If you don't see the anglophone problem, you are the problem- Hon. Awudu

Hon. Awudu Cyprian Mbaya, SDF Member of Parliament turned Southern Cameroons latest activist in his first interview since going on the rampage in Bamenda last month, has declared that until the English language gets the same status of French language in Cameroon, he will not relent his efforts to implement it.

The MP made the declaration against the backdrop of the action he undertook recently in Ayaba Hotel, Bamenda when he went about pulling down all signposts written exclusively in French in the hotel. He spoke to Cameroon Journal’s Sylvanus Ezieh, Nyingchuo Hilary and Sixtus Mbom. Excerpts:

Hon. Awudu, you recently went on the rampage pulling down signposts written exclusively in French at Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda. Many have been waiting since then for your next line of action…

Yes, you remember after that action I promised that any other signpost written exclusively in French in the heart of the two Anglophone regions will be put down. I want it to go on record that Hon. Awudu Mbaya has said he wants to be punished for trying to cause the law to be implemented. I want my life to be used as payment for this. I say this because people have violated the constitution and instead of them being punished people think that me who pulled down the signposts because the constitution was not respected should rather be punished. So someone has to be punished for this to end and I wish to be that person. One of these days I will be changing my angle.

I will not limit my action on signposts written in French only, I will also take keen interest in signposts written in both languages but with bolder characters in French and smaller characters in English. There is no place in the constitution which provides for that. When I read the 1996 constitution, precisely on the state sovereignty dealing with the seal of the country, article one sub 7 reads: “The Seal of the Republic of Cameroon shall be a Circular medallion in Bas -relief, 46 millimeters in diameter, bearing on the obverse and in the center the head of a girl in profile turned to the dexter towards a coffee branch with two leaves and flanked on the sinister by five cocoa pods, with the French words “Republique du Cameroun” inscribed below the upper edge and the national motor “Paix-Travail-Patrie” inscribed above the lower end; on the reverse and in the center the coat arms of the Republic of Cameroon, with the English words “Republic of Cameroon” inscribed beneath the upper edge and the national motor “Peace-Work-Fatherland” inscribed above the lower edge. The coat of arms of the Republic of Cameroon shall be an escutcheon surmounted chief by the legend “Republic of Cameroon” and supported by two crossed fasces with the motor “Peace-Work-Fatherland” base. It does not say that part of it should be written in bolder characters and the other one in smaller characters. But some individuals have taken the law into their hands and do just what they want.

I have filed in several questions at the National Assembly and I’m waiting for the answers from the ministers concerned. After that I will go on rampage again. I told you that I will not end in the North West, I will move down to the South West region. I will begin with Buea, I will go to Mountain Hotel and all other state-owned hotels. Back here in the North West, there are many state institutions like the Delegation of Agriculture where all the signposts on all the doors are written exclusively in French; le Delegue Regional, le Secretariat Particulier, le Secretariat… and nothing in English and you expect farmers in Bamenda to read French when they come to visit the Delegate?

Another action I’m again to take is to ask my colleagues of the National Assembly; I mean those who want to join me because this is no longer a party issue, it is a fight for the survival of English language in our country. So as I said any of my colleagues who feels he can join me and let’s sign a memorandum to the Head of State over this issue, they should join me and let’s jointly do it, but if no one thinks it necessary I will do it alone to tell him that the constitution of this country is not being respected. So I am taking the action from three angles.

Don’t forget I am a parliamentarian who represents the state. So after my action in the North West and South West regions, my next move will be to other regions across the country. We want the bilingual nature of our country to be implemented everywhere. I should not be taken wrongly because when I get to any locality, say Mouloundou, Sangmelima or Kousseri and find any signpost written exclusively in English, I will put it down.

After your action in Bamenda, we learned the Governor of North West region confronted you and that he even had to report the matter to the National Chairman of your party. What exactly did the Governor tell you and what was your chairman’s reaction, given that your action must have been interpreted as an SDF action?

Well after my action on the 27th of May, I remained in that hotel till the 28th. I was waiting for whoever cares to come and face me on my action. But when I finally left for my constituency in Nkambe, I learned that the Governor came there with a whole delegation and that he also informed my chairman of it… I also heard that the Attorney General and the State Counsel were there too, but I don’t know what filtered out of their visit. But someone told me the Governor was blaming me for that action that I have his number, so I should have called him rather than pull down the signposts.

