The All Inclusive Peace Formular

Reflections: Amos 7: 12-15/ Mark 6: 7-13

Amos is sent to prophesy to the people of Israel just like the twelve apostles are sent out in the Gospel according to Saint Mark. Amos was a prophet by divine call. In his case, the call had come to a poor unsophisticated Shepherd and dresser of scycamour trees, a total outsider to the ranks of professional prophets. Much the same could be said about the men Jesus chose to be with. Jesus instructed them that the time had come for them to take an active part in his ministry. Their mission was an extension of His own mission and He gave them the power to accomplish this. In understanding his instructions as to what they were to take with them, we must remember that this was only a temporary mission of a short duration and limited to the surrounding Jewish towns and villages. The final commission in which they were to be sent to the whole world was yet to come.

God has made us responsible just like Amos and the 12 Apostles.

In a sense, believe in God is always is very uncomfortable because it increases our responsibility. If there was no God then there would be no point in being responsible. It just would be chaos and eternal night. If someone comes to us and asks our help, we should not turn him away with pious words saying, ‘Have faith; take your troubles to God and he will help you.’ In such cases we should act as if there was no God and as if there was only one person in the entire world who could help this person, and that person should be you. Reliance on the providence of God is an essential part of Christianity but it must not be used as an excuse for doing nothing.

This little story may help sink in the point here. “One winter’s day, a man came upon a small boy begging. The boy was shivering from the cold and obviously in need of a good meal. On seeing him, the man got very angry and said to God, “Lord why don’t you do something about this boy?” And God replied, “I have already done something about him.” This surprised the man so he said, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this but whatever you did doesn’t seem to be working.” “I agree with you there” God replied. “By the way, what did you do?”, the man asked. “I made you”, came the reply.”

There is nothing wrong in asking God to right the wrongs and comfort the suffering but we must remember these tasks have been entrusted to us. We are God’s instruments. That is our dignity and our responsibility. We must become convinced that without our love, others will not achieve the things God has willed for them.

In Cameroon today, it is our responsibility to make sure that our nation achieves the objectives that God had willed for it. How are we therefore going to succeed in overcoming this seemingly herculean task? Is it going to be achieved by always blaming our failures on others? – Must things be addressed on social media using hate language?-Must the community be completely polarized as we have it now with extremism having taken center stage? 

God has been kept out of it and perpetual darkness is threatening to claim Cameroon. If we assume our God given responsibilities from the President, the Prime Minister, the Senate, the Lower House, the Chiefs, the Military, the ministers, the Judiciary, the journalists (Print, Social Media,TV, Radio), the medical practitioners, the religious,… each and everyone dutifully carrying out his role then there would be no – killings amongst ourselves- victimization of people simply because they come from a given part of the country( a Cameroonian is simply supposed to be a Cameroonian) –blaming others for our failures –Using hate language and divisiveness in our publications that may build up to a genocide.

If we don’t work as Gods instruments which is our dignity and our responsibility then darkness will prevail and we will be manipulated from the outside by dark forces with an intention of stealing what is not theirs at our expense. This is the all inclusive peace formula. Failure to see this will mean only one thing. Your guess is as good as mine.

Francis E. Nzante 

Edev Newspaper/ Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel:+237696896001/ 678401408/ 696594138/669542467g

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. 

EDEV Web News/ Email: edevnewspaper@gmail.com/ francoeko@gmail.com/ Tel:+237696896001/+237678401408