Opinion: Dialogue?

By Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, MD.

Dr. Nick Ngwanyam

Which dialogue? With whom, where, when, why, what and how? These are the many questions that are being asked now. Everyone says genuine, frank and inclusive dialogue without taboo subjects. Beyond the pain and agony, people are asking these questions and have genuine reasons for doing so. Dialogue in Africa means different things to different persons with expected different outcomes. The worst part is when resolutions are shelved and never implemented.

As I meditated on these questions and listened to many persons I realized they all have reasons to wonder and complain. If we do not try to first understand the path we want to travel, then we shall certainly be heading for the rocks for lack of the road map. And the road is complicated and thorny. Like anything else that we do, we must understand the principles, the Physic, Mathematics and the Chemistry. The salt and the light must be Truth and Love in the respect of Common Good.

Everything worth its while in life must work on principles. When you avoid principles you build on a faulty foundation that must crack with time for that also is the law of nature. No solid constitution and nation can thrive on half measures.

I remember my mother cooking ‘corn chaff’ when I was a kid. It is a mixture of beans and corn in which there are no standard ratios. I have observed my wife cooking it as well and no batch tastes like the other. The recipes are slightly different but some principles are constant.

For starters, she kicks off with the corn. She can decide to peel off the coating on the grains to improve on the cooking time and change the taste. She can pound that off like the Muslims do, or boil the maize with wood ash and wash after a while to get rid of the coating. There are some techniques used in machines to do the trick. Sometimes, she just cooks through the thick coat for hours on a fire of pounded sawdust until the maize is done.

It does not matter the nature of the corn nor its species, she can just cooking it for as long as it takes and it will be done. You can swear on that because that is Physics and Chemistry working together. My grandmother in unaware of Physics and Chemistry but makes use of the principles daily. She knows the importance of time and seasons, when to prepare, sow and harvest; how to tend to the crops for a good yield.

THE WHY AND HOW OF OUR DIALOGUES.

We need to have more than one dialogue in different settings because the problems are complex. We are building a new car and different parts and systems have to be built in different locations then brought together to make a functional whole. One dialogue cannot do it. We need three micro dialogues and two macro dialogues.

1)    H.E. Prime Minister Yang and Peter Mafany are on the field for the first micro dialogue. They are testing the waters with one foot and taking the psychological temperature of Anglophones while letting out the steam from the pressure cooker. They might be gathering some talking points for solving the Anglophone problems and gauging where the anger lies. Everyone knows that Anglophones have been marginalized and are angry about it. They cannot understand why they have been treated as second class citizens in a union that they embraced with a lot of hope and optimism many years ago. Lost hope can be a difficult issue to reconstruct.

2)    Anglophones need an AAC 111. This will bring together Anglophones of all shades and opinions to talk to themselves and get to a common plat form before setting out to the Macro Dialogue A. AAC 111 will crystallize issues into concrete form so that these will be presented as one coherent file and thus speak with one voice for the good of this nation. Attending ACC 111 would be Dr. Munzu’s camp, SCACUF and the GC, banned consortium members and individuals including Barrister Balla, Akere Muna, Nico Halle and leaders of teachers’ and lawyers’ associations. We are thinking of different church leaders and stand-alone figures like H.E. Christian Cardinal Tumi. The Chiefs and Fons, women’s representatives, youth representatives, transporters and okada representatives, university dons, the intelligentia, political party representatives and other positive and forward looking elites. Representatives of the Diaspora have a lot to offer.  ACC 111 will come out with a list of persons that will attend the Macro Dialogue A and speak for the people.

3)    The Macro Dialogue A would be between H.E. President Paul Biya and the government team on the one hand and AAC 111 Anglophone representatives on the other hand. A third party to such talks to ease communication and understanding would be the United Nations, America, Canada, German, Britain and France. This meeting is held in the country after general amnesty to all participants to allow for free access and frank talk.

4)    There should be a micro dialogue amongst Francophone communities and Regions. They should seek to discuss what it takes to grow our economy, fight corruption, respect others especially Anglophones; and what needs to be done for effective human development and transfer of technology into this nation for industrialization. They should learn the concepts of self-governance and what it takes to be proactive.

