Fellow brothers and sisters,

We, the people of West Cameroon, have listened to the President’s address with keen interest. We are very disappointed that given what is currently happening in West Cameroon, the speech has once again only been delivered in French, as it has been for the last 34 years, to the disadvantage of most people in English speaking Cameroon.

The President’s speech has completely misjudged the situation for West Cameroonians whose education, culture, language and economic aspirations have been severely undermined over a period of 55 years. The people are thus very determined to secure their anglo-saxon heritage and aspirations as was enshrined in the constitution of 1961.

The speech calls for honest dialogue which we share, thereby recognising the dishonest approach of government’s previous efforts. Therefore, we cannot determine whether or not negotiations will provide any lasting solutions unless the government manifest good faith.

We share the President’s emphatic statement that Cameroon remains One and indivisible. However, this does not mean that the people of West Cameroon should give up their rights to self determination, social and economic aspirations as was intended in the federated agreement of West Cameroon of 1961. We fear that the current trends could totally undermine those aspirations, something we do not wish to see.

What is happening in English speaking West Cameroon is a grassroots movement for the restoration of the values that West Cameroon inherited at independence such as, the democratic shield and Common Law, which appear to have been severely undermined. It is natural that in a peaceful protest, there are bound to be people especially from forces who might even be misguidedly acting on behalf of the government.

What we have seen in some of our towns like Buea, Kumba and Bamenda is blatant disregard for fundamental humans rights which have been watched with horror both at home and abroad, with the exposure of social media all around the modern world.

We strongly urge the President to investigate and prosecute the forces responsible for the killings, rape and torture of English speaking West Cameroonians.

To dismiss these fundamental aspirations of the people of West Cameroon as ‘hooligans being manipulated’ suggests that President has either been misled or misinformed about the truth of the actual situation.

We would like the President to look outside his immediate circle as there is evidence of serious misinformation and misrepresentations from his own ministers.

We wish the people of Cameroon a happy New year and whilst we cannot call off strike actions planned for 2017 at the current time, we look forward to substantive discussions early in the New Year to hammer out a lasting settlement for West Cameroon that will retain the integrity of a federal republic – an aspiration that we share with the President.

Thanks

Nkongho Felix Agbor- Balla
President- Consortium