Conversations with my daughter

My daughter is growing up. At 19, I'm thinking that she has reached an age where she has (or should have) a certain awareness of her identity and knowledge of the political environment she's growing up into.

A few days ago, as we watched the news, there was a report on the PM's visit to the North West Region. Commentaries that followed made reference to 'Ambazonians'.

I decided to tease her.

Usually, when we chat, we swing almost 50/50 between French and English.

I do not know why I chose to ask the question in French, but I did.

I asked her:

Me: Est-tu Ambazonienne?

Her: No Daddy (unhesitantly)

Me: C'est quoi l'Ambazonie pour toi?

Her: (laughing) C'est la zone d'en bas 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Ehmm... That was an interesting rhyme/twist. I hadn't heard that before... But it stunned me silent. I don't know if the answer would have been different if I had asked the question in English.

She had lived most of her teenage years in the French speaking zone though English is her first language of instruction. So underneath, I understood what the construction of her mind may be on the issues at hand.

I grew up as well in these parts and I understand the slow and passive processes that may have formatted her perception of her identity.

IT DAWNED ON ME THAT I HAD SOME WORK TO DO.

I sent her an article I wrote three years ago about Ambazonia, the historical origins of the term and the fact that Ambazonia (the term and territory it refers to) is a fact of history regardless of whether or not you agree with the contemporary political posture and/or perception of it.

She didn't read it... I think🤔. She even probably deleted it. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Anyway... She obtained her A'levels this year and started University at the University of Yaoundé I: Faculty of Science (Biology).

Yesterday, as we discussed her first days in University, I asked to see her timetable. The timetable was all in French and all teachers were French speaking.

Because she swings indifferently between French and English, she probably didn't notice.

I asked her...

Me: Have you had any lectures in English?

Her: No Daddy

Me: Now, imagine a student in your class who has studied all their life in Mbengwi and has excellent scores at the A'levels but can't speak French... What are her chances of success?

Her: I don't know

Me: Do you not know? Or have you not thought about it? Or do you not care?

Her: (Hesitating and thinking a bit...) Ehmmm...

Me: Does that give you an idea of why Anglophones are complaining in this country?

She thought for a few seconds and seemed to realise she's either missing something or there's something wrong with her understanding of who she is. Then she went on...

Her: Daddy, that article you sent to me the other day... Send it again please.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I knew I had struck a nerve and had done my job as an Anglophone father.

 

Note The point in sharing these conversations is not to state my stance on the issues as they do not reflect the totality of what/how I think.

Rather, the point I am making is that it is important to challenge younger Cameroonians on issues related to their identities.

 

********************

The article 👇🏾

Ambazonia (proper noun) /ambə’zəʊnɪə/

Ambazonia is an appellation that has come to mean many things to different persons.

Territory of reference

The territory referred to as Ambazonia is the territory that was administered by the British as a United Nations mandated territory of Southern Cameroons.

The same territory was referred to as West Cameroon following the Plebiscite of 11th February 1961 when Southern Cameroonians chose to achieve independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun.

Within the administrative configuration of the modern state of Cameroon, the same territory is referred to as the North West region and the South West Region.

 

History

Ambazonia derives from Ambas Bay also referred to, in some sources, as Amboises Bay or Bay of Amboise. It is located in the Gulf of Guinea at the foot of Mount Cameroon. The origin of the term ‘Ambas’ or ‘Amboise’ is uncertain.

However, in 1858, Rev Alfred Saker, a British Missionary arrived in Ambas Bay with a group of followers from Fernando Po. Saker had worked in Fernando Po since 1843 until relations with the Spanish administration became untenable. At the instigation of Jesuits, the Spanish administration expelled Saker. He sailed northwards to Ambas Bay where he had worked previously with some Duala Chiefs. He bought a large piece of land (16km - 8km) on the coast from William I, ruler of Bimbia, and started a community (Victoria) of which he was administrator until 1876.

His work and influence among local communities easily stretched northwards to cover what became the British Protectorate of Ambas Bay governed from the British territory of Nigeria and almost exactly similar to the territory described as Southern Cameroons, West Cameroon and North West / South West above. Subsequent administrators were George Grenfell (1877-1878) and Q.W. Thomson (1878-1879).

The Germans took over the territory in 1884 until their defeat in the First World War in 1918 when it was receded to the British as a Trust territory and referred to as Southern Cameroons.

