After Akwaya MP’s Proposal for a Complete Constitutional Review

By Martin F. Yembe & Jerry SiVidzem in Douala

As activists of Southern Cameroons Independence Restoration eagerly await the ruling of the African Commission of Human and Peoples Right (ACHPR) on Communication 266/2003, a development has been reported to our news room regarding a document that claims to address the institutional issues of this construct known internationally as Cameroon.

It should be recalled that during the 34th Ordinary session of the ACHPR held in Banjul, Gambia from May 21st to June 4th 2004, the African Commission declared Communication 266/2003 as admissible. Communication 266/2003 filed by Dr. Kevin Nwang Gumne and members of the SCNC and SCAPO (for themselves and on behalf of the People of the Southern Cameroons) as complainants vs. la République du Cameroun as respondent states:

“The substance of the complaint of the people of the Southern Cameroons is that the rights recognized to peoples under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights have, for the people of the Southern Cameroons, been suppressed by République du Cameroun (the Respondent State) through domination and colonization in violation of the Charter; and that République du Cameroun is guilty of a series of gross, massive, continuing and reliably attested human rights violations in respect to named citizens and groups of citizens of the Southern Cameroons.”

It further states:

“The Commission is requested to find République du Cameroun (the Respondent State) guilty of these violations; to reaffirm the inherent, unquestionable and inalienable right of the people of the Southern Cameroons to
self-determination…”

However, as if waiting for this opening, some francophone business people have stepped in where establishment francophone politicians dread to tread. A document, which The Frontier Telegraph received, is being circulated in certain circles as a panacea for the political virus that is draining the nation of its vitality. Mr. Noucti Tchokwango, who has been involved with both the SDF and Alliance for Progressive Forces (AFP) parties speaking for the francophone businessmen stated that he and many others fought very hard for what he calls “reunification” of the British and French Cameroons and could not stand seeing their “brothers” west of the Mungo go over to a strange land, Nigeria stating that he feels more like a Tikari than a Bamileke.

Officials of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) reacted to this proposal by saying that the time to talk of any form of federation is over: neither the 4-state proposal of the SDF, the 2-state version that existed before 1972, nor this new 7-state version proposed by “these brothers.” They further maintained that the issue is territorial and not tribal or ethnic as some would want the world to believe, the Southern Cameroons having international boundaries separate from Nigeria and la République du Cameroun that are not being drawn today.

The information which is backed by a proposed new political map of Cameroon clearly carves out the triangle into seven federated states.  The document, entitled Project dé Transformation de la République du Cameroun (Divisée en Sept Provinces ou États Fédérées) i.e., Project for the Transformation of the Republic of Cameroon (Divided into Seven Provinces or Federated States.)

The paper outlines the following: