WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PAUL BIYA END OF YEAR SPEECH? SHORT OF EXPECTATION?

President Paul Biya did not address the Anglophone crisis in his end-of-year speech detailly as most anglophone Cameroonians expected. The crisis has been ongoing for seven years and has resulted in the displacement of thousands of people and the loss of many lives. It is important for leaders to address the concerns of their citizens and work towards finding solutions to issues that affect them because they where voted to better the life of citizens and not to worsen it.

Paul Biya

The impact of President Biya’s silence on the Anglophone crisis while lives are being lost daily is really a call for concern. However, this is only causing frustration among many Cameroonians who thinks the solutions the government has been providing all these years is not good enough to solve the crisis or stop the war. The crisis has already caused significant damage to the economy and infrastructure of the affected regions with thousands of lives being lost, and the lack of action from the government is only exacerbating the situation.

Many Cameroonians expected the government to acknowledge the fact that creating the Disarmament and Demobilization center in the two English region  meant to convince most fighters to drop their weapons was a good idea but it has fail to meet its expectations. Three years down the lane and very few fighters have been able to drop their weapons and move to these centers. Other ex-fighters who even went to these centers have not been properly treated and some have either ran away from the center while many come out from time to time protesting the poor management system of these center. Most Cameroonians expected the president to even offer jobs to the fighters who have been in these centers now for over 3 years so they can be able to take care of their families. Ex-fighters are often being seen wearing military uniforms and fighting on the field along side the military. 

President Biya also fail to address the thousand of anglophone youths who have been arbitrary arrested for going about their day to day activities in the north west and south west region since the war started and have never been charge to court. military men frequently take the law in to their hands and go about arresting young people even in their house and either demand for huge sum of money from their family before being release or some are wrongly tag separatist and thrown in jail and others are even kill and thrown on the streets. The president granting amnesty to prisoners of war would have help to console most aggrieve families and would have also pave the way for peace in these regions. Apart from unlawful arrested, the military have also been caught several times burning housing of civilians. Again he fail to call his military to order.

With the inflation rate almost doubled in Cameroon, and many Cameroonians unable to afford 3 squared meal a day, many Cameroonians expected the president to address the hardship many people are facing and also to provide palliatives to cushion the effect of the inflation. Many have also blame the government for using a lot of the country's resources to fund the war in the northwest  and southwest regions.

Another failure in the president's speech was his failure to address the excesses of his minister. It is but normal in Cameroon that minister never come back to the parliament to give a detail of how money given to theirs ministry is spend. Rather they come to ask for more money every November during the budgetary session of the parliament. In his end of year speech one year ago, the president promise Cameroonians that all the ministers who embezzle funds for the covid 19 will be arrested, but till date non of those who embezzle have either been arrested or even charge to court. instead, most of the ministers who embezzle were given awards. This has made most Cameroonians to ask if the president is actually living in Cameroon. 

It is important for the government to take steps to address the crisis and work towards a peaceful resolution. This includes engaging in dialogue with the separatist community and addressing their concerns, as well as taking concrete steps to improve the economic and social conditions in the affected regions.