Presidential Amnesty perceived as poisoned gift in some Quarters.

 Comment By Francis Nzante

Francis Nzante

Presidential Amnesty leading to the release of some 55 Anglophone activists has been viewed as a poisoned gift in some quarters. Following the euphoria immediately after the release, many unanswered questions are beginning to surface.

The questions touch on a wide range of issues. Out of the 74 “terrorists” in detention only 55 have been released and a lot of eyebrows are being raised concerning what will eventually happen with those still in detention. The continuous detention of one of the most popular detainees, the Radio Presenter Mancho Bibixy is also being viewed with a pinch of salt in the North West Region where he comes from. The question is, if Cameroonian Authorities truly want things to return to normalcy then why not release all the detainees for the nation to move to the much needed dialogue that has been proposed by almost all interested parties as the only way forward.

The conclusion by many is that prisoners are being used by government authorities as baits for the achievement of specific purposes. The release of these detainees just before school resumption on Monday September 4 was according to many Cameroonian weekly and Daily newspapers a move towards showing good fate in order to enhance school resumption in the two English Speaking Regions; to prevent a repeat of what happened during the 2016-2017 Academic Year during which there was almost no school attendance. This view was buttressed by declarations made by the leaders of the outlawed Consortium after their release urging schools to resume.

Meantime Barrister Ntumfor Nico Halle a leading peace crusader and Cameroonian legal luminary has said he is “accomplished but disappointed” and vows to continue on bended knees for the release of the others and general amnesty for those on the run.

Considering the fact that amnesty for those on the run has never been considered and that the fate of those not yet released still hangs in the balance, the situation has hardly changed. The palpable tension that was felt when court hearings of the detainees were continuously adjourned is still there. Activists still remain unsure and on the run while unreleased detainees still stand the same risks that they stood before. Last but not the least, school resumption has been a almost a complete failure in the two English speaking Regions.

Many and varied solutions have been proposed as the best way forward in the present impasse in which Cameroon finds itself. Both sides of the coin however have to come to a compromise and agree on a middle playing ground if any concrete solution has to be arrived at. The message on the wall is clear. A completely centralized government like the one presently in place in Cameroon is completely unacceptable to a majority of English Speaking Cameroonians. On the other hand, the extremist secessionist stance taken by some activists in the Anglophone struggle is equally unacceptable to the regime in place in Yaounde. The population, especially those of the North West and South West have been held hostage by the extremist stance of the two parties. The children can’t go to school normally because of insecurity and the economic weight of sending children to schools in the French Speaking Regions is weighing enormously on generally small income Anglophone parents.

Meantime there is this tendency for the Cameroonian government to persistently throw a blind eye at calls for a release of all detainees and an all inclusive dialogue to get things sorted out. 

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