Separatist agenda will gather steam if Anglophone is not Vice President!.

That arrangement, at least, placed a politician from the North West or South West Region on the second rung of State power, with the legal possibility of becoming Head of State in case of a vacancy.

But under the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement,  CPDM regime, Anglophones have been relegated to the fourth position, which is one of the triggers escalating the blood-spilling conflict pitting separatist fighters and government forces for the past nine years and counting, in the two Anglophone Regions of the country.

On the eve of last October presidential election, there were calls that an Anglophone should be the presidential candidate of the ruling party. 

In that school of thought, The Guardian Post persistently encapsulated the aspiration and vision of the people of the North West and South West Regions for a united, peaceful and judicious Cameroon; with an equilibrium of power sharing.

Historically and legally, what is today known as the Republic of Cameroon, is an amalgamation of two separate States of Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, which had its independence on January 1, 1960, while the former had its own on October 1, a year later.

There has never been a dispute that "two States" came together. There were some conditions, but we are concentrating on one: "If a citizen of East Cameroon is President, his compatriot of West Cameroon shall be Vice and vice versa.”

Patriotic Cameroonians of mettle across the board, expressed the need for an Anglophone to be the next President of the country before last year's Presidential poll.

Senior Associate and Regional Director for West and Central Africa at the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, NDI, Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, had argued that it was time for an Anglophone to become Cameroon’s next Head of State.

Why?  His answer was that an Anglophone as Head of State, will “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”.

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

“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 now. If the taste of the pudding is in the eating, as it is commonly said, then let’s see it happen in Cameroon,” he had stated. 

On September 28 last year, he was echoed by Prof Nkou Mvondo, President of Party Universe party, who, at a political event in Yaounde, advocated that an Anglophone will usher in hope for a new Cameroon.

He was supported by the President of UPC, Habiba Issa, who declared that it was time to “give power to Anglophones, who must also feel like Cameroonians...”.

“We, the citizens, have the final word. We can decide our own destiny. If we don’t decide our destiny, politics will...,” she had said.

She explained further that: “We are bringing shame to African people. After 63 years, Cameroonians are living in misery. Let us choose a peaceful transition, free and transparent, for an Anglophone candidate, because two Francophone mandates are enough”.

The ruling party, which has the knife and the yam, even in electoral matters, as expected, did not heed the genuine and patriotic calls from patriotic Cameroonians. 

There were speculations that a Constitutional revision was being prepared in secret, under the leadership of the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, to introduce the post of Vice President.

It left nationalists and patriotic Cameroonians pointing out that the post of Vice President should be reserved for Anglophones, who have for years been complaining of marginalisation in all facets of public life and infrastructure.

But as it emerged last Saturday, to the chagrin of Anglophone nationalists and alacrity of separatist fighters, President Biya has been given a blank cheque to appoint a Vice President, without specifying that he or she should be an Anglophone.

Members of the National Assembly and the Senate, meeting in Congress on Saturday April 4, 2024, adopted Bill No. 2094/PJL/P, establishing the post of Vice President.

Going by the bill, in the event of a vacancy at the Presidency, the Vice President will assume power, unlike the current constitution, which grants power to the President of the Senate to act in the interim and organise elections within a maximum period of 90 days.

President Paul Biya is expected to promulgate the bill establishing the post of Vice President into law, in the coming days and proceed, in accordance with the text, to appoint a Vice President.

The Guardian Post understands that the succession issue has been the motivation to panel-beat the Constitution to guarantee "continuity" and "stability".

At The Guardian Post, history will bear us witness that appointing a Vice President among those who have been involved in a "clan war of succession" in which Anglophones were not involved, would amount to opening up an internal competition and beefing up the separatist resistance.

Senators and parliamentarians have prioritised CPDM party hierarchy's "continuity", but will it guarantee unity, justice and peace?

Will it not give a bandwagon momentum to separatist warlords, given that force cannot end the fighting in the two Anglophone Regions, which is bleeding the entire national economy?

As Jean-Jacques Rousseau should remind the Head of State, an avid reader and apostle of peace: “The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms his strength into right”. 

The Guardian Post’s position is clear and unshaken- it is the right of the people of the former West Cameroon State to occupy the post of the highly-awaited country’s Vice President!

Anything short of this, we must warn, will be tantamount to emboldening the argument of separatists that Anglophones are treated as slaves and second-class citizens in a country they call theirs. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3752 of Monday April 06, 2026