Kribi Refinery Launch Exposes PM Ngute’s Empty Rhetoric and So Called Anglophone Marginalisation
BaretaNews | July 19, 2025
The dust has barely settled after the symbolic laying of the foundation stone for a new oil refinery in Kribi, yet it has already stirred up a storm—one that Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute may find hard to weather. Just a few weeks ago, on May 31, 2025, during a gathering of South West CPDM elites in Buea, Dion Ngute emphatically dismissed the idea of a refinery in Kribi, branding it as misinformation and technical nonsense.
“Anybody who tells you that it’s going to be done in Kribi is lying,” the PM declared, confidently. “Because 80 percent of the crude comes from the backwaters of Fako and Ndian. The transport cost will be enormous… So technically it is not possible.”
Now, with cameras capturing the official launch of the Kribi refinery project, one must ask: Did the Prime Minister lie to his own people, or was he merely a pawn in a grander political deception?
Either way, the implications are damning.
This embarrassing U-turn exposes more than just poor coordination within the Biya regime; it lays bare the systemic marginalisation and political irrelevance of Anglophone voices—even at the highest echelons of government. Once again, it appears that the decisions that affect the lives and resources of the so-called “Anglophone regions” are being taken elsewhere, with little regard for local sentiment or leadership.
For a government that has consistently spoken of “reconstruction,” “dialogue,” and “decentralisation,” this move reeks of bad faith and centralised manipulation. Why is the government investing in Kribi—a Francophone zone—for a project that the PM himself said was unfeasible, while SONARA, the Limbe-based refinery devastated since 2019, remains in limbo?
This is not just about oil. It’s about power, truth, and the long-standing Anglophone grievances that have fuelled the ongoing Ambazonia-Cameroon conflict for nearly a decade. When even an Anglophone Prime Minister is publicly contradicted and humiliated by actions from Yaoundé, it speaks volumes about the illusion of inclusion in Cameroon’s so-called “national unity.”
Dion Ngute may be the face of government in the Anglophone regions, but episodes like this reveal that he holds no real authority. Whether he lied or was lied to, one thing is clear: his credibility has been shattered. And for many in the Anglophone regions, this only reinforces the legitimacy of the calls for self-determination and justice.
As the Kribi refinery project moves forward, so too does the deepening distrust between Anglophones and the central state. The scars of marginalisation are not just emotional—they’re structural, economic, and political.
In the end, you really have to feel sorry for Dion. Not just for being undermined, but for being the symbol of a political system that uses Anglophone elites to pacify a population it has no intention of empowering.
