Gains, challenges of Major National Dialogue five years on.

At least 600 delegates from all sectors of national life were consistent and varied in sharing ideas on reworking certain things within the polity for peace to return to the English-speaking regions.

By the time the delegates rose on October 4, 2019, a lot of recommendations had come to the fore, touching issues far beyond the situation that provoked the convening of the dialogue itself.

But like President Paul Biya had said as at the time he was announcing the gathering, the Major National Dialogue has invariably become synonymous with the search for solutions to the concerns of Anglophones.

The dialogue had ended with a majority of delegates albeit dissenting voices sounding positive that the stage had been set for the quieting of smoking guns, reviving communities, refreshing the economies of the two regions, rebuilding it, causing the return of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, return of refugees and disarming of youngsters who had taken up arms against the State.

Additionally, when the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute, closed the dialogue on October 4, 2019, declarations  followed of a national commitment to enhance Cameroon’s bilingualism experience, decentralisation, granting and entrenching a Special Status for the North West and South West Regions among others.

Five years since the gathering, Cameroonians are face-to-face with the gains made and the pains still lingering on in the English-speaking Regions.

For one thing, analysts say the government, through the Prime Minister whom President Biya handed the task, must be commended for taking some daring steps in improving the situation of things.

Many are unanimous that even if the North West and South West Regions are yet to hit pre-2016 levels when the crisis sparked off, the thickness of the dark clouds that choked just everything has greatly lightened.

Looking back to five years ago and where the North West and South West Regions are after the dialogue, analysts say Dr Chief Dion Ngute and his team have reasons to hope for even better days ahead.

What came in the form of government’s commitment to revive the two regions was decree No.2020/136 of the Head of State, Paul Biya, creating a follow-up committee to ensure the implementation of recommendations of the Major National Dialogue. 

Since the dialogue, that committee which has the assignment of assessing how what was agreed upon is being implemented has met four times.

What has changed five years on?

One of the first positive signals from the government after the dialogue was the signing into law of the law on regional and local authorities which ushered in a new decentralisation drive.

Within what government considers as new-look decentralisation, the North West and South West Regions fit in a Special Status. Today, the two regions have bicameral Regional Assemblies comprising houses for traditional rulers and that for regional councillors.

Both assemblies are spiced with features which officials have continued to argue make for the nostalgic positives of the West Cameroon days that defined local development in alignment with Anglo-Saxon culture.

Five years since the dialogue, the North West and South West Regions have been witnessing the presence of unique Regional Assemblies that are addressing unique local development needs.

Traditional rulers are back to the fore in charting courses related to local development, sustenance of culture and adjustment of chiefdoms. The assemblies now manage budgets that run in billions of FCFA and have the powers to address of the needs of the population.

Texts have further been signed with empowering the Regional Assemblies with to also play key roles in the educational life of the two English-speaking regions.

An ombudsman has also seen the light of day in the North West and South West Regions through the offices of Public Independent Conciliators. It is a quasi-independent structure unique to the two regions that has brought pressure to bear on local authorities and competent administration to prioritises public good.

Thanks to the offices of Public Independent Conciliators granted just to the two regions, many council services are now free in the North West and South West Regions. 

People now have the chance to complain and be head on the way their local councils are run. We thing have this before the major national dialogue and those who heralded its holding have been looking back in delight.

Cameroon today has a law on the promotion of its official languages French and English. Thanks to the law, the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, NCPM, has been active across the years in strengthening the equal use of English and French languages.

Most government institutions and other citizen-focused enterprises have adopted their operations to the reality of  Cameroon’s bilingual status. 

In the military, health sector, education, public finance and more, Cameroon has moved up the ranking order in terms of putting to use her official languages since delegates discussed at the Major National dialogue.

Reconstruction plan gaining steam 

The Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the North West and South West Regions, PPRD-NW/SW, is another goody from the Major National Dialogue bouquet.

The PPRD-NW/SW came to the fore in 2020, months after delegates approve reconstruction efforts and the need to revive life across the troubled regions.

