Scholars Bulletin

Abbreviated Key Title: Sch Bull

ISSN 2412-9771 (Print) |ISSN 2412-897X (Online)
Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Subject Category: Social Sciences

A Historical interrogation on Cameroon Government Retorts to

Anglophone Marginalisation Expressions 1961-2016
H. Ami-Nyoh*
The University of Bamenda, Bambili, Bamenda, Cameroon

DOI: 10.36348/sb.2020.v06i11.002 | Received: 06.09.2020 | Accepted: 13.09.2020 | Published: 30.11.2020

*Corresponding author: H. Ami Nyoh

Abstract

The Republic of Cameroon today torn apart by a seemingly failing effort of integration was established by reunifying two
former factors of German Kamerun in 1961. This created in the new republic two constitutional identities; the
Anglophone and the Francophone each made of an area and a people having been governed by the United Kingdom and
France respectively under international supervision since the end of the First World War. The ensuing reunifying
constitution made integrating these factions capital. This integration, the Anglophone faction have recurrently blamed for
being bias as it subjected them to marginalisation. In this paper, note is taken of the array of literature on marginalisation
to make an analyses of the efforts made by government in response to the expressions of marginalisation as decried by
Anglophones. The paper observes existing realness in Anglophone marginalisation and argues that since reunification,
government has continuously made responses to the plight of Anglophones though most often, these efforts are half-
baked and emerge largely as a result of resistances which are at times violent from the marginalised minority. To this
extent, marginalisation has continued unabated making the achievement of national integration problematic.
Keywords: Marginalisation, integration, government efforts, constitution.
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original
author and source are credited.

world body, (League of Nations) came into being in

INTRODUCTORY BACKGROUND 1919 with a number of functional agencies established
The territory known today as the republic of to ensure the achievement of the leagues goals [3].
Cameroon came under German sovereignty in 1884 as a These arrangements continued to evolve in both British
German protectorate. This was sanctioned by the and French Cameroon until the disruption of the world
Germano-Douala Treaty signed between German order by the Second World War. By the end of the war,
authorities and local chiefs of the Douala area, in the United Nations Organisation had succeeded the
particular, then, gradually German influence was League of Nations as the world‟s organization in charge
extended into the interior through conquest and of guaranteeing world peace. This new organization like
diplomatic arrangements with the indigenous people of the league established agencies with which to
the interior as well as the signing of frontier agreements effectively carryout its mission. Thus the responsibility
with the British and the French to establish the of the Permanent Mandate Commission was inherited
international boundaries of German Kamerun [1]. by the United Nations Trusteeship Council [4].
Thirty-two years after the signing of the Germano- The terms of trusteeship for each territory to be
Douala Treaty, this German protectorate was placed under the Trusteeship System,
partitioned by the British and French in 1916 following including any alteration or amendment, shall
the defeat of the Germans in the territory and be agreed upon by the states directly
disagreement between Britain and France over the concerned, including the Mandatory power in
administration of the territory by way of a the case of territories held under Mandate by a
condominium [2]. member of the United Nations, and shall be
approved as provided for in Articles 83 and 85
At the post First World War settlement in [5].
Paris, there emerged the idea of putting in place a world
body with the objective to guarantee world peace. This
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 H. Ami-Nyoh., Sch Bull, Nov, 2020; 6(11): 238-246
With respect to this article, Britain and France about a quarter of its population making them a
once more engaged in separate agreements which minority. It is on this count that studies on relations
guided the administration of their respective factions of between the former Southern Cameroons and French
the Cameroons under United Nations trusteeship. Cameroon have often been characterised by the subject
Whatever was to be the terms of the exclusive of Anglophone marginalisation typically emerging from
agreements, Article 87 of the Charter stated that the existing/developing inequalities.
functions and powers of the Trusteeship Council
included consideration of reports submitted by the The subject of Anglophone marginalisation as
administering authorities, acceptance and examination a whole has been developed in an array of literature
of petitions and provision of periodic visits to the trust Suh, Ebune and Konings and Nyamjoh focused their
territories. This was to ensure that the council attained studies on the foundations of Anglophone Cameroonian
its ultimate goal which according to a statement made marginalisation with varying areas of emphases, Suh [7]
by UN Secretary General, Trygve Lie while addressing points to the absence of clarity in the international law
the opening session of the Trusteeship Council on 26 of self-determination which made entrepreneurs of
March 1947, was: statehood to engage politically in contending and often
… to give the Trust Territories full statehood... overlapping approaches to territorial sovereignty and
A successful Trusteeship System will afford a statehood. According to him, it was the ambiguous
reassuring demonstration that there is a nature of the principle of self-determination developed
peaceful and orderly means of achieving the into diverse political ideologies in British Southern
difficult transition from backward and subject Cameroons prompting the UN to grant independence to
status to self-government or independence, to the territory through a plebiscite. Following this
political and economic self-reliance [6]. plebiscite results, he asserts, British Southern Cameroon
could only attain independence by reunifying with
On the bases of this therefore, Britain and French Cameroon. The tempting political option of self-
France were under obligation to ensure the determination resurrected in the 1990s when the former
enhancement of their respective spheres of Cameroon to Southern Cameroonians started demanding for their
self-government and eventually to independence independence. From the author‟s point of view, the
whether this fell within their colonial aspirations or not. absence of clarity in the UN principle of self-
determination laid a foundation for what has become
In the pursuit to attain UN Trusteeship Council the Anglophone problem.
goals and with pressure from Cameroonian nationalists,
French Cameroun became independent as La To Ebune [8], the unrealistic goal of the
Republique du Cameroun 0n January 1, 1960 and in federal system of government that was adopted in 1961
October 1, 1961; the southern part of British Cameroon when British Southern Cameroon and La Republique du
following the results of a plebiscite held on February Cameroun united was central in the eventual
11, 1961 joined La Republique du Cameroun to form marginalisation of the Anglophones. He makes an
the Federal Republic of Cameroon. It is important to analysis of the role played by Southern Cameroonians
emphasise here that the plebiscite was a consequence of which made their aspirations a failure and observes that
divided opinion over the subject of how the Cameroons the federal structure was simply an annexation of the
under United Kingdom administration will emerge to state of West Cameroon by La Republique of
independence. With the outcome of the plebiscite being Cameroun. The Federal constitution that was adopted
reunification for Southern Cameroon, the established according to Ebune gave the Head of state absolute
political division was carried into the reunified powers as opposed to the loose Federation proposed by
Cameroon. Consequently, the constitutional making Foncha making it unfavourable for integration as there
process required national integration processes that was the absence of revenue allocation formula that
could accommodate not only the bi-cultural nature of could separate power between the Federal government
the territory established by the 1916 partition but and federated state governments in the Federal
equally to nit a fine link between opposing political constitution. To this author, marginalisation was evident
opinion that still loomed over the subject of as early as 1959 when Southern Cameroon politicians
reunification in former British Southern Cameroon after failed to agree at the Mamfe Plebiscite Conference on
the plebiscite in an effort to effectively integrate the the form of independence for their territory. The desire
different fragments in the territory. On account of this, to satisfy personal interest contributed to the collapse of
the option of a federal constitution was adopted in view the federal system and facilitated the annexation of
of integrating the divergence in culture developed West Cameroon state by the Republic of Cameroon.
throughout colonial history as briefed above. Within
these integrative efforts emerged the problem of Konings and Nyamjoh [9] see marginalisation
inequality as the former Southern Cameroons which as emanating from inequality that emerged following
initially became West Cameroon accounted for just the adoption of a two states federation in 1961, that is
about one fifth of the total land surface of the area and West Cameroon and East Cameroon. They traced the

