REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON: IS THE SOLUTION AN ANGLOPHONE VICE PRESIDENT?
Many people ask whether appointing an Anglophone as Vice President would solve the Anglophone problem. History suggests otherwise.
Cameroon has had distinguished Anglophones occupy some of the highest offices in the land. We have had Vice Presidents. We have had Prime Ministers. We have had senior ministers, judges, governors, generals and administrators. Yet the fundamental grievances surrounding justice, education, local governance, economic opportunity and regional development have continued to exist.
The lesson is simple: the problem is not the ethnicity of the person in office. The problem is the structure within which they operate.
The farmer in the village, the teacher in the classroom, the trader in the market, the lawyer in court, the doctor in the hospital and the young graduate searching for work face many of the same struggles whether they are Anglophone or Francophone. They worry about unemployment, poor infrastructure, corruption, insecurity, rising living costs, weak public services, unequal opportunities and a system that often leaves ordinary citizens powerless.
Replacing one face with another without changing the system only creates new expectations and new disappointments.
What Cameroon needs is not another symbolic appointment but meaningful reform. Imagine a federal constitution where every region manages its own education system, protects its own legal traditions, raises and administers local taxes, develops its own resources, maintains its own community policing, and shares fairly in royalties, taxes and investment benefits while the federal government concentrates on national defense, immigration, sovereignty and foreign affairs.
This is not a strange idea. Around the world, countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Canada and the United States demonstrate how decentralized governance can allow regions to preserve their identity while remaining part of one nation. Unity does not require uniformity. It requires fairness, trust and shared responsibility.
At the same time, lasting peace demands the release of political prisoners, the safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons, reconciliation among our people, and investments that guarantee energy independence, water security, industrialization and economic opportunity for every region.
An Anglophone does not need the title of Vice President to be respected. A Francophone does not lose when an Anglophone gains more freedom. Real victory comes when every Cameroonian enjoys justice, dignity and opportunity.
The same problem in the duck house is the same problem in the fowl house. None of us can truly be free while the other remains trapped.
The future of Cameroon should not be built on political posturing or token appointments. It should be built on freedom over fear, institutions over personalities, justice over privilege, and development over division. When every region is empowered and every citizen is protected, there will be no winners or losers- only one stronger, more peaceful and more united Cameroon.
I confirm, affirm, reaffirm, and unequivocally conclude: the solution is neither Anglophone nor Francophone. The solution is Cameroon.
Dr. David Makongo