A group of four influential Cameroonian ladies are encouraging women to use March 8 to protest against the killings in the crisis-hit regions.
The ladies – Barristers Alice Nkom, Michele Ndoki, Charlotte Tchakounte and Ms Kah Walla – have recounted the Ngarbuh massacre, noting that Cameroonians died in the most horrible way.
Recalling Cameroon women that fought for freedom to the last, they note that, “our mothers used Mevengu, Ko’o and Takumbeng to right the wrongs of society. We cannot sit today and do nothing as the society falls apart”.
“Our children are dying. 4,000 or more in the Extreme North, 3000h and more in the North West and South West regions. Our children are out of school. 600 000 in the Anglophone regions, but surely over 1 million if we add in the parts of the country where there are no schools, where there are no teachers or where parents can simply not afford to pay fees,” the add.
As women, “we are paying the ultimate price for the decisions of a Regime that has absolutely no regard for us”.
Burying the dead, being raped and violated, using every possible means and yet we still not being able to feed their children, their struggles they say are many.
” We are raising children only for this Regime, who cannot create jobs for them, to transform them into soldiers, armed groups, bandits. People who kill and who are killed,” they state.
With the 8th of March 2020 fast approaching, the ladies say “this 8th of March we must come out as Cameroonian women to say NO! to the death and destruction in our country and to say YES! to life. Our lives and the lives of our children. We must come out to say we deserve safety, security and well-being in this country which belongs to us. We must stand and make our voices heard”.
Women of Cameroon have in this light been called to among other things not buy or wear the official Women’s Day cloth.
“We will be standing in strength and in defiance. We will be standing in mourning for the thousands who have died. We will be standing to demand life. On the 8th of March we will stand in black to demand the restoration of our nation”.
“Do not participate in any of the official ceremonies, parties and parades. This Regime cannot kill us and then celebrate with us,” the ladies request.
“Come together in your associations, groups, development organizations. Come together as we have done here. It is in unity that we are strong. It is unity that we can plan and act,” they add.
The ladies have also pledged to visit any women groups or association that decide to join the movement
“We have come together here today to call you to join us from North to South and East to West, Christian, Muslim and Traditional Religions, ALL of the women of Cameroon,” they explain, calling for action “until we obtain a better Cameroon for ourselves and our children”.
MMI
