CI-NEWS

Ghosts Towns will eventually fizzle out in NW/SW - Minister Felix Mbayu

2020-09-15

No: 531

Ghosts Towns will eventually fizzle out in NW/SW

- Minister Felix Mbayu

Felix Mbayu, the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in charge of the Commonwealth and General Rapporteur of the Major National Dialogue that held in Yaounde last year has told CRTV’s Sunday Magazine flagship programme, Cameroon Calling, that ghost towns will in the near future fizzle out eventually especially as the inhabitants of the two Anglophone regions are becoming fed up with the phenomenon.

Speaking on the sidelines of a follow-up Committee meeting for the implementation of the recommendations of the Major National Dialogue that held at the Prime Minister’s Office, Minister Mbayu equally stated that dialogue is a process, not an event and that adopting dialogue as a preferred means of solving problems is not incompatible with the maintenance of law and order, not incompatible with the republican duty to protect persons and their properties.

“Even before the Major National Dialogue, since the onset of the crisis, the Head of State have adopted dialogue as a preferred means of finding a solution to the problem. In the mind of the Head of State, in his governance style, dialogue is a process, not an event. Let me also note that adopting dialogue as a preferred means of solving problems is not incompatible with the maintenance of law and order, it is not incompatible with the republican duty to protect persons and their properties. That said, the Major National Dialogue was a high point not an end point. So following this dialogue, important recommendations were adopted and a major effort has been made to implement them. You remember that just after the end of the dialogue in a tweet and if you permit me, I will cite the content of the tweet. He said "I can assure that all of them will be carefully and diligently examined with a view to their implementation taking into account their timeliness and feasibility but also the capacity of accompanying”.

“Within that context, much has been done, if you will permit me, let me just cite a few which are most topical. You remember that shortly after the dialogue, the Head of State instructed the release of 333 detainees who had been held within the context of the crisis. As early as December 2019, a bill on the Promotion of Bilingualism was adopted by the National Assembly and the Senate. This law provides that English and French should be used equally in all public institutions. Similarly on 15 December 2019 within the framework of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly and the Senate, a bill on the General Code on Decentralized Local Authorities was tabled before the two houses of parliament and our parliamentarians adopted this law that actually translates into a decisive step of the Decentralization process especially as regards the special status granted to the North West and South West Regions.

“Just a few days ago I have heard, the Head of State signed a decree to fix the number of Regional councils per Division and per category and also another decree to lay down the terms and conditions for the covering by the State of the cost related to the participation of members of the electoral colleges. This is just a small sample which demonstrates the determination of the Head of State to solve the problem using the core mechanism which is Decentralization.”

QUESTION: Minister ghost towns in some parts of the two regions are still a reality. Isn't this a big obstacle towards fostering the restoration of peace and social cohesion?

Well, we would have wished that there were no ghost towns but it happens. But to say it's like prominent, is not actually exact anymore. It happens in some places particularly in some rural areas. If you go to the cities of Buea and most of cities in the South West Region, there are no ghost towns. You may have ghost towns in Bamenda but the phenomenon of ghost hasn't got a direct linkage to what the proponents of secession would wish it to be because the truth should be told, if you have ghost town on a Monday, most human beings or most workers would prefer not to work on Mondays and in to the particular case of ghost town in the region, you would find that those who observe it are those who will receive their salaries whether they work or not; the civil servants, those working for bank institutions and things like that. Those whose daily subsistence depends on working do work; the mother who has to go out and sell bananas to earn a living do work. So ghost towns, well is an unfortunate phenomenon but would fizzle out definitely because by its very nature is unsustainable, by its very nature it does no good to the proponents of secession because it makes them to be perceived as oppressors and not the liberators they claim to be.

The Diaspora is obviously part of this problem. The Diaspora made quite some pertinent recommendations during the Major National Dialogue. How do they come in, in the process now?

The committees set up by the Head of State include members of the Diaspora. Unfortunately because of the COVID restrictions, they could not come. But evidently as we move forward, they will participate not only in terms of ideas but physically. This said great ideas came from the Diaspora during the dialogue. It is not all members of the Diaspora who are just megaphones. They are those who made concrete proposals. The Diaspora is a very important component of our society but it is just a component. At the end of the day, those who live the reality back have an input of what is happening but how do you solve without bringing all those involved together? So the Head of State’s approach is an inclusive one, listen to the members of the Diaspora who have something positive to say as long as it doesn't endanger the national unity and territorial integrity of our country.

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Ghosts Towns will eventually fizzle out in NW/SW - Minister Felix Mbayu