“Internet users bill of right is the next thing that we plan to work on” - Coordinator of "A Common Future Organisation"

Gwain Colbert is a Media Personality, Radio host and Coordinator of A Common Future Organisation in which he functions as the Internet Right Consultant. In this interview he states among other things that his organisation looks at the internet as a Human Right just like water, electricity, shelter and education. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante of EDEV Web News on World Press Freedom Day at the Presbytarian Church Center in Bamenda.

Gwain Colbert doing a presentation on World Press Freedom Day in Bamenda

 What inspired you to work as an internet right consultant?

I started this work in 2014 as an Internet Right Activist and I was more intersted in internet more as somebody who wanted people to have access to internet and relevant content because I discovered many Cameroonians were not benefiting from the availability of internet. Not up to 1.7% of Cameroonians were enjoying the internet so it was still a problem.  Even when the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications announced that they were to open internet points in all the Sub Divisions and Divisions, I realised that what they were doing was more of a political propaganda. They started in 2013 that they were going to open local ICT Centers in all the Sub Divisions but 2014 and 2015 came past without ICT centers being opened and even the ICT centers that were being launched in distant places like Ngelemenduka, Mesaje and the rest were not working because the staff were not motivated and the internet that the campaign was offering was not enough to sustain the centers. We discovered that before the relevant content, accessibility was actually a problem. 

What structure are you working in to realise these goals?

I work for A Common Future. It is a platform which believes that whether you are a man or a woman, an anglophone or francophone, we have a common future. So we are intersted more in constructive ideas and things that will create new opportunities for society to move ahead. We are adressing issues at the periphery and making them main stream. We discovered that we need to make voices seldom heard online to the global community. That’s how A Common Future Organisation got involved. Decision making in Cameroon is managed by 20% of people mostly in high places and we are providing an alternative for the abandoned greater percent to be involved in the governing of their country. Social Media is another platform that internet offers that’s why we realised that a lot of dreams can be realised through the internet. There are a lot of social media platforms that have been involving people so women who have been disadvantaged in society are bridging the gap. Teachers are bridging the gap and the gender gap is already being bridged. 

What are the grounds so far covered in the ongoing campaign?

We started this because government was enacting a law in parliament that could permit it to block the internet anytime that it wanted so our campaign was geared towards the law makers, the media, and other stakeholders to block government from ever passing a law that would make it possible for such a thing to occur. The United Nations and the African Union Conventions  and declarations on internet rights and freedom principles has said that no matter what is happening no government has any right to slow down the internet or to slow it down. The campaign started on February the 15^th and will end on August the 15^th. We discovered that the older people in society knew nothing about the internet and that media practitioners did not yet know that access to the internet was a right. We as such have a lot of sensitisation work to do.NGOs are supposed to realise that they are supposed to factor the internet as a human right in their range of activities. We have reached out to parliamentarians in Cameroon and during the last parliamentary session we were active. We also met with CPDM Parliamentarians when the Prime Minister was holding meetings in the Northwest to see that things return to normal in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country.We used the occasion to remind that government already passed a law on cyber security that in case of necessity it would be individuals and not entire communities that would be victimised. We are saying that even after internet has been restored issues like access and relevant content equally still have to be addressed.

How did you exploit the World Press Freedom Day and its theme to put forth your aspirations?

The theme was about critical minds for critical moments and media role in creating a just, peaceful and inclusive society. One of the things that make a society to be inclusive is the internet and if you cut off internet from one part of the country you cannot say the country is one and indivisible. Internet equally gives us an opportunity to be critical and if the theme talks about critical minds then a mind can only be really critical nowadays if it has access to the internet. Cutting off the internet means uncritical minds for critical times. Government has no right to take the internet because it is not a gift from the government in the first place. 

What is the next big thing that you plan to work on?

Though we are still sourcing for funds, the Internet users bill of right is the next thing that we plan to work on. We have discovered that government can go to the extent of intimidating internet service providers like MTN, Orange, Nextel and Camtel. This was because the government did not see that the providers have a responsibility to the users. Of course a lot of things have been going wrong with the internet. There has been a lot of hate speech and the Woman's right has been violated among many other things. We are working on the security of journalists online, and means to protect the data of ordinary citizens online. This can only be done if there is an appropriate law. All stakeholders should work together to make sure that internet cuts don't become the new order in Cameroon. 

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