The Cameroons Unification Revisited (3): The John Ngu Foncha Declaration (Yaounde, December 1994)

In December 1994, John Ngu Foncha, the “architect" of the unification of Cameroon, spoke at length about the outcome of the unification between the British and French Cameroons. This was just before he walked out of Biya's Constitutional Consultative Commission which had refused to include a discussion of constitutional protections of Anglophone minority rights on its agenda. Here are excerpts of what turned out to be Foncha’s last major public declaration on the Cameroon unification experiment:

There is no one here in this hall today who can claim not to know how much I struggled on the eve of independence of our country in favour of the reunification of our fatherland. For more than forty years, our country was divided into three different parts and governed simultaneously by two different European powers. Everyone knows the fundamental character and differences that exist between the British and French systems of government and of the conduct of public affairs in general. Patriots in both British and French Cameroons saw the necessity for unification of our country. However, they could not deny the fact that forty years of our separate experiences had left an impact which we could not neglect. It was recognized on both sides that for unification to be meaningful and a source of satisfaction to us all, it had to proceed on the basis of a federal union in which the specific character of each component of the union would be safeguard and protected....

Mr. Ahidjo publicly stated to the people of southern Cameroons during successive visits to that territory in 1960 and 1961 that unification would not mean annexation, that its modalities would be negotiated between representatives of Southern Cameroons and those of La Republique du Cameroun and that to render unification viable and useful; a flexible and federal form of the state which he qualified as unique and diverse, was envisaged...

I can state her and now that the People of southern Cameroons would never have voted in favour of unification if it had not been for the assurances given that the resulting union would take the form of a federation...

The hounourable S. T. Muna and I have often been accused of having allowed this situation [i.e. 'annexation of Southern Cameroons'] to come about. History will reveal that these accusations are largely unjustified. They fail to acknowledge the several endeavours that we made at various stages of the evolution of post-unification Cameroon to dissuade those who monopolized and held the full reigns of political, financial, judicial, military and police powers in our country from acting autocratically in breach of promises that they had given us and our people, and which had served as the foundation of the union of our two territories.

At this point in time I do not feel the necessity--nor, I suppose, does the Honourable S. T. Muna-- to defend myself against these accusations, unjust though they are. What is important is that the Good Lord who, in his infinite wisdom determines the affairs of each man and of each people, has preserved me long enough to have the opportunity of pleading before the Cameroon Nation for the correction of the wrongs which have been done, over the past three decades and more, against an unsuspecting and trusting people that I, acting in good faith and as a Cameroonian patriot, led into what I was assured would be a union of equal partners, but which has since turned out to be an arrangement for the annexation, subjugation and domination of one of the partners by the other...

I responded to the invitation of the President of the Republic to attend this Committee in the confident expectation that the deliberations of the Committee would offer us the opportunity to correct the wrongs which I have referred above. For nearly two years, the people of Southern Cameroons whom I led into the union with La Republique du Cameroun have, through the All Anglophone Conference- AAC (now the Southern Cameroons People's Conference-SCPC) carefully studied, responsibly formulated, and respectfully submitted to government, substantial constitutional proposals. These proposals are aimed at ensuring a better governance of the entire united Cameroon, while also putting an end to the annexation, subjugation and domination of one of our two territories by the other, thus restoring the spirit and intent of the union of 1961...

In any event, in the proposals that have been submitted before us, I do not see any provisions at all which go in the direction of making even a token attempt to respond to the grievances of the Southern Cameroonian People...

Mr. chairman,

In the final analysis, the people of Southern Cameroons never participated in the elaboration and adoption of the supposed federal constitution of 1961 which was adopted by the National Assembly of La Republique du Cameroun on September 1, 1961, that is to say, one month before the birth of the federal Republic of Cameroon. These same people never participated in drawing up the unitary constitution of 1972 which was imposed upon them in a nationwide referendum.

Bearing this in mind, I had hoped that the present constitutional reform process would provide the people of Southern Cameroons the opportunity, for the first time since independence of our respective territories and the reunification of our fatherland, to contribute effectively to the elaboration and adoption of a truly Cameroonian constitution which responds to their aspirations as well...

I feel distressed that the constitutional proposals put before this committee do not offer the opportunity for us, as a nation, to address our minds to, and resolve, the genuine and legitimate grievances of the Southern Cameroonian people in particular and the Cameroonian people in general.

I feel all the more distressed that this should be happening under the chairmanship of a son of Southern Cameroons whom, I believe, is as sensitive as any one of us to the injustices which his People and their Territory have suffered in more than three decades. Today, he has been designated to preside over the completion of the process of annexation of that People and that Territory.

For this, He shall tomorrow stand accused by his People, as I stand accused today. However, whereas in 1961 the bitter experiences of Southern Cameroons lay in the future that we could not predict, in 1994 we have behind us thirty-three years worth of these experiences, with the prospect of more to come unless something is done now. In the light of these experiences, we have no reason in 1994 to repeat the mistakes of 1961.

