By NDIMUH B. SHANCHO
Last Saturday January 4, 2020 marked exactly one year since Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute took office as the 5th Anglophone Prime Minister of Cameroon. Taking over office at a time when President Paul Biya had just unveiled his “Great Opportunity” vision and about 24 hours after the deepening Anglophone crisis had just caused the razing down of his compound in Ekondo Titi, it was clear that Chief Dr. Dion Ngute’s mission was to proffer a beacon light of hope to millions of bleak faces as well as arrest the crisis in his restive area of origin, a mission which some were fast to term suicidal. One year down the lane, his report card has harvested lots of blue inks from Cameroonians across the board but not without reds.
PM Dion Ngute’s down-to-earth attitude during his maiden nearly one week outing across the North West and South West regions, meeting with local authorities, politicians, religious leaders and representatives of civil society in May 2019 charmed the population of these regions. Though no immediate solution was proffered as a result of this, his sense of humility undoubtedly lightened the mood of the restive population of these regions and was highly applauded by all and sundry. Though highly acclaimed, Dion Ngute’s response to the call for demilitarisation and an all-inclusive dialogue with all shades of positions about the Anglophone crisis was received with a pinch of salt.
On September 10, 2010, President Paul Biya in an extra-ordinary address appointed Prime Minister Dion Ngute as Chair of the Major National Dialogue, September 30 to October 4, 2019. His tactfulness in organising and coordinating this emblematic event that culminated in the granting of special status to the North West and South West regions, and the relatively more separatist fighters dropping down their weapons have won him some credit and admiration.
Despite these, Dr. Nick Ngwanyam of St. Louis University Institute, just like many Cameroonians, thinks the “special status” was a bruise to the Anglophone regions during PM Dion Ngute’s first year in office. “The PM had a chance to be the greatest and he lost it forever. You are the greatest if you solve the greatest problem. That opportunity was solving the Anglophone Problem and he went off a tangent into space singing a chorus with no acceptable rhythm. He engineered the Special Status for Anglophones. This is a tool to continue the assimilation of Anglophones,” he says
The seasoned administrator however congratulated the PM on working “as hard as he can to change the perception and suffering of his yoked brothers and sisters in his own way. Up until now, Anglophones in government were too shy speaking in English and identifying with their roots”
To Senator Mbella Moki, PM Dion Ngute came as “a perfect choice for the Head of State H.E. Paul Biya, when he was in need of a PM to address the particular situation we are passing through in this country. He is all embracing. I am sure that’s what is responsible for the conducive atmosphere that we seem to have around the Star Building now. Cameroonians should rather support him than engage in senseless battles against him. I think the PM is doing well because he has rallied Cameroonians to work together and think together to build the nation together. As a mandate that was given him by the Head of State, he needs to do that not to let down the Head of State.”
As he takes on the second year of his mandate, expectations are even higher with eyes looking up to him to create more opportunities for youths and economic operators in the country, resolve the Anglophone crisis, ensure rehabilitation of roads, education and health infrastructure etc.
There is also, no perfect time than now for the PM to carry out self-introspection, identifying the gaps during his first mandate and fine-tuning strategies and righting the wrongs.