Benjamin Ngah
May 20th historically
is the day the separate entities of East and West Cameroon opted to unite to
form what today has metamorphosed “back” to The Republic of Cameroon or better
still “la Republique Du Cameroon.” Unlike in many other countries where the
date of Independence is celebrated as the national day, 20th May in
Cameroon is an adjusted national dayThis day, today is viewed by many in
diverse opinions. Segments of the populace, especially of the English cultural
heritage have questioned the course and solidity of the foundation upon which
the unity of this country is being constructed.
From All Anglophones Conference
I, II, that held in Buea and Bamenda respectively some years back, to the Southern
Cameroon National Council and of recent the All Anglophone Lawyers Conference
that brought together close a thousand learned men and women of the law from the
Anglophone region of the country, there have been dissenting voices and a
consistent worry as to whether what is in place today is what the architects of
reunification intended to bequeath to the Anglophones. These groups of people
have met in the past and present and have openly decried what they term as the
near systematic annihilation of their education and legal systems. According to
them, the magic wand in solving these problems to avert the country’s heralded
integration from disintegrating is a return to federalism.
One man who sees things optimistically
differently and believes that unification as it is today has been an accomplishment
but more could be done to fortify and perfect it is H.E Tawa Crecy. He is a
career diplomat who has served Cameroon in that capacity in many diplomatic
missions out there. He is now on a deserved retirement and is entrepreneur in
the fabrication of low cost building material. He is a strong believer in the
ideals of President Paul Biya and a
militant of the ruling CPDM party. In an interview granted to Times Journal’s
Benjamin Ngah, Tawa Crecy says unification in Cameroon has been a success but
like any other country, there challenges to be surmount. Hear him,
Unification has been a success
even though it has had its challenges. Every country has challenges and we as a
people have faced those challenges with a lot of gracefulness. Those challenges
include Anglophones complaining about minority rights. What is true in any case
is that in every situation where you have a minority and a majority there must
be complains. The question is how to handle those complains in such a way that
both the minority and the majority would be comfortable enough and live
harmoniously. We must admit that both Anglophones and francophone in Cameroon
have been living harmoniously. I am not saying that there are no Anglophone
problems in Cameroon, of course there are.
Those problems can only be addressed in a positive spirit. There have
been a great evolution in Cameroon and Cameroonians are imbibing bilingualism a
lot faster. If you look at our schools today, especially those found in the
south west and North West, we find francophone studying in English. There are
everywhere and I think that is something positive. That is national
integration. If Anglophones could do same, it would be a giant step toward
national integration and unity.
Your Excellency, let take the
Anglophone to be someone from the North West and South West, which are some of
the problems you think need to be adjusted to make them feel comfortable?
We cannot take Anglophones as
a geographical entity unless you want to talk of those who were colonized by
the British. Of recent there has been this burning issue about the language in
courts. Of course it is inconceivable that in court language should be used
that id different from that spoken and understood by an ordinary man in the
area where people are being tried. That is an issue that should not arise and
whoever is handling it should do it in good spirit.
Also in the area that was
colonized by the British, there is little emphasis on technical education. It
is a mistake and we ought to go back to the drawing board and do that. The
English speaking system of education also create some of its own problems. For
example, it is stated in some universities that if you do not have a pass at the
ordinary level English, then you cannot be admitted in the university. But
somebody who does the baccalaureate and passes is admitted without English. The
question is somebody who studied in English and failed in the English language
but passed well in the other subjects; is that person better up in English or
less than somebody who studied in French and has passes his baccalaureate? The
bottom line is if we want to grow in this country and to emerge like others, we
have to emphasize on the sciences. If you go to our universities and go to the
science or technical departments, how of us are there? The problem is not at
the level of policy, it is at the level of orientation. We have to orientate
our children to do science. Most of our renowned secondary schools emphasize
the art and whom should we blame for that, we have to blame ourselves. I will
blame myself as a parent.
Common law Lawyers or call it
All Anglophone Lawyers (AAL) met in
Bamenda some few weeks back and were advocating federalism amongst other
demands which has to do with proceedings and submissions in court in the
Anglophone part of the country. What is your take on their demands?
My take is that when a group of
people met particularly lawyers and take a position, they should be taken
seriously. But there is one thing, when we meet and make serious point we
should not begin by giving ultimatums to the powers that be. Giving ultimatum
to the state is not the right thing. Hundreds of lawyers cannot come together to
debate and deliberate over issues that have no meaning but making the points
and tabling them to the powers that be and allowing it take its course is a
better way than ultimatums. When we do it by way of ultimatums, its waters down
everything because the next question is, when your deadline is not met what
next? It becomes a problem. One of the
points is, should we come here (here meaning the North West and South West) and
lawyers speak in French in court? The answer is absolutely no. this is because
the lawyers are not speaking for themselves, they are speaking for their
litigants.
When you then go back to the
issue of federalism, the issue is not the labeling. It is the content. Federation
is one of the many forms of decentralization and there are different types of
federation. I think the issue should be that our decentralization should be
that different set ups and sectors can be happy and fulfilled because we are
already on the path towards decentralization which should lead us to emergence
by 2035.
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