....The ageing Nana Njike knew that the world would come to the end of a phase that would unleash forces of liberation that would greatly offset the prevailing situations in the colonies and mandates in Africa. He thought he could do something to ensure that French Camerounians and other Africans take advantage of the expected orientation of world diplomacy and liberate themselves from the yoke of colonialism. As a fervent union-nationalist strongly in favor of the reunification of the lands of the former German Kamerun, the ageing sage knew that he did not have much time left to mobilize others to continue with the reunification and liberation drive in his absence.
When Nana Njike encouraged young French Camerounians and
British Cameroonians abroad to form a political party, he knew he was starting
a new phase that would change his people’s destiny forever. However, he focused
more on the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), a party with
organs in most territories of French Sub-Saharan Africa that was in alliance
with the French Communist Party in the French parliament. He advised the French
Camerounian branch of the RDA to pressure their African counterparts to
withdraw from this alliance, demanding that the RDA reorganize itself to look
entirely African, with autonomous powers residing with the branches in the
various territories.
Nana Njike reasoned that the supra nature of the RDA party
would enable it to become more democratic, thereby facilitating decision-making
at the union level, which would be reached by consensus. To this end, he
pledged his support at the union level while focusing on making it successful
in French Cameroun.
At times, Nana Njike was a lone fighter charting waters that
bewildered his potential disciples. Still, he remained relentless in setting
the groundwork for the future political path of the territory. To this end, he
held discreet talks with the French administration, explaining his noble
intentions and actions. He reassured them that France and its subjects in
Africa would enjoy mutually beneficial ties forever
if only they accommodated the political aspirations of his people.
That was why Félix Éboué arranged
with the mandatory government to make him a delegate to the conference on
colonial affairs in Brazzaville, the capital of French Congo convened by
General Charles De Gaulle, the leader of the Free French Forces fighting against
the German occupation of France and
against the puppet Vichy regime that Nazi Germany installed in the south of the
country. Nana Njike made it known to the French in very plain terms that the
reunification of British Cameroons and French Cameroun was inevitable, and that
it would be best for the colonial powers not to fight the process.
When he realized that De Gaulle was
noncommittal in his acquiescence of the wide powers French Camerounians needed
to wield in determining the course of their destiny, and that much of his
advice that Félix Éboué had incorporated in his book The New Indigenous
Policy for French Equatorial Africa had been ignored, he became greatly
perturbed.
Nana Njike returned from Brazzaville and called his three
sons over to his study in Nkongsamba that same night. He was slightly grumpy as
he received them inside. He told them about the conference that he believed De
Gaulle’s Free France convened to reassure themselves that they still had a firm
grip over their colonies and territories in Africa
while giving US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the impression that France
was in line with his call for the colonies to be granted self-rule.
“Ah, Sons, we should be more ferocious in our demands if we
want those reneging bastards who are directing French policy in Africa to take
us seriously. It is as if I didn’t help them in recruiting fighters for the
Free French Forces. Didn’t we commit our resources to facilitate their takeover
of Central Africa from the supporters of the Vichy regime?”
“It was a matter of choice. The Vichy supporters in French
Central Africa were Fascists for all I know,” Hans interjected.
“I know, I know,” Nana Njike growled with pursed lips.
“Standing up to or not backing down against De Gaulle and his
gang wouldn’t be an easy fight, I must confess,” Paul said with a cough.
“Remember these, Sons! The truth presented with tenderness
enriches the soul of man and enhances humanity in the process. A
Franco-Cameroonian relationship based on truth and nurtured with tenderness
will be to the benefit not only of Kamerun and France
but also of Africa and mankind as a whole.”
“Truth is rarely a quality big powers cherish in an
unbalanced relationship that they are benefitting from,” Hans said.
“Don’t expect to have it easy whenever you are trying to get
what you deserve, especially with the French in control. When haven’t we had to
wrench our basic rights and freedom from them?”
“You know them better,” Hans said.
