Why the Bamilekes Have Remained Silent  The economic and financial clout of the Bamileke People is not a myth; it is a reality. When we say that they are rich what it means is that there are many prominent businessmen whose province of origin is the Western Province and this is not a false observation. What Southern Cameroonians need above all to understand is that it is as a result of the tacit understanding between the Ahidjo Regime and the Bamileke people that prominent businessmen such as Samuel Kwam, Victor Fotso, Sohaing Andre, and other leading Bamileke businessmen came up in business through import-export. These first generation businessmen have spawned, through the process of secondary capital accumulation, a second generation that has enabled the Bamileke people to cover all the bases in terms of their control of economic activity in the country. The control of key parastatals such as Sonel, Cameroon Airlines and even the Cameroon Ports by Bamileke people enabled them to become enormously rich.  As the Bamileke people became wealthier and wealthier, they slowly came to accept the pact of omerta as far as the genocide question is concerned because it has served them well. Some of them have now gone beyond accepting this pact of silence to becoming partisans to the idea of actually denying that any such a denocide even took place at all. This is because any kind of political disruption can lead them to lose the wealth that they have accumulated. That is the second reason why the Bamileke people are remaining silent on the question of genocide.  By contrast the freedoms and liberties that were given to the Bamileke people in order to buy their silence on the genocide issue were denied businessmen from the Southern Cameroons. The Ahidjo government was not willing to allow Southern Cameroonians to become successful in business because they always feared that this will enable them to acquire the financial resources necessary to stage “secession†at some point. That is the reason why up to the present day, there are few, if any, Southern Cameroonian businessman who can command capital of CFA 1 billion or more.  The most notable exception to this rule may be the Mukete Family which has used their staunch support for the Biya regime to carve out a niche for the family in the telecoms industry. Their strategic link with MTN of South Africa has been a brilliant move which gives them very good cover. If they had been involved in “buyam sellam†like the Bamileke people, they would not have gone far.  What killed the Southern Cameroonian businessman was the introduction of the unitary system in 1972 as a result of which they were all forced to relocate their operations to Douala and to other towns in East Cameroon where the economic space was already under the total control of the Bamileke people.. That is why prominent businesses from the Southern Cameroons such as Nanga Company, Atabong Enterprises, Che & Company and others simply bit the dust. Cameroon Bank went under because of loans made to defaulting businessmen from East Cameroon. Amity Bank which was established by my friend Lawrence Tasha finally crashed into the waiting hands of Bamileke businessmen..  The people in power see the Anglos and the Bamileke as being of the same ethnic stock, but the Bamileke people stick strictly to their kinfolk from the Western province when it comes to business. The failure of businesses owned by Southern Cameroonians also created a vacuum in the Southern Cameroons enabling the Bamileke to move in to fill the economic vacuum and choking up any local competition. The lack of basic road infrastructure in the Southern Cameroons put the final nail in the coffin for business activity in the Southern Cameroons.  It is against this background that it is important to understand what happened to the SDF. When the party was launched in 1990 in Ntarikon, it was originally intended to be a political party which would serve as the platform for articulating the problems of Southern Cameroonians in the political arena. No one ever imagined that it would garner the kind of support which it got in the Western Province and among Bamileke people in general. What killed the SDF is precisely the fact that it became hugely popular among the Bamileke people.  The Beti-Fulani Group which controls power which has long dreaded the idea of Bamileke people aspiring for political power said: “Aha! We knew it. The Anglo-Bami Alliance which Ahidjo dreaded for long has now been formed and they want to take power in Yaoundé from the Beti-Fulani Group. We shall see!† I was a strong supporter of the SDF and participated with John Fru Ndi in political campaigns throughout the country. But once I understood the role of the genocide against the Bamileke people in Cameroonian politics, I concluded that the SDF can never attain power in Yaoundé because the Beti, Fulani and the French believe that the SDF is a Trojan horse for getting the Bamileke people to power. And they will never allow it because the genocide question can never be allowed to become public.  What is at stake is that there are thousands of Bamileke people alive today who know where the mass graves are located and they know the political and military personalities who were involved. If the story ever comes out, it will require rewriting Cameroonian history and many people may yet face special criminal tribunals to account for their crimes from 1962-1966.  The SDF as a political party died a long time ago; but in politics, people who are directly involved cannot do an autopsy. The reality is that the party died because, in becoming popular amongst the Bamileke people who provided it with financial and popular support, the party was forced to abandon its original goal of articulating the problems of the people of the Southern Cameroons. But the Bamileke people joined the SDF in massive numbers because they believed that it will enable them to attain political power in Yaoundé.  They made John Fru Ndi to believe that they have the money and the votes necessary to install him in Etoudi Palace. Once Fru Ndi is in Etoudi, they will take over.  But they were all mistaken. The party cannot attain political power in Yaounde for the simple reason that the Anglo-Bami alliance that was projected through the SDF turned out to be the kiss of death for the party due to the genocide factor.  If John Fru Ndi had remained faithful to the original mission of the SDF by simply articulating the problems of the Southern Cameroons, it is quite conceivable that the SDF would have eventually formed a working alliance with the Beti and the North. That would have led to the formation of a new ruling coalition in Yaoundé in which the Southern Cameroons would have been a real partner in power. This would have changed the course of history in Cameroon. Unfortunately, it is too late.  The current debate in Cameroon regarding the neutrality or otherwise of ELECAM is nothing but a smokescreen which is intended to enable another Beti or Fulani Northerner to succeed Mr. Paul Biya in 2011 with a semblance of legitimacy, in case Mr. Biya cannot succeed himself and buy some more time.  But in reality, everything is being done in order to ensure that no Bamileke man or Anglophone ever gets close to the doorstep of Etoudi Palace, because none of them can be trusted by the Beti, the Fulani or the French.   If my brothers  in the SDF who are developing heartburn over the question of  ELECAM and free and democratic elections in 2011 do not understand this, then all that I can say is that “where ignorance is bliss, perhaps its folly to be wiseâ€.  In my last few postings I have endeavored to scratch the surface of the earth in order to reveal what really lies underneath the Cameroonian political landscape. I believe that all Southern Cameroonians of all political persuasions need to be armed with proper knowledge so that they can formulate the right political strategies in pursuing political power in Yaoundé or Buea as they see fit. Whether you are a supporter of the SDF, the CPDM or a fervent Southern Cameroonian separatist, you have an obligation to know what the true story of that country is all about. If you don’t then you are just running around in circles trying to build castles in the air.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:30:49 +0000
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