5)    A Macro Dialogue B will bring Anglophones and Francophones together to learn the concepts of ‘vivre ensemble’ in mutual respect and love.

For these dialogues to take place, we need to emphasize the point that the current government has lost her voice, credibility and authority over the people. This is so because of arrogance and the inability to address the basic needs of the communities. State authority cannot be decreed or dictated. It is a function of love and genuine respect for each other. Respect is not a one way traffic in which the common man must swallow as gospel truth what comes from above. It is earned by living and practicing the truth. Nothing damages relationships more than lies telling and the absence of the Fear of God.

It therefore, makes sense to say that the people expect a new and credible government to help this nation get unto new shores.  H. E. President Paul Biya in December 2013; said this current government suffers from inertia (inability to solve problems proactively), individualism and poor governance ( corruption). They should take the blame for the current crisis because they are not aware that a stitch in time saves nine. New wine cannot be put in old wine skins and you cannot repair a torn old dress by stitching to it a new piece of cloth which makes a bad situation worse.

To add insult to injury, some government ministers and high ranking officials along with self-seeking journalists refer to Anglophones as dogs, cats, rats and more that ought to be eradicated. This is not very nice for a people who seek to live and grow together. Anglophones need an apology for this kind of talk.

 I must say that violence has been witnessed on both sides. The lies telling and social media intoxication is just so amazing. I am so ashamed of Anglophones who called for children to be killed and yet when people eventually die one way or the other, we scream about genocide when we did contribute to it directly or indirectly by asking our children; some currently on mbanga and tramol; to face the military while indoctrinating them to believe these are toys.

We say we are showing up in Tiko to declare our independence and it never happens, and yet no one gives us an explanation for such an absence. We say the UN helicopter has landed in Tiko with pictures to buttress yet pictures of such a presence are those with General Tumenta who died over a year ago. Someone owes us an explanation.

If the military are toys, then we cannot be running away from them and seeking refuge in foreign lands. How could we arrest DOs, SDOs and governors and imprison in chief’s palaces? How many of such were arrested? What happened to them afterwards? How do you evaluate such a strategy? How many people died because they wanted to carry out the arrests while facing toy guns? Does it make sense now as we look back? I am not saying the killing was a right thing to do. People could have been arrested and held down while waiting for the tramol to wear out and right thoughts to settle in. Killing unarmed civilians is a subject of a different debate.

Two days ago, a military truck probably lost its brakes and ran into people causing injury and death in Buea. Some say it was deliberate with over 50 persons killed. Some say 1 or two were killed with many injured. What is happening here? Where is the truth? Where are the bodies of the 50 dead, and what are their identities?  How many people were shot from helicopters? This can easily be verified even after 60 years by studying the bones of the dead. It can never be hidden.

I read that someone from the UN is coming to Cameroon and the tone on social media goes up to reinforce ghost towns and encourage others to do what they must do to stop children from going to school. Then when schools are burnt and a girl’s arms are chopped, the leaders do not want to accept responsibility for the violence on the BBC. We say we are winning big in the face of violence and when questioned we deny it in the same breath. This confuses me to the core. If it is not right, do not do it. If you think it is right, do it and take responsibility for it. Which actions in your opinion qualify as terrorist acts?

What drove me made this morning was a message circulated to the effect that following the 1^st October upheavals, 400 persons were arrested and locked up in the premises of Amour Mezam and later on ferried in Amour Mezam buses to Yaounde. These are all lies and incite violence and destruction of others for no good cause. Hatred and negative manipulation are certainly not the ways of God. We say we are Christians and we do horrible things that we cannot be proud of.

Another embarrassment was the news about the burning of Prof. Sessekou Ayuk’s house and destruction of his plantations in his native village. Barrister Agbor Balla visited in person and took a picture in front of this property in the company of the regent of that village. Everyone was silent and said nothing after this truth was made public that his houses are intact.  It is not fair to incite and sow hatred and anger just to make political gains.

As we ask for justice and God’s favor, we should make sure that we are in good standing with God. The government also has some hands cleansing to do. For every lie and manipulation you do, you kill someone and the generations after him. Only the truth and God’s love can set us free.

Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, MD.  www.stlouisbamenda.com

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)