CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

1.1 Background to the study.

Crises have been a world-wide problem since time immemorial.  It has often been manifested  in human history in the economic, political and social domains. In the domain of socio political crises, the African continent have suffered diverse forms of crises since African Nationalism and independence in the 1950s to present due to the distinguished colonial heritages that created disparities within the people of the continent. Hence these crises have often manifest itself in form of coup d’etats, secessionist tendency, formation of rebel groups, massive killings, boycotts, ghost town operations.

In the case of Cameroon, What is today known as the ‘Anglophone problem’ has its roots in Cameroon’s colonial history and heritage.  Upon the defeat of the Germans in Cameroon in 1916 by a British and French alliance, both countries proceeded to divide the country into two unequal parts in a Franco-British treaty signed  in London. While France took control of the bigger portion of the country, Britain occupied two disconnected portions referred to as British Southern Cameroons and British Northern Cameroons, which together made up one-fifth of the territory. At the close of the WWI, a League of Nations Mandate was granted to the territories to be administered by the two powers, followed by a trusteeship agreement under the same powers in 1946 after the creation of the United Nations (Ngoh, 1996).

The French and British established parallel administrative, educational, and legal systems in their controlled parts of the territory, each reflecting the practices in both colonizing countries. While the French established the Civil Law system in the French part of Cameroon, the British set up the Common Law system in their part; the Anglo-Saxon system of education was applied in the British occupied territory, while the French system was applied in the French occupied part. On October 1, 1961, in a UN plebiscite, British Southern Cameroon voted for independence by joining the Republic of Cameroon, which had gained independence from France in 1960 to become the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In May 1972, in a referendum the country voted to become a unitary state and by a presidential decree of 1984, the name of the country was changed from United Republic of Cameroon to Republic of Cameroon (Konnings and Nyamjoh, 1997). These complex historical developments are still at the centre of present-day challenges leading to the current crisis.( Relief web July, 2017)

The Anglophone problem in Cameroon has come to be understood as the political, social, and economic marginalisation of the people of former British Southern Cameroons since it acceded to independence by joining the majority former French Cameroon in 1961 (Kouega, 2018). The crux of the problem has been repeatedly traced back to the controversies surrounding the reunification process that saw the collapse of the federal system. The failure to harmonise or sustain the two parallel systems, alongside economic and administrative marginalisation only worsened the problem. For decades, the Anglophones have complained of unfair representation in government affairs, marginalisation resulting from the unequal an ineffective application of bilingualism, the dominance of the French language, excessive centralisation, and the lack of development in the Anglophone areas, all of which put them at a disadvantage in competing for resources and opportunities (Kouega, 2018).

The early 1990s saw the emergence of multi-party politics in Cameroon and the rise of the Anglophone opposition. The convening of a first All Anglophones Conference in April 1993 and the establishment of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) were significant events that marked the awakening of the Anglophone political consciousness. The SCNC proceeded with a diplomatic campaign for recognition of the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons at various levels including the United Nations and the African Union (Konnings and Nyamjoh, 1997). The origin of the ongoing Anglophone Crisis can be traced to a ‘sit-in strike’ initiated by lawyers in the two English-speaking regions on October 11, 2016 and a subsequent strike by teachers in these regions a month later. The strike actions were aimed at protesting against the perceived assimilation of the Anglophone education and legal traditions inherited from the British former colonial masters into the dominant Francophone system. This came after the teachers’ and the lawyers’ trade unions petitioned the government to address their grievances without success. Almost a month later, on November 8, 2016, after security forces were accused of applying excessive force in quelling the earlier protests, lawyers mobilised for a second time adding a demand for the return to a federal system and together with the teachers’ trade union went ahead to establish the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC, “the Consortium”). Wider protests soon broke across the entire Anglophone regions, first as a direct result of the repression tactics used by the armed forces against protesters and then more globally against the perceived marginalisation of the Anglophones, leading to the birth of a secessionist movement which morphed into a complex socio-political crisis which according to the Cameroon president of CONAC, it has become a “camelion revolution”.

Political freedom is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies. Hannah Arendt traces the conceptual origins of freedom to ancient Greek politics. According to her study, the concept of freedom was historically inseparable from political action. Politics could only be practiced by those who had freed themselves from the necessities of life so that they could participate in the realm of political affairs  (Lucy, William, 2011).

