So, was the Switzerland matching orders true? Rather unusually, President Paul Biya and his wife, Chantal did not go to rest in Switzerland after the Lyon, France fundraiser. They returned home within hours. The pro-Kamto Brigade Anti-Sardinard (BAS) was in town spoiling to disturb the peace of the presidential couple. Europe became too small for both sides. They would have followed the Biyas to gate of hell, wherever in Europe. Paul and Chantal have avoided their trouble. They have rushed back home. Routinely, on about every trip abroad (outside Africa) in the past decade or more, the presidential couple has taken a break in Switzerland, lasting several days or weeks, if not months.
Ambazonia separatist fighters showed their teeth throughout the weeklong “Major National Dialogue” in Yaounde and thereafter and BAS, oblivious of Biya’s release of their champion, stormed the president abroad again, claiming Maurice Kamto’s “stolen victory” at the October 8, 2018 polls and mocking Biya’s dictatorship and brutality with the complicity of French president Emmanuel Macron.
It had been the hope of Yaounde that the dialogue initiative and the release of Kamto, his aides and militants, and 333 persons held for years in connection with the Ambazonia uprising, would significantly defuse socio-political tensions. Far from it. For want of explanations from the protagonists, it can be safely guessed that recent actions by the Government are only viewed as remedial, they do not go to the root of the problems. Problems do not evaporate – do they? – because the rights of those fighting to redress them are restituted. That only marks a return to square one. They just return to their battle trenches by right, from where they were unlawfully removed.
“Root causes”, the words Yaounde seems to scorn these days, is what protagonists have resumed addressing. Ambazonia protagonists want an all-inclusive dialogue – inclusive as in no taboo topics, including “restoration of independence”, as well as in persons to be involved. Which is why they found the Yaounde MND a farcry from their expectations. MRC/CRM and their allies and surrogates want dialogue that discusses and restitutes their champion’s “stolen victory” or a recount of votes or a rerun of the election to give Kamto another chance under new, more independent electoral structures whose results would reflect the realities of voters’ intentions and give their candidate a fairer chance of realizing their dream.
Not only because they are both aggrieved and share a common political enemy, Amba and BAS (hence my use of the coinage AmBAS) obviously collaborate in some way. In previous writings, I have suggested the Ethiopia/Eritrea model whereby former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Esaias Aferwaki, then both rebel/separatist leaders, combined forces to fight their common enemy Emperor Haile Selasie and later Menghisto Haile Mariam on an understanding to share the booty, each a piece – Zenawi (RIP) acceding to power in Ethiopia and Eritrea’s independence bid facilitated.
This is not to imply that MRC/CRM supports the independence of Ambazonia though. At least they recognize the distinct status of Anglophones and, falling short of an outright two-state federation, Kamto said during the 2018 presidential election campaigns he would consider granting them “Special Status”. He was the first to use that expression.
“Special Status” red light: Biya new SDOs, DOs
Naïvety is not one of President Biya’s weaknesses. I warn you to read meaning in his calculated moves, especially unprovoked. On the first day of business after the “Major National Dialogue” closed in Yaounde, Biya made sweeping appointment of SDOs and DOs across the country. Until I am proven wrong, believe me that Biya means to dampen the hopes of those expecting too much from the touted special status for the Anglophone regions that his “spoiler agents”, civil administrators are going nowhere. Or do you dream he is appointing them so fresh, to demobilize them in the coming weeks when special status optimists believe the top recommendation from MND would be implemented?
Or if you “have sense” and are not under the illusion he would remove them soon under the special status regime, do you imply appointed Governors, SDOs and DOs would operate but not jeopardize the special status of the Anglophone regions? And if you believe they can but would not hamper the special status, maybe you are counting on the MND recommendation for their powers to be “substantially” reduced. I wish you good luck for trusting Yaounde.
For all I know, any Yaounde appointees under whatever appellation – Governor (or Delegate as in the 1996 constitution), SDO, DO answerable to and paying allegiance to Yaounde, not to any local elected official, will be a stumbling block to the functioning of any form of devolution of powers, be it decentralization, federalism or special status of any kind. They all at different levels have been and will continue to be what Yaounde’s appointed Federal Inspector was to West Cameroon’s “special status” Prime Ministers.
