By Atia Tilarious Azohnwi
Senators of the opposition Social Democratic Front, SDF party have indicted Cameroon’s Senate for not seeking solutions to the deepening Anglophone crisis. In a press statement, July 2, 2018, the SDF lawmakers release accused the Senate of ignoring a motion to seek solutions to the Anglophone crisis.
They call for an end to the killings, destruction of property and the displacement of the population in the North West and South West Regions. They used the press conference to dissociate themselves from the apparent inert state of the senate as regards the happenings in the Anglophone regions.
“By the following, we the SDF Senators want to let the local and international press at large and Cameroonians in particular, to know that at the beginning of the June 2018 Ordinary Session, we tabled a motion through the president of the senate which called for the setting up of a committee of enquiry to probe into the Government’s handling of the Anglophone crisis from October 2016 to the present date,” the statement reads in part.
The seven SDF Senators say their motion has been ignored given that even motions that were tabled after theirs had been addressed. They add that: “From the foregoing and considering the importance and the timing of the Anglophone crisis which is escalating by the day, it is our desire to let the public know the action taken by the senators of the Social Democratic Front with regard to a crisis that has rendered almost useless the lives of residents in the North West and South West Regions.”
The statement signed by all seven SDF Senators equally indicates that the announced emergency humanitarian assistance plan by government has not stopped the crisis from escalating. They thus express their reservations regarding the ongoing contributions and donations.
“…our reservations are predicated on the fact that priority should be given to inclusive dialogue that will lead to a lasting solution to the crisis. A project that focuses solely on addressing the humanitarian component of the crisis while violence escalates with every passing day is clearly designed to fail, for in our considered opinion, it is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse or better still, taking the second step before the first,” they cried out.
The senators regret that “since the launching of the emergency humanitarian assistance plan, the death toll keeps rising with further material losses suffered with each passing day. The question that begs for answer is, ‘under which emergency humanitarian assistance plan shall the additional losses be covered?’”
They recall that the Anglophone crisis began with sectoral demands of lawyers and teachers but morphed into a political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis that has been escalating by the day.
To the senators, “a comprehensive approach is therefore required beginning with an Emergency Peace Plan that will stem the tide of violence and put an end to further killings, destruction of property and displacement of people.”
SDF’s senators from the North West condemn the partisan coat given to the emergency humanitarian assistance plan. They wonder why CPDM MPs and Senators who chose not to discuss the Anglophone crisis in parliament would be contributing money towards an effort they seem unable to control despite their constitutional prerogatives to control government action.