According to Arendt, the concept of freedom became associated with the Christian notion of freedom of the will, or inner freedom, around the 5th century  and since then freedom as a form of political action has been neglected even though, as she says, freedom is “the raison d’être of politics”. political freedom is historically opposed to sovereignty or will-power since in ancient Greece and Rome the concept of freedom was inseparable from performance and did not arise as a conflict between the will and the self. Similarly, the idea of freedom as freedom from politics is a notion that developed in modern times. (Arendt 1993) In Arendt’s view, political action is an interruption of automatic process, either natural or historical. The freedom to begin anew is thus an extension of “the freedom to call something into being which did not exist before, which was not given, not even as an object of cognition or imagination, and which therefore, strictly speaking, could not be known”

The search for political freedom has been a world wide phenomena experienced in revolutions such the 1773 revolution in Americas against British rule, French revolutions, Bulshivic revolution in Russia in 1917 and wars of liberation at the close of colonialism in colonial Africa as well as wars against dictatorial post colonial African leaders in the quest for political freedom in Africa.

This desire for political freedom has been the backbone of the Cameroon Anglophone crises since 1916 to 2021 when the burning desire of the activists in Anglophone crises as cited above punched the nation in to a state of sociopolitical crises.

 1.2  Research Problem

The Anglophone crisis is a socio political crisis which stems from Long term grievances of Anglophones in Cameroon. The Foumban conference of 1961 between Southern Cameroons  and La Republic Du Cameroun created disparities between the two parts of the territory, giving  advantages to the newly emerged East Cameroun over West Cameroon. The position of the president, national symbols like the flag, anthem and national political capital  was  given to the French part of the country. Later developments in the form of the state in 1972 and 1884 changed its form from Federal Republic of Cameroon to United Republic of Cameroon and Republic of Cameroon respectively. Imbalance in the use of state languages, national entrance examination in to professional schools, use of French in military tribunals in North and South West regions, exclusion of a common law section in ENAM for Anglophones was all framed in what is known as Anglophone marginalization. These pushed the teachers and lawyers  to ignite what is known as the Anglophone crisis through a strike action in late 2016 in a bit to gain political freedom but rather, this crisis escalated in 2017 and has persisted till date. Resenting voices argues that the Cameroon Anglophone crisis has brought about polical freedom to the Anglophones and the people of Boyo Division, arguing that it is as a result of the crises that the 2019 decentralisation law was made, a common law section created in  ENAM, a special status given to the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon and declaration of measures to make English and French languages balance in public life. Hence in this paper, my focus is to explain how the Cameroon Anglophone crisis have rather negated polical freedom  in Boyo Division through  political pluralism and elections, rule of law and the degree of freedom of speech and expression and find out possible ways to gain political freedom apart from war.

Main question

What are the  negative impacts of Anglophone crisis on political freedom in  Boyo Division?

Specific questions

How is the Cameroon Anglophone crisis affecting freedom of speech and expression in Boyo Division ?

How is the Anglophone Crisis Affecting free and fair are elections in Boyo Division ?

What are the possible ways to gain political freedom apart from war?

Hypothesis

Main hypothesis

The negative impacts of Political freedom in Boyo Division are; a fall in the level of freedom of speech and expression, absence of free and fair elections, partial applicability of the rule and ineffective political pluralism.

Sub hypothesis

The Anglophone crisis is affecting freedom of speech in Boyo Division Negatively through kidnappings and wanton killings made by freedom fighters who speak out their ills, the closure of media houses, the state military penalize those who share Amba views and public authorities make speeches accompanied by armed military officers.

The crises is affecting free and fair elections negatively as only few political parties participate in elections, voters are scared to go to polling station for voting due to gun shots, only CPDM candidates are guarded to polling station by state armed forces and threats are made to voters by freedom fighters and their supporters before and after elections.

Political freedom can be achieved through a balance in the use of English and French languages in public affairs, Reduction in presidential powers, Effective implementation of the Cameroon decentralization law of 2019, Review of Cameroon constitution, national commemorations and monuments and Reinforcement of national and international judicial institutions.

Objectives of the study.

Main objective

To find out the negative impacts of Anglophone crisis on political freedom in Boyo Division.

Sub objectives

To find out how the Anglophone crisis is affecting freedom of speech and expression in Boyo Division.

To find out how the Anglophone crisis is affecting  free and fair elections in Boyo Division.

To find out possible ways of gaining political freedom apart from war.