From: shemlon@occlusal.rutgers.edu (Shiyghan Shemlon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: CAMEROON: Bilingualism and Governors' Powers...
Date: 21 Jan 93 05:59:07 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1993Jan20.122747.27761@lut.ac.uk>, M.Titahmboh@lut.ac.uk (Mana TitahMboh) writes:
> In article <1993Jan19.165628.1@gallua.gallaudet.edu>,
> jembei@gallua.gallaudet.edu writes:
> |> Hello Brothers !
> |> 
> |> I am pleased to take the time to write anew, and make some suggestions,
> |> or simply ask a few questions. At this crucial time of Cameroon
> |> history, our challenges (political, economical, societal, educational)
> |> are or seem greater to me than I happened to believe a few months ago.
> |> Two of our brothers have suggested via this network that the concept
> |> of family education be reviewed in a way that reflect today's values.
> |> 
> |> I agree with them.
> |> 
> |> Telling my father, uncle, or elder brother/sister "you are wrong in this"
> |> shouldn't be construed as just arrogance. I would be stupid enough if
> |> my father make a mistake and I shut up.
> |> 
> 
> I agree to, but I fail to see what sort of legislation could be useful here -
> unless you are just using this as imagery?  On the same imagery, I
> think there is a limit to politeness and that limit is when your
> elders are mistakenly- or deliberately- on a harmful course of
> action. 

I think we don't need any legislation for this. It is true that in
most African Societies (Cameroon being Africa in miniature is a good
example), children are taught to respect their parents and elders BUT,
BUT, BUT the children are NEVER taught not to question the judgement
of the elders. Interpreting the African teaching of respect for the
elder as non questioning of elderly judgement is a big MISTAKE and I
think it greatly stems from the Judaio-Christian ethic of elderly
infallibility with respect to children, which is wrong. I think we are
confusing two things here, RESPECT and OBEDIENCE. African culture
teaches RESPECT and Christianity and may be Islam teaches BLIND
OBEDIENCE without questioning. The differences between the two are
evident. Many Africans who have bought into western religions are
confusing the two and our leaders have exploited it to their
advantage. They pretend that blind obedience is African culture and I
say NO, it isn't. It is the Christain and Islamic way of obtaining
subservience from their followers under the pretext that obedience of
the "Leader" is decreed by God. Once again let me state it out loud:
RESPECT for the elder is African Culture, but blind OBEDIENCE of the
elder or leader is NOT. So, my brothers and sisters, I think our
problem here is one of education. Yes, the education of Africans in
their cultures and values that have been so distorted by western
culture, religion, colonialism and dictatorship, so much so that we
don't even know what is African anymore. Africans are taught to
respect their elders and YES to QUESTION THEIR JUDGEMENT when they
feel the elders have erred. Any elder who refuses anyone's questioning
of his judgement is just a dictator and no one should call it the
African way. In all African aristocracies the judgement of monarchs
has been examined and corrected by elders of the court, generally in
consent with the members of the extended families they represented. WE
SHOULD TEACH OURSELVES AND OUR CHILDREN TO RESPECT ELDERS AND LEADERS
AND PERPERTUALLY QUESTION THEIR JUDGEMENTS.

> 
> |> We have s few sensitive areas, of which education and the territorial
> |> administration seem very complex. Very interesting suggestions have
> |> been made so far, as to how our political system should look like. But,
> |> huh ? We haven't made any administrative propositions. For instance, it
> |> would be very good if our governors were elected. But after they are
> |> elected, what kind of authority do we think they should have ? Should
> |> our governors have their own army structures ? My opinion in this is that
> |> the army should remain under the central government authority. But the
> |> ........
> |> ........ (deleted)
> |> ........
> |> Governors should have their own security forces. And national security
> |> forces shouldn't interfere in any provincial jurisdiction unless the
> |> governor has tacitely asked for it. There might be situations where

