Cameroon’s Prime Minister Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute has left the Northwest region today ending a weeklong peace mission in the region that has ended only with audiences and promises. His weeklong sojourn in the region was characterized by heightened insecurity from the gateway into the region, in Bamenda, Bui division, and Donga Mantung.
Two prime ministers have now entered the annals of history as front-line actors in the government bench tasked with the responsibility of ending the Anglophone crisis.
Former Prime Minister Philemon Yang failed to end the crisis and his successor, many say, might just be following the footsteps of his predecessor.
Just like the former prime minister, the current PM checked into Ayaba Hotel and granted audience to groups of persons, from the elite to even journalists.
It was another opportunity for the head of government to send a message to the separatist fighters to drop their arms and surrender.
In the streets of Bamenda, many see the visit of the prime minister as another wasted effort in resolving the crisis.
According to Martha, a footwear vendor in Bamenda, just like Yang, Dion Ngute is on the fast lane to mark his name as another anglophone elite that walks on the corpses of Anglophones.
“Soldiers and amba boys are battling every day. People have died and many are still dying. Why can the prime minister not ask the president to at least give a reason for the separatists to see some goodwill by the government? Just a statement from Yaoundé for troops to fall back to the barracks will be a litmus test for the government to show goodwill,” she said.
According to Wilson, a teacher in Bamenda, the prime minister is wasting government resources, coming to Anglophone regions with just nothing to show for it.
“The prime minister cannot claim he is visiting Buea and Bamenda to end the crisis. Never! He is just playing around like his predecessor. Yang even sat at Ayaba for 17 hours listening to various groups’ suggest solutions to the crisis yet nothing. They keep talking to themselves. Kondengui is in Yaoundé and the government is keeping the real person who can dialogue with them. If the prime minister wants to be a hero, let him ask the government to send him to Kondengui to talk with the leaders jailed there,” Wilson said.
Year in and out, the Northwest and the Southwest regions, remain a stage where government officials now use like a cinema hall, dancing time and again without even caring if there is an audience to watch or applaud.