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Anglophone problem to the creation of colonial Fonchingong [14] on his part gives an account
boundaries by Britain and France. Contrary to the of the efforts made by Anglophones in their quest for
general tendency among Anglophones to blame autonomy as orchestrated by marginalisation. He
Francophone elites for the Anglophone problem, the presents the galvanisation of concerted action posed by
authors observe that Anglophone political leaders bear Anglophones since 1980, the strengths and weaknesses
an important share of the responsibility of the that characterised these efforts and how government
Anglophone predicament. The authors have equally tried to frustrate the efforts put up by Anglophones. He
talked about Anglophone reactions to marginalization asserts that although Anglophone activists have
and creation of movements to that effect. proclaimed the restoration of the sovereignty and
independence of the Southern Cameroons at various
The development and expression of instances, composed an anthem, designed a flag and
marginalisation and its evolution has also attracted applied for membership in international organisations
academic discourse with the works of Jua and Konings, such as the United Nations Organisation, the
Kah, Kenfo and Ami-Nyoh and taking diverse but Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and the
related positions. Jua and Konings [10] liken the Commonwealth of Nations, the reestablishment of the
reunification to a loveless marriage arranged by the autonomy of the Anglophone region remains a forlorn
United Nations between two people who hardly knew hope, unless Anglophones sink their differences, put the
each other. They bring instances of discrimination common good before individual interest and decide to
against the Anglophone community and Anglophone fight it.
reactions against marginalization. They assert and
provide narratives to argue that there exists ample These studies have enriched the literature on
evidence to demonstrate that Anglophone nationalism is the origins of Anglophone marginalisation showing the
the result of a long process of Anglophone identity different areas of discrimination exacted on
formation and is currently feeding on the multiple Anglophones as well as efforts made by Anglophones
grievances of Anglophones in the post-reunification era. to express their grievances which developed from the
To Kah [11], Ahidjo exploited his position as a leader quest for constitutional reforms or the return to
of an independent country to dictate the terms of federation, pleas for separate identity institutions and
negotiation as concerns the federation that was adopted symbols to secessionist stance. It is on the heels of these
in 1961. The author concludes that, Ahidjo exploited that this paper attempts an analyses of efforts made by
some articles of the Federal constitution to his favour government in response to the plight of Anglophones.
and argued that for national unity to be achieved, To this effect, the paper argues that government
Cameroonians should look beyond their narrow responses have very often than not been in response to
horizons and their gullibility. This approach to demonstrations stages by Anglophones rather than an
governing systematically exposed the Anglophone urge to erase identity discrimination. Consequently,
Cameroonians to discrimination. Kenfo [12] observes these responses have been half-heartedly received by
that the 1972 referendum accelerated the frustration of the complainants as they observe continuing
Anglophones and occasioned differences that emerged marginalisation.
between Ahidjo and Foncha.
Constitutional Responses
Ami-Nyoh [13] in an attempt to demonstrate There is argument that in the Cameroon
the constitutional manifest of marginalisation which Republic, the federal idea was among some political
rendered the policy of national integration difficult to shades accepted only as a temporary measure. Shortly
realise observes that reunification between La after the Northern Cameroon plebiscite, in which the
Republique du Cameroon and Southern Cameroons in Northern Cameroon population voted for the integration
1961 could be aptly described as the coming together of with Nigeria, a conference under the theme
a master and his servant so that the master could “Reunification of Federation” was held by the Cercle
adequately exert authority over his subject. The national Culturel Camerounais, a group founded by
integration process, which in the sense of constitutional Cameroonian students in France. The conclusion drawn
processes, would have been enhanced by the federal at the conference was that federalism was not the best
constitution was rather marred by it, since there seemed form of government for a reunified Cameroon. [15]
to have been nothing federal in the constitution except They however asserted that federalism was appropriate
the existence of federated institutions that unfortunately for the immediate situation to give time for the
were soon eroded by federal institutions even before the harmonization of the different cultures. This was
demise of the federal system. This state of affairs has communicated thus:
often been used by Cameroonians of former West Donc, a moins d’être démagogue, tout le
Cameroon extraction to generalise the blame of the monde doit convenir que c’est une fédération
failing integration and the denigration of their identity qu’il nous faut aujourd’hui. Mais une
on the citizens of former French Cameroon faction as if fédération fondamentalement provisoire,
all the citizens were at decision making positions. transitoire et dont le dynamisme puisse nous

