Opinion: ‘Are Cameroonians just sheepish or fed up with the status quo?’

By Hans Ngala

I was recently in Zambia for a conference, and while there, I sat next to a gentleman who was struck by my colorful ‘toghu’ outfit and sought to know where I came from. I told him I was a Cameroonian and he quipped, “Are Cameroonians just sheepish or are they just fed up with the status quo?”. My Zambian friend could not comprehend how Cameroonians could allow themselves to be ruled by one man for over 40 years.
My friend’s confusion can be well understood. Since independence in 1964, Northern Rhodesia (which took the name Zambia at independence), has had eight presidents. Kenneth Kaunda was the country’s founding president, and Hakainde Hichilema is the current one. Cameroon has only known Biya as president since 1982.
Biya runs Cameroon a little like it’s his business. He shows up when he wants and disappears from public view for long periods without any explanation to the Cameroonian people.
Biya leads a lavish lifestyle, often taking long holidays in Switzerland and France at the expense of Cameroonian taxpayers, and yet, gives zero accountability to Cameroonians. It is not known how much Biya earns monthly or annually in his capacity as president but his prolonged stays in Europe are estimated to cost hundreds of thousands of Dollars at a time, but even discussing things like this and Biya’s health, are considered “taboo” or issues of “national security” as Minister Paul Atanga Nji put it late last year when Biya went AWOL on Cameroonians after the Africa-China Summit.
In the context of these issues, my Zambian friend’s question suddenly made me ponder: “Are Cameroonians indeed sheepish or just fed up?” and the answer to this is multifaceted.
Biya is a leader who was not elected into office but simply handed power to him. Ahidjo picked him as his successor, and shortly after, Biya and Ahidjo had a falling-out, and Ahidjo himself was declared persona non grata and would die in exile. His body was never returned to Cameroon to this day. That aside, Biya’s ascension to power was met with jubilation among Cameroonians who celebrated a shift from Ahidjo’s more tyrannical style of leadership, but it wasn’t long before Biya started to become iron-fisted in his approach to leadership, either. Almost a decade later, a book seller, John Fru Ndi, would defy Biya’s firm grip on power to launch the Social Democratic Front (SDF) as the first true opposition party in Cameroon, breaking away from Ahidjo’s and Biya’s one-party style of governance.
Fru Ndi was an Anglophone from the former Southern Cameroons (now one of two Anglophone regions), and Fru Ndi’s launching of an opposition party was a microcosm that demonstrated Anglophone grievances under both Ahidjo and Biya.
Anglophones in Cameroon make no secret of their disgruntlement with Cameroon’s Paul Biya. So my Zambian friend’s question would be better be answered by explaining to him that Cameroon is a multicultural, multilingual country and while the Biya regime has a habit of claiming that the country is “one and indivisible”, this is a mere attempt at denying history and simply trying to lump all Cameroonians into one – an exercise in futility.
If any truth is to be found in my Zambian friend’s question, ie, that Cameroonians are “sheepish”, that truth would be that the Cameroonians who are “sheepish” are mainly Francophone Cameroonians. Of course, not all Francophone Cameroonians are happy with Biya’s approach to governance,e but a good number certainly do, and that is why they do not support (or at least do not understand) why Anglophone Cameroonians have been complaining of marginalization.
The truth is there for all to see: Anglophones have approaches to leadership that ensure a lot of transparency and accountability. Take, for example, the culture of credit unions and their annual general meetings, where a balance sheet is presented to all members. Credit unions have helped many Anglophone Cameroonians complete projects where government banks would not otherwise be present or would require too many bureaucracies. Credit unions all over towns like Yaounde, Bafoussam, and Douala, which are primarily in the Francophone part of the country, have structures that are quite prominent and stand as a testament to astute Anglophone financial management. Same with hospitals, the faith-based Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH), Mbingo Baptist Hospital, and Shisong Catholic Hospital and Cardiac Center are some of the best health facilities in Cameroon – all based in the Anglophone part of the country and now with extensions into Francophone Cameroon. The same goes for schools: many respected secondary schools in Cameroon are based in Anglophone Cameroon from St. Joseph’s College, Sasse to Cameroon Protestant College (CPC), Bali to Sacred Heart College, Mankon; Joseph Merrick Baptist College (JMBC), Ndu; Saker Baptist College and many others have been attracting even Francophone students because of the quality education, facilities and morals which these schools impart on students.
Anglophones have more visible results from managing the limited resources at their disposal, which makes many of them feel frustrated with a lethargic, moribund leader like Paul Biya, who seems to have gotten comfortable once he had cemented himself as Cameroon’s leader.
Cameroonians, especially French-speaking Cameroonians, have been reduced to beggars who scramble for bread and a few measly bank notes, as was recently seen in Yaounde, where some were seen in a viral video collecting loaves of bread and 10,000 CFA bank notes for marching for the ruling CPDM party. Of course, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t some Anglophone Cameroonians who do not settle for the “Hunger Games” approach to leadership. There are a good number, including some who are prominent scholars in fact, but who, for the sake of money, food, and drinks, sing Biya’s praises.
So if there are any “sheepish” Cameroonians at all, most of them are definitely on the other side of the Mungo and have decided to settle for the status quo.