In my proporsal on DECENTRALIZATION I made it very clear what services
I thought should be sent to the provinces and which should remain
under the control of the central adminstration. In my opinion all
"National" services like Defence, Foreign Relations, Immigration,
Currency, P&T, Customs and Excise, Higher Education, etc. etc, should
remain under the central administration while "Non-National" issues
like Police, Agriculture, Local taxes, Local economic issues, Lands
and Surveys, Primary and Nursery Education etc. etc. should be
reverted to the provinces. Of course there are many services that
would still need to be jointly controlled by the central and
provincial adminstrations. I also proposed an elected provincial
legislature to govern with the elected Governor. A couple of these
issues are examined in "Proposals relating to reform of the Cameroon
Constitution" by Dr. Simon Munzu, Dr. Carlson Anyangwe and Mr. Sam
Ekotang Elad.  Personally I don't endorse the administrative structure
proposed by these gentlemen. In my opinion we should either
decentralize services in the current system and make the provinces
more autonomous or return to the federal sytem of 1961. Trying to work
a compromise between the two alternatives as the three gentlemen have
tried to propose is just too cumbersome in my opinion.

> |> 
> |> Our educational system seems one of the most promising thanks to its
> |> bilingual nature. However, bilingualism seems more theoretical than
> |> really practical. Ahidjo was unable to read English. Yet, he was
> |> a strong advocate of...bilingualism ! Our educational system should
> |> change so radically that, teaching should be made invariably in either
> |> English or French, every where, at all times. A true bilingualism
> |> ought to start at the very kindergarten !
> |> 
> |> These are just petites ideas. You would think over, comment them on if
> |> you find some interest in them. I will welcome your comments as usual.
> |> 
> |> Poppi
> 
> I don't think these are petty ideas, but I would prefer honest accountable
> politicians to bilingual politicians everytime. We need people who can bring
> progress to the nation far more than we need people who are fluent in a
> multitude of European languages. Of course I would be the first to welcome a
> "good" politician who happened to be bilingual.
> 
> |> IN%"JEMBEI@Gallua.Bitnet"  
> 
> Mana

I agree with Mana on the accountability issue, but I still think he is
trivializing the issue of bilingualism. I personally believe that the
major reason many Anglophone Cameroonians feel like second class
citizens is because English is considered secondary to French.
Anglophones require French to survive in the current Cameroon system
meanwhile Francophones do not require English to survive. This gives
some feeling of inferiority, whether we belive this or not and it is
often very frustrating to realize that in your country you are
expected to prove yourself more than a fellow citizen for langauge
reasons only. I still insist that all National officials should be
required to be bilingual to conduct business in a bilingual country.
This will destroy the language myth and the hindrances hidden therein
and remove the feeling of inferiority that afflicts the Anglophone
population and the unfair advantage that Francophone Cameroonians have
over their Anglophone counterparts in certain areas of public life. It
will insure that everyone is playing on a level ground. This has
worked beautifully in Canada. With the large provincial autonomy all
Canadian public officials that I have known are bilingual and I don't
see why the same shouldn't be applied to Cameroon Public officials. Of
course this problem would have been long solved if we adopted a single
African language at independence. I am still calling for the adoption
of such an African Language for the Cameroon of tomorrow. May be have
it as an objective of the next 30 to 50 years perhaps. In the meantime
we have the current problem, and a requirement for all elected
"national" public officials including provincial governors to be
bilingual is the solution in my opinion. The requirement may be
relaxed for other local officials with no national impact.
Bilingualism should seriously be encouraged from primary school in all
regions of Cameroon as Poppi says. This way we might end up solving
our language crisis (if we refuse adopting an African Language) and
the so-called "Probleme Anglophone" in Cameroon would be history. The
application of such a law may be relaxed in the first 5 years after
its enactment to give current and aspiring runners for public office
the chance to polish their language skills.


SHEMLON WAN SHEMLON WO WAN VIBAN
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