abuse of citizens’ right to choose their own leaders. In a desperate plea, to the IEC, chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Blessed Gwala wrote: “We call on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to ensure that there are consequences for those who don’t adhere to the electoral code of conduct. When acts of violence or intimidation take place, it’s a direct challenge to the IEC and police as perpetrators of such violence are testing the resolve of the IEC to ensure that there are free and fair elections”(Sowetan, July 27, 2016, p.8).
Truth must be told. Given the current state of affairs in South Africa, the notion of free and fair elections is a tall order. These acts pose a daunting challenge to the democratization process in the country. As Mmusi Maimane puts it, “… elections and the campaigns by political parties are, by their very essence, a festival of the democratic process of electing leaders” (Sowetan, July 27, 2016, p.16). Speaking in the same vein, Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa hit the nail on the head when he observed that these killings defile South Africa’s “… democratic intent as a nation”(Sowetan, July 25, 2016). He underscored the fact that South Africa’s ethos was about giving people a choice and this meant zero tolerance for the status quo where murderers are given the right to choose who should be elected to govern. The Deputy President made these remarks on his campaign trail in Tembisa, a township next to Pretoria in Gauteng Province.
To date, scores of political party militants have been murdered. These include militants from the African National Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party and National Freedom Party. One of the politically-motivated killings that have shocked the entire nation is the slaying of Kyanyisile Ngobese Sibisi, the ANC Women’s League secretary in Kwazulu Natal. She was a candidate in Ward 20 for the local government elections. The Sowetan reports that Kyanyisile Ngobese Sibisi was shot eight times with an AK-47 by gunmen traveling in a car. One of Kyanyisile Ngobese Sibisi’s comrades said that Kyanyisile Ngobese Sibisi did not want to stand as councilor but the party had persuaded her to accept the nomination because of her qualities. Clearly, the murder of this woman is a portent illustration of the triumph of mediocrity over meritocracy in the rainbow nation of South Africa. Adumbrating this theme further, Prince Mashele makes the following suggestion: “The best solution would be for a political party to adopt meritocracy as a guiding principle in choosing and replacing candidates for political office. This may seem banal, but strict adherence to it can save lives and build a better society” (Sowetan, July 25, 2016, p.15).
Though the motives for these murders are yet to be unraveled, the grapevine has it that those who are killed will be replaced by murderous aspirants. But the Independent Electoral Commission has bad news for the hopefuls: “All the councilor candidates who have been recently killed across the country will still be fielded to contest their respective wards in the upcoming local government elections” (Sowetan, July 27, 2016, p.4). In an article titled “Assassinated Candidates Can Still Be Elected,” Independent Electoral Commission Chairperson, Kate Bapela, explained: “The law did not allow the Commission to do anything now in terms of getting the candidates replaced. There is no time to replace the deceased candidates before the elections which are scheduled for next week” (p.4). She further shed light on what will transpire after the August 3 ballot: “We will go with the candidates who were nominated. Just after the elections we will have to hold by-elections in all the affected wards” (p.4).
Interestingly, interparty warfare does not seem to be the lone canker eating into the very fabric of South Africa’s polity. Intra-party strife is sounding the death knell of the country’s political superstructure. Political murders continued to haunt South Africans of all stripes as they headed to the polls on August 3, 2016. In an article published in Sowetan (July 25, 2016), Prince Mashele opines that “Speculation is rife within communities that the killings are by ANC members who covet positions held by those murdered, the logic being that the dead shall be replaced by the murderers within the party”(p.15).
In sum, there is no gainsaying the fact that South Africans have their job cut out for them. Tata Madiba Nelson Mandela, who spent twenty-seven years of his life in maximum security prisons for championing the cause of Black liberation in South Africa, must be turning several times in his grave right now. The onus rests with voters who have the yam and the knife. They must exercise their voting right to oust bad leaders who relish the thought of stirring the hornet’s nest for personal gain. Such unpatriotic leaders ought to be replaced with good ones. To do so, voter education is crucial. South Africans must shun tribal politics; they must steer clear of political hawks that swoop down on the electorate with hollow promises on the eve of elections and vanish like the whirlwind in the dusk of elections. I was visiting friends in South Africa during the pre-election period and noticed how some ill-informed voters were easily bought over with ephemeral stuff such as free blankets and cheap food. Voters must be wise enough to exercise caution in distinguishing voting for the kind of change that builds and solidifies the rainbow nation from the brand of tribal politics that has the potential to tear the nation into shreds by bloating the ego of a rapacious oligarchy resident in Pretoria.