Today, the plan has in four years and still counting played the catalyst on all fronts in reviving the North West and South West Regions. From its initial design that made the United Nations Development Fund, UNDP, as the sole implementing partner to the July 2024 decision of the Prime Minister to readjust the scheme, the recovery pace has gained momentum.

Under the UNDP era of the PPRD-NW/SW, a lot was done in reviving communities especially through social ventures such as sporting competitions. That helped to thaw the tension that had gripped most communities.

Many IDPs through the moves started returning home and farms were being worked, leading to a boost in farm harvest across rural communities.  The PPRD-NW/SW then advanced to rehabilitating and rebuilding some vital community infrastructures such as schools, community halls, youth empowerment centres, roads rehabilitation among others.

In addition to this, thousands of lost documents have been re-established for those who lost them or saw such destroyed in the heat of the crisis. 

Today, the PPRD-NW/SW as per the July adjustment has been opened to multiple implementing partners. Councils and major corporations in the North West and South West Regions have been brought to the table of working to fit the bolds where needed to hasting recovery.

Thus, institutions such as the Livestock Development Fund, CDENO; the North West Development Authority, MIDENO, the Upper Noun Valley Development Authority, UNVDA in the North West Region, are major partners in the reconstruction process.

In the South West Region, the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, and PAMOL Plantations, key stakeholders in Cameroon’s economic vitality plus the South West Development Authority, SOWEDA, are up to further enhance the process of building back better.

Facts, figures of rebuilding NW, SW

Findings by The Guardian Post, indicate that multiple projects have since been realised across the North West and South West Regions since the dialogue was held five years ago. The intervention has come through different channels.

For instance, Ministry of the Economy Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT, within its 2023 budget allocated 10 billion FCFA to the reconstruction plan. 

Besides, there has been significant progress in the execution of public investment projects in the two regions. In September 2022, the execution rate was 53.6% and 31.05% for the North West and South West Regions, respectively.

For roads, most of which have been constructed or works still ongoing, we have; the Babadjou-Bamenda stretch which is divided into four lots viz; (Lot 1: Babadjou-Matazem, 17km; Lot 2: Matazem-Welcome to Bamenda, 18.35km; Lot 3: Welcome to Bamenda-Ecole des Champions, 4.90km; Lot 4: the stretch through Ecole des Champions to Amour Mezam Bus Agency to Finance junction to Veterinary Junction to Hospital Roundabout to Food Market to City Chemist Roundabout to Veterinary junction (11.990 km).

Other road projects are the Bamenda (Nkwen Fon’s Palace) to Bambui Junction to Bambili road axis. We have the Andek to Acha Junction to Njikwa to Andek and the Mbengwi to Njikwa to Menka to Widikum to Andek to Mbengwi road.

Meanwhile, the Ring Road section “Kumbo-Ndu-Nkambe-Mesaje” divided into three lots (Lot 1: Kumbo-Ndu, 39km; Lot 2: Ndu-Binka-Nkambe, 31km; Lot 3: Nkambe-Mesaje, 18km) is under construction.

In the South West Region, works are ongoing on the Kumba-Mbonge-Ekondo–Titi Road that runs through Meme and Ndian Divisions with the treatment of critical points for the construction proper. 

The Engineering Department of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, is handling the project. Phase one of the project which consisted of general clearing of the right-of-way and maintenance of traffic for the construction proper to start was long done. Now, phase two which is the road construction is ongoing.

Still within Ndian Division, we have construction of an eight-meter bridge over River Iriba in Ekondo-Titi; construction of a 100 meters embankment at Idabato.

In Manyu Division, there is maintenance work on the Besongabang-Ossing-Nguti; Ossing-Kembong-Ayukaba; Eyumojock-Out-Ekang roads.

There is the rehabilitation of the Besongabang-Ossing Road. Work is also ongoing on the Bawuru-Akwaya-Nigeria Border road. Then, there is the construction of a 10-meter span bridge over Monyengang River in Egbekaw in Manyu Division.

