MY VIEW ON THE PLANNED DEMONSTRATIONS IN DOUALA ON SATURDAY 4TH MARCH 2017
By Charles TANGWA
Wood Green,
London,
United Kingdom.
Written: Sunday, 26th February 2017
I applaud the efforts of Honourable Jean Mitchell Nitcheu (MP of the SDF Party) to organise a rally in DOUALA on the 4th of March 2017 in support of the so-called ‘Anglophone Problem’ and his call for a two-state Federation.
I, however, regret to say that we as a people have gone past that stage. We, as a people, have made giant strides both locally and internationally towards the restoration of our statehood: the statehood of Southern Cameroons; the people who have been called different names at different times: ‘Southern Cameroons’ before 1961, ‘West Cameroon’ between 1961 and 1972, and ‘Anglophone Cameroon’ after 1972.
Other names that have been ascribed to us, at different times, by persons (including members of the regime in La Republique du Cameroun) include ‘Les Anglofous’, ‘Les Ennemis dans la Maison’ and many other invectives which will not be elaborated here but which are worth mentioning, for historical documentation.
The momentum towards Southern Cameroons independence is currently unstoppable and we must NOT allow it to die down. Not even the brutal occupying forces of La Republique du Cameroun and their mentors in France have been able to stop our drive towards restoration. They are not only surprised but deeply shocked that, so far, we have made tremendous and unimaginable gains just by using largely peaceful means, and the isolated cases of violence like burning of schools has usually been due to provocation from, or killing by, agents of the regime, a good example being the killing of an innocent Southern Cameroonian man last week by a Private Officer from La Republique du Cameroun.
Shall we allow such a momentum to die down simply because some Members of Parliament in the colonial rubber-stamp Assembly of LaRepublique du Cameroun shows solidarity with us? To me, the answer is a big NO. The show of solidarity is very much welcome but our pursuit of self-determination MUST NOT relent.
Knowing the Jacobin and autocratic way in which La Republique du Cameroun and La Republique Francaise conduct themselves, and knowing also that La Republique Francaise OWNS La Republique du Cameroun via a monstrous outdated colonial pact, who says they will not come up with another device tomorrow to crush such a Federation??? To them, it is the end that matters, not the means to an end. So, even if you use the most crooked means to get what you want, that is fine. Afterall, ‘toutes les moyennes sont bonnes’. (Please excuse my French, if I got any spelling wrong).
What even makes us think that they will willingly grant a Federation in the first place??? Those guys are used to playing around with issues and, once the momentum dies down, they throw the issues into the bin, then bribe leaders or arrest, torture and even kill those leaders who do not want to give in.
Remember what the Holy Book tells us in the book of Proverbs: that a dog normally goes back to its vomit. And may we also remember that Old habits die hard. So, the Old Crooks in Yaounde are not going to divorce from their Old Ways anytime soon. Not at old age, since you don’t learn how to become left-handed at old age. So, since deceit and falsehood is the norm for them, those guys are not suddenly going to start doing things and implementing agreements in an honest, upright and proper manner except they are really compelled to. That is why we, as a people, have to keep maintaining the heat on them.
La Republique du Cameroun knows that, without Southern Cameroons, they become a mere skeleton, and a mere shadow of themselves. They know that TOO WELL, even more than any of us knows or imagines. Just that they know how to pretend, and give the impression that we are worth nothing to them!
Many of us know of the Petroleum from Limbe and Ndian that goes to drive the economy of the two Republiques (Cameroun and France). We also know of the timber which is harvested from Meme and Manyu and logged on as having been harvested from Paul Biya’s South Region, hence resulting in the taxes for such timber being paid in Mr Biya’s South Region.
However, there is more to the reliance on us. Our educational system, from primary to tertiary, currently constitutes the bedrock of the educational foundation of that country. And they know that too well! Education, it is often said, maketh a man! Their children are now able to study in decent universities or institutions of Higher Learning in Britain, EU, Canada, Australia, Holland, etc thanks largely to our system. Yes, I dare say ‘our system’ because it is thanks to us that La Republique du Cameroun gained access to such a structured and progressive system of education.
Yet, instead of being thankful to us, and giving us our due place, the Biya regime and its cohorts want to Francophonise our system of education and bring its ‘dummy head’ teachers to ‘un-teach our children’, to borrow from the quote of the CATTU President.
