BILINGUALISM IN CAMEROON

  Most  official documents in Cameroon are addressed or headed in both english and french. At least that seems to be the francophone dominated government's own way of showing anglophones that they matter in this country. We have become used to this and it has become common practice. The anglophones should be satisfied with this. 

In all this, there is a little black spot, it appears that only francophone polititians are making an effort. Just take some time out tonight to watch the evening news on CRTV and you'll notice an interesting trend which I have come to notice myself. During press conferences granted by government officials, you'll be surprised at how many francophone government officials speak english, and fluently. I was astonished by a press conference granted by Réné Emmanuel Sadi in the Northern Region with regards to the security threats posed by Boko Haram. Now contrast that to the number of anglophone politicians who can speak french.

The reasons of course for this contrast could be many and varied. first of all, we could link it to the long-standing calls by some anglophone politicians for a Southern Cameroon. This group of people see a united Cameroon as some form of evil, and therefore bilingualism to them (learning to speak french in particular) is a betrayal of their vision. However, it would be myopic to limit this trend to the fight for cessation.

This trend could also be attributed to the socio-cultural differences between french-speaking and english-speaking regions of Cameroon, that came aboout as a result of colonialism. The french-speaking regions had France as their colonial masters, while Great Britain colonised the english-speaking regions (South West and North West Regions). This has turned out to be one of the biggest sources of division in Cameroon today. The french naturally are dynamic people, just look at how they eat, dress nd party. As for the british, well, let's just say they conservative and hold on to tradition and the past a lot. That probably explains why among anglophone politicians, there are still 'disciples' of 60's politicians like Muna, Jua, Foncha and Nde Ntumaza. These people seem to have a problem letting go of the past and moving on.

That's just one of the many sides of the story. There's another side of the story where anglophone politicians actually have a point. The lack of opportunities for anglophones in Cameroon is a cause for concern. Take public exams such as ENAM and EMIAfor example, and consider how many anglophones actually make it into these schools; and you may be tempted to agree with cessationist groups like the SCNC, who see french as the 'language of the enemy'.

The truth remains this; francophone government officials in Cameroon have done a lot to reach out to their 'anglophone brothers', but unfortunately, that has not been reciprocated by the anglophones. In the eyes of many, these two groups have switched sides; the francophones have now become the 'integrationists' while many anglophones have become 'separatists', unfortunately.

One thing is clear; unless the anglophone politicians wake up and recognise that they can't change the present language diversity of the Cameroonian society; and the francophone dominated government creates more opportunities for the anglophones, this divide will only continue to widen.