Why only a return to the 1961 two state federal system of government can solve the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon and why the ongoing dialogue will be a failure
3 min read
No decentralization or ten state federation can solve the Anglophone problem in Cameroon
Reasons
More than 2000 Anglophones killed cannot be for the benefit of the whole country including other French speaking regions whose population did not even attempt to fight or advocate for change or support the Anglophones in their struggle since 2016 till date in 2019
More than 200 villages burnt in the Anglophone regions cannot be for the benefit of the whole country where they did not even feel any pain of the revolution
More than three years of our children not going to school while the other eight French speaking regions are happily enjoying their education cannot just be for ten state federation or for decentralization which was supposed to have been implemented 20years ago.
Businesses of the Anglophones cannot be down for three years and businesses of other eight French speaking regions are booming for that three years without any interruption and today we talks of national dialogue including the problems of other French speaking regions which they did not fight/advocate for or ask for it. We cannot just stand and hear everything from the government but we must led the government know what the Anglophone population wants which is autonomy of their state (West Cameroon as it was in the original agreement 1961).
The majority population of the Anglophone regions live in bushes, cannot go to their farms, cannot work anything, cannot go to school, dying everyday of bullets and deceases and they live at the mercy of humanitarian organization for three years and the government normalized it to nothing important. It is unheard of that the government will be inviting all regions to the dialogue table while the eight French speaking regions did not even ask for it
The government cannot allow more than 2000 people to die since 2016 just to organize the dialogue to discuss decentralization which was supposed to have implemented 20years ago. The crisis cannot be going on for three years and the government refused that it should not be discussed in the parliament just to led people died, villages burnt, property destroyed, education ruin for three years, hundreds of thousands internally and externally displaced etc. just to come and talk of decentralization which was supposed to have discussed since 2016
The other eight regions since 2016 when the Anglophone crisis started have never stage even a one day protest to support us the Anglophones in the struggle for change but they kept silence and enjoying their lives without any interruption while our people are dying every day, while our children are not going to school but theirs are going, while our villages are being burnt every day in the Anglophone regions etc.
Come to these regions and consult the inhabitants and hear what they want, do not consult politicians, elites, Governors, traditional rulers, administrator’s etc. but consult the people through a referendum on the form of state and they will tell you what they want
Mr. Prime minister and other elites from the Anglophone regions do you know what you are doing? Do you know and take the future of your children into consideration or you only mind your position?
Do you know that one day you will be retired and others occupied these positions? Do you know that some of your predecessors back home are living with the people and regretting their errors when they were serving the government like you just few years ago?
Army general do you know that after you retirement you will go back home and met you people and live like them? Soldiers do you know that you will be retired one day and you will come back home and met your people? Politicians do you know that you will one day quit politics and come back home?
We say NO to decentralization or ten state federation
YES to a referendum on the form of state (exclusively for the Anglophone population)
We say YES TO TWO STATE FEDERATION WITH EQUAL STATUS AS IT WAS ORIGINALLY IN 1961 and we will live together
And finally the Anglophone problem shall be solve and we live peacefully again
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