About the author
Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta is Professor of Global Languages and Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Indianapolis, United States of America
Posted by Wuteh on Monday, 08 August 2016 at 04:30 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The burden of Hepatitis is huge in sub-Saharan Africa. With the number of infected persons growing so rapidly it is feared that this silent epidemic may be capable of wrecking the entire sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, majority of those infected do not know that they have the disease. As such they do not seek help and they continue to spread the viruses to their love ones and friends most of the times unknowingly. The few people who know that they are infected do not know the options available to them. Also, many persons in Africa have not taken measures to protect themselves against hepatitis because they do not know how transmission occurs especially in the context of persons living in Africa or of African origin. Struggle against the notorious liver germs was written in the era of advanced treatment and cure by a leading world-class expert in the field to highlight some local practices and issues associated with the transmission of hepatitis B and C viruses in such a way that people in Africa can relate to. It is written for the common man on the streets anywhere in Africa and for those involved in one way or the other in policy and social issues that play directly on the provision of vaccination, testing, awareness and care of patients with infectious diseases. It will be a good idea if you share this book with your family and friends so they too will understand more about the different aspects and health issues associated with hepatitis.
Posted by Dr Bill F. NDI on Friday, 24 June 2016 at 10:59 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Books, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Cultural, Diaspora News, Dibussi Tande, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, Gems from the Web, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, News Dispatches, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Reviewer: Peter Wuteh Vakunta, Ph.D.
La vie est un sale boulot (2009) finds a niche in the corpus of sociological novels[1] on two counts. Primarily, the text arises out of a social context plagued by ontological problems. The backdrop against which the narrative unfolds is Libreville in Gabon. Furthermore, the text is written in a manner that puts characters at odds with societal and governmental apparatuses. The socio-cultural depth of Otsiemi’s narrative necessitates recourse to an exegetic [2]paradigm if one is to do justice to literary criticism. The first canker that the novelist satirizes in the text is the obnoxious attitude of government officials who tend to abuse power with impunity as this excerpt illustrates: “Les flics de Libreville étaient connus pour leur brutalité de chien mal nourris. Et dans la population librevilloise, on n’appréciait guère leurs méthodes quand il s’agissait d’arrêter des petits délinquants pendant que les ouattara vidaient les caisses de l’Etat sans être inquiétés.”(107)[The cops in Libreville were notorious for acts of brutality that made them look like malnourished dogs. And the inhabitants of Libreville hardly appreciated the fact that they arrested petty criminals when the ouattara were emptying government coffers with impunity.] In a footnote, Otsiemi translates the word ouattara as ‘homme fortuné’ which could be rendered in English as “wealthy man”. Interestingly, by inserting this indigenous language word in his French language text, Otsiemi succeeds in indigenizing the language of the ex-colonizer by using French as a conveyor of African thought pattern and imagination; a phenomenon that Zabus (1991) describes as “the writer’s attempt at textualizing linguistic differentiation and at conveying African concepts, thought-patterns, and linguistic features through the ex-colonizer’s language.”(3)
A critical reading of La vie est un sale boulot lends itself to the contention according to which the African palimpsest is at work in Otsiemi’s novel, a process which Zabus (1991) describes as the African writer’s “attempts to simulate the character of African speech in a Europhone text…”(101) To put this differently, readers and critics of Otsiemi’s novel are invited to uncover the cultural layers and contesting indigenous languages in ferment behind the apparently homogenous French in the novel as seen in the following excerpt: “Un vrai ouistiti, je ne dis pas, balança Lebèque, histoire d’en rajouter. Il bosse au ministère du Commerce. Elle dit qu’elle a percé depuis qu’elle couille avec lui.”(46)[A real ouistiti, needless to say, Lebèque hurled and added that he works at the Ministry of Commerce. She says she’s been deflowered since he’s been screwing her.] Notice that the indigenous language word “ouistiti” provides not just local color but also a robust cultural substructure that undergirds Otsiemi’s narrative, even if it has a pejorative connotation given that the word alludes to the flirtatious character of the man referenced in this excerpt. This novel is a palimpsest in the sense that, behind the scriptural authority of the ex-colonizer’s language, the incompletely erased African tongue can still be perceived as seen in the example above. This innovative style of fictional writing could be described as an attempt to subvert the dominance of the ex-colonizer’s language in a post-colonial text. Arguing along similar lines, Ashcroft et al. posit that postcolonial literature emerges in its present form “out of the experience of colonization and the tension with the imperial power, and by emphasizing their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre. It is this which makes them distinctively postcolonial. (2) In other words, colonized peoples tend to turn the reality of colonial history on its head by writing back to the imperial center from the empire. This transpires when indigenous peoples begin to write their own histories and literatures using the ex-colonizer’s language.