But no, I did not have to call him because he visits that hotel almost on a daily basis and he sees those signposts and feels very comfortable with them. If it is comfortable for him, it is not comfortable to me and my people; I am the representative of my people. What did he want me to tell him? To call him and tell him am going to pull down the signposts?

And your chairman John Fru Ndi, what was his reaction?

Well, I did not need to obtain permission from my chairman to do that. I wanted to sacrifice my life. Those who died on the 26th of May 1990 did not obtain permission from the chairman to sacrifice their lives. What happened on the 26th of May 1990 happened after the launching of the party and what happened on the 27th of May 2015 happened after the commemoration of the golden jubilee of the party. So I did not have to inform my chairman that I want to go and sacrifice my life or telling the Governor that I am going to die so that he should come and rescue me.

But what was his reaction?

Well if you insist to know his reaction, the chairman told me that he was there with the Governor to see what exactly happened, because the Governor had told him that Hon. Awudu has scattered the whole of Ayaba Hotel. But that when he reached there he saw something else and when he asked to see the English versions of the signs nobody showed him anything. So he told the Governor not to limit the blame on Hon. Awudu, but that they should also determine what led to his anger. That’s virtually all I heard from him. It wasn’t my place to interrogate my chairman on what he did after that or any other questions. He is my chairman, he is a leader and he has his own way to handle matters.

Have you received any query from any authority since your action?

I’m still expecting and I am not scared of any query from whosoever. I am not afraid of death or any other thing. The only thing I fear is God.

What about your colleagues of the CPDM, we know their evasive attitude when issues like these are concern, has any of them come up to you to congratulate or criticize your action?

So many of them, so many MPs of both political parties and even Francophones you may be surprised have congratulated me on this action. Many of them read the story on the internet, they have read newspapers and came up to me to say it was a mighty action.

You seem to limit your action on language. The Anglophone community in Cameroon has several grievances!

The Anglophones are hammering on English language and many other problems which are true. It is true that there is an Anglophone problem in this country. Anybody who does not see this problem has a problem. But my problem is the strict respect of the constitution. I want a bilingual Cameroon where you will have the signposts all over the national territory both in French and English. I want a Cameroon where people will live in harmony and speak in any language they choose. I want a Cameroon where nobody shall be subjected to speaking only one language to the detriment of the other; I want a Cameroon where our children shall grow up with a future not only in Cameroon but all over the world. I want a Cameroon that can be comparable to Canada. You see the people of Quebec who are the French minority living very freely in Canada. The majority that is English speak French very fluently. They can speak in English and turn to French just immediately.

So it is not only an issue of English language. Anglophones in Cameroon have the right to fight against the marginalization of that community and English language as such.

Some people have said as a law maker you should have initiated a legal action instead of what you did. You are an MP, which means that you could as well have tabled this matter for debate during one of your sessions, but you preferred a unilateral action, does it mean that you do not believe in the strength of the National Assembly?

Well laws are made in the National Assembly but they are not implemented by the Assembly.

But they also advocate for their implementation…?

No, but there are three arms of Government. The executive, the legislative and the judiciary. Are you saying that those ministers and other state institutions obtained the green light from the Assembly to violate the constitution? I say no. I do not also think that they obtained permission from the Head of State to do that. These are people who feel that they can marginalize the others with impunity. They think that they can use one language to cheat the others, and that is why I undertook my action to send a message to the powers that be to address the situation. They have to understand that this nation is built on the foundation of two cultural heritages. When you ask me why I did not take my action to court or any other similar thing, in fact let me tell you something, I was with the Head of State when the U.S Under Secretary came to Cameroon to inaugurate Rosa Parks Avenue. Rosa Parks did this kind of thing in the U.S because blacks were marginalized. They were being cheated; they went through hell to be where they are today. It needed some courageous person like Rosa Parks to say look that apartheid must stop. So he declared enough is enough, entered the bus that was reserved only for whites and so broke the myth, the rest is history today. If the Head of State of this country and the Speaker of the National Assembly whom I accompanied as member of the Bureau, will go to inaugurate the Rosa Parks Avenue and of course if the U.S sends an Under Secretary of State to represent the President, that is a might y move.

So you will not tell me that there was no law or that the courts did not exist in the U.S at the time Rosa Parks undertook his action. I have not killed. I have only sent the signal and that I want to sacrifice my life. So should I go to court when I want to sacrifice my life?