For Fako Division, there the tarring of 700m of the stretch from Mutengene Old Junction to Plakeinin; rehabilitation of 1.5Km Communal Road from NR 3 Opposite GNS Bonadikombo to Baptist Church Bonadikombo. Added to these is the maintenance of road at Mano'war-Bay to Bonabile Layout Limbe III municipality.

The list also registers rehabilitation works on the road from Ikundi Street Junction through Babuti to Afosi Junction; Rehabilitation of communal roads from Black Bush Culverts Stretch-Bitter Leaf Quarter-Telca-Monongo-Baptist Academy N8 in Muyuka municipality.

Records also show the rehabilitation of 4.0km communal road from Pendamboko Junction to Mungo River to Ajotem/Merry Land Sandpit in Muyuka municipality.

For Kupe-Muanenguba Division, there is the construction of a six-metre bridge over River Nkack in Bangem; the tarring of 32km of the stretch from Bangem to Melong Phase I; Rehabilitation of the Lola-Nzolak-Nloh road Phase I.

We have phase II of the tarring of 32km of the stretch from Bangem to Melong; Phase II of the rehabilitation of the Lola-Nzolak-Nloh road in Kupe Muanenguba Division. Works have either started or the projects have been awarded to contractors.

We can also cite the maintenance/rehabilitation of the Gendarmerie-Satom Bridge-Old Police Post to Yaounde Quarter Road; maintenance/rehabilitation of the Big Johnhole to Small Johnhole Junction-Main Park exit to Gari Quarter Road. Rehabilitation works of the Loum-Tombel-Kumba road has also been done.

The construction of 24km of the stretch from Akak to Osselle is also an outcome of the reconstruction agenda. To this we can also cite the rehabilitation of the Esubi-Querry Road; maintenance of the Kombou-Magha to Nchingang-Talung Road; maintenance of road Tinto-Ntenembang to Eyang Atem-Ako road; rehabilitation of the access road to the twin lakes of Muanenguba; rehabilitation of the Ngongo-Njungo road.

Boosting social infrastructure

In this domain, information from the technical secretariat of the national dialogue show: the construction/rehabilitation of 22 schools having more than 7,000 pupils in Mezam, Menchum Divisions in the North West Region and Fako and Meme Divisions in the South West Regions.

There is the construction/rehabilitation of 16 health centres that take care of more than 5,000 patients each month in Mezam, Donga-Mantung and Bui Divisions in the North West Region. 

Over in the South West Regions, such gains have been made in, Fako, Manyu, Kupe-Muanenguba and Lebialem Divisions.

Access to water for over 170,000 people

We can also count as per the same report, the construction and rehabilitation of 19 water supply systems that provides water for more than 170,000 people in Mezam, Donga-Mantung, Fako, Kupe-Muanenguba, Lebialem, Ndian and Manyu Divisions.

There is the supply of equipment to more than 2,400 farmers and fishermen in Ndu, Nkambe, Santa, Bangem, Tombel and Kumba I sub-divisions. 

Through reconstruction efforts, there has been support offered to 47 cooperatives and rehabilitation of five community credit funds. There is the provision of operational kits and financing of 120 start-ups.

Reconstruction of the courts of Bali and Tombel are also fresh gains. Meanwhile, the construction of courthouses in Batibo and Limbe were also far advanced as at the end of 2023.

Penitentiary infrastructures in Kumba and Kumbo main prisons, the Bamenda Central Prison, and the National School of Penitentiary Administration have been rehabilitated and are functioning fully.

There is the construction of two multipurpose youth promotion centres in the North West (Bamenda I and Santa) and in the South West Region (Limbe I and Tiko municipalities). Meanwhile, the centre in Mamfe has been equipped.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education has disbursed 1,008,123,500 FCFA to the North West and South West Regions within the same framework. Focus has been on social cohesion, rehabilitation of infrastructures and revamping the local economy.

For the 2023 finance year, the Major National Dialogue Technical Secretariat indicated that the Ministry of Social Affairs allocated 256,650,000 FCFA to the North West Region and 303,300,000 FCFA to the South West Region, for the functioning of its services.  This had to do with the coordination of structures, technical units, and specialised institutions.

