Nkendem Forbinake
12 May 2008
In eight days time, the nation will be marking an important milestone in its history: the 36th anniversary of the advent of the unitary state.
The theme for this year's commemoration is: "The army, the nation: together for the consolidation of peace and development". Of course, a theme like this one recalls the determination of a people, mobilised to defend its unity and its quest for development.
Come next week, Cameroon will be passing by the 36th milestone in its permanent quest to forge a nation, one in which the various language groups, tribes and ethnic groups and people coming out of different colonial systems came together with a determination to build a country, one and indivisible. But why May 20 and not October 1, the date in 1961 when the peoples of the former French and British Cameroons reunited under the same fatherland after about 50 years of separation by the caprices of their respective colonial masters?
In 1961, it was the political reunion that was achieved. And the federal system of government brought about by the reunion did not seem to give enough guarantees that a truly Cameroonian nation, based on intrinsic values had been achieved because the two products of the British and French colonial systems lived side-by-side. The two states - East and West Cameroon- born out of the reunification seemed to work on parallel lines with each state firmly stuck to the values of the colonial authority which prepared the two territories for independence.
Parallel lines never meet, so how were the two entities ever going to come together? It is here that May 20 is considered a veritable political and cultural revolution in the history of Cameroon. It was on that day in 1972 that Cameroonians, following a referendum organised some 10 days earlier, decided to dump the federal system of government for a unitary type. For many Cameroonians, this was a victory over colonialism because, in the first place, the Cameroonian political entity was ever broken on the sheer whims of the colonial master.
The theme of this year's commemoration is simply a reminder to the fact that Cameroon remains jealously attached to its unity. The army comes in here mostly as a watchdog to that unity and is also a signal that any attempt to compromise the nation's gains in the area if unity and peace will be met with the stiffest resistance.
No stone is being left unturned to ensure a hitch-free event, come Tuesday May 20 instant. The ministry of Youth Affairs, the government department in charge of the organisation of the festivities has been burning the late night oil to ensure that the event carries the magnitude of the greatest annual national event. And so far, there is every indication that the feast will be grandiose especially with the numerous innovations that professionals of the broadest spectrum would like to add to make each year's event better than that of the previous year.
Cameroon Tribune today begins a series of articles in which all event-related activities, as well as special reports on the commemoration, will be published.
In this medley, preceding a special bumper issue slated for Friday May 16, readers should expect to read material on preparations in far-flung localities in the various provinces. They should also expect to read our reports on how various ethnic, language or foreign communities live in an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence.
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