Mr. Prime Minister,

I would like, through you  to express my gratitude to the President of the Republic for having invited me to this Committee. I assure him of my readiness at all times to collaborate with him and with your government to provide a suitable constitution for our dear, complex and diversified country which I have contributed however modestly, to build.

In the light of this foregoing, and pending the creation by government of a more appropriate forum for a broad-based debate on the constitution, I have no other option now than to withdraw at this point from the deliberations of the present consultative Committee.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Hon. Dr. John Ngu Foncha
Architect of the Unification of Cameroon
Ex Vice President of the Federal Republic of Cameroon

Tag: CameroonAfricaSouthern Cameroons

Comments

[paolo laurent]

the devil we know is better than the one we
dont, but again wfoncha was greedt as muna.
they didnt really had the goodness of their
people in minds, except for themselves, they
could atleast have seen the goodness and
truth in endelleys vision, and request a third option from the united nations, which
is outright (independence) for southern cameroons

[NjifenztBD(U.K)]

THE SIMON MUNZU DRAFT CONSTITUTION FOR A FOUR STATE FEDERATION PRESENTED TO THE BIYA REGIME DURING THE AAC CONFERENCE IN BUEA MUST NOT BE SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET.THERE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN CAMEROON.IAM REFERING TO THE THE ANGLOPHONE PROBLEM.
LATE HON. FONCHA, WAS AWARE OF SUCH PROBLEM.PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA IS AWARE OF THE PEOBLEM BUT IS DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT.A WIND OF POLITICAL CHANGE WOULD SOON BLOW ACCROSS CAMEROON TO REMIND FRANCOPHONES THAT THEY HAVE BEEN MESSING ABOUT FOR TOO LONG A TIME.THIS IS A FACT NOT JUST AN OBSERVATION.

[NDI MANJONG]

The claim that at the AAC in Buea Simon Munzu presented a draft constitution for a four state federation is not true. What he, Elad, and Anyangwe had as their constitutional proposal did not envisage a four state federation. The four state federation was an SDF idea floated around during the AAC delebrations. As one who served in the Conference Bureau of AAC1, I thought I should make the correction. Thanks.
NDI MANJONG.

[Suh Ade]

This needs to be posted on Camnetworks so every Cameroonian can read it.

[paolo laurent]

MR NDI, I WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION.
HAVE YOU THOUGHT THAT, OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IS TO GET A STANDING ARMY IN SOUTHERN CAMEROONS, HOW WE GO ABOUT ACHIEVEING THIS IS NOT EASY,BUT IT HAVE TO BE DONE, EITHER INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR OF THE FRONTIER.

[Roland Ngong]

After reading Foncha's speech I felt a sense of pity and anger at the simple-minded naivety of a man who had been entrusted with the fate of an entire people and who led them - virtually blind - into a state of subjugation and marginalisation.
I also felt a sense of frustration. No one is listening to the cries of pain and anguish from a people who were too trusting in the good faith of their "brothers" on the other side of the divide."They" still do not understand."They" don't know the pain.
How do we get out of this? Shall we and our children and their childen continue to be second class citizens in the Land of our Fathers. When will the Lord deliver us from this evil?

[Rich]

I was part of a US group that met Foncha in mid-1994 during a brief residence in Cameroon, and Roland's characterization of his "simple-minded naievete" (see the very first comment, below) is right-on. He simply couldn't understand how Ahidjo could promise one thing and deliver another...and at least some of us, listening to Foncha, couldn't understand how he couldn't understand that!

But in all of this discussion of 1961 and thereafter, it's useful to consider what the fate of the anglophone region would have been under Nigerian rule (not exactly a garden party since independence), or as an independent republic (in a region which has not been kind to small states). There have been worse outcomes for regions and for peoples.

[Samuel Nsoh Ashu]

it is clear,whether we like it or not that there will one day be a change in cameroon,we all had doughts that Obama could become the president of the great united states of america or a coloured person rulling the united states of america,i am confident that the will be a wind of change that will blow into cameroon,being an anglophone and knowing the minds of many others anglophone cameroonians.

[Wolfe]

Lamentations. Late Foncha did his best with his fellow compatriots sharing the same ideology.

Lesson: Before signing a contract, know the grey edges of the contract.

Why would the anglophone Cameroonians go in for unification when they had no solid base; political, social, military, economic? What were they thinking? Actually what did the British really do in Southern Cameroons in terms of mind and community development?

I think the leaders were not fighting as one. They had no deep rooted concession for growth and development of Southern Cameroons that is why they relied much on the UN for interception.

Deceit is not new.

In my opinion, I do not see any Anglophone problem. Given my years in Cameroon, especially in the Anglophone territories, void of judgement, they have a long way to go. Tribalism and Nepotism still hinders the Anglophone community. Just look at the mess at the University of Buea, if academia minds cannot have a common consensus, what more of the lay people? Conflict, Conflict, Conflict...I am better than you, I have been here and there, seen this and that...

Action planning is needed, execution is of demand. Community involvement is rewarding.

Think Again.

Thanks Dubissi for the article. One of my favorite blogs.