“Now, I know what they do not want. My contacts in the
British government informed me of President Roosevelt’s stance on the future
and freedom of the colonies and trust territories in Africa, The Middle East, and Asia. The American president supports
the granting of freedom to the colonies. He impressed on De Gaulle the need for
our freedom and even got the general’s word that he would acquiesce to the
demands of French colonial subjects. We don’t need to be marabous to understand
that De Gaulle didn’t mean his words. I encouraged Kamerunians on both sides of
the Mungo River to fight for the Free French Forces. I helped Jacques Philippe
LeClerc in Douala when he started putting together the ragtag force that is now
the best fighting machinery in the French Army, and what are we getting in
return for our support and good intentions?”
“I warned you about LeClerc’s claims of being a hundred
percent spokesperson for De Gaulle. All he wanted was French Camerounian blood
in aiding France in the fight against Hitler’s Germany,” Hans said.
“I don’t regret our involvement in the war. I don’t object to
Africans from the French colonies paying the heaviest human price fighting for
France. Nazism is evil. Period! The world cannot afford to live with it. But we
must not be made to pay for France’s loss of self-esteem or loss of sense of
security.”
“What are you talking about, Papa?” Philip asked.
“I am talking about the psychology of it all. De Gaulle is
trying to use the colonies to reassure himself that France is still great. It
is like a husband who goes home and beats up his wife and children because he
got knocked around and humiliated by other men outside of his home.”
“Papa, I still don’t get it,” Philip repeated.
“Do you know what René Pleven, the minister of the colonies
wanted during the Brazzaville conference? He pledged new institutions that
would not ensure the independence of our people. The new institutions he has in
mind would work to carve out a new role for us in the French web. It is like
moving us from the role of field slaves to kitchen slaves. He even added that
we ‘are populations that France intends to lead, step by step, to a more complete personality, to political
enfranchisement, but who would not be expected to know independence other than
the independence of France.’”
“Incredible!” Philip muttered.
“Ah, Sons, he actually meant that we wouldn’t be given the
rights to local legislatures. They wouldn’t even allow us to smell executive
powers. Instead, they intend to allow us access to the legislature and
executive of France, with our lips sealed whenever the legislative processes
are going on there. It is tantamount to a mere extension of their assimilation
policy intended to breed African leaders that would do their bidding and that
are disconnected from their people.”
“As businessmen, I don’t think we should get directly
involved in the present political wrangling,” Philip said all of a sudden.
Nana Njike was dumbfounded for a moment, his eyes quizzical
on his third son. Then he shook his head with a chortle. “You have been
surprising me this past couple of months,
Son!”
“That’s how I feel,” Philip stuttered.
“Yes, Philip, I know that’s how you feel. But that doesn’t
change the fact that you have been surprising me. Do you know what I am
starting to think of you? You are junk to progress. You know exactly what I
mean, don’t you? That means you are a useless man when it comes to practical
progress.”
“I said it in good faith,” Philip said, sounding embarrassed.
“In good faith, you said. Still, it doesn’t change the fact
that you are junk to progress. Now, listen to me, and listen to me well. A man
can have his degrees and diplomas, repeat over and over what he has learned,
which unfortunately are the efforts of others towards progress; but if he
doesn’t add something to the material he learned, something that will help to
advance a generation in that field, it would mean he has wasted his span
towards progress. Yes, Sons, such a man would have betrayed the generations he
taught and lived with even if he made material acquisitions, material
acquisitions that are for the man’s ego only. Such a person is a misfit in
society, a dropout in the race to progress, a junk of unprecedented decadence.”
“Wow!” Paul exclaimed.
“Oh yes! Your brother seems determined to prove that he is a
junk to progress. Yes, Philip! You are always afraid to test the limits of your
potential if you think it isn’t in your
interest to do so. But I want you to know that what you are today also came
about from the efforts of some people you know nothing about. We have a
responsibility to the world we live in, even if we can’t fully discern that
responsibility.”
“The point I am trying to make is that it would be risky for
our business if we stand up to France so pointedly, so directly. The worst
could happen,” Philip retorted.
