CI-NEWS

99 percent of Anglophones reject ‘Special Status’

2020-11-11

No: 546

99 percent of Anglophones reject ‘Special Status’

The ‘Special Status’ offered Anglophones at last year’s Major National Dialogue in exchange for peace with their Francophone brothers after four years of armed conflict has been overwhelmingly rejected by the people of the North West and South West regions.

A Monkey Survey carried out by The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations, a group seeking to end the armed conflict in the two regions through diplomacy, showed that only 1 percent of the respondents declared their support for the government-sponsored Special Status which is yet to be given any content.

The survey, according to an executive summary which The Horizon obtained, had a large sample size with 3,749 respondents, probably the largest number of Southern Cameroonians surveyed to date.`

Majority of respondents (38%) were from Cameroon.

The results suggested a strong preference for greater autonomy:

• 86% of respondents chose full independence as the best form of state to address root cause of conflict

• 7% chose federation and

• 4% selected confederation

• Only 1% chose Government-sponsored “Special status”.

Most respondents 980%) preferred a UN-backed body as best mediator of conflict. 9% prefer Swiss-backed negotiations, while only 1% thought the Government of Cameroon is a good mediator

Also a large majority (87%) preferred an independent judiciary system based on common law. Another 10% chose common law system controlled by central government.

While Anglo-Saxon Educational system was favorable (57%), many Southern Cameroonians would like to see a newly developed educational system (38%)

Most Southern Cameroonians would like to see their Elderly Statesmen and women play a more active advisory role.

Most Southern Cameroonians would prefer their traditional leaders to serve as custodians of culture and traditions only. A sizeable minority are happy for their chiefs to play a more active role in local administration, so long as they are exempted from political parties.

Meanwhile, 95% Southern Cameroonians rejected the CFA franc as their currency while 96% do not recommend the Gendarmes as security officers. 80% of them preferred locally vs centrally controlled police forces.

These trends are steady across different gender, age groups, and level of education. There is no major difference in results after adjusting for gender imbalance.

Deeper statistical analysis showed the choice of form of state was highly correlated with citizen’s preferences for their ideal system for law, economy, education and security

• Those who (i)prefer an independent judiciary system, (ii)reject the Franc CFA, (iii)prefer an Anglo-Saxon educational system, or (iv)reject the Gendarmes, tend to prefer full independence

Key Conclusions

The results clearly and unambiguously indicate a strong preference for greater

autonomy among Southern Cameroonians. This is expressed in their choices for

form of state, legal system, educational system and security

These trends are robust across multiple segments of society – by age, gender,

country of residence, level of education and others.

Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) shows a strong correlation between the desire for full independence and preferences for the legal, economic, educational systems and the type of policing the respondents wish for.

Reacting to the results of the survey, imprisoned leader of the Ambazonia interim Government, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, called on the UN to mediate and address the root cause of the armed conflict to end the senseless war. #Independence or #Resistance4Ever, he tweeted.

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99 percent of Anglophones reject ‘Special Status’