Kini Nsom
3 October 2008
opinion
What has metamorphosed to be today the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, onslaught began in 1961 when Southern Cameroons (English-speaking) joined La République du Cameroun (French-speaking) in a UN-conducted plebiscite.
The results of the plebiscite, proclaimed on February 11, 1961, indicated that Southern Cameroonians chose to join La République in a federation instead of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a way of gaining its own independence.
The nitty-gritty of the deal was brokered in the Foumban constitutional conference in which politicians of La République, led by late President Ahmadou Ahidjo, somehow outwitted Southern Cameroonians, led by late statesman, John Ngu Foncha.
In the circumstances, Southern Cameroons that had become West Cameroon staggered on in the federation until 1972. The West Cameroon which had a Prime Minister at its helm was administered as an independent state. Anglophones in this state handled their affairs with little influence from the Francophone regime in Yaounde.
But in 1972, the federation was arbitrarily abolished in what many critics qualified as a "heavily rigged" referendum. According to the results of the vote that the Ahidjo regime published on May 20, 1972, citizens of both states voted overwhelmingly to become one state, one country called the United Republic of Cameroon.
Assimilation
Some Southern Cameroonian politicians like SML Endeley who stood against any union with La République from crass qualified the referendum as a ruse for total assimilation.True to this statement, assimilation it was. The state of West Cameroon lost its identity and the much cherished Anglo-Saxon values in the management of public affairs were adulterated by elements of the Francophone culture.
Anglophones cried the beloved country as corporations of the former West Cameroon like POWERCAM, Cameroon Bank; the National Produce Marketing Board etc succumbed to the poor management of the Francophone-led government in Yaounde. Road infrastructure in West Cameroon was neglected, and the Tiko Airport, the Mamfe and Bali air strips were abandoned as the Ahidjo regime began to fully call the shots.
The 1972 Constitution stated clearly that the two official languages in the country are English and French, but it became clear that French has taken an upper hand while English was relegated to the background. For one thing, President Ahidjo never addressed the nation even once in English to give the Anglophones a sense of belonging in the United Republic of Cameroon. His predecessor has never done so either.
Change Of Name
Worse, in 1984, President Biya changed the name of the country from the United Republic of Cameroon to simply Republic of Cameroon. Late Albert Mukong, an Anglophone rights activist qualified such an act as a provocative act of assimilation by the Biya regime. He said simply calling Cameroon, the Republic of Cameroon was the regime's criminal attempt to distort historical facts.
"Two states came together to form one nation. They are distorting everything to look as if Cameroon was only one country from the beginning," the activist recalled as he chatted with this writer in 1997 in Yaounde.
It was a futile attempt by Yaounde-led government to distort historical facts about the travails of Southern Cameroons nationhood.Such a manoeuvre coupled with the marginalisation of Anglophones in government appointments helped to give birth to the various Anglophone pressure groups.
The activism accelerated with the birth of the Cameroon Anglophone movement, CAM, and the Ambazonia idea led by Barrister Gorji Dinka emerged. These groups and many others hammered on the return to federation.
Outcry!
But the cry against the marginalisation of Anglophones was properly articulated in the All Anglophone Conference AAC1 that took place in Buea in 1993. The Mount Mary event brought statesmen of the former Southern Cameroons and the cream of the Anglophone society in Cameroon.
The conference was a forum for the articulation of the grievances of the citizens of the former Southern Cameroons. It preceded the constitutional talks that led to the amendment of the 1972 constitution in 1996. But the bone of contention remains the fact that the amendment largely ignored the call for a return to a federation as contained in the document that sanctioned the AAC1 deliberations known as the Buea Declaration.
When it became clear that the Yaounde authorities were paying no heed to the Buea Declaration, the AAC trio, Barrister Ekontang Elad, Dr. Simon Munzu and Dr. Karlson Anyangwe convened AAC II in Bamenda in April 1994. The authorities responded with the deployment of troops in the town.
Government was on a full-scale war to make sure that the meeting did not hold. The state radio even broadcast a fake announcement to the effect that the meeting had been postponed, but its convenors immediately countered it.
Troops toting sub-machine guns, truncheons with teargas canisters hanging from their outfit made Bamenda looked like a town under siege.The spectre of a full-blown confrontation loomed. Journalists covering that event were arrested and detained. As a young reporter, this writer received his baptism of fire during that event with Valentine Zinga of La Nouvelle Expression and late Achuosih Nyouh of the defunct Today newspaper.
As the forces brutalised journalists and other victims, ACCII convenors outsmarted security forces and secretly held their meeting in a chapel at the Ntambessi neighbourhood. The meeting rose with what became known as the Bamenda Declaration. It was an ultimatum to the Biya regime to return to federation or face zero option which means secession.
The Bamenda Declaration gave the Biya regime what it called a reasonable time frame to act. The time elapsed and nothing was done.This was when ACC then metamorphosed to the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC. It was charged with the responsibility of ensuring Southern Cameroon Independence. The 1997 terrorist attacks in the North West was blamed on SCNC. And it was also in this logic that Justice Fred Ebong proclaimed what he called the independence of Southern Cameroons on radio Buea in 1999.
Confusion, Cacophony
Many years after the onslaught was launched, the SCNC has remained an outfit of warning factions basking in the cacophony as to who is who. The council has lost its steam to internal squabbles. For many observers, it is difficult to say which the genuine faction of the SCNC is. Ambassador Fosung, Justice Ebong, Chief Ayamba, Dr. Martin Chia Ateh and Dr. Anyangwe all claim to be leading the SCNC.
And what about Ebenezar Akwanga? The struggle seems to be no longer focused. A divided house can only be fragile and vulnerable to the enemy. Until the SCNC leaders reunite themselves under one umbrella clearly stating their objectives, they will remain a group of clowns, self-seeking schemers who are acting a play of the grotesque.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
