One is the historical narrative of the evil French-imposed system. It represents the skimped and distorted history of Cameroon that has been used to brainwash post-independence generations of Cameroonians. It is buttressed by the system's historians and by the accounts of historians like Dr. Emmanuel Konde of Cameroon who wrote about it in 2001, justifying the rule of the Biya and Ahidjo regimes, or that basically seeks to justify the suffocating game plan of the evil French-imposed system. The accounts of the system's historians and the historians trying to justify the evil nature of the French-imposed system under the Ahidjo-Biya regimes denigrate Cameroon.
It is equally obvious that the accounts of the anti-reunificationists tend to paint a different historical narrative that would not only invalidate the constitutional or unconstitutional evolution of Cameroon, but that disrespects and even rejects the sacrifices of the union-nationalists on both sides of the River Mungo who campaigned, fought, died and voted for the reunification of the partitioned Kamerun, union-nationalists whose advanced dream realized reunification even though they were stopped from having the levers of power by the Anglo-French conspiracy that put the puppet Ahmadou Ahidjo in power in Cameroon. I observed Professor Carlson Anyangwe and veteran journalist Herbert Boh as the most vocal with this narrative, exposing their fundamental weaknesses when it comes to Cameroonian history and the lessons to be learnt from it.
The first narrative is that of those who never asked, never fought and never aspired for the reunification and independence of Cameroon. It is the narrative of those who followed the directives of the conniving French and British powers. It is the narrative of those who conciliated in the fight for a free, democratic, independent, liberal, progressive, united and prosperous Cameroon. It is that of the lapdog who is gleeful that the master helped him have one up over the guard dog, oblivious of the fact that his master had an agenda. The first narrative is that of those of who destroyed the solid foundation laid down for the land by Cameroonian union-nationalists in the 1950s, and who then went on to erect a new foundation of clay instead, one that cannot withstand the challenges of time. This narrative is that of Cameroon’s renegades, collaborators and traitors—the people who betrayed Cameroon and are still betraying the country today. In short, these are the looters and mercenaries who constitute Cameroon's current political establishment made up of the current Biya regime and the so-called opposition (John Fru Ndi's SDF, Ndam Njoya's CDU, Bello Boua's NUDP and the current UPC that is a zombified version of the historic UPC of Um Nyobe, Felix Moumie, Ernest Ouandie, Albert Kingue and Ndeh Ntumazah). They are the anti-union-nationalists, the pseudo-intellectuals and the Francophiles who see their interest guaranteed only in a situation where the retrogressive French-imposed system is sustained.
The second narrative is that of those who did not want reunification or of those who would have preferred the alternative(s) in the plebiscite—these being reunification with Nigeria or independence for British Cameroons. Since two and not three options were presented at the referendum or plebiscite, the most logical explanation is that propagators of the second narrative represent those who would have preferred unification with Nigeria.
What is absent or less spoken about is the serene narrative—the historical account of those who rejected the conniving game plan of the British and the French; the narrative of those who asked for reunification and independence of British Cameroons and French Cameroun, territories from the partition of the former German Kamerun. We are talking here about the narrative of those who fought, died, campaigned and voted to realize the reunification and independence of French Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons into Cameroon (known at the time of its realization as The Federal Republic of Cameroon). What is absent is the voice of the majority of Cameroonians—a majority west of the River Mungo and a majority east of the River Mungo. This general majority constituting Cameroon's union-nationalists is the cherished future for Cameroon, the pillars on which the New Cameroon will be built.
The narrative of this resilient majority of union-nationalists is being drowned by the two above-mentioned groups who do not have the collective interest of Cameroon and Cameroonians at heart. How far the two retrogressive voices go against the basic tenets of humanitarianism and humanity in the different tones the two voices possess within, is left for us all to judge. We see revisionism, distortion of facts, etc every day, as if there are no objective people in these two groups.
Strangely enough, the two camps energize one another. It is an almost symbiotic relationship. We see that the bad faith of the evil French-imposed system currently under self-hating Francophile Cameroonians led by Paul Biya in their contempt for Cameroonians and their unwavering commitment to implement the Francafrique mafia's plan in Cameroon, especially west of the River Mungo, energizes the Anglophiles and Francophobes west of the River Mungo who never forgave their compatriots for realizing reunification. Both groups reserve their harshest words for the union-nationalists who were never allowed to realize their progressive agenda for the land, as if the members of the guillotined union-nationalist force were schnooks who shot themselves in the head ( in the era of the historic UPC, KNDP—1948-1966 or the SDF of 1990-1997, movements whose agendas were based on our union-nationalism).
The 1994 article WHO THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE ARE AND HOW THEY ARE FIGHTING AGAINST CHANGE: provides an insight. While the Francophiles are responsible for defeating Cameroonian union-nationalism in the era of the UPC, KNDP—1948-1966, the Anglophiles and Francophobes consciously or unconsciously worked together with them in derailing the SDF from its path of realizing the New Cameroon. The Anglophiles were the biggest factor that made the SDF the lame duck that it is today. And today, the Anglophiles dominate the SDF.
What the future New Cameroon needs is a narrative from the majority who are behind the banner of Cameroon's union-nationalism. What the hushed majority of Cameroonians who uphold the glory of those who fought, campaigned, voted and died for its reunification and independence needs to do is to take the initiative away from these two vocal but retarding forces, from these two vocal minority groups.
What the future New Cameroon needs is the true history of Cameroon that mitigates the retarding actions of the evil French-imposed system under the Ahidjo/Biya regimes or under any of their successors. I say so because the moment the union-nationalists confine the anachronistic system to the dustbin of history, Cameroonian goodwill will take the center stage and we would be able to sit down and resolve all our differences. That would mute the voices of the Francophiles and Anglophiles.
February 12, 2013 Janvier Tchouteu
Cameroon: France’s Dysfunctional Puppet System in Africa
by Janvier Tchouteu
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