Cameroonian
union-nationalists―those who believe that the different Cameroonian(even
African) peoples should dwell on their mutual compatibilities, resolve their
retarding differences (acknowledging and correcting historical mistakes) and
join hands to build an advanced, progressive, united, democratic, prosperous
and liberal state―tend to have a hard time doing away with the wedge that
divisive forces have put between Cameroon’s different peoples in their bid to
divide and rule, and then exploit the resources of the state to the detriment
of the people. Such is the case of the divisive issue of Northwest/Southwest
acrimony that the minority six-decade-old French-imposed systems are fanning.
It is truly a delicate task when it comes to coming up with a balanced opinion
based less on emotions and more on reasoning.
By virtue of
my birth and upbringing, I am a Southwesterner, albeit a
Bamileke+Southwesterner when we also take into account my ancestral origin
besides other things. But having lived the first twelve years of my life
in the Southwest, and the next twelve years after that spending portions of
each year in both the Northwest and Southwest where my family blended like
locals, I might not be condemned for saying that those factors and other
revelations enabled me to have an insight into this NORTHWEST/SOUTHWEST issue.
Besides, we have people with portions of their blood from both provinces and
dozens of other ethnic groups in Cameroon who are my brothers, sisters,
nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts and uncles.
What is the
root cause of vilification in Cameroon? It is mostly political. It is not
social or economic because Cameroonians as individuals do not have problems per
se with other ethnic groups as a whole, and the overwhelming majority of
Cameroonians are economic victims of the system, suffering from systemic
deprivations that will only change after we get rid of the Evil-French-imposed
system. Bamileké bashers, especially those who grew up in cosmopolitan areas in
Cameroon have relatives with Bamileké blood or buddies or people they admire
who are Bamilekés. It is the same thing with Beti, Bakwerian, Bassa, Fulani,
Bayang, Ngemba, NORTHWEST, SOUTHWEST bashers etc. So, the root problem of
all the schisms is political. And it is aggravated by the system because the
system sees divide-and-rule as an effective tool to exploit in order to
continue dividing and ruling the people. In that regard, those who constitute
the French political mafia that lords it over Cameroon have been successful in
using their puppets to keep us in perpetual bondage.
The political
cause(s) of our divide is (are) rooted in our history, which the vast majority
of us were deprived of knowing or were brainwashed about. There is nothing as
blinding as feeling self-righteous in defending a twisted mindset or
conviction. Yes, it is along the line of self-righteousness that some
traitorous Cameroonians of Fulani origin would think that Fulanis are entitled
to power in Cameroon. It is along that same line that some traitorous
Cameroonians of Beti origin would use Martin Paul Samba’s legacy as an
anti-German, blame other Cameroonians for not rallying behind him, glorify the
alliance that renegades of Beti and Fulani origin stroke with the French mafia
in Africa (Francafrique), and think it is their right as collaborators of Beti
and Fulani origin to lord it over other Cameroonians in perpetuity.
Yes, it is
that twisted mindset that the anti-union-nationalists have been using to
dominate others. The truth is that the anti-nationalist or pseudo-civic-nationalist
political elites in the Northwest and Southwest, who in reality sold out to the
system are the ones fanning the divide, drawing from the immediate pre-and
post-reunification/independence history of the territory west of the River
Mungo (1954-1972), a period when mistakes were made, mistakes that are now
haunting the political landscape in the NORTHWEST and SOUTHWEST today and may
spill over into society as well. I say it is political because no matter what
is heaped at the local SOUTHWEST population, the vast majority of the people
there do not have an economic or social problem with the NORTHWEST or people
from the NORTHWEST. And they do not have economic, social and political
problems with peoples from other provinces (Bamileké, Bassa, Mboh, Bamoun,
Beti, Fulani, and Duala etc). The common folks in the North West do not have
problems with those in the South West either.
We sometimes
tend to forget that back in the 1990s, the SDF under John Fru Ndi commanded
more than 80% of the support of the people of the South West. Achieving that
was a Herculean task, when the people of the SOUTHWEST still thought they had
been taken for a ride by the KNDP during its 1959-1972 control of the
government of British Southern Cameroons/West Cameroon and blamed the political
leadership from the NORTHWEST for their mess, especially in translating the
political dominance into economic privileges. In fact, the mess of that era
still haunts both Anglophone provinces today.
In fact, I
happened to be a part of the Dr. Samuel Tchwenko-led (Bamileké-Anglophones-led
from 1990-1993) team that implanted the SDF in the SW, winning the majority
loyalty of all the ethnic groups in the province. And it was a tough task
convincing our indigenous SOUTHWEST brothers and sisters that Fru Ndi would be
different from the Foncha-led KNDP and wouldn’t lead them down the path of
treachery. Well, Fru Ndi committed more mistakes and even sold out,
turning out to be even far worse than the less-informed John Ngu Foncha.
Should we turn a blind eye to the fate suffered by the respected SOUTHWEST
political figures who were in the SDF, especially those who never conciliated
with the system and decried Fru Ndi’s drowning of a once historic SDF that was
even looked up to by renowned anti-colonial parties in other African countries?
How vocal have we been in denouncing the current mafia in the current SDF
leadership?
Back in the
mid-1990s, most Southwesterners denounced and even ridiculed Oben Peter Ashu’s
“Come no Go” madness or diatribe, aimed at exploiting the political differences
of the NORTHWEST/SOUTHWEST so as to make it a social and economic campaign
against Northwesterners. I see efforts at individual levels by unifiers
from the Northwest to be hard on Northwesterners who have biases against
Southwesterners. For most of my life, I have been chiding bashers from both
provinces for their misguided views and have even suffered a number of times
from being bundled with one group or the other and then targeted.
So, I see a
better way forward when the peoples of both provinces collectively and
unabashedly condemn those who in their political expressions (words or actions)
are trying to create a wedge between the NORTHWEST and the SOUTHWEST to also
make it an economic and social issue. And collectively, we as Cameroonians
should show zero tolerance towards those who are dividing Cameroonians for
economic benefits, in their political agendas that serve the interest of their
foreign masters; and as a result, are impoverishing us even further.
Janvier
Tchouteu March
03, 2013
Hmm!
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