Who is Anglophone, who is not?.

Cameroon’s thorny colonial history from the German era to when the territory was divided into two and handed to France and Britain to control as United Nations trust territories, is still visible across the country, decades after independence and reunification. 

The three former colonial powers, more especially France and Britain, left vestiges that have continued to define the way of life of the people, making such specificities more often than not, areas of debate.

With its antecedent shades of La Republique du Cameroun that enjoyed French rule and Southern Cameroons, which was a British territory to the Federal arrangement of 1961, born out of the reunification of the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, the dichotomy between who a Francophone and an Anglophone is in Cameroon is known right to the blood stream.

Even when it was known as the United Republic of Cameroon to President Paul Biya’s unilateral decision to rename the country through a fiat in 1984, as the Republic of Cameroon, the Francophone and Anglophone components of the country remain visible, several decades on.

Thus, in the Cameroonian setting, an Anglophone is an aborigine of the defunct Southern Cameroons and former West Cameroon or anyone born of parents whose roots are traced to present day North West and South West Regions. 

Irrespective of whether that person speaks French more than the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, he or she is an Anglophone. 

Regrettably, some persons in the country, including public office holders, have, for decades, been pushing an agenda that anyone who speaks English, or is born either in the North West and South West Regions of Francophone parents, is an Anglophone!

Analysts say it is hyper witchcraft for anyone who knows the country’s realities to be arguing that anyone who acquires Anglo-Saxon education is an Anglophone. 

Such a person, they say, may be an Anglophone by dictionary definition and not the political and historical definition of who an Anglophone is in Cameroon.

Cameroonians with roots traced to the eight other French-speaking Regions, analysts have continued to object, should never be considered Anglophones. 

They are insisting, and rightly so, that even if such persons studied in the United Kingdom and the United States, they will remain Francophones in Cameroon.

The same rule applies to anyone whose parents are natives of the North West and South West Regions, even if they are educated or not, they remain Anglophones.

Cameroonians born of Francophone parents in the North West and South West Regions, are also not Anglophones, going by the country’s understanding and makeup. 

Time to end decades of deceit against Anglophones

In the several decades of Anglophones screaming against widespread marginalisation nationwide, the tendency has always been that of the powers that be just handpicking anyone who speaks English, to appoint to a position meant for natives of present day North West and South West Regions.

It is a practice that has been on for years, with even ministers shamelessly bragging in front of television cameras that because their children speak English or studied under the English subsystem of education, they are Anglophones.

Children of a Francophone will never match up to the definition of who an Anglophone is for eternity. So too it is for Anglophones who will never be Francophones, irrespective of how impeccable their French is.

It is a reality, which for decades, persons, even those in the highest echelons of power, have battled in vain to obliterate. 

But given that truth is constant, many an Anglophone are saying that it is high time the Biya regime puts an end to the practice of Francophones who acquired Anglo-Saxon education, or were born and bread in any of the two English-speaking Regions, occupying positions meant for Anglophones.

Pundits have long qualified the practice as being provocative and throwing dust into the eyes of Anglophones. 

They insist that, what is meant for Anglophones should truly be theirs and not just for anyone who speaks good English.

It is common knowledge that several Francophones have ended up being Ministers, Ministers Delegate, Directors General and General Managers, simply because they speak English or were born and bought in any of the Anglophone Regions. 

Many Anglophones consider such a practice that has held sway under President Paul Biya’s watch, as a double insult on Anglophones which must stop without delay.

Why set records straight now?

Though the confusion over who is an Anglophone, which observers say and rightly so, shouldn’t even exist, if not of the bad intentions of some people in the Biya regime, has been on, The Guardian Post, which is unapologetic about upholding the interest of Anglophones, sees beyond the ordinary that it is more than urgent to brighten the difference.

The newspaper is aware that, with the Saturday April 4, 2026, amendment of the Constitution reintroducing the post of Vice President and President Paul Biya’s promise to appoint a new government and heads of public establishments, some people may want to deliberately cheat Anglophones.

Given the crucial bend the country’s political trajectory is taking, leaving the errors of the yesteryears to go on and subscribing to national unity sermons from the same persons perpetuating discrimination against Anglophones, would amount to joining the enemy to destroy oneself.

Mr President, keep to your words

President Biya, who, for decades, has been termed the father of the nation and a proponent of national unity, observers say, should use the moment of the serious change he has promised the nation to correct the errors of yesterday, especially when it comes to Anglophones.

It is President Biya who told the nation in his 2025 end-of-year address, on December 31, 2025, of his renewed resolve to correct all forms of injustices. 

Then, while vowing to give youths more presence in leadership, Biya had promised to “vigorously combat injustices arising from membership of a particular ethnic or cultural group, gender, religion or age group”.

“In this way, we will be able to better promote equal opportunities and enable skills that are too often overlooked at home and in the diaspora to participate in the lofty task of nation building,” he had said.

When he addressed youths in particular, on the eve of the 60th Youth Day, Biya again revisited his promise of working on several leadership changes to which young people will be considered. 

In line with Biya’s words, many hold the view that if there is one group that continues to endure humiliating injustice that urgently needs to be corrected in Cameron, it is Anglophones.

One of the ways to right the wrongs, they say, is for the President to ensure that what is meant for Anglophones doesn’t end up with someone else, simply because he or she speaks English whereas such a person is a Francophone.

Singing unity, denying its realities! 

There is a category of Cameroonians, especially Francophones, observers are saying and rightly so, who always try to downplay the Anglophone reality of Cameroon. 

Such persons, among them known intellectuals, some are arguing, are the real enemies whom the powers that be must deal with.

They argue that preaching national unity and at the same time trying to eclipse Anglophones makes rubbish of the many lofty ideas being projected to harmonise and modernise the benefits of the country’s two distinctive linguistic heritages.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3755 of Thursday April 09, 2026