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acheminer, le plus tôt possible, vers un Etat With the federal instruments erroded, the
unitaire, seul idéal de tous les heros du Anglophones minority saw their identity clearly denied
nationalisme camerounais et que plusieurs ont as articles of the constitution and state symbols as well
déjà payé de leur sang…il faut pour cela un as institutions that reflected the dual heritage of the
délais, mais un délai n’est qu’un délai [16]. country were gradually dismembered. Institutionally,
there was, for instance, the abolition of the state houses
Therefore, the preferred model of reunification of assembly and the West Cameroon House of Chiefs.
for these students‟ bloc was clearly a unitary state. With Symbolically, one of the two stars on the tricolour flag
federation having been accepted as a temporal measure, (green, red, yellow), which represented West
they recommended that one legislative chamber be Cameroon, since they were the reason for its
considered with a strong central government as well as introduction, was removed in 1975. With this change,
no state Prime Ministers to avoid cost on the economy. former West Cameroonians saw their dominance by
What however came out of the Foumban arrangement their francophone counterparts heightened as the new
had some nuances with their aspirations. It is in these flag with a single star was actually the pre-reunification
regard that constitutional issues take precedence in the flag of East Cameroon. This is because as Dze-Ngwa
subject of Cameroon Anglophone marginalisation. In and Lang put it; “the various symbols of Cameroon
reality, marginalisation as presented in existing were fashioned in an effort to aid the process of national
literature largely emanated from failed constitutional unity” [19]. If West Cameroonians presumably were
aspirations, a failure which sustained inequalities and comfortable with the referendum to have massively
engendered discrimination at diverse levels. voted in favour of a unitary constitution as the
referendum figures portray, they were at least frustrated
In concise terms, political developments with its institutional and symbolic relegation and
leading to the establishment of a one party system in somewhat rejection of their identity. But then, they had
Cameroon, described in political lexicons of the time as no choice except to remain comfortable with what they
efforts towards national cannot be disassociated from did not engage for in 1961. The regime in power had
constitutional lapses which gave the head of state, the used decrees to create administrative services whose
powers to rule by decree. With such powers, acts of powers undermined those of state authority, leaving the
subversion rather than being a declaration of state laws citizens in West Cameroon with the permanent
initiated by the judiciary on the basis of the law were impression that the state government had nothing to
declarations of the president which he used to brutally offer [20]. This undesirable situation however
repress all acts of opposition. In 1965 for instance, a skyrocketed when in 1984 the name of the country
West Cameroonian deputy, Anthony Nguijoh dared to changed from the United Republic of Cameroon to the
propose reforms to the electoral system with the hope Republic of Cameroon; the name of the independent
that the electorate will be provided with a wider choice country with which British Southern Cameroons
of candidates for elections to the National Assembly. reunified to form the Republic of Cameroon [21]. This
He was charged with subversion and given a two year provoked tention and mistrust in reunification amongst
custodial sentence by a Victoria based Military Tribunal Anglophones some of whom took secession as an
[17]. To Anglophones of West Cameroon extraction, option declaring the independence of a country they
such action was disintegratory though to the regime it named Republic of Ambazonia with numerous groups
could represent republicanism given that the created to fight the Anglophone plight.
constitution had subjected the judiciary to the president
and therefore any reform proposal that could mar the This pressure from the anglophones coincided
intended power protection of the president could be however with national pressure for reforms that spurred
treated by the „president‟s court‟ as an act of the government to convene the Tripartite Conference
subversion. Therefore, by use of presidential leading to the constitution of 1996 which according to
prerogatives, constitutional options which could have the government was an opening of a landscape to the
enhanced civil and political rights were marred, forcing worries that were explained during AAC I and AAC II.
citizens to live in dissonance [18]. In this case, some The Tripartite Conference was convened by president
Anglophones naturally judged the act as discriminatory Paul Biya from 30th October to 18th November 1991 to
to their identity. It is possible that this had an impact on solve the political and economic crisis caused by radical
the amplification of UPC activities understood in opposition partiesʼ protracted ghost town campaign was
Cameroonian pro-leadership lexicons of the times as attended by representatives of government, opposition
acts of terrorism. It was within such political tension parties and civil society. At the end of the Tripartite
that the federal instruments were dismantled for a Conference, a technical committee was set up to work
unitary system to be adopted in Cameroon. This was on constitutional matters under Joseph Owona,
however nothing but a failed effort on the part of Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic as
government to enhance national integration by Chairperson. Among the members of the committee
integrating the Anglophones while effectively were Anglophones like Benjamin Itoe, Barrister Sam
expanding their grievances. Ekontang Elad, Dr Carlson Anyagwe who became

