From the Head of
State's End of Year Speech, to the beefed up Security measures that were deployed prior to the Twin
Elections that took place on the 9th of February 2020, and the wide range of massacres that
followed in the Northwest
Region and to a smaller extent in the Southwest Region, it is according to
many observers including this elite
an indication that the President has actually followed up with the execution of certain lines
of action that he made mention of in his End of year speech.
Since December
2016, Cameroonians have always looked forward to President Biya’s end of year
speeches with heightened expectations that he would announce some
groundbreaking measures that would lead to the resolution of the crisis rocking
the Northwest and Southwest Regions in particular and the general state of
dystopia that has progressively pulled the nation to its knees. However, the
general public has on each occasion been left wondering if the President was
truly aware of the acuteness of the sociopolitical problems that have held the
nation hostage. This was how Ngufor Peter, an elite from the Northwest Region
of Cameroon viewed it as he took a swipe at the unfolding events since the beginning
of 2020.
Looking back at the
2019 End Of Year Speech, he said it did not disappoint in terms of the
President’s routine puncture of the people’s expectations. Mixed reactions from
Cameroonians across the National Triangle poured in following the End of Year
Message of the Head of State President Paul Biya on the 31st of December 2019
even from his own party members.
Commenting on the
President's End of Year Speech, Ngufor Peter, CPDM bigwig and Anglophone elite
from the Northwest Region of Cameroon called on President Paul Biya to
apologise to Cameroonians. He equally called on the Head of State to grant a
General Amnesty and release everyone presently detained in relation to the
ongoing Anglophone Crisis which is in its fourth year.
Professor Messanga
Nyamdig, a staunch Biyaist and permanent member of the CPDM Central Committee,
had some hard words for the Speech Writers of the President. www237actu.com
reported that Professor Nyamdig did not hold back his thoughts as he gave a
very damning appraisal of the contents of Biya’s speech. The site noted that,
in an appearance on a local radio station in Yaounde owned by Sismondi Barlev
Bidjocka, Nyamdig “demonstrated that he was not won over by the President’s
Speech. "Paul Biya has not made any real announcements," the
Political Analyst said.
As a recap of the
speech, Paul Biya said the military would henceforth show no mercy for those
who continued to refuse to surrender and be forgiven.
He said the
Military would have no other choice than to combat them in order to protect
Cameroonians. "Our Defense and
Security Forces will, once again, perform their duty with restraint, but
without weakness. I wish to reassure them of my full support and high
esteem."
The President said
Cameroonians in the Diaspora were funding violence back home by continuing to
buy weapons and called on them to be more patriotic and to refrain from destroying
their own country.
Ngufor Peter CEO of
Farmer's House and CPDM bigwig from the Northwest Region said the Speech of the
President touched on key issues affecting the country including the Security
Concerns in the Northwest and Southwest Regions. He said the President also
made mention of the fact that Cameroon would experience a new beginning. This
he said was the most important aspect of the President's Speech. "This
means forgetting and forgiving and opening a new page."
Among other things,
Ngufor Peter said the President made mention of the recent Extraordinary
Session of the National Assembly and mentioned some bills that were passed.
Among these, he said what caught his attention was the bill on Bilingualism and
Multiculturalism. A bill which he had admired. "This should have emanated
from the constitution of Cameroon and now this has been done," he said
adding that "if that commission had existed maybe a few years back, then
Cameroon would not have been going through what it is experiencing at the
moment."
Marginalisation he
said was a huge mistake that Cameroon ignored for too long and only the crisis
finally drew the necessary attention to it. He, however, said resorting to war
was not good because our armed forces were trained to fight in wars and not to
fight against an unarmed population.
He condemned the
tendency to refer to a given group of Cameroonians as terrorists. "You
don't live with people for over 50 years and you get up one morning and call
them terrorists. The so-called terrorists are protestors."
He also questioned
the necessity behind the Special Status Bill. "Was it really necessary? I
am saying that we should not have allowed the problem to get to that
point." He said if equity was applied at all levels then there would never
have been the necessity to talk about Francophones and Anglophones.
"Let the armed
forces be withdrawn and let Law and Order be handed over to the Police and I am
sorry to say it but let me say it, the President should apologise. To apologise
doesn't mean that you are weak but simply means that you have seen your errors.
The word terrorists should be stopped from being used because there are no
terrorists in Cameroon."
On his part, Ni
John Fru Ndi, Chairman of the Social Democratic Front said he was scandalized
that Biya did not put in place measures to stop the Anglophone Crisis that was
in its fourth year.
He said after the
Major National Dialogue, Cameroonians expected him to free separatist leader
Ayuk Tabe Julius and his collaborators to allow peace to return.
"I expected
that in a speech like this he would say Anglophone activists, I pardon you. Now
with this Olive Branch that I have extended, can all those in the bushes
{fighters} come out let us talk," he said adding that "But Mr. Biya
said if you want peace, be prepared for war. I saw in him then that that was
somebody who wanted to fight under all costs before his term comes to an
end."
Les Gens Du Cameroun/ Email: francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237678401408/ +237696896001
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