BIYA'S 40 YEARS AS PRESIDENT IN THE MIND OF AN AMBAZONIAN

• Archives & Analysis
• November 09, 2022

The Mind Of An Ambazonian On Biya's 40 Years

Sworn in as President on November 6, 1982 to November 6, 2022, makes Paul Biya 40 years at the Presidency. This is a period that has retrograded the people of Southern Cameroons and their institutions backwardly. Statistically speaking, Ambazonia has no positive testimony of the 40 years of Paul Biya as President but of pain, misery, Hardship and frustration. Institutions that existed in Southern Cameroons before November 6, 2022 no longer exist. The Biya's regime has grounded them all, with some just being a shadow of themselves.

To the the people of Southern Cameroons, the 40 years of LRC Ruler Paul Biya are wasted years. What should an Ambazonian that the Biya's regime has burnt their residence or killed his/her parent(s) be celebrating in the 40 years of such a President? Southern Cameroons Ambazonia, formal British Southern Cameroons came together to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon with La Republique du CameroUn in 1961, with Ahmadou Ahidjo as President of the Federation. In 1982, precisely November 6,Paul Biya was sworn in replacing Ahidjo as the President of the United Republic of Cameroon, given that in 1972, President Ahmadou Ahidjo unilaterally changed the appallation from the Federal Republic of Cameroon to United Republic of Cameroon, a move that politicians saw as an assimilation process.

Assuming power in 1982, Paul Biya assumed the role to complete the assimilation of the people of Southern Cameroons by LRC. The 40-year-rule of Paul Biya have reduced the people of Southern Cameroons into nothing. This is justified by the fact that, just two years after taking over office that is in 1984, he single handed changed the name of the country from United Republic of Cameroon to La Republique du CameroUn. This, meaning Southern Cameroons have no identity with the name of the Country. Looking at the driving mirror on the Institutions in Southern Cameroons, the feeling is only that of regrets. The road network today in Ambazonia is everything but road. The roads are bad, with some abandoned to running water to dictate where pedestrians should used, with vehicles not considered in the process.

In 1985, Paul Biya promised the people of Southern Cameroons a ring road. That he was going to personality supervise the construction of the ring road. For 38 years now and counting the people of Southern Cameroons are still to see the birth of the ring road. The tar that was on some area of this road before the still to be realized promise of Biya have been scrabed by forces of nature. Still on institutions, Southern Cameroons was blessed with a well structured banking institution, the Cameroon bank. After assuming power, Biya never hesitated in closing the bank. He gave the same sanction to the Farmers bank. Southern Cameroons equally had plantains that offered employment to Southern Cameroonians. Paul Biya closed this industrial farms like the Santa Tea Estate and the Tole Tea Estate.

The people of Southern Cameroons evaluating the 40 years of LRC Ruler Paul Biya to Ambazonia, will vividly remember the Lake Nyos calamity. A calamity that wiped out the entire community, both humans and livestock. The Presidential elections of 1992 is a other area of President Paul Biya's governance that needs a "red feather". He alright stole the elections just because it was a Southern Cameroonian who won the elections. On the social aspect, Biya has attempted to wiped the cultural identity of Southern by attempting to nationalize the Ewondo dialect, which is his native language. Looking the school system in Southern Cameroons, he transferred French lecturers to Anglo-Saxon Universities in a move to unteach the children of Southern Cameroons.

The judiciary is another area where Biya's mark is felt. He replaced Southern Cameroonians majestrates at the Courts in Southern Cameroons with Francophone Majestrates. It only took the lawers and the teachers stride in 2016 for a cosmetic readjustments. Corruption is another legacy of Biya in Southern. Within his mandate, Cameroon has emerged twice as the most corrupt Country in the world, 1998 and 1999 respectively. In the 40 years of Biya, the 40% of Cameroonians live below the poverty line according to the World food programme rating.