Despite Cameroon’s Bilingual nature provided for in the constitution, CRTV television has relegated English to the back-burner in the live coverage of the ongoing World Cup competition in Brazil.
Since the competition began on June 12, no English word has been heard on CRTV television as commentaries are run exclusively in French.
Such a situation has left a majority of Anglophones, especially in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, virtually frustrated. They have no choice given that CRTV acquired exclusive rights to broadcast the matches in the Country.
CRTV’s ace sport commentator, Fon Ichekiye, who traveled to Brazil was expected to deliver the commentaries in English. But he has so far remained mute. Not even his French language colleague, Vincent de Paul Atangana, has been heard. It turned out that the journalists who are running football commentaries on CRTV are not even journalists of the State broadcaster.
Such a situation further stocks the fires of complaints of the marginalisation of Anglophones in the country. An activist of the Anglophones rights, Ivo Sama, who spoke to The Post described the situation as the greatest act of provocation against Anglophone football lovers in Cameroon.
“This is a Francophone Country. Nobody should fool us that Cameroon is a Bilingual Country. Although it is stated in the constitution that the two languages are English and French, the former has been related to the oblivion with impunity. That is why CRTV authorities could muster the courage to do what they are doing,” one Anglophone football fan, Frank Balie screamed.
When contacted by phone, the Deputy Station Manager of CRTV, Prof Francis Wete, told The Post that the exclusive broadcast rights the corporation acquired permitted them to have commentaries only in one Language. Given the arrangement, he explained, the pictures and sound were coming straight from their partners in Brazil so CRTV journalists could not run commentaries.