The particularity of Otsiemi’s fictional style is code-switching, a phenomenon which Haugan refers to as the “the alternate use of two languages, including everything from the introduction of a single unassimilated word up to a complete sentence or more into the context of another language” (cited in Omole, 58). In his attempt to transpose the speech mannerisms of Gabonese people into the French language, the novelist has recourse to a variety of linguistic codes. There is no gainsaying the fact that La vie est un sale boulot harbors an amalgam of codes—French, English, and indigenous language lexes. It is a novel in which street-talk and slang blend freely with conventional French to produce an exhilirating new code. Arguing along similar lines, Zabus observes that the “Europhone African novel is best described as a hybrid product which is looking “inward” into African orature and literature and “outward” to imported literary traditions”(4) as seen in the following excerpt: “Il a deux gosses. Et sa meuf, elle est en cloque. Ce n’est pas avec son boulot de merde qu’il arrive à les nourrir. Il est obligé de faire un peu de bizness pour arrondir les fins de mois.”(47)[He’s got two kids. And his girlfriend has a bun in the oven. It’s not with that shitty job of his that he’s going to feed them. He has to do some business to make ends meet.] In his attempt to transpose the speech patterns of members of a particular social stratum in Gabon, the novelist switches codes when he deems it necessary. Notice that the word ‘bizness’ is a calque[3] on the English language lexeme ‘business’. Code-switching enables this novelist to transpose loanwords culled from native Gabonese languages into the Standard French in which the novel is written.
La vie est un sale boulot reads like literature of dissent in which the author adopts an anti-establishment attitude as the following excerpt suggests: “Sur indication d’Ozone, Chicano fit un demi-cercle devant le grand bȃtiment à deux niveaux sur lequel flottait le flanion de la République bananière du Gabon.”(53)[As indicated by Ozone, Chicano made a semi-circle in front of the tall two-story building on which flew the flag of the Banana Republic of Gabon.] This statement is an undisguised lampoon on the dysfunctional Gabonese government and the ineptitude of civil servants in this country. By branding Gabon ‘a banana republic’ Otsiemi registers his disenchantment with the status quo in this sub-Saharan African nation-state.
In his attempt to Africanize his novel, Otsiemi deconstructs the French language in a bid to not only achieve cultural revival but also to stave off linguistic imperialism. The technique that makes linguistic indigenization feasible in this novel is semantic shift, a technique that enables the novelist to endow well-known words with new significations as seen in the following excerpt: “La chasse aux jeunes pubères, il en avait fait son second métier.Il en avait mal engrossé dans la ville, et en avait fait ses deuxièmes bureaux. Et des deuxièmes bureaux de ce genre, il en avait pêle-mêle.”(58)[Chasing after pubescent girls had become his second job. He had impregnated quite a few in the city and had made some his concubines. He had tons of concubines of this nature.] It should be noted that the expression deuxième bureau has lost its original meaning of “second office”in Otsiemi’s text and has acquired a new semantic signification. In this context, these two words are used together to describe a mistress.