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inspired and organised the All Anglophone Conference began to quest for institutions that will guaranty the
I held on the 2nd April and 3rd 1993 in Buea to discuss welfare of their identity.
Anglophone participation and contribution to the
national debate on constitutional reforms in Cameroon The Institutional Response
[22]. The federal constitution made the English and
French languages the official languages in the Federal
AAC I as well as AAC II, called for the return Republic of Cameroon. At the level of education,
of the federal system and declared the unitary bilingualism was introduced in order to foster the
constitution as illegal. In response to this quest, the bilingual nature of the country. In an effort to enhance
government controversially terminated the bilingualism and achieve national integration an
constitutional process by promulgating the 1996 experiment on bilingualism was conducted in the Buea
constitutional which opted for a decentralized Unitary Bilingual College where an equal number of
state. This approach was out rightly contradictory of Anglophone and Francophone students were admitted
constitutional making and instances especially if such is to follow intense linguistic courses in each of the
intended to deliver the peoples‟ desires. Constitutions, official languages. These students were put together in
Aristotle opined, gave an identity to the polis, which linguistic classes and taught for two years in French and
meant that a change in the constitution brought about a English. At the end of the four years of training, the
change in the polis: Anglophones and Francophones were to sit for the
For since the polis is a community of citizens BEPC examination but the Francophones were not
in a constitution, when the constitution of the obliged to sit for the General Certificate of Education
citizens changes and becomes different in (GCE) Ordinary level because the course dispensed in
kind, the polis also does. We may compare the 5th year of the Francophone system had nothing to
with a chorus, which may at one time perform do with the set Anglophone examination questions. This
in a tragedy and at another in a comedy and so practice was interpreted by the Anglophones as
be different in kind, yet all the while be assimilation and was particularly disadvantageous to the
composed of the same person [23]. Anglophones because it did not allow for effective
preparation for the General Certificate of Education
In this direction, Aristotle stresses the examination [26]. Therefore the attempt by government
importance of citizens‟ participation in constitutional to enhance the teaching and learning of the two official
procedures to ensure that they are committed to it languages conversely ended in the provocation of
because it is the citizens‟ commitment that makes the request for a separate examination board for the English
objective of the constitution to be attained. In the sub-system of education occasioned by imbalance in the
Cameroon constitutional development process, very application of the policy on bilingual training.
insignificant efforts were made to ensure citizens‟
commitment to it. Consequently, an identity frustrated The quest for the establishment of an
by constitutional provisions naturally preferred to resist autonomous GCE Board which started in 1983,
and where reforms were not introduced to remedy the continued till 1993. The pressure from TAC and the
situation, calls for secession emerged. parents made the Minister of National Education,
Mbella Mbappe to forward a report with favourable
The preamble of the 1996 constitution clearly comments to the Prime Minister on 7th January which
stated that, the state shall ensure the protection of was to be passed to the presidency for a final decision.
minorities and shall preserve the rights of Responding to this request, a decree creating the
autochthonous population in accordance with the law General Certificate of Education Board was signed on
[24]. The constitution transformed Cameroon into a July 1, 1993. On October 25, 1993, the GCE board was
decentralized Unitary State with provinces [25]. The effectively established in Buea and Sylvester Dioh was
clause on decentralization was in response to the appointed its first Chairman, Andrew Wara, the TAC
Anglophone plea for federalism which to an extent President was appointed its first Registrar [27]. This
brought the people closer to the government. institution became the official body responsible for
Notwithstanding, government failure to quickly setting, marking and distributing public examination
compliment this decentralization hastily waved away results for the English sub-section of Education in
the good faith which some Anglophones had nursed in Cameroon for secondary schools at two stages;
the effort. But while the constitution preached Ordinary and Advanced levels. Though it took too long
protection of minority rights, did the for this decision to be arrived at, it was a positive
administrator/politician ensure its application? The No response from the Cameroon government because this
which answers this question is the reason for which institution was purely an Anglo Saxon institution
Anglophones have continued to decry inequalities in created to preserve the Anglo Saxon culture there by
government appointments, public service positions, curbing down the fear of “frenchification” of the
recruitments in the military amongst others. As their Anglophone culture.
grievances were not adequately attended to, this identity

