DECONSTRUCTING THE FEDERATION NARRATIVE:
We never opted to become, and will never become, part of French Cameroun. We never opted to be the footstool of French Cameroun, available for exploitation, plunder and periodical extrajudicial killings and false imprisonment. There cannot possibly be any advantage in such an option. The common experience of mankind is that people never opt for a detrimental change in their condition of existence because they would have nothing to gain by such a tragic option. Human beings always seek improvement, and not deterioration, in their human and material condition.
In the governance of French Cameroun, I do not see anything now and in a thousand years future that will meaningfully and adequately reflect the history, political culture, identity, statecraft, culture and economic and social model of the Southern Cameroons, the language of Southern Cameroon’s public affairs, the secure identity of its people and the future prosperity and wellbeing of its people. French Cameroun’s sickening interest in the Southern Cameroons is driven by one and only one thing: the huge natural resources and facilities of the Southern Cameroons.
Federalism being touted by some people is not a viable option that is consistent with the promotion and strengthening of our identity, self-respect, dignity and humanity. We cannot allow ourselves to be tragically downgraded from a distinct and separate territory with a solid history and statecraft to a footstool of, and an exploited and oppressed colonial dependency within, French Cameroun, a country that is itself a French neo-colonial outpost. We refuse to surrender our identity, culture, history, natural resources, political resources and creative statesmanship. We must continue to fight for freedom with every sinew in us and with every means recognised by the international community. For if we do not, then French Cameroun colonialism, assimilationist policies and territorial aggrandisement would irreversibly become more entrenched. Within a short few years we would become extinct as a people and our Homeland would be taken over completely by French Cameroun’s invasive and invading communities.
Achieving a federalism that some are begging for from French Cameroun depends entirely on the colonial oppressor’s good will. That good will is demonstrably lacking. There is no reason to believe that even in the unlikely event that the colonial oppressor were to institute a federation today he will not turn round tomorrow and frustrate it, eventually nullifying it as he did in 1961, 1972 and 1984. Our memories cannot be so short as to forget that the various ‘constitutions’ and their countless decree amendments made at the ruler’s every whim and caprice, from 1961 to date, have all exclusively been the evil schemes of French Cameroun and then imposed upon us. Those documents have been more about presidential powers than about checks and balances and the rights of the people.
In French Cameroun, just because the constitution or statute says this or that, it does not mean that is what happens in practice. The constitution and statutes are always overridden by purposeful non-observance and “sur haute instruction du chef de l’état.” In that country, even where laws are articulated in a universal manner their application is selectively done. It is therefore a fallacy to think that just because the law in that country says this or that, then it is done or will even be done.
Accepting a federation now and by permission of the colonial oppressor, or a Quebec-like status as the coloniser appears to be floating through some of his hired agents, means accepting French Cameroun suzerainty, subjugation, assimilation, and de-identity project. The colonial oppressor might fool some of the people with baits in the form of promises of a putative biculturalism and other half-baked evanescent token measures conceded as a pacification strategy, as a favour and as a matter of grace. But it is all too obvious even to the blind that the so-called biculturalism can never be an increasing feature of everyday life ensuring that the people of the Southern Cameroons leverage economic, political and social power, and take up a significant partnership position in every aspect of governance. Accepting a federation would be tantamount to confirming and legitimizing the coloniser’s territorial aggrandisement claim to, and dominion over, the Southern Cameroons. To be cont.
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