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By Tata Mbunwe
The 56th edition of the National Youth Day was officially celebrated in Southwest’s regional capital Buea on February 11 with march pasts, amid a separatist ghostown which paralysed businesses in parts of the town.
The ambiance that usually characterised Youth Day celebrations, prior to the Anglophone Crisis, was again absent in Buea, as people barely celebrated the day.
Molyko, a student residential area and business hub in Buea, was void of its colour. With shops locked and bars closed, the only aspect that kept the town running was taxis. Drivers were on the road.
Buea’s entry point, the Mile 17 Motor Park, was virtually empty with no vehicles going to Kumba and a few ones going to Douala and Limbe. The park was inactive and the usual busyness and traffic that characterises it on normal days was absent.
The official activity to commemorate the day was held at the usual Buea Independence Square, during a tightly secured one-hour-thirty-minute ceremony chaired by Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai.
Most occupants of the grand stand were government officials and CPDM enthusiasts.
The ceremony started at about 10:28 with the National Anthem played by the University of Buea band just minutes after Governor Okalia Bilai arrived.
Only government schools matched
Match past started just after President Biya’s address to the youths had been played by CRTV. Unlike in previous Youth Day celebrations where all schools, both private and public schools will match, the occasion in Buea was void if private schools both at the secondary and higher learning institutions.
Some schools like Government Secondary School Bwiyuku – Tole had just three students. Meanwhile others like Bilingual Grammar School Molyko, which has over 8,000 students, had not up to 200 students at the match past.
Bilingua Grammar School Molyko kick started match past for schools, to the surprise to many, who expected match past to start with nursery and primary schools.
However, neither nursery nor primary schools were at the stadium. Although authorities did not give any open justification to this, the tense security atmosphere was a logical reason enough to justify the non-participation of these junior youths at the celebrations.
Explosions have also been witnessed in Buea recently, and in case of an occurrence as such, the nursery and primary school kids would be in more grave danger than the adult students.
Students who participated in the match past say they braved the security odds to demonstrate their love for the nation.
A University of Buea Student who marched under the youth wing of the ruling CPDM party said: “I won’t pretend that I was not afraid. I was having fears, considering what has been happening in our Anglophone regions and in Buea, especially the constant bombings that have been going on. It’s something that could cause such feeling. I had the fear in me but, despite that, I still gathered courage and decided to participate because Cameroon is my country and I must defend it.”
Given the tense atmosphere in Buea, most students who participated in the ceremony came to the ceremonial ground in assorted wear. They only wore their school uniforms near the stadium and, after matching past, they quickly changed back into assorted cloths and vanished even before other schools could finish matching.
Some of these students said they were surprised seeing students who turned out for the event, despite the security constraints.
A student of GHS Bokwoaongo Buea said: “The match past was awesome. I didn’t expect the population to be like this. If we continue like this, in the near future this crisis will stop and things will be as they were.”
He said his wish is that both government and armed separatists come to a concensus so that things will normalise in the two English-speaking regions.
