Sam Nuvala Fonkem
17 July 2008
opinion
At a gathering of friends in Buea last weekend, one member of the group broached the idea about the need to convene another All Anglophone Conference, AAC, along the lines of AAC I in Buea in 1993 and AAC II in Bamenda in 1994.
While we brainstormed about the opportunity of such a conference, another member expressed a contrary opinion, stating that the problem of Cameroon today goes beyond the Anglophone/Francophone divide, adding that the real problem is a generational one,
that is the generation born in the 1950's is a lost one that has been deprived of the opportunity to take up a leadership role by the older generation which has monopolised power since independence. He suggested that the 1950's Anglophone generation should rather explore the possibilities of finding a common ground with their Francophone peer group to chart a way forward for Cameroon in its present configuration.
Proponents of the idea of reaching out to the Francophone, just as the pro-unification politicians of the latter part of the 1950s, can be classified as sentimental irredentists who believe in the One Kamerun myth based on the defunct German protectorate that was split into French Cameroon and British Cameroons in the wake of the First World War.
The two entities evolved separately as mandated territories under the League of Nations and later as Trust territories under the United Nations system until October 1961 when the two came together in a federated state following a U.N.-organised plebiscite in which the British Southern Cameroons expressed the wish to form a union with French Cameroon as equal partners.
The travails of Southern Cameroons consists of an unending list of dishonesty, treachery and falsehood exhibited by the more populated partners, French Cameroon whose authoritarian leader Ahmadou Ahidjo failed to respect the terms of the union, systematically turned the union into a one-party state, dismantled the federal nature of the union and proceeded to annex the Southern Cameroons whose gullible citizens have ever since been tacitly classified and unabashedly treated as second class citizens.
In last Monday's issue of this newspaper and in an article titled "The Travails of West and East Cameroon", Nfamewir Aseh made some fallacious statements which must be promptly rectified before it creates confusion in the minds of many who have not bothered to acquaint themselves with the historical facts regarding the Southern Cameroons.
Aseh states that "between 1958 and 1961, Southern Cameroons became the State of West Cameroon". False! The federated state of West Cameroon came into being on October 1, 1961, while French Cameroon became the federated state of East Cameroon.
He also claims that "while East Cameroon did produce a cream of nationalists who rallied under the freedom cry of the UPC national liberation movement, West Cameroon did not produce even a single nationalist and are still to catch up with political arguments that seek to counter the intrigues of neo-colonialism..."
The above assertion smacks of a selective interpretation of historical facts. If Aseh understands nationalist to mean a guerrilla war fighter such as the UPC could boast of, then he may be right. Guerrilla warfare was the only language of political struggle in French Cameroon which seriously lacked a culture of open dialogue, freedom of speech and political discourse-all of which were entrenched in the political culture of the Southern Cameroons.
No one was obliged to take bush cover and resort to arms to express his political opinion or pursue his legitimate political aspirations. I understand nationalist to mean someone who is committed to the ideals of his nation and is prepared to sacrifice his personal interest for the common good of the nation.
When Aseh declares that West Cameroon did not produce even a single nationalist, you start wondering which nation he is referring to. How would Aseh classify personalities like PM. Kale, S.A.George, Fon Achirimbi of Bafut and S.A George? Where would he place the nine out of thirteen Southern Cameroonians who declared neutrality and walked out of the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly in Enugu in 1953, swearing never to engage in Nigerian politics unless the British who were administering the Southern Cameroons on behalf of the U.N. gave the green light for the establishment of an autonomous Southern Cameroons endowed with a separate executive, legislative and judiciary?
These gentlemen decided to forego the prestige and material benefits they enjoyed as MPs for the sake of the nationalistic vision they held for their country. And they succeeded in achieving their demands. Ask any of the Anglophone hand clappers in the Yaounde National Assembly today if he is prepared to make a similar sacrifice, the answer would be in the negative.
Aseh talks about "this point in time when there is a need for a rereading of our history in a way that can lead to a new synthesis possibly emerging in what Habert Kamgang calls a neo-panAfricanism which must counter neo-colonialism in Africa in the 21st century". In as much as I share the idea of Pan-Africanism, I would refrain from being romantic about it.
The neo-colonialism the Southern Cameroons is experiencing is one perpetrated by an African state against another state of equal status. Pan-Africanism is the desirable goal of all the free nations of Africa and does not countenance the subjugation of one state by another.
Pan-Africanism, like pan-Europeanism, can only be concretised through a voluntary and transparent process, not by falsehood and political chicanery. It may be a good idea to reread our history as Aseh recommends, but it is grossly sacrilegious to rewrite that history for the sheer purpose of distorting the facts and confusing the present generation and generations yet unborn.
Even the two leading Southern Cameroons politicians, John Ngu Foncha and S.T Muna who initially championed the idea of unification, made a full circle turn around when they attended AAC I in Buea in 1993, made their mea culpa and proceeded to the U.N. headquarters in New York in 1995 to deliver a petition for the rectification of self-determination process of the Southern Cameroons. They died like true Southern Cameroons nationalists.
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