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Another institutional area where Anglophones in the context lof human resource development as the
expressed their marginalisation was in the domain of increase in success rate was not however directly
higher education. Cameroon higher education started translated into increase post-university success rates
when the Federal University of Cameroon opened its considering that in the professional institutions which
doors in 1962. By the end of the 1977/78 academic year till present are the major access routes to public service
it was observed that this institution with about ten jobs in Cameroon were French language dominated. In
establishments was facing numerous challenges addition to Frenchspeaking staff dominance in these
including; a student population rising above public service institutions, access was a great problem
infrastructure and staffing viability, orchestrating as competitive entrance examinations into institutions
numerous deficiencies one of them being the problem like Ecole Normale d‟Enseignement Technique
of language use drawn from the linguistically diverse (ENSET) Douala and the National Advance School of
nature of the country [28]. The problem of student- Engineering were often in French language or atleast
lecturer ratio and congestion posed the problem of based of the curricula of the french subsystem of
success rates which in 1992 stood at 30% resulting from education. Therefore, the policy of Buea unilingual
congested lecture rooms and linguistic diversity. Within university did not effectively establish any safe haven
this context the numerical superiority of French- towards enhancing the higher education prospects of
speaking lecturers made things worse as marginalisation anglophones. It is worthy to emphasise here that
was decried by English-speaking students who were students‟ academic efforts are primarily guided by the
disfavoured by the policy of individual bilingualism need to acquire a better job, to earn a good salary, to
[29]. According to Tambi and Njeck at the University gain an appreciation of ideas, and to prepare for
of Yaounde, 80% of lectures were delivered in French graduate or professional school [34]. Therefore the
and only 20% in English. In the midst of these opening of an anglo-saxon university in Buea and latter
disparities, it became common for English-speaking in Bamenda while being a response to anglophone
students to blame poor results to the fact that the demands did not effectively overcome the problem of
professors lacked the linguistic competence to properly marginalisation in the educational sector.
understand andcorrect scripts in their second language
[30]. Such cleavages provoked the rise of a series of Even with the creation of the UB in 1994, the
strikes from English-speaking students which Konings Anglophones still felt that the departments were not
has termed; “Anglophone nationalist struggle” [31]. As enough to handle the challenges that the Anglophone
a result of these pressures and other weaknesses students were facing at the time. With the ups and
suffered by the system, the Cameroon university system downs of Ombe technical school in the South West
was reformed. This reformation gave birth to five Province of the Anglophone region where the
additional universities out of which three were made to representatives of the Union of Parent Teachers‟ Trade
practise individual bilingualism these were the Association, UPTA, and the Cameroon‟s Teachers
Universities of Douala, Dschang and Yaounde II and Trade Union, CATTU, campaigned to persuade parents
the two others were unilingual ; the University of Buea to withdraw their children From Government Technical
and Ngaoundere [32]. Colleges saying children pursuing studies in those
Technical Schools have no future, because of lack of
The creation of the University of Buea as an qualified staff and poorly-equipped workshops and said
Anglo saxon University was a government response to the campaign will intensify if government failed to
the rising request for a solution to Anglophone students create Advanced Technical College for Anglophones
plight in the University of Yaounde. This newly created with same status as the Polytechnique Yaoundé [35].
university emerging out of the 1993 Cameroon and the low profile attitude of Anglophones on
university reforms was made monolingual with English technical education by the 1980s and 1990s up to about
as a unique language of instruction. According to 2000s made Anglophones to find themselves wanting
Ngwana [33], the birth of unilingual universities and everything that had to do technical education was in
actually helped in increasing university success rates in French Cameroon. Most Cameroonian pupils
the country. Students‟ success rate which in 1992 stood progressing to secondary schools choose general
at 30% in the then university of Yaounde generally education rather than technical, nevertheless, with an
observed an increase as in 1995/96, that of the increase in unemployment, technical education
University of Buea was 70%, University of Dschang graduates have had for the pass years an edge over their
48%, and University of Yaounde one 48%. Thus, the general education peers in finding employment [36].
reforms did well in shifting success rates upward [33]. Higher Technical Teacher Training College (HTTTC)
Though the reform succeeded in improving success Bambili was then created with the hope that teachers
rates, it actually stifled the achievement of unity in could emerge to be able to teach in technical schools in
diversity, as young learners in the unilingual institutions Anglophone Cameroon. This culminated in the demand
remained disconnected from their fellow countrymen of by the Teacher‟s Syndicate spearheaded by the frequent
the opposite culture. Over and above this, the gap strikes in the University of Buea crowding in the
between Anglophones and Francophones was widened university hostels and overcrowding in the Amphi