In the same year, the same ministry set aside 131,000,000 FCFA for development of social infrastructures. The North West Region received 76,000,000FCFA with 21,000,000 FCFA for rehabilitation of the Social Centre in Balikumbat; 50,000,000 FCFA for the construction of the North West Regional Delegation of Social Affairs and 5,000,000 FCFA for rehabilitation works on social entities. 

In the South West Region, the amount was 55,000,000 FCFA. 5,000,000 FCFA was for the repairing of the Social Centre in Buea and 50,000,000 FCFA to build a fence round the Bulu Blind Centre.

Within the framework of E-National Higher Education Network, two digital development centres have been constructed and equipped at the universities of Bamenda and Buea.

We also have the rehabilitation of Bamusso, Isangele, Kumba, Fundong and Kumbo Women’s Empowerment and Family Centres, WEFCs.  There was also the equipment of Kombo Abedimo, WEFC.

Other post-dialogue cross-domain feats

True to what delegates agreed on during the dialogue, five years on, there are plethora of other gains which when catalogued tells the story of consistency in reviving the crisis-hit regions.

These comprise; Order for the special recruitment of 500 Translators and Translator-Interpreters into the public service. Today, there is a bilingual broadcast of the Prime Time Radio Newscast of 5p.m. to 6p.m. on national radio.

We can also cite, the mandatory use of English and French languages by cabinet members in all public events. To this can be added the translation of documents from English to French and vice versa, and the speaking of English and French by staff of the police during public security operations.

Using the two official languages (English and French) during coordination meetings, translation of official documents into both languages, and the putting up of notices and sign posts in the two languages is another major harvest in the major national dialogue recommendation implementation chain.

Specific gains in education sector

In this domain, there has been the allocation a package of 2 billion FCFA to private secular and denominational schools in the North West and South West Regions.

There has also been a significant increase in the number of students going back to school in the two regions since the Yaounde gathering of 2019.

To further boost schooling, government has taken measures to ensure the free enrolment of International Displaced Persons, IDPs of school going age.

The records show a spike in yearly enrolment of pupils and students across the concerned administrative units. For instance, even the face of separatist threats as the 2024/2025 academic year went underway in the first week of September, at least 12000 students answered present across the North West Region.

The number of operational schools have also more than doubled in the two regions. In addition to this, there have been special presidential instructions to redeploy teachers to schools that lacked them.

Other youth-boosting initiatives that have added up to other traditional gains of the dialogue are; the setting up of an incubation centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Social Economy and Handicraft to the tune of 100,000,000 FCFA.

We can also count: the creation of a Department of Public Law in Anglo-Saxon universities of Buea and Bamenda; Creation of the Department of English Modern Letters at Higher Teachers Training College, HTTC, of the University of Bamenda; Creation of Higher Technical Teacher Training College, HTTTC at the University of Ebolowa and the recent opening of the Higher Teacher Training College, HTTC, of the University of Buea.

Stepping up number of Anglophones within judiciary 

With the Special authorisation of the Head of State, came the integration of the first crop of 250 Common Law magistrates and 150 Court Registrars.

At least three batches have been trained at the National School of Administration and Magistracy, ENAM, since the holding of the dialogue in addition to the two other groups trained before the dialogue. 

The training of magistrates of English expression on administrative litigation and audit, has also been done as recommended. Consultations are ongoing for the creation of a law school.

Enhancing disarmament 

To further strengthen ground work of the National Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration Committee, DDRC, created in 2018, government accelerated moves.

Emerging from the MND, government created an inter-ministerial Committee for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. 

Thanks to multiple actions engaged such as offering psychosocial, spiritual and physical help to repentant fighters through de-intoxication programmes at the three centres in Bamenda, Buea and Mora, have seen close to 4,000 youngsters dropping arms to restart a new life.

Beyond contacting families of those carrying arms to further contribute to peace, government has invested 23,000,000 FCFA on training in the DDR Centre in Bamenda and 21,000,000 FCFA for the same purpose in the South West Region.