Otsiemi de-foreignizes his text by employing Africanisms[4] as follows: “Fervent traditionaliste initié au Bwiti comme d’autres peuvent être de fervents chrétiens, Tchicot comptait passer le restant de ses jours dans son village natal, à plus de 600 kilomètres de Libreville.”(101)[Fervent traditionalist initiated into the Bwiti just as others could be fervent believers initiated into the Christian faith,Tchicot had hoped to spend the rest of his life in his native village situated 600 kilometers from Libreville.] Conscious of the fact that recourse to Africanisms such as “Bwiti” may constitute a comprehension bottle-neck to non-African readers, the novelist resorts to para-textual elucidation. In a footnote he sheds light on the signification of the lexeme “Bwiti” as follows: “Société secrète traditionnelle” which could be translated into English as “traditional secret society”. Otsiemi’s Africanization of French is evident in many ways throughout the text but the most conspicuous manifestation of this writing style is the incorporation of cultural artifacts in his narrative as this passage indicates: “Tchicot croqua une tranche de sa kola rouge qu’il gardait jalousement dans l’un des tirroirs de son bureau.”(100)[Tchicot chewed a lobe of red kola-nut which he kept jealously in one of the drawers of his desk.] In a footnote, the novelist sheds light on the signification of the word ‘kola’ as follows: “fruits du colatier” [fruit of the kola nut tree.] This pithy definition may not unravel the conundrum for readers unfamiliar with this exotic tree.
A more explicit footnote would be helpful to uninformed readers: The kola nut is the fruit of the kola tree, a genus of trees that are native to the tropical rain forests of Africa. The kola nut has a bitter flavor and contains caffeine. It is chewed in many West African cultures, individually or in group settings. It is often used ceremonially, presented to chiefs or guests. These socio-cultural aspects of La vie est un sale boulot may align the text with many other African texts that belong in the category of ethnographic novels. Another cultural element that gives this novel an ethnographic appeal is the word “yamba” as used in the following excerpt: “Mohamed était un dealer de yamba à la petite semaine. Koumba lui offrait sa protection contre trente pour cent de son petit commerce” (102) [Mohamed was a dealer in Yamba during the early part of the week. Koumba offered him protection and received thirty percent of his sales as compensation.] It should be noted that this passage is Otsiemi’s denunciation of the corrupt practices of the forces of law and order in Gabon given that Koumba is a police-officer in the novel. In a footnote, Otsiemi provides a translation for the word yamba: cannabis. The word dealer is another instance of recourse to loan-words in the novel.
The foregoing discourse lends credence to the observation that La vie est un sale boulot is a jumble of French and African language lexes as revealed in the examples above. Otsiemi has superposed two apparently irreconcilable sets of linguistic elements in his narrative—foreign and indigenous, which in vivo have remained distinct; he has indigenized the French language, thereby redefining and subverting its foreigness, as Zabus would have it(4).This new indigenized medium takes the ex-colonizer’s language hostage as seen in this excerpt: “Owoula ravala sa bile et lui serra l’os après s’être présenté” (87) [Owoula swallowed back his bile and squeezed his bone.] Notice the indigenization of the French expression “serrer l’os”. In a foot, Otsiemi notes as that “serrer l’os à quelqu’un” means “lui serrer la main” [squeeze someone’s bone: shake his hand]
Another indigenizing trope that Ortiemi employs abundantly in his novel is neologism. Neology enables the novelist to find words that convey the mindset and worldview of his characters as seen in the following excerpt: "Il te fera jobber comme un dingue pour un salaire de paria sous prétexte qu’il te donne la bouffe en case." (48)[He will make you work like a lunatic for a pittance under the pretext that he gives you grub at home.]It should be noted that the verb « jobber » is a neologism calqued on the English language noun «job ». One other telling example is the following : «Vous me connaissez, les gars. J’ai jamais macroté un copain. »(66) [You know me, guys. I have never crooked a buddy.] Otsiemi’s newly minted word, macroté, derives from the standard French verb escroquer, which translates as «to dupe» in English.