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Theatres. The University of Buea alone could not the real enemies of South Westerners [39]. Seemingly
accommodate the population that was flowing from the this action was alternatively used to lay same blame on
Anglophone backgrounds. Consequently, demands for the population of the South West Region when the
the creation of another Anglo Saxon university were regime appointed someone of the North West to the
made by civil society organisations and politicians for position of Prime Minister, Head of Government.
which of course by 2011 the government responded
positively. Repression to dilute the attempts of anti-
centralist also took centre stage. The members of the
Deconstruction of the Anglophone Identity by Anglophone movements created in the 1990s were
Government frequent victims of government repression. A case in
The reaction of Anglophones at the time of point could be seen from government‟s refusal to permit
democratization became manifest in the emergence of the AAC I hold in 1993 at the campus of the University
an opposition party, the SDF and other Anglophone of Buea and in 1994 the government attempted to
movements which posed a series of threat to the obstruct the organisation of the AAC II in Bamenda that
national stability. In reaction government adopted some it was planning secessionist moves [40]. The agents of
strategies to deal with the Anglophone problem. One of the government attempted to obstruct the holding of the
such approaches was trivialisation by which the AAC II by announcing over Cameroon Radio
separateness of the Anglophone identity was simply Television (CRTV) that the meeting has been
ignored by brandishing the common identity which the postponed by the conveners and the announcement was
two cultures had under German rule. President Paul purported to have been signed by Dr Simon Munzu, Dr.
Biya argued that the unitary system was the best and Carlson Anyangwe and Barrister Sam Ekontang Elad
suitable form of state to Cameroonians within a multi- all of whom refuted the claim. CRTV was not able to
ethnic context and that the unitary system adopted in provide a copy of the announcement and refused to
1972 was as a result of a referendum ballot and broadcast a disclaimer prepared by Dr. Simon Munzu
therefore expressed the wishes of Cameroonian. There [41]. However, the government might have tried to stop
was also the practice of demonisation by which AAC I from holding at the University campus
authorities in government equated federalists thinkers to purposely because it was an academic environment
secessionists. Paul Biya persistently suspected secession which in normal circumstances should not be involved
was a hidden agenda of the Anglophone strife for in matters that concern politics. The University Campus
federalism. He was not very far from the truth as this was not a safe ground for such a meeting especially
was evident in the Southern Cameroons National over the fact that it put the lives of students at risk.
Council celebration of independence by hoisting of
their blue and white flags in parts of Anglophone CONCLUSION
Cameroon. Anglophone leaders along these lines were The bone of contention in this paper has been
therefore presented by the government as extremists to assess the reaction of government towards the
and radicals [37]. recurrent decry of marginalisation by Anglophone
Cameroonians. Drawing from an array of literature,
In response to the Anglophone problem, the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroonians has been
government of Cameroon also used the divide-and-rule topical with divers positions taken by government to
tactic with considerable success splitting Anglophones address the ugly phenomenon. From the findings of this
by using the cultural and ethnic differences that exist paper, there is hardly any consistency in government
between the North West and South West Regions taking retort to the plight of Anglophones. Rather, there is
advantage of the fact that the two Anglophone regions evidence that each time the marginalised identity have
are geographically and culturally dissimilar. Apart from brought their grievances to public space, some half-
colonial experience, there is no marker of identity for baked attention is given to portions of the grievances
the people of North West and South West [38]. Through presented. These government efforts have usually inter-
this approach government created an intra-Anglophone twined between trivialisation, repression, institutional
rivalry that was used to weaken the Anglophone change as well as constitutional shift. This persistence
community. Developing from this state agenda, the in the lack of coherence and consistency in addressing
population of the South West region began to complain an age old problem have left marginalisation and
about North West domination in political Anglophone resistance to marginalisation unabated and
representation, Paul Biya quickly responded by seem to be at the centre of Anglophone radicalisation.
appointing Peter Mafany Musonge of South West origin By this approach, Cameroon has no guarantee of peace
to replace Simon Achidi Achu who was of North West as the Anglophones continue to have reason for some
origin as Prime Minister in 1996. Subsequently, more sporadic though unfairly organised violent resistance.
politicians of South West background were appointed
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