BY ATIA TILARIOUS AZOHNWI
Chief Dr. Dion Ngute Joseph has been named Cameroon’s new Prime Minister. A twilight presidential decree dated Friday, January 4, 2019 replaced Philemon Yang with the Traditional Ruler of Bongongo Barombi and Paramount Ruler of the Barombi tribe in Ekondo Titi Sub-division, Ndian Division of the South West Region.
The former Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic shortly after his appointment thanked President Paul Biya for the confidence bestowed on him. He pledged to work relentlessly to foster the vision of the President in making Cameroon an emerging nation by 2035.
Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute is the eighth Prime Minister of Cameroon after independence.
A day to his appointment, his home was razed to ashes by unidentified gunmen, sources said. The residence was almost reduced into chars in his native Bobongo, Ekondo Titi subdivision as the armed men set it alight in the early hours of Thursday before disappearing into the wild. Arsons have been a familiar theme since the crisis in the North West and South West regions escalated over a year ago.
It was the second time Joseph Dion Ngute, paramount ruler of the Barombi tribe, was on the receiving end since the crisis started. Dion Ngute and his delegation were attacked at the Cameroonian embassy in South Africa on August 6, 2017 as they were sent on a mission to dialogue with Cameroonians in that part of the world on possible solutions to solve the crisis out of the country.
Why Dion Ngute?
No one would have imagined that the choice will fall on Chief Dr. Dion Ngute, but President Paul Biya in his experience in managing the statecraft saw potentials in this son of Ndian Division.
Dion Ngute’s mastery of the Anglophone dossier is not in doubt. For slightly over two decades, he served as Minister Delegate in charge of Commonwealth at Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations. By dint of his office and background, queries regarding the Southern Cameroons case in international jurisdictions and for a fell on his desk and shoulders.
Dion Ngute led Cameroon’s team to the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, The Gambia to answer to “charges” brought against it by the Southern Cameroon’s National Council (SCNC) on behalf of the people of former British Southern Cameroon.
The commission in its pronouncement recognised Southern Cameroonians as a people – a nation – who were no longer at ease in the state of Cameroon with former French Cameroon and urged the government of Cameroon to negotiate with Southern Cameroonians for the way forward as they may possibly agree.
Except there is hard evidence to prove otherwise, no current and/or former member of government has Dion Ngute’s mastery of this file. Whether his mastery can translate into compromises, concessions and concrete measures to resolve the conflict is a story for another day. Yet can it be guessed that in a bid to lay groundwork ahead of expected talks, various parties, especially the international community might have found in Dion Ngute a compromise personality for his familiarity with the file, his professional competence as a diplomat in many ways, his experience in public administration, his quiet urbane nature and his composure. Some quarters are even of the opinion that the Commonwealth might have pushed Dion Ngute’s file through. Biya might believe that some current of Southern Cameroonian leadership might tolerate his new PM pick.
Given that Dion Ngute has had his own fair share of the pain – arson at his home and attack in South Africa, he may well choose to join his master, Biya in finding a sustainable solution to the crisis. The rest are hopes. Nothing is guaranteed. The ball is in the court of Biya and his new PM to spare us the bloodshed. Though saddling the new PM alias Mr. Nice, with virtually same old heavy government may not be a good omen at all.
Dion Ngute’s appointment may also be to weaken the political backyard of opposition candidate, Joshua Osih who flew the flag of the Social Democratic Front at the October 7 polls. Osih is a native of Toko subdivision in Ndian Division. Ndian, seat of Cameroon’s oil reserves has for long been left in the doldrums of Cameroon’s political life. The new PM may also have to do all to reconcile the people of Ndian with the Yaoundé regime before preaching the peace gospel to all Anglophones – especially those who now bear arms.