While tomorrow Monday 9 January 2017 is the official date for the resumption of schools in Cameroon, instead of the usual resumption habits such as cleaning and ironing of uniforms, polishing of shoes, revision of notes etc, fear, panic and uncertainty is the order of the on the eve of resumption in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.
In separate interviews in today's edition of Cameroon Calling aired on CRTV every Sundays from 7am to 8:30, the ageing appointed Governors of the North West and South West Regions Adolphe Lele Lafrique and Bernard Okala Bilai respectively made public their positions and decisions ahead of tomorrow's supposed ghost town in the two above mentioned regions.
Parents of kids who school in the NW and SW regions are uncertain about the future of their kids as no official statement has been made as to if schools resume tomorrow or not. These are some views of two parents concerned
"Those who called up the strike in the first place should be able with the government to issue out a joint statement that will permit us to send our children without any fear of any attack on our children"
"I'm not preparing my kids for any school until I am sure that they are secured because the administrators will tell us that there is a lot of security in town but the thing I keep saying is that who will take care of my kids back home"
Their view are unique for one thing which is the security of their kids.
The Governor of the North West Region on Thursday 5 January 2017 was in Kumbo, Bui Division to chair a regional security meeting and had this to say about the security measures put in place by the government ahead of tomorrow's uncertain resumption of classes in his region: " security measures have been taken for the safety of the concerned..."
The Governor further called on the parents of the entire region not to frustrate their children by keeping them at home and advises them not to be misguided by the social media. In his words, the Governor said: "we are assured by the education stakeholders especially the regional delegates concerned that adequate measures have been taken for the smooth start of the second term..."
"Preparatory meetings have been organised by school proprietors and administrators with the administrative staff the class ready and adjust the time table to cover the time lost during the first term of the school year. Parents have been sensitized to send their children to school"
The governor was interrupted by a journalist. The journalist asked "Governor,you've mentioned security measures. Can we have some of those security details that will allow the people to send their children to school without being afraid that they might not be secured?
Governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique answered " it's not always advisable to give details of security plans in order not to give the opportunity to those who want to bridge security dispositions...
I am advising the population that they should not follow all those messages coming from the social media. They should not allow the NW Region to be taken hostage by those who are fighting for their personal interests. We have been told that the entire teachers of the NW region are ready to go to school..."
After the controversial and vague assurances from the NW Governor, here comes those of his SW region counterpart. Bernard Okala Bilai is not only rude and dense in his reaction, he is also very uninformed and as such deserves punishment. According to him, "the situation is reassuring for what concerns the resumption of classes on Monday 9 January 2017. After a whole month of absence of classes on most of the schools, the entire community of education is ready after all the sensitisations carried out by the authorities and some elites of goodwill. The entire community is ready to go back to school on Monday because all of us, the entire system has agreed that children should go back to school to acquire the necessary knowledge for the Cameroon of tomorrow as we usually say that the youths are the Cameroon of tomorrow. Many stakeholders of this system have decided to stop that play because it has lasted...
The people raised problems, they have claims and thank God the Head of State and the government listened to their cry and and the structure for dialogue has been put in place.
It's a crime to prevent children to go to school because education is the fundamental right of all the youths in the world and I want to mention that we are fighting Boko Haram because Boko Haram is against education. So those who are preventing our children here in the region to go to school are not different from Boko Haram. The Prime Minister have put in place necessary infrastructure for dialogue and you refuse to dialogue. You want only to use threat. You are threatening who? If you continue to strike instead of following the law and regulations for your problem to be solved it means you are a terrorist. The entire community of the South West Region are ready to face those terrorists themselves who are hiding behind the social media and threatening. We should be vigilant. Let us trust the Head of State and the government and the authorities.
A journalist ask the Governor: " Can you reassure in doubt that teachers will be present on Monday to teach despite the fact that the strike has not been called off officially?
GOVERNOR: Teachers will be there! Teachers will be in the classrooms because for the civil servants, I have a big file with names of those who were absent last month. If those names come back again, their salaries will be suspended because I'm in permanent contact with the four Ministers in charge of the education system: Basic Education,Secondary Education, Higher Education and Technical Training because civil servants are paid because you're to go to your work place...
For the private sector, I've had several working sessions with the responsibilities of several churches; PCC, CBC, the Catholic who assured me that their institutions are functioning thanks to parents' school fees...
Those are churches. They are not for violence. They respect the word of God as it is said in the Bible. And they expressed to me their gratitude towards the Head of State and the government who put in place those infrastructures for discussion. It's only through dialogue that these problems can be solved. They don't deny the problems...
After presenting what these colonial Governors have both said about 9 January 2017, I'll therefore give my own analyses of the situation with respect to claims by these governors especially that rude one of the SW region.
MY COMMENTARY
The first question I should be asking myself and you is; who's a governor in Cameroon and what's his duty? I respond to the question by saying that in Cameroon, the name Governor is attributed to someone who definitely bribed to enter into ENAM and could study nothing better than administration. He is appointed by the old president of the Republic of Cameroon after several puppet duties such as DO and SDO. His duty is to take care of the President's interest in his region and represent him well. In Cameroon, governors are appointed not elected so they have no direct cause-effect relationship with the population. After such a definition, I hope you now know who a governor is.
1.The governor choosed to hold his so-called security meeting in Kumbo because the youths of Kumbo have vowed to bring justice in Cameroon joined with the strong vocals by Hon. Wirba Joseph of Jakiri Sub Division at the National Assembly( which I term the assembly of hungry hand clappers)
2. As long as these governors keep on giving false hopes to the parents of the two concerned regions rather revealing the truth of the dialogue situation, schools will not resume on 9 January 2017. Well, I understand the pressure on them is enormous. The puppet master is ashamed of addressing the nation twice within two weeks. Why is the social media such a 'taboo' in the eyes, ears and mouths of of the gangster regime in Yaounde? The reason is simply. These old men and women of the buried generation are too thick to understand the global importance of the social media in this new era of interconnection.
3. The governor of the south west region as exposed his ignorance to the whole world by comparing the teachers/lawyers peaceful strike to terrorism. For his information, terrorism will start the same day he suspends teachers salaries as he claims. Does he even have the competence to do such a thing at this moment of in-house panic and confusion in Etoudi? Go on retirement oga!
4. Why does the governor keeps on generalising and involving the head of sate in his interview? He is confused.
5. The governor speaks poorly in the English language as such reminding us of decades of imposed administrators who know nothing about the anglophone culture.
6. Did I hear him say that the PCC, CBC and the Catholic church have expressed gratitude to the head of state? Liar!
It's clear that governors are not administrators in Cameroon. Since the demise in October of Governor Otto Wilson Joseph of the Centre Region in October last year, the region has been functioning prominent elapses.
Authors Note: The above post is inspired from today's edition of CAMEROON CALLING on CRTV. The above interviews were recorded in audio format and put down on paper by Njobe Serge. It's has taken me not less than three hours to type the post with my local phone.
There may be mistakes in the post. I plead that you correct the mistakes and give me the feedback on Facebook as usual. There are inconsistencies in the bold and italic presentation of the post. Believe me , I have tried my best to put this down on this blog. God bless you for reading and inspires you to contribute to the ongoing Southern Cameroon Struggle for Justice and Recognition.
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