The Silent Complicity of Francophone Opinion or Anglophone Lessons from Ferguson

This post was originally written in November 2014 but recent events have made it more relevant than ever. 

The goings-on in Ferguson, where the wanton murder by a White policeman of an unarmed Black youth and the establishment’s refusal to indict the White policeman sparked riots in the USA; coupled with the feeling of wonder expressed by the White community there, had me drawing parallels with Cameroon and the cold shoulder our Francophone partners turn to us when massive arbitrary arrests, event disruptions, murders and other human rights abuses go on in Cameroon against “SCNC militants” and we expect them to take up our defence against an oppressive regime. In Ferguson for example, we see some Whites supporting the cause of the Blacks, helping to remind authorities that Black lives matter too, perhaps out of intellectual honesty. But when Anglophones receive such shabby treatment, can we expect any liberty loving Francophone voices to take up their defence? Never, if what we have seen so far is to be depended on.

Francophone intellectuals are simply ignorant (by ignorant I mean “to ignore”) about, and unaccommodating of, Anglophones when it comes to their identity, their culture, their self-determination. These issues of identity are a matter of life and death to us Anglophones but Francophones could not careless. No, I am not talking about your neighbours who manage a few words in pidgin because they travelled to Kumba once, in the course of their job, or those whose kids are doing English education, who point to this as a sign that they are not prejudiced against English speaking Cameroonians. I am talking about people of power, people who can do and undo. I am talking about the people who often mount the rostrums on Sunday afternoons in intellectual commentaries like “Canal Presse”, newspaper editors, university dons, and above all, state officials of all ranks.

Anicet Ekane is perhaps one of the few who regularly speaks up for Anglophones and admits that they deserve better.

Do not be fooled. No one has any use for Anglophones here, in the capital. These Anglophones, who come to you from Yaounde with promises of glory, development projects, promotions, transfers, etc., are living a sorry life here. They come to canvass your votes so they can use them as leverage to beg for promotion for themselves. They need your votes to be taken seriously, since all of them feel that as outcasts, no one in Yaounde listens to them or watches to see if they have any competence, any useful message. Only a high CPDM score in their villages matter. Only this can give them the wherewithal to aspire to a position which nevertheless requires leadership, insight, creativity to handle.

Mono Ndjana may be a philosopher and trade unionist, but he has proven his brain to be too small to understand the ramifications of Anglophone marginalisation. He thus describes Anglophone militants as lacking in patriotism. Like telling ANC in Apartheid South Africa that they should hush, lest they disgrace the "beloved country".

 Not that anyone even wants a competent Anglophone anywhere. That is why our stars here are the greatest buffoons (like the guy who, to avoid heeding a magistrate’s summons, staged a mass “resignation” of "SCNC militants" into the CPDM. The fact that this diversionary tactic did not spare him is not our focus).

Ndam Njoya, a seasoned politician and former minister, noted for staying mum on Anglophone marginalisation, despite running for president several times.

Sosthène Fouda: The younger generation of politicians, but not doing better than their predecessors. 

That is why an obscure translator, turned civil engineering contractor, baker and bar owner from an economic backwater like Mbengwi suddenly becomes an assistant minister of trade (never mind whatever name they called it then), then minister of culture, things she had previously shown no knowledge or love for. At the same time, incompetent ministers of justice bungle from blunder to blunder in operation Sparrow-hawk, no one thinks that legal luminaries from this lady minister’s clan can help better pilot the anti-corruption operations and recover stolen state money. I could go on but let me spare our dear Anglophone elites in Yaounde some embarrassment. After all, nemesis should have its role too.

 But Anglophones, “be not fooled”, to quote Matthew Takwi though his message is universal and not aimed solely at Anglophones. The Anglophone problem is simply what its name calls it: an Anglophone problem. It is not a political issue on the Francophone agenda. They, our Francophone counterparts, brethren, colleagues, comperes, mates, compatriots, know that it is a military problem and trust Biya and his BIRS to stymy any dissent. So they have little time to dally with it. It can be mentioned in passing but nobody considers that the foundation of the nation, the philosophy on which it is built is under threat from a rival philosophy (like Anglophone statehood) or militancy (like the SCNC). They are more interested in making money (Bamileke) or getting top government posts (Beti) or salvaging what remains when the two other dominant tribal groupings have served themselves (Northerners), to waste an iota of sentiment on judging the ethics of Ahidjo’s annexation. This might be ethno-typical but nothing proves that it is wrong.

And this is why I laughed when I heard a friend from Bamenda proposing that the Cameroon presidency should rotate between Anglophones and Francophones. Is it reasonable to expect any accommodation from Francophones in the form of a Rotative Presidency? No one takes Anglophones seriously here to even start considering such an outlandish idea. To Francophones, that is a lot of effrontery, a lot of guts...you need to see the way most Francophone media houses treat John Fru Ndi, the SDF, etc. These have become their scape goats for people’s personal political frustrations.

