By NOELA EBOB BISONG
As the days to the announced imminent major national dialogue narrows, calls for a change to be effected at the helm of the dialogue table continue to flood in. President Biya, during his Tuesday, September 10, 2019 address to the nation had made it known that his Prime Minister, Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute is the man to chair the august event. Following the announcement, the PM, Dion Ngute had swung into action almost immediately, holding pre-dialogue consultations with diverse groups and individuals in a bid to clear the coast for successful deliberations when the time is right.
However, it will not take long for some to begin airing their views whether or not Dion Ngute is a square peg in a square hole in line with the national dialogue. One of the first to call for a neutral mediator for a smooth dialogue in Cameroon was one-time United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Herman Cohen, who believes only an international mediator, preferably from the US can end the violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.
The Social Democratic Front party of John Fru Ndi has also, as one of their seven conditions for the dialogue, in a communiqué, published on September 12, 2019 stated the need for Dion Ngute not to chair the dialogue. Shortly after the consultative talks with PM Ngute, SDF First National Vice Chairman, Hon Joshua Osih said the forthcoming dialogue must satisfy the aspirations of the Anglophones, and that nothing short of this will work. “We made it clear as follows: that such a National Inclusive Dialogue should be chaired by a neutral personality.”
The Cameroon Renaissance Movement of Prof Maurice Kamto has equally stated its belief in a neutral mediator, as well as the Archbishop of Douala, Samuel Kleda.
Many also in the North West and South West regions have continued to castigate the fact that Dion Ngute will be chairing the dialogue. “I see no fundamental difference between what PM Ngute is doing today and what PM Yang did before”, Godden Zama, SDF Limbe district chairman points out.
Others hold Dion Ngute being chair of the national dialogue will not make the process different from what obtained when he visited the two regions months back. Others have gone ahead to doubt his capability, holding to the assurance he gave in the regions that all points were welcomed at the table except separation, only for this to be debunked by his minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji on a foreign station, vehemently declaring that the form of the state is not a welcomed initiative by the government which Dion Ngute heads. Another point which others also state for not believing in Dion Ngute’s chairing of the National dialogue and preferring a neutral mediator is the fact that “Dion Ngute is a man of the system…he is dictated to by his boss president Biya! How can he objectively handle a dialogue to solve the Anglophone crisis?” Pa Ayamba, a Limbe inhabitant questions.