Cardinal Tumi says anglophones would have been better were it not for reunification with La Republique du Cameroon. He equally said in this interview that North Westerners voted more for reunification. EXCERPTS below. Your Eminence, thank you for your time. Let`s talk about the Reunification Anniversary celebrations. Are you worried that to this moment Cameroon is yet to celebrate the event? No, not at all. But all the same, I am surprised that three years after, not even a date for the reunification has been fixed. It is important to celebrate such events if we judge that the reunification was important. And do you think it was important? Yes, yes. What striking memory do you have of Reunification? I was a student at Reunification in Enugu Major Seminary, and I remember asking my bishop, “after the reunification why do you continue to send us to Nigeria, When there is a Major Seminary in Yaoundé?” He was the first person to accuse me of being interested in politics (smiles).So he told me “that question is political?” I wanted to come back to my country and also you know, we (Southern Cameroons) were just a province in Nigeria. I remember the campaign by Foncha. It was the North West that voted largely for Reunification. The South West did not want us to leave Nigeria. Dr. Endeley spearheaded it. What stroke me so strongly was that many of us wanted to leave Nigeria and I asked myself why after so many years. I grew up practically in Buea where most of the senior civil servants were Nigerians. So I asked myself were they not Cameroonians? More than 50 years after reunification, Anglophones are not experiencing what they hoped for in uniting with La Republiqe du Cameroun. You have any doubt about this? I’ve asked myself this question, if reunification were organized today, will Anglophones vote for it? I have the tendency to say no, because I hear many who complain that the Anglophones have never occupied any important ministerial post like that of Secretary General at the Presidency, Ministry of Armed forces, Ministry of Higher Education and so and so forth. About 5 to 10 of such positions of authority. Anglophones are always second fiddles in positions. A Francophone asked me once, do you think Anglophones are marginalized? Do you think they are second rate citizens? I told him, I don’t know. But I know that they are always sub- directors in parastatals. So Reunification has been frustration for the Anglophones? I think so. However, others who are on their private affairs do not care whether there is Reunification or not. But young Anglophone Cameroonians who want to exercise their right don’t see any headway. That is why the SCNC started. It started in 1992 because it is believed that an Anglophone won the presidential election that year but he did not become the President. I heard that France said jamais un Anglophone a Etoudi (never an Anglophone in Etoudi). Who do you think bears the blame for this Reunification frustration? Well, the system. The antagonism between the English world and the Francophone world is transported here. Since this place was confided to France, it developed it as if it were its colony and they think wrongly that if an Anglophone becomes a President he might deviate the interest of Cameroon to the Anglo- Saxon world. What France is doing is not fair because it is purely political; it is looking at its own political and economic interests. That is why when Fru NDI won the election in 1992 after calling for the boycott of French goods, France stepped in to ensure that he didn’t come to power in Cameroon. Have you face problems in Cameroon because you are Anglophone? Not really. But I remember one of the worst English speaking Prime ministers called me and said the regime was very displeased with my utterances because I had said over an overseas radio that if elections were well organized the ruling party will have problems. And do you still maintain that view? I don’t know what to say today because at that time I could see the opposition coming up as a new force. And today, is the opposition weak or strong? No, it’s weak. I wonder whether the crowd Fru NDI pulled at that time he can pull it today. I used to ask myself at that time what was attractive in Fru Ndi. He drew so much attention even though he could not say a word in French. I think it was his boldness. But today things have changed so much in the wrong way. The relationship existing between Paul Biya and Fru Ndi today, many people question it. What’s your take on that? Well, I hear people are questioning that but they have not proof that Fru Ndi receives money from Paul Biya. Personally I have been unable to uncover cases where money changed hands between the two. I want empirical evidence. But do you see that relationship helping the country move forward in any way? Why not. You see, we in Cameroon think that politics is enmity between the party in power and the opposition. No, the husband and wife can be from different parties and still eat from the same plate. The only thing is that they must be objective, respecting the opinion of one another. Even the devil can speak the truth. When the devil said that Christ was the son of God it was true. But he remains the devil. So we should learn to make distinctions. Back to Reunification, what do you think the focus of the anniversary should be? Re- evaluation. It is disappointing that I look at the ongoing organized reunification debates on CRTV and rarely see an Anglophone on the panel. I would have loved to see a discussion on this question “How does the Anglophone see Reunification today?” What we need today in Cameroon is a Federation if we must solve the Anglophone problem in part. This is my conviction. The current decentralization process is obviously ineffective. If we remain the way we were at Reunification, the Anglophones will maintain and foster their own way of doing things which is quite different from the Francophone Cameroonian. And now, it is obvious that a good number of Francophones appreciate the Anglophone way of doing things. Let’s talk about the up- coming municipal and legislative elections. Do you observe that they are going to be well organized this time around? I do not see what has changed essentially. So I’m wondering what will be better than other elections. Is ELECAM fully independent? I doubt! What does Elections Cameroon mean really? It is nonsense in English. Perhaps Cameroon Elections would have been better. Although a Priest is part of ELECAM, unfortunately he took an oath not to attack or oppose the view of the body. Whatever the situation, they should organize the elections as objectively as possible in the interest of peace. Finally, how would you like to be remembered? As a Priest. Is that all? What else? (Smiles) You have been fighting relentlessly for democracy, human rights, education of children etc, wouldn’t you like to be remembered for that? You know I did all those things as a Priest that is what is important to me.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 17:26:36 +0000
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