Minister Fuh Calistus
Gentry, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Mines, Industries and
Technological Development, has said Anglophones in the North West and South
West regions are more concerned with the advantages they will reap from the
Special Status than taking part in illegal protests around the country. Dr. Fuh
Calistus Gentry made the statement on CRTV programme, Inside The Presidency.
Harping on the upcoming
regional elections, Dr. Fuh Calistus Gentry reiterated that expectations are
high among Anglophones especially as president Biya in his wisdom has thought
that Anglophones have a cultural identity which they cherish. Here below is the Exclusive interview
Your
Excellency, what is your take on the Congolese foreign minister’s description
of President Paul Biya as the Wiseman of Africa and the Library of the sub
region?
He is absolutely
correct in his description of President Paul Biya as the Wiseman of Africa and
the Library of the sub region. Many others have hailed the President of the
Republic as a visionary leader who has shown himself on the international scene
as a peace maker. The peaceful resolution of the dispute over the oil- rich
Bakassi peninsular is just one of the many crisis that have projected President
Biya as the Wiseman of Africa. Many are politicians but those who are called to
lead the nation are few.
What
is your take on calls for demonstrations that have as major objective to
undermine republican institutions?
First of all, I think
the motive behind such calls is not genuine. How can a political party which
took part in the 2018 presidential election be claiming today that
demonstrations are intended to protest against the electoral system and the
crisis in the North West and South West regions? Kamto took part in the
presidential election under these same circumstances he is today claiming to be
protesting against. We need to put in place a structure, the regional structure
which I strongly believe will be the guarantor of peace, especially in the
North West and South West regions. There is of course no gainsaying the fact
that Cameroonians have been waiting for regional election and the putting in
place of Regional Councils. To begin with, you cannot have a president who was
overwhelmingly voted for by Cameroonians and you get up one day to call for an
uprising against him and the state institutions he incarnates. Let me remind
Mr. Kamto that over 70% of Cameroonians voted for President Paul Biya at the
2018 presidential election. In a country, there are pessimists and optimists.
The pessimist is going to say there is wind, the optimist will say let there be
a change, but the leader says he will adjust the sail.
A leader after voted
into office automatically becomes the president of the entire nation. That is
what makes President Biya the visionary leader we have known him to be. Ernest
Benz says: “Politics is a game of looking for trouble. Find it even where it
does not even exist. And putting out the wrong ways to solve the problem and at
the end using the wrong diagnosis”. If you march for an issue that affects the
rights of an individual, it can be understood. But calling for demonstrations
against somebody who was democratically and overwhelmingly elected by
Cameroonians is nothing else than insurrection. My advice to Cameroonians is
that they should ignore such diabolic calls coming from politicians who have
lost touch with reality.
What
is your advice to the people of the North West and South West regions in the
face of these unwarranted calls for insurrection?
North Westerners and
South Westerners are just from the field to select their candidates for the
December 6, 2020 regional elections. I think this is what is more important to
them at this material moment. I don’t see any Anglophone in his or her right
senses taking part in any political party demonstration against state
institutions and the president of the Republic. They are rather more concerned
about the Special Status the Head of State has given them and the many
advantages that Special Status will offer them. They are facing the challenge
of putting in place a regional executive that will finish what it is already
being done. That is their preoccupation for now. As soon as the lists are
published, we want to get our regions move, we want to see the House of Chiefs
move, we want to see the place for which we stand as cultural identity being
sorted out in this nation. The people of the North West and South West regions,
even under very challenging security, still went out to vote because they know
that if you leave a vacuum, it creates more problems than solve it. After
voting at the 2018 presidential election, senatorial election, the 2020
municipal and parliamentary elections under insecurity, I don’t see any
Anglophone ever heeding any call from a political party to embark on a senseless
and fruitless demonstration.
Mr.
Minister, how did you receive news of the convening of the Electoral College
for the country’s first ever regional election?
Of course, like every
patriotic Cameroonian, I was very overwhelmed. Many people kept asking when is
going to happen. And so the announcement came especially to us politicians from
the North West and South West regions as a great relieve because we need these
structures to be in place. It is going to accompany the measures we have been taking
on the ground.
What
are the stakes in these elections?
The stakes are quite
high. I was very impressed with the desire of candidates from all shades of
society, former members of government and former general managers. They all
believe that they have a role to play in rebuilding and taking part in the
development of their regions with the putting in place of the Regional Councils
and the House of Chiefs. The enthusiasm and expectations are very high among
Anglophones of all social backgrounds. I talk like one just back from the
field. It came at the right time and I am sure that we will be starting the New
Year 2021 with something very special that the president has given and has made
it work.
