Way to exile

CRTV has lost many brilliant journalists. The kind of which, no serious government and serious management in any corporation in the world, will afford to loose, but there are still a pool of good journalists left at CRTV and others who are growing up. Hereon, I won’t want to write about the haemorrhage of the crème de la crème of CRTV journalists, of both the English and French desks. But I will want to point out that, the lost is mostly affecting the English desk. For the English brand of journalism, that most journalists of at the English desk of CRTV wants to practise, doesn’t give greater chances to public relations journalism, as the French desk almost always does. On this chapter, I will want to talk or write about my way to exile. But remember, as mentioned earlier, even though I grew up with an apprehension on the current dispensation of Cameroon, where the majority ruling French-speaking elites are cheating on the minority English-speakers and this, in violations of the unification agreement, I never wanted to leave Cameroon. I had the feeling that, as a Cameroonian by default, I could contribute in my own small way, to help French-speaking Cameroonians, learn how to respect agreements they had signed.

For the rise of Anglophone nationalism in Cameroon, to a point of desiring secession, is not because the Anglophone region is mineral rich, but more because, Francophone elites in Yaoundé, don’t only ignore or refuse to honour their words, they adopt cavalier manners in their ways of doing things and such conducts, irritates Anglophones deeply. I have always wondered why on earth, French-speaking Cameroonians could without any shame, refuse to respect or ignore the unification agreements, as they have done since 1961. But it was in France, that, I understood fully well, the reasons why, British Southern Cameroon’s former Prime minister, late Dr EML Endeley, said to his rival late Dr J N. Foncha, who was campaigning for unification with Francophone independent Republic of Cameroon, that: “oil can’t mix with water”. Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians might be too close or could even be referred to as “brothers” and “sister”, yet, they are too far apart culturally. I saw all that here in France. In France, I witnessed all what makes us English-speaking Cameroonians, fundamentally different from French-speaking Cameroonians.