Editorial: Why Akere Muna as president may resolve Anglophobe crisis.

Truth be told, it is not only an "Anglophone problem" but that of the entire nation reeling in the soaring cost of living. The Biya regime has been unable to resolve the political mechanism driving the conflict in the two English-speaking Regions of the country. 

With presidential election coming up next year, The Guardian Post joins other patriotic Cameroonians, civil society organisations and opposition political parties, which last week endorsed Barrister Akere Muna as their candidate for the presidency, to state that the time for an Anglophone presidency is now or never.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the eight-year conflict in the North West and South West Regions, has its roots from the Foumban Conference, which envisaged a power rotation; that, if a Francophone is president, his vice should be an Anglophone and vice versa. For over six decades, Francophones have monopolised the apex job and squeezed Anglophones to the marginal fourth position of the ladder of power.

During a coalition assembly of some 20 opposition political parties and Civil Society Organisations, NGOs, that rallied behind Barrister Akere Muna, the leader of the Union of Populations of Cameroon, UPC, a party that was at the forefront of reunification, Madam Habiba Issa, was unequivocal in raising the rotatory issue. She said it was time to give power to Anglophones, who she insisted must also feel like Cameroonians.

“Today, we the citizens have the final word. We can decide our own destiny. If we don't decide our destiny, politics will. Let's rise up,” Habiba said.

The UPC leader added that: “We are bringing shame to the African people. After 40 years, Cameroon is living in misery. Let us choose a peaceful transition, free and transparent for an Anglophone candidate because two Francophone mandates are enough”.

In a recent interview, the Senior Associate and Regional Director for West and Central Africa at the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, NDI, Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, also said it's time for an Anglophone to become Cameroon’s next Head of State.

His answer, which The Guardian Post identifies with, is that: “An Anglophone can fix this country. Not just because it is an Anglophone; not just because our cultural upbringing has embedded in us certain values of fairness, of justice, of equity and equilibrium vis-à-vis everyone but also because Anglophones have the credentials and have proven their worth”. 

Dr Fomunyoh added that an Anglophone as Head of State will also “be able to address the grievances of Cameroonians across the board and be able to give citizens a sense of belonging”. 

“It is that lack of sense of belonging that is stirring up the conflict in the North West and South West Regions,” he said. 

Having an indigene of either the North West or South West Region, as Head of State, Dr Fomunyoh added, will be another major way of sending a message across to citizens that all Cameroonians are equal.

He stated: “It is a way of showing that every Cameroonian is a hundred percent a citizen of Cameroon...there is no second-class citizen. If that is the case, then let’s show it. If the taste of the pudding is in the eating, as it is commonly said, then let’s see it happen in Cameroon”. 

As Prof Nkou Mvondo, President of Parti Universe, which has invested Barrister Akere Muna’s candidature said after the endorsement, Barrister Akere Muna is a rare pearl and meets all the requirements to become the unique candidate of the opposition coalition. 

Prof Nkou further explained that as agreed by the coalition, Barrister Akere Muna "is from the English-speaking Regions of the country previously administered by Britain. This alone, he said, accounts for his  good knowledge of the social and political realities of the country".

Akere's qualification for presidency, however, goes beyond being an Anglophone.

Prof Nkou Mvondo went further to extol his enviable international experience, in addition to his crusade against vices in the Cameroonian society.

We need not reiterate the catalogue of encomiums Akere was showered with to, gloss his qualification as a single opposition candidate, lest we equate him with the fable of "the king is naked".

What should, however, be of concern for his success as said by human rights activist, Barrister Agbor Balla, is that “the election in 2025 will be very difficult because those in power don't want to leave. They want to die in power...we have to work together to change the country". 

For The Guardian Post, working together should involve bringing in politicians like Prof Maurice Kamto and Hon Cabral Libii, who already have their own alliances to see reason, justice, equity, solutions and opportunities of togetherness in giving an Anglophone a shot at the presidency.

Akere supported Kamto for the presidency in 2018. Courtesy demands that the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC, leader, whose path to run in 2025 is being blocked at every turn and twist, should throw his weight behind Barrister Akere Muna. Hon. Libii should also be convinced to back Barrister Akere Muna’s candidacy.

The ball, however, is now in the court of Barrister Akere Muna, who should lead the coalition to unite the two other opposition alliances behind him with agreements for post sharing, otherwise, it would be difficult to beat the ruling party in a country where polls have often been classified as flawed. 

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