“Damn you, Son! You are running down my nerves with your
cowardice. Take a stand that reflects the widest horizons of your soul if you
don’t want to be a slave to external powers. Our cause is just. The French and
their allies know that. We survived the French in the past because we were
fully committed. An unflinching commitment now shall still make us victorious,”
Nana Njike roared.
“But you fought them as a businessman, not as a politician,”
Philip shot back.
Nana Njike stared at his son forcefully with fierce eyes. It
dawned on him in a flash that he would have to dispel his rage in order not to
take it on Philip. He heaved a sigh, allowing his rage to subside. “I called
you over here not as businessmen but as politicians. If you abhor that, then
you are free to leave,” he said it so mildly that it sounded strange even to
his own ears.
Everybody was quiet for a moment until the tenseness around
had abated. “I’m not a coward, but I fear failure. I fear betrayal,” Philip
said with a sense of foreboding that surprised Nana Njike.
“Remember this, Sons! Survivors and prevailers are those who
love themselves above failure and everything else except the abstract and
mysterious. The abstract and mysterious are those people and things that enrich
our lives, those people, and things that we invest our time and energy in
without expecting rewards, to the point where we turn to view any reward from
them as a bonus. A man’s family and homeland are
two of those exceptions. His reverend is another. You will never fail in
the eternal sense of things if you sacrifice your love for yourself over those
three because there will always be someone who shares your noble intentions to
take over from where you left off. Betrayal over the abstract and the
mysterious that are embodied in an ideal for something good and noble can’t be
blamed on the betrayed because the course of an ideal can never be charted with
a hundred percent certainty. You are not a failure if people betray you while
you are brandishing such an ideal, or even if the ideal or its cause ends in a shipwreck. Don’t we all accept the fact that
we can live with errors?” Nana Njike said, looking tired all of a sudden.
His sons regarded him without uttering a word. He thought
they did not understand what he was trying to say.
“How, Papa?” Paul asked finally.
Nana Njike shrugged. “You will understand what I mean after
you give it a deep and careful thought,” he said.
“And what if we never get to understand what you mean?”
Philip asked.
“I will make it simple,” Nana Njike said, “We find our
greatest peace when we embrace something that gives meaning to our lives.
Often, it is love for somebody or something we can give up our lives for or
somebody or something that we are sure can never betray us. That love could be
for a partner, for our offspring, for a country or a belief,” he added in a
composed manner.
“So, what do you expect us to do?” Hans asked for the first
time.
Nana Njike raised his hands in the air and dropped them
expressively. “The war will soon come to an end. But before that happens, we
should be prepared. We need to organize ourselves into a powerful force capable
of pressing ahead with our demands to realize our political aspirations. Well,
I may not be around for long, but you, my sons, shouldn’t detach yourself from
your obligations to this land. We can’t say that it has not been kind to us.”
“What do you mean?” Philip asked.
“Sons, any man who is considered a success in life owes a lot
to society. We have been very blessed, my dear sons. We have to show our
appreciation to our society for making that possible. A time will come when you
shall cross paths with other Kamerunians who share the same vision for this
land. I am advising you to make them partners in our common goals when that
time comes. We shouldn’t shy away from playing a formidable role in financing
that political force that shall emerge. We must use our influence to ensure
that it succeeds.”
And Nana Njike did not fail to live up to his words. He
continued to encourage his sons in their endeavors and made it a point of
briefing them on the challenges that they would encounter in the years to come
in the struggle to realize a political future for the former German colony and
the rest of Africa. He introduced them to some of the promising personalities
he considered indispensable in any political setup in the land.
Even so, Nana Njike was not nepotistic in his judgments. He
realized with rue that his sons might never make good politicians, except
perhaps Nkabyo and Paul. Still, he never became disheartened. All he wanted was
for capable men to lead British Cameroons and French Cameroun to reunification
and independence. He would not mind who led that drive. The realization of the
noble Kamerunian purpose was what mattered to him the most. He would ensure the
continuous supply of funds from the family business to realize those dreams.
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