Dear people of Southern Cameroons, for those who think we should continue to live a life of slavery and servitude under La Republique du Cameroun, with no future or, at best, a dismal future for our children, please attempt an answer to these questions:
1) Will the Limbe Deep Sea Port ever truly see the light of the day, talk less of functioning to 50% of its capacity, if we are still under La Republique du Cameroun? (Certainly not when you have the muddy port at the DOUALA estuary that has to be drained every year, and the world class sea port that Mr Biya has constructed in Kribi).
2) Will the Bamenda airport ever function to full capacity or receive the further infrastructural development it deserves?
3) Will the Tiko International Airport ever see the light of the day again, under La Republique du Cameroun?
4) Will the Mamfe/Bessongabang airport ever see the light of the day again?
To (2), (3) and (4) above, my answer is NO, at least not when Mr Biya and his cohorts are currently busy signing contracts for renovation and construction of Airports in Bertoua and Batouri respectively, yet the airports in Southern Cameroons have been there for decades and mean nothing to them. For those who still doubt, here below are the fully functional airports in La Republique du Cameroun: Maroua ((occasionally receives international flights, especially those going to Chad), Garoua (International) Ngaoundere, Bafoussam, DOUALA (International), Yaounde-Nsimalen (International), Former Yaounde International Airport (now used as a military airport).
5) Will the Mamfe River port ever receive the attention it deserves again?
6) Will our universities (Buea, Bamenda, and any new ones to be created) ever attain any level of competitivity on the African continent (e.g amongst the Top 100), with the current way La Republique du Cameroun runs and tries to also Francophonise our Higher education? Yet, many of the students who went through secondary and high school in Southern Cameroons have persistently and consistently featured amongst the best students, over the decades, in renowned universities in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States of America.
The regime in Yaounde may try to give us and the World the impression that the Ghost Towns, school boycotts and civil disobedience in Southern Cameroons is not hurting them much. People, I can tell you those guys are deeply hurt, not only emotionally but the state machinery is deeply shaken and in crisis. Confidential information from MINEFI indicates that the regime has been losing so much revenue due to the civil disobedience in Southern Cameroons, and that, within the past month, the regime has had to contact some of its creditor financial institutions to re-negotiate payment terms. Some insiders at MINEFI sympathize with the Southern Cameroons struggle but have to be very careful with their utterances, even on the phone, because they know the regime is watching them closely.
Where La Republique du Cameroun has been caught off guard is that our resistance has so far been peaceful and largely successful in frustrating or slowing down their evil plan. More so, our resistance has been slowly but steadily targeting the lifeline of the country: education and finance. They had prepared for a massive military crackdown and if we had met their offensive with a similar military response at that initial stage, then the genocide in Southern Cameroons would have been complete and over by now. So, when the met a well-organised peaceful resistance, they did not know what to do, and had to go back to the drawing board to re-strategise.
Last week, the Minister of National Education in La Republique du Cameroun, in a press release, stated that the current disruption of the school year will not result in a blank school year and that registration for ‘concours’ (entrance exams) was going on as normal. My people, this is flawed. Candidates may register for local exams like ‘concours’ but the real worthlessness of this school year’s certificates will be obvious in May/June when the students start applying to go to university abroad. The truth will come out.
So, it is my humble but firm opinion that we should continue continue with the drive towards restoration of our independence and not be side tracked by the call for a two-state Federation. We gave that option to the government of La Republique du Cameroun, and they made a mockery of us.
So, we thank Honourable Nitcheu, if it is true that he has called for such a march. We thank any other person who is fighting for Federation on our behalf.
However, we would like to politely but firmly inform them that we have gone past that stage, and there is no turning back. There is nothing wrong in living in future as good neighbours, except the regime and people of La Republique du Cameroun do not want to subscribe to good neighbourliness.
I hope this message will reach our people back in Southern Cameroons so that they remain steadfast, respect the ghost towns, boycott 8th March (Women’s day celebrations), boycott 20th May and help us to bury 20th May the way we buried 11th February both in the homeland (Southern Cameroons) and in the Diaspora.
Finally, I hope this message resonates to all and sundry, as we continue our unstoppable drive towards restoration of our independence.
May the Almighty God continue to bless the people and the land of Southern Cameroons in our joint struggle for independence.
Your fellow countryman,
Charles Tangwa
Wood Green,
London
United Kingdom.
Good question, Admin. Joebi is invoking South Sudan but without telling us what effort he is making to avoid South Sudan.
There has been a recent dramatisation in the comparison between Southern Cameroons and South Sudan. I personally think this has been exaggerated, mostly by people who want to dissuade the struggle.