You need to see how much public disgrace Yang Philemon suffers or has suffered, from the media, from the indomitable lions. You need to see how Amah Muna was described as a Nigerian by Ndedi Eyango. You need to see how much respect is shown to Peter Essoka at the NCC. One media house that has been a regular victim of NCC sanctions suddenly managed the boldness to contest sanctions meted by Peter Essoka under the same conditions as those previously meted by Befe Ateba, probably hoping this time to capitalise on the Anglophone interim president’s fragile position to overturn the decision.

Owona Nguini, the famous and favourite "politologue" of many, Francophones and Anglophones alike, tends to forget Anglophones in his brilliant analyses. 

Denis Nkwebo, journalist and trade unionist: firebrand but biased?

The answer to our initial question can thus be emphasized: Nothing good will come easy from our Francophone brothers. We should expect no sympathy from them because it simply means giving up their Francophone privileges. Just like many Whites do not understand why Blacks are protesting the murder of an unarmed Black youth in Ferguson, USA, so too no Francophone will understand what Bate Besong, and others are protesting in their literature. What the SCNC is protesting at UNPO. What our people decry day in day out each time they have the chance to. No one is even listening.

Francophones see the SCNC as completely pointless and irrelevant, thought the government treats them worse than Boko Haram. Talk to them about an Anglophone problem and they will simply wonder dismissively what the issue is. To Francophones, “Anglophones are not the only tribe since there are other tribes like Bamilekes, Nordese, Bassa, Bamoun, etc.” Anglophones, they say, “are not the only minority; we have minorities like Pigmies, Fulanis, etc”. They think that Anglophones should “integrate” (meaning to abandon their Anglophone-ness and adopt Francophone-ness) and stop being cry babies! I mean, these are declarations from university professors, not your street tom and dick. I have a lecturer (who just returned from Germany and has nothing to do with the political order of the day) who even classifies Anglophones under Bamilekes (the same ethnicity and pre-colonial history being his reason). In other words, he does not find them worthy enough of making the difference.

Even in the upper echelons of power. Paul Biya may have read a few words in English while in Buea or Bamenda but the state hardly cares for Anglophones. Equatorial Guinea, 500.000 inhabitants and has imposed Spanish as a language in CEMAC. Biya and co have been unable to impose English, despite a population and economy bigger than Equatorial Guinea or Gabon, despite the much harped “number 1 in Central African Region” often claimed as achievements by state authorities in almost every walk of life. As such, although Anglophone wealth helps buttress what little value the Franc CFA has, working in BEAC is a no go area for Anglophones. Do not expect service from them in English, even their website, though being a tool to communicate with the whole world, does not offer an English version.

Such attitudes have an effect on Anglophones. Because of the stigma of being described as “Cameroon a gauche”, several Anglophones pretend to be Francophones when they meet their Anglophone mates in everyday social situations, in a taxi, in the ministries, at the police station, etc, because this confers an air of superiority. Similar effects have been noted in the Black community in the US, successful Blacks go for White spouses as a means to dilute the stigma of Blackness. This has never helped them because, to borrow from Ferguson, “none of us is free till all of us are free”. Anglophones, who because of privileges at their oppressor’s tables now think they are better, like Achidi Achu, Dione Ngute, etc. who have made public statements claiming that no Anglophone problems exists in Cameroon, should remember this. 

The Nay Sayers...

Achidi Achu: Saying nay all the way into the grave? 

Amah T. Muna: "Nigerian, because her father served in Nigeria before independence", says Eyango. But those gold earrings must have rang too loudly in her ears for her to hear. 

Nakuve Endeley: The venerated Chief and Chief Justice who had never seen "Anglophone" in the dictionary. 

Dione Ngute: Wants Anglophones to be as discreet and self effacing as he is!

Agbor Tabi: Probably still saying No!...from heaven.

PM Yang Philemon: Surely needs clearer glasses to see that Anglophones are being cheated of their birth rights.

Finally, let’s recall that no one will attribute any value to us if we do not claim it, we all have this collective duty of defending our dignity as a people, not just fighting for personal aggrandisement in whatever post can enable us to steal money. This is politics and not religion. We must stop saying that “one day things shall be well” just to avoid confronting our oppressors because silence is complicity. To my Yaounde friends, the Atanga Njis, Yang Philemons, Amah Munas, Achidi Achus, etc,: just as a log of wood would not become a crocodile in reward for long life in water, so too you will not be accepted as a Francophone for you long life in Yaounde. So make them see that Anglophones are humans, full citizens and not a cheap source of CPDM votes. 

By Tengwan Ambe Frederick,

Freelance Translator and Communications Specialist