2020 Labour, National Day celebrations cancelled amid coronavirus

By NOELA EBOB BISONG
In years to come, history will recall that strange things did happen in the year 2020. Such as will be remembered, will be the cancellation of the National Day celebration of Cameroon’s unity as an indivisible nation.
Pundits thought such a cancellation could have been brought about by the country’s socio-political instability with some in its English parts calling for the independence of former British Southern Cameroons (North West and South West Regions.)
However, even in the very tense years of 2017, 2018 and 2019, the state of Cameroon, led by President Paul Biya did display its control over the entire country, ensuring that the national day, May 20, was celebrated across the 10 regions of Cameroon. Nonetheless, it will take something worse than socio-political tensions, the novel coronavirus to ensure that Cameroonians do not celebrate “their most cherished unity” in 2020.
Following a communiqué of April 22, 2020 signed by Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the country’s Head of State, Paul Biya has cancelled this year’s celebrations of the National Unity and Labour Day, which traditionally hold yearly on May 20 and May 1 respectively. The reason, it is advanced, is because of the coronavirus pandemic, the deadly pandemic which does not favour the gathering of people.
According to the release, Biya is said to have decided to cancel the celebrations because of the need to respect the social distancing barrier, one of the main measures against the novel COVID-19 pandemic. It is believed that it would have been difficult and indeed impossible to observe social distancing had the celebrations been allowed to hold. The announcement follows other measures put in place by the state to limit the spread of the virus in Cameroon, including the closure of schools, as the country records more than a thousand COVID-19 infected cases.
This decision came shortly after the theme of the 2020 National Day celebration was made public by Defence Minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, tagged: United against the COVID-19 pandemic to resolutely steer Cameroon on the path of resilience, peace, stability and economic development.”
The last time Cameroon failed to celebrate its national unity following the reunification of the two Cameroons in 1960, was in 1984 after the failed coup d’etat.

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