Wherever you have human beings, there is always going to be some kind of craving for position or power. Even in Biblical days, it happened.
However, the case of Southern Cameroons at the moment is no where near as dramatic or comparable to South Sudan before her independence. I give a few examples here:
1) Prior to independence, South Sudan had both one of the lowest literacy rates and level of education on the African continent. On the contrary, Southern Cameroons, on the eve of restoration of independence, can confidently boast a substially high literacy rate and reasonably high level of education. Of course, under the CPDM regime in La Republique du Cameroun, our school standards have arguably fallen to lower lower levels than 20-30 years ago but we are still very competitive, compared to many Sub-Saharan African countries.
So, what is the correlation between education and violence? With a high level of illiteracy and low level of education, in addition to other socio-political and military factors, the seeds of a major and very divisive conflict were already largely sown in South Sudan. Education creates awareness and It is much easier to manipulate people who are uneducated than the reverse, partly the reason why the CPDM regime in La Republique du Cameroun has found it very hard to manipulate the current Southern Cameroons struggle; dealing with a Southern Cameroons public that is largely aware of its evil intentions and gimmicks.
2) In South Sudan, arms were largely in circulation, and had been the case for several decades i.e. since the days of the SPLA armed conflict (under John Garang). When arms have been in circulation for such a long time, and there are bitter memories of decades past, the propensity to plunge into violence is much easier.
In Southern Cameroons, this has not been the case with circulation of arms. Even if we are compelled by the current circumstances or evolution of events to bring in an armed phase to our struggle for self-defense, I don’t foresee events going down the South Sudan way; at least, not within the next few years.
(3) Thirdly, as inherited from our parents (the Endeleys, Fonchas, etc) and also from our colonial history, we already exposed to a democratic culture, and are more likely to resort to a constructive debate rather than blind arguments. This was certainly not the case in South Sudan where there was practically no exposure to any form of democratic, considering that Sudan gained independence as one nation and power, all along, was in the hands of the highly feudal and autocratic Muslim North.
Like every people, we have differences that will need to be debated upon in a constructive manner and progressive resolutions adopted so as to allay the fears of Southern Cameroonians from various walks of life, or counties or ethnicity or religion, etc.
I hope my contribution helps to calm the fears of anyone who thinks Southern Cameroons is going to be another South Sudan. It can only be so if each person fails to do their part.
So, instead of just criticizing, please join the liberation struggle and do your part to bring freedom and, eventually, prosperity to our beloved homeland.
May God bless our efforts. May God the people and the land of Southern Cameroons (aka Ambazonia).
Joebi: We have seen your type before and you remind me of Buthelezi (not sure of spelling) of the Zulu Inkata party in South Africa during the ANC’s independence struggle. Waka fine.
joebi:
Shame on you and I can tell you are not an ethnic Ambazonian.
Charles: I should say shame on you. I am not a hypocrite. Can you also ask your children abroad to stay away from school?
You go to work on Mondays while calling for ghost towns in your own country. Why can’t you also stay away from work on Monday and withdraw your kids from schools?
If i’m joining the war, i will pick up arms and defend my land as the rebels did in Ukraine. I won’t wait for LRC to pick up strategic positions in Southern Cameroon and i resort to ghost towns.
What is your plan Morisc, Consortium, ambaland etc?
after reading this article: Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) Groups Create United Front, Ban all CPDM Activities in the Territory, i can now say there seem to be a plan and progress.
Hello joebi
You ask: “What is your plan Morisc, Consortium, ambaland etc?”
You really want to know?
Question to you: Do you have a suggestion on how to stem the unraveling of FrancoFunny business in the Cameroons?
I am all ears.
Joebl, you are not serious. Southern Cameroons people are fighting for their soul and not the materialism of the world. They understand a sacrifice has to be made.
How are we sure we are not heading to another South Sudan? There is already a fight amongst anglophones while nothing is yet achieved. Have you see this post How MoRISC is Bent on Sabotaging the Consortium and Southern Cameroons Struggle?
Hello Joebi
I have seen a “post”
but I am yet to see the “fight”
You asked “How are we sure …”
As sure as I was when Mancho resurrected in a coffin in Main Street Bamenda.
As sure as when Wirba stood up in the belly of the whale and said it to their faces:
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
That is how sure I am that on the Path of Truth, the only thing to Fear is Fear itself.
Forget about MoRISC if that is your worry.
What are you doing to avoid “heading to another South Sudan”?