Time for Cameroonians to move to the last resort to get things done.

- Felix Teche Nyamusa,    SDF Presidential hopeful

On the heels of the just ended National Executive Committee Meeting of the Social Democratic Front SDF in Bamenda, Felix Teche Nyamusa an aspirant for the post of National Chairman and Presidential hopeful for the SDF party has declared that it is time for Cameroonians to move to the last resort in order to get things done. He said continuously calling on President Paul Biya to assume his duties or to resign has not been yielding results. The party he said needed new impetus and a completely fresh approach for things to happen. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante. He begins by talking about what he thinks the party should be doing in the build up to the National Elective Convention.  

Teche Nyamusa Felix

The party has already done something though what has been done is still very superficial. The National Executive Committee has talked on a number of things concerning the Anglophone crises and taken a very good stance on the crises giving conditions for dialogue which I think is meaningful. The problem in Cameroon is beyond the crises in the Anglophone set up. The Anglophone Crises no doubt constitute a great part which can result in the split of contemporary Cameroon. As a party we could put in place measures that can conveniently address the Anglophone problem and also solve problems that Cameroonians as a whole are going through. The Party put a date for the Convention from the 25^th to the 28^th of October and asked militants to pay party dues in preparation for the convention which is good. I however think that the party should do much more than just call on the Biya Regime. The Anglophone leaders have been doing more than just calling on President Paul Biya to make sure that the lives of English Speaking Cameroonians is improved upon. They are seeking the right to self determination and I think the problem can   be solved through Good Governance. As a party, the Social Democratic Front has not done anything to make sure that ELECAM which is a CPDM creation is scrapped. It is ELECAM which is a CPDM thing that is going to conduct the elections and proclaim the results. The teachers and Lawyers went on strike and these are political weapons that can be used. We cannot spend our time calling on Biya to do this or that. We should borrow a leaf from what the teachers and Lawyers have done. It is constitutionally provided that when a people talk to their leaders for a longtime to change and they don’t then they should move to the last resort to get things done. The last resort is the resistance that will get things done like the Lawyers and Teachers have done. It is time for Cameroonians to move to the last resort to get things done.

Don’t you think some of the changes Anglophones are clamouring for have been met with?   

The changes made are superficial and not far reaching; that’s why Anglophones have persisted in their resistance. There are more things to be done which the Anglophones believe is constitutional. The best way to convince English Speaking Cameroonians is to show them that when Nyamusa comes to power Good governance will be guaranteed. The absence of Good Governance is at the core of the matter.

What is Teche Nyamusa proposing?

My manifesto is based on a Two State Federation unlike the Four State Federation that Fru Ndi is brandishing which is unfair to the Anglophones considering the conditions under which they came into this union. They came into a Two State Federation which is Bilingual, Bijural and Bicultural. Many years after, you cannot be talking about the Anglophones having a smaller population. A two state federation simply means everybody will be considered as an equal. Today the Anglophone thinks that he is considered a third class citizen and not even a second class. As we cruise towards the Presidential Elections, I think the party at the level of NEC has not yet addressed the issue.

There are supposed to be primaries at the base in the Wards and Districts before a National Elective Conference. Using your District as an example, how are things going?

There you come again. The party has not done anything in that direction. The National Elective Convention was postponed but the party constitution talks of primaries even at the level of the Wards to the Districts and the Regions before the Convention. This has not been done and where it has been done it has not been publicly proclaimed. The SDF is not a private outfit but the people’s last hope. It was not clearly stated during the last NEC that since the elective convention had been slated for October, this is how primaries were going to be handled. For example; stating clearly that for the position of Chairman these were the number of candidates vying for the post on the national territory. If we don’t involve the people, we will not also get them to vote. The people know that under the present circumstances CPDM will always win so they need to see new impetus and new strategies being put in place.

There is this educational blockage and September is just around the corner. What do you think has to be done? Students in the English Speaking Regions of the country have peculiar problems but it seems they will just be pushed to school like the rest who went to school last academic year.

The government has put September 4 as the date for school resumption. Some months ago I made a suggestion. In a two state federation states are different and have different Laws that are shaped by specific realities. This means that the English speaking kids must not necessarily go to school on the same date with French speaking pupils. The English speaking Cameroonians and French Cameroonians should come up with specific proposals that tie with their cultures that will facilitate employment for graduates after they leave school. Government has refused to dialogue with the teachers so if they say they are starting in January well so be it. You don’t ask somebody who is idling in Yaounde for autonomy, you go for it. Take the case of Bantu Education that was introduced to black communities in South Africa while white kids received circular education. Blacks rejected this and after a year of strike created an educational system rooted in their culture. This directly resulted in change in the country and the fight against apartheid that culminated into present day South Africa. The Anglophones should come out with a blue print of their educational proposal and on time. They should implement it and people will go for it. It will be outrageous for any soldier to come to a school and see children learning and spray bullets on them. The Anglophones have the man power to draw curriculums and run the schools and there are private schools to implement it. There are teachers who for a start can volunteer to teach for free if need be. In a Federal State, the Federal government will eventually have the means of paying them.''

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