By Hans Ngala
As we strive to build a better nation where those from the former Southern Cameroons and their French Cameroun brother live under the same leadership, the spirit of arrogance by Francophone Cameroonians is not lost on any English-speaking Cameroonian who has been following recent developments. On May 21, a Dr. Jean Bahebeck began trending online for his debasing treatment of an Anglophone journalist during a live broadcast. Bahebeck spoke rudely to Lasha Kingsly, telling Lasha to leave the set or he (Bahebeck) will call for the station manager to throw Lasha out. Just because Lasha asked him a question he didn’t like.
Around the same period, a French-speaking journalist also treated an Anglophone guest on his show in a very arrogant manner. He told the Anglophone guest and member of the SDF party that he MUST answer questions only in French because as he put it “there are other programs where he can speak English. This program is a French program”. The guest looked visibly insulted by the patronizing remarks that smacked of the hangovers of the colonial vestigies left by the French in their part of Cameroon.
While it is true that Cameroon has come a long way since the Foumban Conference in 1961, the attitudes of these two so-called elite Francophone Cameroonians are an epitome of how the average Francophone views his Anglophone counterpart. These attitudes have driven Cameroonians apart instead of closer together and have only gone to confirm to some Anglophones that they made a mistake in joining with French Cameroun. All that they were promised was eroded and most of those promises never even fulfilled. Some of the eroded promises include the dismantling of the two-state federal system which would have ensured that Anglophones have some degree of oversight in the management of their own affairs, but the mismatch that has ensued with the lumping of everything in Yaounde under a bureaucratic and inefficient system has only helped to alienate Anglophones more.
Anglophone are told arrogantly in places like Yaounde and Douala: “Parlez en francais, je n’est comprends pas l’anglais”, which translates to “Speak in French, I do not understand English”. Many English speakers for whom French is just a second language that they’ve never had to speak or use beyond their classrooms, find themselves in a difficult situation when they move to Francophone cities for the first time. These attitudes only serve to cement the fact that Francophones think it is only the duty of Anglophones to learn French while they the Francophones have no need for English – until when it comes time to play the American DV Lottery or travel out of Cameroon to an English-speaking country.
The unspoken (and often times spoken) demand for Anglophones to speak in French is an issue that goes from top to bottom. President Biya who is Francophone but speaks fluent English, albeit with a Francophone accent, has stubbornly refused to ever address the nation in English or even to make a bilingual speech wherein he speaks in English and then in French or vice versa. With an attitude like his, it is no wonder then that those in the bottom follow suit. This colonial mentality of treating one language as though it is superior to another has even influenced daily attitudes for a large number of Anglophone IDPs who have fled conflict in their part of Cameroon and now live in Francophone cities. These IDPs speak a mellee of sorts conjugating tenses and verbs poorly because they have to survive under the weight of a heavily Francophonized system. Even Anglophone ministers and Prime Ministers have been absorbed by this French-type system and many like Atanga Nji, Basic Education Minister etc can be mistaken for Francophone by someone who doesn’t know better.
With this absorption into the system, it would explain why even Anglophones living in Francophone towns will never be seen breaking a taxi in English, even though there’s a high chance that the driver himself is an Anglophone.
This attitude also explains why a large number (and it would be safe to say all) Anglophone musicians now rather sing in French. While an argument could be made for the fact that they will reach a larger market in Cameroon by singing in French, music is borderless in Africa and Nigerian songs that are sung in English or sometimes in Yoruba or Igbo have become global hits so the argument that Cameroonian Anglophone entertainers sing in French to reach a larger audience falls flat when one considers these factors.
Cameroonian authorities need to empower the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism to punish hate speech be it from Francophones towards Anglophones or vice versa. It must be seen to produce results and not be one of the many useless organizations that Biya creates and which keep sucking up taxpayers’ money and show little to no results. On the path to a stronger Cameroon, no one culture should be seen as lording it over another and if it does, they need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law and Anglophone Cameroonians need not feel intimidated by the language they speak. As a minority, they need to feel included and can speak whatever language they feel most comfortable with. Francophone attitudes of acting like bosses or landlords need to be challenged and hopefully that conversation can start with you having read this piece.