The wave of decolonisation blew across Africa in the 1950s and in the case of Cameroon, culminated in United Nations Resolution 1608 which recognised the results of a plebiscite held in Southern Cameroons whereby the people of Southern Cameroons had freely decided to achieve independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun which had achieved independence from France on 1st January 1960.

Considering that both sides (La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons) agreed To adopt a Federal system of government wherein both sides (referred to as East Cameroon and West Cameroon) were federated states with equal status (see article 1, Paragraph 1 of 1961 constitution) That the Federal arrangement was conditionally inviolable (see article 47 of 1961 constitution)

Considering that the Federation was abolished in 1972 following a circumvention of article 47 referred to above and resulting in what became the United Republic of Cameroon;

Considering that in 1984, a decision was made to rename the country the Republic of Cameroon or La Republique du Cameroun (original name of East Cameroon before the 1961 agreement);

Fon Gorgi Dinka, a lawyer of Southern Cameroonian descent, forwarded the argument that East Cameroon had seceded from the federation and that by doing so, had left West Cameroon independent. Thus, drawing from the historical designation of Ambas Bay, he coined the term Ambazonia to refer to what he said was the newly independent state.

Of course, and unfortunately for Fon Gorji Dinka, the government had seen the return to the name ‘La Republique du Cameroun’ not as secession but as a move to reinforce the unitarism for which the reunification of 1961 and the unification of 1972 had been prequels. Also, an attempted coup d’etat in in 1984 meant that the country was on high security alert and all ideas that were contrary to state policy and to the authority of the government all across the country were seen not as political opinion but as dangerous sedition.

Thus, Gorji Dinka paid the price with his freedom and his interpretation of the change of name lost traction.

Thirty-two years later in 2016, what was seen as inadequate responses by the government to corporate grievances by teachers and lawyers on the systematic disregard and dilution of the Anglophone sub-systems of education and judicial practice quickly degenerated into a political crisis borne of the violation in 1972 of Article 47 of the Federal Constitution of 1961. Separatists who had always existed marginally or as an insignificant minority amplified the causal relationship between the violation of 1972 and the gradual disappearance of the Anglophone identity. They pushed for independence and resuscitated the Gorji Dinka’s coinage, Ambazonia, as a name for their independent state.

The traction that this gathered raised the profile of the term Ambazonia, and brought it to the public conscience as a term henceforth recognised and used by Cameroonians and referring to a political fact of their times.

 

Affectivity

Though Ambazonia has effectively become a lexical reality of Cameroonian diction and political opinion, it must be said that that effectiveness is, at best, affective. It is a luscious aspiration to self-determination which some analysts see as political blackmail aimed at obtaining effective local government and protecting a cultural identity and heritage which can be traced through history but which good governance will put to bed.

 

Derivatives

AMBA: Refers to the currency of the imagined country

AMBA FIGHTERS: Refers to all persons that have taken up arms to combat what they refer to as ‘the illegal occupation’ of their land

AMBALAND: Another term for Ambazonia

AMBA TIME: Refers to the time in Ambazonia.

AMBAZONIAN (1): Pertaining to Ambazonia

AMBAZONIAN(2): Citizen of Ambazonia. There are two noteworthy curiosities about the pattern of use of this word.

Firstly, it is generally used in the third person plural. The reason is that to define oneself as Ambazonian or to tag a clearly identifiable person as Ambazonian means that the person(s) referred to are secessionist or sympathise with secession. They can therefore be sued for secession.

Secondly, for the above reason, it is generally used in the second person as a teaser or a provocation by persons who are not sympathetic to the Ambazonian aspiration towards persons that they want to put on the defensive. Thirdly, most persons who define themselves as Ambazonians either live out of Cameroon or they live in Cameroon but are not using their true identity when they tag themselves as Ambazonian.

 

In summary,

- For those who relate to historical orthodoxy, Ambazonia is a territory… a fact of history;

- For those who seek separation, Ambazonia is an aspiration;

- For those who subscribe to the idea that bad governance is the fundamental cause of the crisis, Ambazonia a protest;

- For those who seek the preservation of the Anglo-saxon heritage albeit within a single Cameroon (unitary or federal), Ambazonia is a state of mind; and

- For those who benefit from the status quo, Ambazonia is a nightmare

 

DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING? PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMMENT AND SHARE

 

Harry ACHA

October 2021