As
an Anglophone elite, how is the advent of regions determinant?
It is very determinant because when people
want to put technology as a lead word, whether you call it federalism, whether
you call it decentralisation or what- ever name, what matters is the content.
For us in the North West and South West regions, we want to say the president
in his wisdom has thought that Anglophones have a cultural identity which they
cherish. He has said it even on international scene and that he wants to allow
that evolve in the most orderly manner. To me as an individual, it is something
that will create a new awareness and a new diversity in this nation, which is
unique in Africa. This will only come to make Cameroon a new kind of breed
where colonial past is going to be a melting pot to create some- thing that
does not exist in Africa.
How
will the putting in place of Regional Councils accelerate Cameroon’s
decentralisation process?
We are going to see vibrant young people,
especially the ones that my party (the CPDM) set out for, with the putting in
place of Regional Councils. In doing the selection of our candidates for the
December 6 Regional Election, we reserved a sizable quota for women and the for
the youth. We are going to see the whole fabric of society, enthusiastic to
take the destiny of their regions into their own hands. They are going to be at
the centre of key decisions regarding the development of their regions. We are
going to will a new kind of power, which if we leave Yaounde and go down, we
will lis- ten to them. They will be running things and we only fit our ideas to
theirs because it is their region. They will automatically have the destiny of
their people in their hands. The enthusiasm with which the announcement of the
Regional Election was received by especially Anglophones, tells it already the
difference the put- ting in place and functioning of Regional Councils will
make with regards to the development of the North West and South West regions.
There is of course, no gainsaying the fact that Regional Election is coming as
the last phase of the democratic process which H.E President Biya started
instituting in this nation in four phases. How would the coming of Regional
Councils help in resolving the conflicts in the North West and South West
regions? We have a national government. We have had a government right down at
the level of the councils. There was this vacuum in the bill, which is the
Regional Council and the conflict we have is not linked to the councils, not
linked to a division, it is linked to a region. I believe that with the coming
of these structures, it is going to fill the vacuum in Buea and Bamenda where
we will have responsible men from all facets; especially given that every
subdivision will be represented in these Regional Councils. They will bring to
the table the uniqueness of the problems in their council areas and divisions
with the mastery of these problems that we, the contemporaries to these regions
don’t have. Remember that members of the Regional Councils will be coming from
the base. They have lived with these problems and will be coming to give the
assurance that the president has kept to his words. The president has responded
to everything since this crisis started. We are going to see the very people
responding. They have the mastery of each subdivision and division and equally
master the pressing development needs of these areas.
Much
has been said about the Special Status for the two English-speaking regions.
What in your opinion will this make Anglophone regions different from the eight
other regions?
Like I said, even in
the United Kingdom, power is divulged into different entities. You don’t call
it the Federal Republic of Great Britain. It has a nomenclature so many people
are basing on, those who talk on federation and the rest. But this is a
devolution of power to the base, which allows each region to handle things
according the pressing needs of their people. It is going to be a kind of quasi
government that has been created with Commissioners taking charge of different
the development needs of their areas. The Chairman of the Region and the House
of Chiefs will both be handling different issues that affect their regions. I
think this is a starting point, a great move and I believe that those who are
sincere, will know that this is a move in the right direction and that it can
only make life better in the North West and South West regions. It can only
meet the aspirations of people who by their Anglo-Saxon nature like a lot of
self- governance. This, of course, is what Anglophones have have been
clamouring for. Just the very fact that these two regions will have their House
of Chiefs give it the Special Status I have been talking about. Remember the
nostalgia the peo- ple of these two regions grew up with. That is why they
clamoured for this. And for those who want the word Federalism, it is the
content and not the name that matters. The North West and South West regions
are going to have the House of Chiefs and these chiefs are going to look at
issues that concern and reflect their traditional values. We are living a
rebirth of what people had looked up to and I think from next year, this country
would breathe some good air that would attract the attention of other African
countries.
You
talked about the enthusiasm that was manifested by potential candidates for the
Regional Election. Who do you think should be the idle candidates for these
positions?
I won’t fix idealism to
candidature. There is a minimum requirement. Those who want to go into the
Regional Council should be literate enough to stand up and listen to issues
concerning this nation. You need a minimum qualification to read the basic
texts that are given for interpretation just like it obtains in both the Lower
and Upper Houses of parliament. You should be able to read and write to have a
good mastery of how things work out in this country. Notwithstanding this, what
I saw in the diversity of candidates, former regional delegates, divisional delegates,
former parliamentarians, and former members of government gave to understanding
that the candidates who would take part in this election are people of mettle.
