By Soulemanu Buba
A Member of Parliamentarian (MP) for Kumba, Southwest Region of Cameroon, one of the hotspots of the war-ravaged Anglophone Cameroon shocked his people when he said ‘there is no war’ in the South West Region.
Hon. Ekolle Peters was speaking on the first day of the November session of Cameroon’s National Assembly on November 11, 2022.
“I am going to fight for peace vigorously in 2023 with all my might. I am resident in Kumba, and I have never been attacked by any person. People should not come here and say that there is war in South West, there is no war in South West,” the MP said on My Media Prime TV.
Many say they were shocked by his outing at the National Assembly which confirms he is out of touch with the realities of the people he is supposed to be representing.
His comments came at a time when thousands have been killed, hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes, an unknown number detained in prisons around Cameroon, thousands in Nigeria as refugees, and many more as internally displaced persons in the South West Region because of the war.
This will not be the first time that a politician has made such a statement. Many government officials have been known to make similar remarks in the past, with some even denying that there was an ‘Anglophone Problem’.
These denials are often seen as a way of seeking favours from the regime, which continues to downplay the severity of the conflict in the two English-speaking regions.
Mimi Mefo Info
