Cameroon’s renowned influencer, Marlene Emvoutou has tendered an open apology to her “Bamileke brothers and sisters,” following derogatory comments she made some months back against the people of Cameroon’s West Region.
In a viral video published recently, the former FECAFOOT’s presidential candidate said she was not in her right frame of mind when she made “hurtful utterances” against the Bamilekes, blaming her utter.
Emvoutou got into the bad books of some Cameroonians when she categorically said every politician should return to their village to seek political offices. She was referring to Professor Maurice Kamto and the post-electoral protests that his MRC party organised to challenge President Biya’s 2018 election win.
In a series of outings, Emvoutou called herself and said “The Bamilekes should stop mounting pressure everywhere.”
She went on to demand for all regions to be renamed including the West Region.
Today, Marlene Emvoutou has made a U-turn. She said in a recent interview that she went out of line — and said things that she is “so ashamed of.”
“I have a lot of regrets for promoting such hate. That is not me. I am not a promoter of hate. When I see videos I made in the past, I ask myself if I was influenced by drugs. Today I officially ask for forgiveness from my Bamileke brothers.”
Emvoutou believes that hate speech and tribalism should not have a place in Cameroon. “We cannot continue to promote hate, we have to stop encouraging hate,” she added.
“Bamilekes are wonderful people, they are my good friends. I feel ashamed of myself. My home is owned by a Bamileke, we do not have any problem. I am sorry, it was pregnancy hormones. I just had a baby that time.”
In 2020 Marlene Emvoutou had chastised a popular Bikutsi singer, K-Tino for apologising to the Bamilekes over similar statements.
“Why humiliate yourself publicly to apologize for something you didn’t do? Everything you said was right,” Emvoutou said.
There has been an ongoing debate on whether she deserves to be forgiven or not.
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