There is already a moral rearmament project towards the socioeconomic reintegration of ex-combatants. Actions have equally been taken to prevent and counter the proliferation of Small and Light Arms. 

This has been in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament and the African Union, AU.

Thanks to the Moral, Civic and Entrepreneurial Rearmament, REARMORGE, some 73 ex-combatants were trained and funded to the tune of 217,448,000 FCFA.

There have also been multiform trainings for women and girls especially Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs and refugees. The Inter-ministerial Committee to examine procedures for the reconstitution of the official documents of Ex-fighters and IDPs, has also been working. This is in addition to a special curricular for ex-fighters.

Humanitarian, social…actions 

Shortly after the dialogue, Biya first discontinued judicial proceedings against 333 persons arrested in connection to the crisis. In total, the technical committee for the follow up of the implementation of MND recommendations indicated at least 7,018 persons have been released. 

Thanks to the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Plan for the North West and South West, EHAP-NW/SW, thousands of distressed persons have received support from government. Thanks to the plan, at least 3,000 IDPs have received relief in addition to 600 former refugees in the South West Region who escaped violence and went to Nigeria. 

At the level of the Ministry of Social Affairs, MINAS, over 49,632 IDPs have received support through different services while 20,444 others have received assistance ranging from psychosocial care, material, educational and financial needs. These figures are according to the Technical Secretariat of the MND.

In 2023, the Ministry of Social Affairs made an allocation of 110,000,000FCFA for 46 councils; 22 municipalities in the North West Region and 24 others in the South West Region.

The Ministry of Social Affairs also offered 4,500,000 FCFA to the Mbengwi, Njikwa, Wum and Santa councils for the Mbororo indigenous people. It was in line with the National Action Plan for the Development of Indigenous Population.

Community revivals

Since the recommendations of the Major National Dialogue, a lot has changed, across the North West and South West Regions. Several peace actions have resulted in the revival of communities. 

Cultural festivals, religious gatherings and other activities that made life thick and enjoyable before the crisis have been revived. The result has been a massive return of IDPs to their communities as peace continues to return. 

Other actions by gov’t

In the meantime, other actions undertaken by government before now to end the crisis include: the creation of the National Advanced School for Local Administration, NASLA, in Buea, South West Region; the replacement of appointed Government Delegates with elected City Mayors; deployment of English-speaking magistrates, the creation of the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development and the classification of the North West, South West and Far North Regions as Economically Distress Zones.

Military, civilian collaboration

The government, analysts say, has also come to realise that collaboration from the civilian population in the crisis-plagued regions is a significant ingredient in fostering peace.

The Head of State, President Paul Biya, said in his December 31, 2021, address to the nation that newfound collaboration between the military and civilians has greatly contributed to bringing about relative peace in the troubled English-speaking regions.

Civil society endeavours

The civil society, including the media and religious bodies, have not been left out in the efforts to end the crisis. They have since the Major National Dialogue been brought into the fold of pushing for peace.

The civil society has been embarking on contemporary approaches in trying to encourage greater participation of the citizens in promoting peace and in finding solutions to their common problems. 

They have thus been proposing citizen-solutions through which the country can accelerate its progress towards the resolution of the conflict. 

The media has also been tailoring its reporting towards encouraging peace rather than fanning the flames of war.

Challenges 

Aside the gains made five years since the Major National Dialogue, critics say the trouble is far from fully over. Those still pushing for another dialogue say the pockets of resistance, persistence in separatist-imposed ghost towns, the Monday traditional ghost towns and repeated ambushes on security forces and civilians tell of work still ahead.

Others say given Cameroon’s diplomatic prowess, the support of its international partners to the rebuilding of the two regions has also been somewhat slow. 

This, it is being said, shows some traces of doubts among partners given that, occasionally, gunmen still disturb life across communities, sometimes delaying projects execution.

The fact that separatist activists have not fully surrendered despite some toning down since the dialogue, conflict experts say, shows the government still has to stretch further to fully ensure things fall in place for the good of all in the North West and South West Regions.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3246 of Tuesday October 01, 2024