The origins of the newly appointed SDOs and DOs may be irrelevant viewed in the light of what they represent as agents of hyper-centralization. Yet, there might have been a moral caveat, somehow, had those appointed to the Anglophone regions been Anglophones in a significant number. With an overwhelming number still Francophones, Biya has thus given a deaf ear to the demands of even their “prodigal son” Yannick Kawa Kawa, who in his stunning off-script talk at the opening ceremony of the MND, derided Yaounde for imposing Francophones on the Anglophone people in “our own modaland”, wondering whether Cameroon is a bilingual or Francophone country, which implies Anglophones have been “colonized” by Francophones. “Is dat coret?” he asked rhetorically. To which the audience responded, “nooooo!”
Biya might not have heard that. Or did he simply ignore it? So, I wish you good luck as you strain your neck, looking to the sky for a messianic remedy called “special status”.
Kamto: …plus martyrdom
Martyrdom is the last status a politician wants to confer on their rival. Making him serve time in jail for political protests is like awarding him more penalties to score. It made him look a helpless victim. It has won him sympathy. See the euphoric crowd at the Kondengui prison gate in Yaounde the day he was released. They made him a Mandela! Nonentities have risen to fame just from martyrdom. In this age of populism, that counts even more. How many times a man like Professor Maurice Kamto worth his weight in gold in many other aspects?
Were Kamto nothing but a mere politician, his political movement, MRC/CRM has done considerable groundwork over the last half dozen years to implant his name across the nooks and crannies of Cameroon, propelled by experienced, knowledgeable, determined manpower, some sourced from other political parties and driven on a solid buoyant financial base. Obviously. Understandably.
Were he not piloting that huge political machine, his personal reputation would propel him on top of the game. He is a sound professor of Law. But he has also proven his mettle as a professional in legal practice. Combining the two prowesses, he emerged a hero for his role in the legal battle before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, where he helped Cameroon defeat Nigeria in 2002 in the dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula.
If opposition actors are often maliciously branded as enemies of the state, you – his detractor – have to show what you have done for Cameroon in the dimension of fighting for the fatherland, to question Kamto’s patriotism. And as a former member of Biya’s Government, he served with honour and without blemish. If any, why are they mentioning only in hushed tones that he awarded his Brain Trust consultancy a contract if there was truly wrongdoing involved? He resigned his Government post honourably.
When a man with this stature is conferred martyrdom by his opponents in a move widely viewed as abuse of power, it looks like the crowning of a dispossessed prince. Has Yaounde awarded a penalty against its own goal?
Tell Atanga Nji’s “Prodigal Son” to come without delay
“Where is the prodigal son, tell him to come without delay…” I sincerely love and enjoyed listening to the “Prodigal Son” song played on state radio and in the hall during the MND closing ceremony. Perhaps because it was a childhood Sunday School and infant school song. But it was also topical and moving. It was produced for the MND by the Atanga Nji family as printed on the CD/DVD pack.
Though not a great admirer of the Minister of Territorial Administration, I concede it to him that it was a great initiative. I doffed my hat to him. I hummed and mimed the song throughout the MND. Kudos Mr Minister.
But interpreting the message and putting it in context, I am afraid it was a little off topic. The Biblical Prodigal Son was “prodigal” because he wasted his inheritance. He demanded for his share of the inheritance, walked away and recklessly spent it out before returning to his father for forgiveness. So, what is the message in Atanga Nji’s Prodigal Son song? That the Amba Boys walked away with what goodies from Yaounde, wasted it recklessly and have or should return begging to be pardoned and readopted?
One of their prodigal sons, Yannick Kawa Kawa told them why they walked away – the root causes of the conflict, injustices and neglect meted on Anglophones by Yaounde. Send Kawa back to the bush and bring him to a thousand conferences in Yaounde, he would tell the same story, maybe worse. He who had already spent five months at the DDR centre, undergoing reeducation or “deradicalization” still told them home truths. He is not a Prodigal Son. How many, still carrying guns, can Yaounde hope will be prodigal sons? How many more can come, let alone without delay?