Only An Anglophone Can Save Cameroon

By Lobe Eseme*

I watched with a heavy heart as the constitutional council rejected Kamto’s candidacy for the presidency. The injustice was so blatant and painful, I could not contain my anger. I thought to myself-may be this is the opportunity we have all been waiting for. If ever a people needed a trigger, an excuse to start a revolution, to replace the incompetent and ageing leadership of the country; this is it.

I held my breath in anticipation.

I waited.

I know from experience and history that if a movement had to start, the minutes and hours following the CC’s decision were going to be determinant. The start of any revolution is usually spontaneous but there is a period which I will call a *window of opportunity*.

This is the time the people are most angry; when anger is at its peak; when caution is cast aside and the people rise up as one to express their frustration with the system, and is so doing change their country.

This window of opportunity is very short-usually a few hours, never up to a day. There is no organization, no leadership, just raw energy from the people.

I waited as seconds turned into minutes; minutes into hours, hours to a day. Nothing.

I scratched my head in confusion.

Then it suddenly hit me!

I reviewed the history of post-independent Cameroon and realized there have been only *four major events* that have resulted in any institutional changes, though all have been mostly symbolic, but changes, all the same.

1. *1990. Fru Ndi*

The so called wind of change was happening in Francophone Africa. Mitterrand had warned African Presidents to open up and prepare for competition and democracy. Paul Biya returned to Yaounde, assembled his party and cabinet. He gave them the news. He told them to be ready to compete. Story goes that some of them were in tears; they cried advising him to not give in. They said, there was no need to do that; that it would be too risky and the opposition could win.

There was panic everywhere. The country held its breath.
Who would make the first move?

An unknown bookseller from Bamenda did. He launched his party. The country had never seen anything like that.

What courage!
How dare he?

As he marched through the streets of Bamenda, gun shots were heard. Six of his militants were killed. Several were arrested. But with that singular move, the door to multiparty politics was opened and the *Social Democratic Party* was created. Cameroon had changed for ever. Democracy had come finally. In a rather strange twist of destiny, a young con man from Bamenda saw his own opportunity. He made it his mission to oppose Fru Ndi and to make a name for himself. He would later become the minister of territorial administration. Fru Ndi was so popular and inspirational, he would eventually win the presidential election of 1992 but was stripped of it.

2. *1993. Teachers Association of Cameroon* and the creation of the GCE Board and the office de Baccalaureat.

*Azong Wara Andrew, Sammy Arrey Mbi* and the teachers association of Cameroon, fought with minister Mbella Mbappe to demand better working conditions and autonomy for teachers. Despite intimidation from the minister, they stood their ground. They eventually won the fight. The result was the creation of the Cameroon GCE board. Interestingly, even though Francophones did not fight for anything, the office de Baccalaureat was also created.

3. *Simon Munzu, Carlson Anyangwe and the All Anglophone Conferences in 1993/1994*

Anger over how anglophones have been relegated to second tier citizenship, in violation of the terms of the federation in 1961, led a group of anglophone lawyers to hold two impactful conferences called *All anglophone conferences*. The first, held in Buea in 1993, led to the *Buea declaration* The second, held in Bamenda in 1994, led to the *Bamenda Proclamation*.

These conferences had two immediate consequences-they brought the anglophone plight to the limelight but also forced the government to revise the constitution in 1996. Presidential terms were revised, senate and constitutional councils and a decentralized system of government were added. Though, it would take the government more than a decade to put in place the senate and the constitutional council, and 23 yrs to finally sign the law on decentralization, there is no doubt, the first stone to all these institutional changes was cast by Dr. Munzu and his colleagues in 1993.

4. *2016. Anglophone teachers and lawyers strike*

A group of Anglophone teachers and lawyers in Cameroon led by *Barrister Nkongho Agbor*, revived the anglophone plight in 2016. The old wound revealed by Dr. Munzu and his colleagues in 1993 resurfaced. This time the stakes would be much higher. An extremist armed wing was formed. War broke out. Tens of thousands would lose their lives, millions would be internally displaced leaving the anglophone economy in ruins. In 2019, the government hastily organized a major national dialogue that would lead to implementation of the 1996 constitution regarding decentralization. Again, though Francophones never fought for or asked for it, regional councils were created in all ten regions.

What do all these events have in common?

They were all instigated by anglophone activists but the entire country benefitted from them.

So, forgive me if I say, history has taught us and is continuing to teach us two things.

1. Anglophones have been bold.
2. ⁠Francophones have been mostly silent.

I don’t know what is preventing our Francophone siblings from reacting the way normal people would. I don’t know what it is.

My sole observation is that *something in anglophones appears missing in Francophones*

That thing is called *balls*.

For this reason, the task of leading Cameroon can only be handled by an Anglophone, an unfrancophonized anglophone.

*Dr Lobe Eseme is a prominent US based Physician. He is the leader of the Cameroon Federalist Movement and was present at the 2019 Major National Dialogue