From: jembei@gallua.gallaudet.edu
Subject: Re: CAMEROON: Bilingualism and Governors' Powers...
Organization: Gallaudet University
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 15:12:30 GMT

In article <Jan.21.00.59.06.1993.15884@occlusal.rutgers.edu>, shemlon@occlusal.rutgers.edu (Shiyghan Shemlon) writes:
> 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 am not sure in the line above, I meant Cameroon should enact a 
 # legislation that would would set some kind of bahavior standards within
## families. This doesn't, in my view, require any regulation. But it needs
 # awarness. A collective consciousness. Bro Shiyghan has explained this
## very clearly in the lines below. I as he pertinently pointed out, that
 # "RESPECT" and "BLIND OBEDIENCE" are different. Respect is characteristic
## of our culture. It is positive. We should preserve it. "BLIND OBEDIENCE"
 # on the other hand, is something that colonizators used at best via
## evangelizators to better submit our people. As Shiyghan points out, our
 # governments and some parents took advantage of that. I have witnessed
## situations where a child was asked to "shut up !" when he asked a question,
 # or something like that.
  
> 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.
>##
### Ok, sorry Shiy ! Just forgot to go back to ur article before writing
  # this. Thanks for updating me ! 
>> |> 
>> |> 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.
>>     
# I didn't really mean to say that "garbage" (understand incompetent, non-
# democratic individuals) should be given responsibilities simply because
# they are fluent in both languages. I meant (and Bro Shiyghan has made
# good comments on this) that this should be one of the requirements for
# those who wanted to hold public office, those whose decisions will
# have a national impact. Otherwise, how can you expect unilangual officers
# to efficiently serve the people ? Are we going to have interpreters at
# all levels ? We need to really bring people closer to the administration.
# And I believe this debate will be solved by voters. If they have been
# to understand you during campaign, if your message has not been "stuck"
# somewhere at the corner of either French or English, then they will cast
# their vote for you. I am not sure whether John Fru Ndi speak French. But
# I guess without him (or one of his campaign team) speaking French, or
# just say a language people could understand, I doubt he could have won
# the support of people in Douala, etc.
# Time would be given to good politicians to refine their language, and
# become bilingual good politicians ! Otherwise, voters will turn them
# down !
  
>> |> 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.
> 
>> Very good comments !
> 
> SHEMLON WAN SHEMLON WO WAN VIBAN
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
From: zld@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Zemen Lebne-Dengel)
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 04:57:15 GMT
Subject: Ethiopia: Helping thy neighbor (Somalia)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA