Of People’s Power And The Right To Education

Since the strike of the teachers and lawyers morphed into what we called the people’s revolution, I have always been singing that the people are in charge. This means that the people in Southern Cameroons are the ones driving the struggle ahead. Most of us because we are not on ground zero, we are only the drivers and engineers of the struggle. So when the people are in charge, they take initiatives to forge ahead. The people of Southern Cameroons since this struggle started have shown it again and again that they have abandoned Yaoundé. We saw it when the Consortium was formed and how we followed like bees. We are seeing it now with the Southern Cameroons Governing Council. The struggle has got stages and it is now time when the people say, ENOUGH, we must take our land back and the answer lies in killing fear. Friday, September 22nd shall be memorable. The road to restoration is a long one which will come only through self defense, targeted diplomacy and community mobilisation. As we plan to celebrate Independence Day, let us be aware that we can declare our restoration and defend it. It lies in the people’s power. We have seen today how the people of Bafia, Muyuka has taken over their land marching to their Chief. Yes, you can.

A lot of things have passed within the last couple of hours and one of such being the unfortunate roasting of a dormitory in Sacred Heart College, Mankon on Monday 18th September 2017 at about 10pm Amba time. I hesitated to publish about it because I felt some deep pain within me because most of these parents failed to respect what the people were saying. They deliberately put the lifes of these kids in danger whose fault are none of theirs. I asked myself many questions after reading the news and watching photos. What if at that time, students were deep in sleep and it happened. Do we know the repercussions? Then I reflected back when in most of my videos, I had warned that the conditions for studies are not there because we are in a crisis where both sides have not come into an agreement. I warned that the people of Southern Cameroons have decided to use non school resumption as their only non violent ways to force the government on the table to discuss the root causes of problem as recommended by the United Nations as such anything can happen if that is taken away from them, worst still as most people still remain in jail.

I then asked myself, is it not Sacred Heart which saw a sea of military people and are currently heavily guarded? What happened to the security and my only conclusion was that in as much as the people are angry, I sincerely belief this was a la Republique action engineered to give Mr. Biya a voice at the United Nations. This was their action to continue to paint to the international committee a different view of a genuine struggle. La Republique knows that such actions will create fear in parents and may delay some from sending kids to school but the biggest prize of their actions is geared towards tarnishing this movement and destroy it once and for all as such they are ready to sacrifice some issues because they know the people are going. I am still trying to figure out how security must have been beaten if it was not BIR acting. This platform last two weeks revealed plans to bomb Lycee Molyko and GCE Board Buea after we intercepted the secret. Last two weeks, we also warned that the same plans have been made in the northern zone. We called our people to keep children home. Some never listened to us. We will keep warning. It’s our duty. This however, does not free those who may have been pushed to the wall to inflict a cost. It is also capable and culpable. As it stands, both sides are in a war-like situation and only genuine dialogue will bring peace and serenity. We will keep warning and playing our role as the watchdog of the Southern Cameroons movement.

Like I have always posited, every child has the rights to education. However, the rights to education is not just vague on its own. According to UNESCO, the right to education is holistic and comes with a number of rights amongst which are the rights to have quality education, the rights to study in a peaceful and serene atmosphere just to name a few. Therefore, while we knowledge the right to education, we state it boldly that quality education and a peaceful atmosphere to study are lacking and because of this, we cannot trust our children to study or go to school in this atmosphere. The onus to provide a serene atmosphere lies with the government and this can only be possible after she gets into constructive dialogue with the oppressed people of Southern Cameroons so that amongst others, quality education will be provided. It is only after that we can truly accord the rights to Education. So it is the position of myself and BaretaNews that both sides of the coin in this struggle have not provided such a serene atmosphere though the government has the power to do so, not by intimidation, abductions, militarisation but by open genuine dialogue.

It is my humble plea to once again call on those parents who still send students to school to hold them home, join the people instead to push government to release everyone so as to soften tempers, create an enable environment for those in exile to come home, call a genuine dialogue and let both peoples map the direction this concubinage of the so-called union can take so that our children can go to school in an atmosphere where they can study without being afraid of uncertainty, in an atmosphere where parents will not be at work or home but each time bothering and checking their phones if something has happened. Yes, we can do this if the regime buries pride and ego and I am hopeful those of us on the other side will do same.

Until then let the Ghost Towns and school shutdown continues.

This is Mark Bareta.