Anglophones-an endangered species

With their own help, and by a collusion of socio-political circumstances, the Anglophones in Cameroon have become an endangered species.

They are progressively and inexorably elbowed out to the fringes of national life; and even their place in the global village is imperiled.

Before we make the point, it is essential to distinguish between the two groups of people in Cameroon who respond to this appellation.

Broadly speaking, the term refers to the growing mass of Cameroonians capable of mouthing something that sounds like, or has more than a 60 percent mutual intelligibility with the English language.

Beyond our borders this category can be broadened to include most African countries who speak some variety of English which the native speaker will understand if he listens hard enough.

In this regard the term is not simply synonymous to “English-speaking” or having English as official language. That is why the UK, Australia and the US, though English-speaking, are hardly ever referred to as Anglophone.

Back to our local context, the term includes those who were born and raised in the former British territory to Francophone parents who migrated thereto for reasons of war or work; The new wave of young Francophones who have come to shed their initial disdain for English, having discovered the impossibility of getting by in French outside of France and Francophone Africa.

The group of Anglophones we consider as an endangered species, threatened by the foregoing category, are natives of the Northwest and Southwest Regions, with English as their first official language.

Late President Ahidjo or the writers of the constitution under him, took care to enshrine the seed of this extinction in the constitution by stipulating,

1. That in case of conflict of interpretations between the two languages, French would predominate

2. That some state institutions such as the armed forces will have French as their language of command and control. One would have expected, on the contrary, that if Cameroon were serious about upholding its bilingual and bi-cultural heritage, such priority would have been given to English, to protect and preserve it as a minority language. Now we are landed with a situation where

• even Anglophone officials (especially soldiers and policemen) serving in Anglophone territory, speak French;

• Official signposts and labels, even in Anglophone areas, often appear in French

• English translations are often misleading – senseless at worst – because they were done by the new generation of franglophones.

• An Anglophone minister or director will speak French for his Francophone secretary, instead of the reverse

• A conversation between nine Anglo-phones and one francophone is most likely to be in French – the Anglophones being more accommodating

As late as a decade ago the discrimination was against English. That was when, for Francophones, France was still the centre of the universe.

Today, with the recognition that the French language and culture are dwarfed by English in global affairs, the discrimination in Cameroon has shifted from the English language to its local “native” speakers.

These are the people who are now being squeezed to a tight corner by the rushing armada of young Francophones scrambling for present and future opportunities open to those who can function in English.

They have flooded UB and all the top Anglophone schools at home and abroad. Even the Head of State, who is alleged to have said, while Prime Minister, that bilingualism was too expensive an option for Cameroon, and who addresses the Commonwealth in French, chose to send his daughter to a school in the US.

Before, Anglophones were Cameroon’s real bilinguals because they needed French to get by. And because of their upbringing they more readily grabbed bilingual jobs requiring integrity. Today they try even harder to surmount the language barrier.

In Douala and Yaoundé not much less than a quarter of the cab drivers are Anglophones but to know it you must pay particularly keen attention to their accents.

Most vehicle owners say they prefer them for their honesty. But when it comes to white collar opportunities Anglophones are increasingly outnumbered by Franglophones.

And they are not helping themselves either. Listen to the English that comes out of UB, Cameroon’s Anglo-Saxon flagship university, let alone our secondary and primary schools. The level of linguistic mediocrity is simply alarming.

At whose door do we lay it? Is it the influence of Pidgin English or interference from French?Is it a specious claim that in many cases Francophones speak and write better English than most Anglophones?

This clarion-call may well be most timely, coming at the time of the creation of the Cameroon Educational Forum.

Knowing what the politics of numbers can do to public policy formulation and implementation, there is precious little one can expect from the present Government by way of a solution to this conundrum. The onus is therefore on the Anglophones themselves.

They must swim or drown. Parents, primary and secondary school authorities, higher institutions of learning, the GCE Board, the Teachers’ Unions – recreation time is over. Being born Anglophone is not enough. Either we rise up to the occasion or tomorrow’s Anglophones will be Francophones.

Salvation was meant for the Jews but they took it for granted, and the gentiles grabbed it. You may begrudge them the opportunities but you cannot dispute their right thereto.