Historian, Peace and Conflict Management Analyst, Prof Dze Ngwa Willibroad has declared that genuine dialogue is the key to laying to rest accumulated frustrations that led to the outburst of what is commonly referred to now as the Anglophone problem in Cameroon. While regretting the fact that there has been no genuine dialogue between Anglophones and Francophones for the past 54 years of living together, he said other options such as secession, federalism and Southern Cameroons statehood restoration should remain open for the people to decide for themselves what is best as a way forward
Prof Dze Ngwa who is one of Cameroon’s rare Historians with courage and intellectual uprightness to categorically state historical facts the way they happened without fear of intimidation in the heart of the socio-political crisis in the North West and South West Regions made the declaration last Saturday June 3, 2017 in the nation capital as Guest Speaker at the Yaoundé Chapter monthly meeting of the Cameroon Anglophone Journalists Association, CAMASEJ.
Delivering a talk on the Foumban Conference of 17-21 July 1961 at the request of the journalists, he decried that “I feel very bad when I hear people in bars making comments that the West Cameroon Delegation to the conference led by John Ngu Foncha was misled into taking wrong decisions by the East Cameroon Delegation led by President Amadou Ahidjo. Prof Dze Ngwa stressed that “President Ahidjo came to the conference with a Constitution of La Republique which was simply adjusted to include clauses that will protect the Anglophone minority in what was later called the Federal Constitution. The Anglophone problem today is caused by the non respect of those clauses.”
Insisting that there is no legal document on the union of the English part and the French part of Cameroon, Prof Dze Ngwa declared that “a political will can do the long awaited magic in solving the Anglophone crisis.”
The Historian, Peace and Conflict Management Analyst concluded that if Anglophones are demanding for the restoration of Southern Cameroon statehood today, it means that the foundation on which national unity was built by President Ahidjo and John Ngu Foncha has dislocated thereby necessitating an urgent need for genuine dialogue in order to preserve a united Cameroon rich in diversity.
By DOH JAMES SONKEY IN YAOUNDE
Culled from the Sun Newspaper
9 comments
Only craze man is still talking about federation. We are way beyond that. Now, it is independence or die. We were never the same people.
UN report on Cameroon (if actually it is the report) is written like an agent of La Republique. The language is that of La Republique du Cameroon. so much propergander, UN please do not mess up yourself like that.
We are already separated.
Yes we are separated.
Southern Cameroonians have literally crossed the Rubicon; there’s no going back to the hell hole that we have lived in for 56 years. What does it take to say, enough is enough? There is no true basis for unity between us and LRC; what does it take for people to realize this? Who wants to live in a society where there is no freedom of expression, written or oral, where the state is all encompassing, and where mediocrity, mendacity, and malfeasance are the norms, and people can never be free thinkers and be able to debate ideas openly, freely, and critically without fear of running afoul of Napoleonic authoritarianism? We had such a freely wheeling system in Southern/West Cameroon and it was stolen from us by the francophone. Who want to return to their system and live as indentured servants?
Ngwa might be a historians with his own opinion, unfortunately for him, there are plenty of dedicated Amba people in this struggle for Independence rather than federalism or having a dialogue with arrogant, incompetent dictators, LRC dialogue is terror, killings,brutality, kidnapping torture and jail term, the regime has been incapable for 56 years, systematic embezzlement of development funds,high youth poverty, marginalisation, division, bribery and corruption, the entire country is a slum, change must come now, SCs people cannot speak for all Cameroonians, they have to better their own regions and people only because it was self governed before the fake and untrustworthy unification, a strong SCsPM in place now and government will be much more efficient, transparent using Taxation and natural resources to invest in the people and all infrastructures which has been primitively under developed by LRC, once Independence has been achieved, the UK development funds which goes to LRC corrupt thieves each year, who does not deserve these funds as it was set up for the SW/NW regions only as was the Anglo Saxon regions,must claimed by the new government,
Those who talk about “federalism” are nothing but apologists of an incorrigible, authoritarian system. Am surprise that there people, even among the educated, who continue to throw around this vacuous slogan of federalism when they know full well that the francophone system of government can never deviate from centralization. It is nuts to keep talking about something that will never work, as far as those brick heads are concerned. Haven’t we learned enough to know that the francophone are not disposed to positive change. They are a fatalistic people, which is why their governments ride rough shod over them.
is good to ear from government and sent our children to school
to attack school children concerning GCE is not dood we can think of go befor we do