These are people who have worked and retired back to the regions, they have
lived the current crisis in the North West and South West regions, they have
lived the national life of this country and would be bringing in this wealth of
experience for the development of these two regions.
You
of the CPDM, the party in power, how was the selection done within your party
itself? What were you concerned about?
Within our party, we
were concerned about women being represented, 30 percent, we were concerned
about the youth representation, we were concerned about people with diverse
opinion, people with diverse experiences and the fact that our selection was
broad-based, people came in from all shades of life, no restrictions. At the
end of the day, it was the people on the ground who decided the kind of
candidates whose names they forwarded for investiture.
How
did they do that, did they contribute in the selection?
Yes, off course. The
party hierarchy at the base, the Sections worked with the mayors and opinion
leaders in the different council areas. We were only there to receive the
opinions that they sent to us. And our criteria and everything were based on
what the base selected and forwarded to us. They chose their candidates and I
think that was the beauty of the CPDM selection exercise. We are going to see
plurality, diversity and all kinds of people with rich experience on how this
nation is governed and should be governed.
As
the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Mines, Industries and Technological
Development, how do you think regions and council areas can make use of their
natural resources to be able to improve on their sources of income?
We just finished elaborating on the text of
application, which concerns us. Our part in the presidential decree on local
authorities, Section 156, which says that you have to make available
non-concessionable mineral substances available. We have to transfer our
powers. This means that they are minerals that you don’t need a mining
concession in order to exploit it. You have sand…all those things that are
limited to Cameroonians only. So, we are divulging all that power down to the
councils; even if they will need our expertise in order to guide them. That
also means that in the future, councils can create companies which can run a
quarry that will give them revenues. These are all innovations and the spirit
behind this law is to make sure that people are empowered at the base to make
money. The law is there and we are wait- ing for the text of application. How
will this really happen? That is where we are now. We have already sent out
copies to the Ministry of Decentralisation on how this text should be
elaborated. From there, it will go to the Prime Minister’s office for the text
of application. At the end of the day, many people will see themselves being
able to sit in their council areas and have access to the mining industry that
has been divulged in their own area, which is a wealth-making and making the
lives of the people better.
In
other words, if a company comes to an area to tar a road, the council should be
able to supply quarry materials to the company instead of the other way round?
That is not what I am
saying, most of the time we have a concession reformulation which comes with
clauses, which says that a country must give that company a quarry. Those are
international clauses which we cannot go against. I am saying that a council on
its own can create a company under the new dispensation which will carry out
some activities. But if a road construction company comes without the
international clause that the government has to give them a quarry, that will
still be the case. We have to respect as a nation, international obligations
which come with financial assistance that is given to us.
Mr.
Minister, how is the situation in the North West and South West regions, one
year after the Major National Dialogue?
As I said from the
beginning, a leader must always be in the middle and so that the opinions can
be diverse. At the Major National Dialogue, MND, people came up with different
opinions. That of course, was the right step in the right direction. Today, we
have so many people who have left the bushes and come out because they have
understood that President Biya and his government care so much about the
wellbeing of the people of the two English- speaking regions. We had so many
people who never understood the consequences of what this was, but today, they
have understood. They are assisting in making sure peace returns to the two
regions and equally making sure that people do not create havoc on their own
lives. They were seeing their lives in ruin and today, they are trying to
package back their lives. Many of the recommendations of the MND are being
gradually implemented with firm instructions from the Number One Cameroonian,
H. E President Biya. The MND was just the right step in the right direction. It
was a forum where people were given the opportunity to express their views and
everybody listening to the other. People were allowed to express their views
and I think this is healthy for a great nation like ours. Today, we are reaping
the fruits of that frank dialogue at the MND and more fruits will come. I think
it has done a lot to break down the tension that prior to the holding of the
MND prevailed in the North West and South West regions. Everybody is now
focused because we know the conflict in the North West and South West regions
is not what the people want. Human life is precious.
What
in your opinion is the way forward for the crisis in North West and South West
regions?
The way forward is for
all of us who come from these regions to focus on what the President of the
Republic has given us-the Special Status and the many benefits that come with
it. We must make sure we put all our energies behind the Regional Councils and
the House of Chiefs and get down to work as one people. We equally have no
choice but to support the Reconstruction Plan for the North West and South West
to build back our lives and our regions. The reconstruction process of these
two regions is not just about development projects but equally psychologi- cal.
We need to build back our lives and get down to the centre of making this
country an emerging nation. We should not be on the sidelines. Rather, we
should be at the centre of making this nation a great country in Africa.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
