The Consortium and the 2nd January Walk: The WALK CONTINUES

First and foremost, the letter from the consortium is legit. Their account has not been hacked. I have received so many private messages from you guys and I think it is imperative I clear the air.

This is what you should know. The idea of the 2nd January walk was born solely by Tapang Ivo Tanku. Mark Bareta picked it up and from then we started propagating it on social media. The consortium did not call this protest. In fact, at no stage were they aware or consulted. I, therefore took this initiative after it has made headlines on social media to the Southern Cameroons Youth Front forum where after much debate, it was approved by the body. You may have read several communique from this body in line with the 2nd January Walk.

Now, where did the consortium comes in? The consortium only became interested because there was a huge error made which we had to apologise. In the course of building up to the 2nd January walk, we wrote down some names of politicians and youth leaders who could lead the walk as proposals. We were doing that knowing that we would consult with them before even going public but unfortunately, Tapang made a mistake and published but within one minute it was pulled down and deleted from his Facebook page. Social media had already copied and shared. These politicians who were not consulted were embarrassed because they had no idea. The mistake had been done and we apologised. That is why Tapang and myself came back and asked for volunteers who could lead and we had many names of those who could lead submitted to us and they are ready. The names of the politicians were all struck off. However, this has not gone down well with some. I spoke with a number of few and I apologised for the mistake done. Yesterday, during my New Year Statement, I wrote ” I want to thank also our teachers and lawyers for the strides so far. I know some of us on social media may have acted wrongly in some ways that got your nerves up, please forgive us and continue being prudent in your actions “. One of the issues that got on their nerves were the list published by Ivo. I took responsibility and I apologised.

Since then, everything has been good. Mobilisation has been going on in some areas. Now, I understand there are security concerns and the consortium is trying to protect us- the people. They are also trying to take away any mayhem that may come. Legally speaking, the government cannot hold the consortium. They never called any protest. The consortium only made itself legally binding now by publicly cancelling what they did not call.

I had advised that the consortium could have sat quiet or better still all those whose names appeared on the list Tapang published mistakenly could have come out before now individually and denounce their name as one of those to lead because in truth we made a mistake putting their names without consulting first. But again, using the consortium as a body to cancel a protest they never called is/was wrong.

This is the people’s protest which came from the people and was bought by the people. The turnout tomorrow might be very poor or not at all because Bamenda, Limbe, Buea and Kumba etc has been militarised but the people seem determined to go out and walk peacefully. The number does not matter. This is the first time we are doing this. If we fail, we would try again with better coordination and strategies. Failing is not a crime but I am optimistic about tomorrow. Those in the diaspora are also joining the walk.

Remember that Tapang Ivo and myself had issued out a series of rules to ensure a peaceful walk out. We hope that the people will respect these rules and it is the responsibility of the security officers to protect the people during the peaceful walk.

That said, I am not in anyway challenging the consortium. My support for the consortium remains unshakable. In fact, they have called for the boycott of 11th February and 20th May. The people and this platform shall support this 100 percent. That said, I respect the members of the Consortium because they are my elders and some my fathers but again the struggle MUST continue.

Considering the fact that this call for a peaceful walk came from the people directly, Tapang and I are just messengers and taking into cognizance the zeal shown by the people. Mindful of the need to avoid confusion, I am therefore maintaining my position for the 2nd January Walk. Those who want to go out and walk, please do and do it peacefully as we have been saying for almost a week now. We must challenge the status quo.

Thus, the planned 2nd January Walk goes on as PLANNED.

Mark Bareta.