"The Anglophone Crisis is now used for Business"
-Senator Kinyang George
-Senator Kinyang George
While decrying the killings, back biting, settling of scores, destruction and hate that have hijacked the struggle of Southern Cameroonians or the Anglophone Crisis as it is commonly referred to, Senator Kinyang George has equally decried the fact the belligerents are now turning the Anglophone Problem into a lucrative business. In tribute to the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam he insists that Federalism which the late MP supported fiercely could provide all the solutions to the Anglophone Problem. He said a Two State Federation could save the country from all the violence, killings and destruction that was presently going on. The Late Hon Mbah Ndam he said struggled to put this idea across throughout the Anglophone struggle. Some quarters he said understood his stance while some did not.
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What are those things that you vividly remember about Honourable Mbah Ndam?
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I remember him as a University Don. It will surprise you that he even taught me at the University of Yaounde. The only University that we had at the time in the Republic of Cameroon. He taught me Civil Procedure between 1990 and 1991. He was one of the Pillars of the party. He was the Lead Counsel or the most Seniour National Legal Adviser of the party. He as such played a very big role in orienting the party legally. Most of the political actions could not also be carried on without his Legal Advise. I consider him to be one of the most intelligent university professors that we have had in this country. He contributed greatly to bring democracy under the platform of the SDF into Cameroon. My only disappointment and disagreement with the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam is the fact that he accepted to run for the last Twin Elections. To me it was a political blunder.
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Can you revisit his tenure in the National Assembly and his contribution towards revolutionising the ways things were done there?
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He started his political career as an SDF Parliamentary Group Leader when he just got into Parliament around 1997. He was one of the pioneer Parliamentarians of the party. He was also appointed as one of the questors of the National Assembly and from there he occupied the post of the Vice Speaker until his demise. As a Bureau member, there was nothing undemocratic that could pass in the Bureau of the National Assembly with him present. He actually played the role of the Opposition in the Bureau of the National Assembly. You know that we are in a dictatorship where everything that comes from the Government is just adopted without even considering opposing opinions but the Late Honourable Mbah Ndam used to stand his ground. He used to orientate the party on serious political actions to be taken at the level of the Bureau. You see, the measures that were taken to defend the Southern Cameroons position with regards to marginalization and other related issues were spearheaded by Honorable Mbah Ndam. I get so embarrassed when I see people writing and castigating him that he did not defend the Southern Cameroons position. His outings are there and the videos are there to show that even at the level of his own village, Mbah Ndam stood against the marginalization of his people. Cameroonians should not be castigating Mbah Ndam because he was a Federalist. Federalism is the position of the SDF and it is also another way of fighting for the liberation of Southern Cameroonians. The SDF has always stood for a Two State Federation, insisting that we should go back to the 1961 Constitution. It centers on getting political power and being able to take Administrative Decisions. Everything coming from the Central Power should not be imposed. The SDF has always insisted that we had to revert to the 1961 Federal System or the Two State Federation. With this Two State Federation, Anglophone problems would be solved without resorting to this violence and killings, self destruction, settlement of scores and hatred. We are presently experiencing all of these and it is not doing us any good. Mbah Ndam spearheaded all of these and it will be unfair today for him to be described as a black leg or somebody who faught against the interest of Anglophones. It is unfair. We need to be truthful in our approach and to consider other opinions. Mbah Ndam has been pushing the story of the Southern Cameroons to the International Community using the platform of the parliament since he was a parliamentarian. He was a CEMAC Member of Parliament so these are all International Platforms that he used in the fight. People should not think that its every one who has to take up arms and go into the bushes. It is not everybody who has to fight for the Anglophone course physically. I salute Mbah Ndam for all that he did for the Anglophone Community.
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We are slowly seeing the exit of all the "grey cats". Are you also of the opinion that it is time the party mutates from the older generation to a younger and more vibrant generation?
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Yes all the older people are going. It is normal. These older people constitute the pioneer members of the party. Age ushers in illness and most of them have been sick. That's the truth about it and its not about getting into politics or changing hands. The shift simply has to do with age and ill Health. The SDF is conscious about this and that's why the Chairman Ni John Fru Ndi did not stand as candidate during the last Presidential Elections in Cameroon. That is why it was Honourable Joshua Osih Nambangi, a young and dynamic person who stood as Presidential candidate. At the level of the NEC National Executive Committee, most of the delegates who are in Command today in terms of Administration and Leadership are of the younger generation. The party is quite aware of the fact that we need to reform and hand power to the younger generation. Subsequently many decisions will be taken in that direction to strengthen the party. This will build more confidence in the population and make them know that the SDF remains the only political party on which they can count.
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Any message to Mbah Ndam's immediate family and to the SDF family?
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The family should know that everybody is passing and that everybody is going to die. These things happen so that we can learn a lesson from them. I grew up as a christian and my dad was a Reverend Pastor. These things happen for us to know that we are in a temporal world. I was very scandalized when a certain Social Activist Abdul Kharim sent a write up which has gone viral on Social Media in which he questions what Mbah Ndam was going to benefit from gaining the world and losing his soul. It is a very embarrassing position for someone whom I had respect for to take. Who is he to Judge Mbah Ndam? Is he God? I don't know if in Islam you can judge but in Christianity judgement is the sole prerogative of God. He went as far as stating that Mbah Ndam took a political option that was temporal. Is there any political option that is permanent? That write up is emotional and when emotions come in, we lose reason and cannot solve problems. This issue of the Diaspora trying to encourage violence has destroyed us. We need to re-strategise to see that this fight which is very genuine is well managed without us hating one another, without us back biting and using it for business. Everyone is now using the Anglophone Crisis for business. They have forgotten that there are people in the bushes with nothing to eat and no medicine to take for their illnesses. I say farewell to Honourable Mbah Ndam. He did all he could do. We appreciate what he did and we thank God for him and his family. I pray that the God that has taken him should give his family the strength to accept his departure.
Interviewed in Yaounde by Francis Ekongang Nzante
Cameroon People Magazine: Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com or francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel: +237696896001/+237678401408
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