In a nutshell, La vie est un sale boulot provides readers with an opportunity to read the kind of Africanized French that is spoken in the streets and neighborhoods in Gabon’s major cities such as Libreville. The text is replete with standard French words, slangs and indigenous language words and expressions that endow it with a reasonable dose of cultural authenticity. Semantic shifts characteristic of Frangabonais[5] enable Otsiemi to attribute his own meanings to existing French words. If up to a certain point, each postcolonial writer has to re-invent language, the situation of Francophone writers residing out of France is peculiar in that for them, French is an occasion for constant mutations and modifications. Engaged as he is in the jugglery of language, Otsiemi has elected to create his own language of fiction in a multilingual context affected by signs of diglossia. His fiction exists at the interface of French as a hegemonic language and its indigenized variant. Whether or not he has achieved the feat of decolonizing African literature remains a moot point. Much as we hail his success at enriching his novel with Africanisms and speech patterns characteristic of Gabonese parlance, we must not lose sight of the fact that La vie est un sale boulot is written entirely in French— a European language. In spite of the novelist’s impressive word-smiting evident throughout the novel, it is still an essentially French language text to which the reader is treated. For Otsiemi French is a necessary evil with which he has to come to terms. He seems to be in love with both French and his indigenous Gabonese mother tongue.
All in all, Otsiemi’s La vie est un sale boulot is a seminal novel that offers instructors and students of Francophone literature ample opportunities to embrace multilingualism/multiculturalism in the classroom setting. It is a well written work that I would highly recommend for inclusion in the General Education Core curricular reading list. The book is a breakthrough in innovative creative writing.
Works cited
Aschcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin. Eds. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and
Practice in Post-colonial Literatures. London and New York: Routledge, 1989.
Omole, James O. “Code-switching in Soyinka’s The Interpreters.” Eds. Epstein, L.
Edmund and Robert Kole. The Language of African Literature.Trenton :
Africa World Press, 1998.
Zabus, Chantal. The African Palimpsest: Indigenization of Language in the West African
Europhone Novel. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1991.
About the author
Dr. Peter Wuteh Vakunta teaches French and Francophone literatures at the University of Indianapolis in the United States of America where he’s Chair of the Department of Modern Languages. He is author of several fictional and theoretical books in his discipline.
[1] The sociological novel, also known as the social problem (or social protest) novel, is a work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem is dramatized through its effect on characters in the novel.
[2] Exegesis is the critical explanation or interpretation of a text. Exegetic interpretation deals with a wide range of critical disciplines such as textual criticism, investigation into the history and origins of texts, the study of the historical and cultural backgrounds of authors, the nomenclature of text typologies as well as an analysis of grammatical and syntactical structures of texts.
[3] A calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word translation
[4] A feature of language or culture regarded as characteristically African
[5] Gabonese French
Posted by Wuteh on Sunday, 06 December 2015 at 06:15 PM in Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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.
Posted by Wuteh on Friday, 02 October 2015 at 03:30 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Poetry, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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!
Posted by Wuteh on Tuesday, 07 July 2015 at 06:02 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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.
Posted by Wuteh on Monday, 01 June 2015 at 12:41 AM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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.
Posted by Wuteh on Friday, 29 May 2015 at 01:54 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Diaspora News, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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]
Posted by Wuteh on Friday, 29 May 2015 at 01:39 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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
Posted by Wuteh on Sunday, 05 April 2015 at 07:21 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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!
Posted by Wuteh on Sunday, 15 March 2015 at 03:32 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Canute Tangwa, Christmas Ebini, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mbuli Rene, Mwalimu George Ngwane, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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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.
Posted by Wuteh on Saturday, 28 February 2015 at 06:30 PM in 2011 Presidential Election, Aloysius Agendia, AYAH Paul ABINE, Bill F. Ndi, Emil I Mondoa, MD, Emmanuel Konde, George Esunge Fominyen, Guest Bloggers, Guest Commentary, Harry Yemti, Henry Monono, Hope Kale Ewusi, Innocent Chia, Joseph Ndifor, Joyce Ashuntantang, Kangsen Feka Wakai, Louis Egbe Mbua, Martin Jumbam, Mwalimu George Ngwane, News Dispatches, Orock Eta, Peter Vakunta, Podcasts, Prince & PA Hamilton Ayuk , Richard Moki Monono, Rosemary Ekosso, Stephen Neba-Fuh, The Man Behind The Man Behind The Man | Permalink | Comments (0)
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