 |
| TAC, CATTU AND SNAES UNION LEADERS: WARNING |
Officials of
the Teachers Trade Unions which have called for the grounding of academic activities in
schools West of the Mungo, are warning teachers, students and pupils to stay
at home on Monday November 21, for their safety.
The Secretary
General of the Cameroon Teacher’s Trade Union, CATTU said they have not called
for any street demonstration but for a sit in strike.
In an
interview granted the Bamenda based radio station, Tassang Wilfred insinuates
that the government has deployed troops with the possibility of violence on
unarmed people as they did to Common Law Lawyers. He explained why
they would not travel to Yaounde and said they were not afraid to die. Excepts
Why no representation
at Yaoundé Meeting?
From the meeting that held in Yaoundé yesterday,
(November 18 2016) as the nation saw and as we said, we were not in Yaounde. In
spite of the fact that some people went around blackmailing us, saying that we
have been given military escorts to protect us and take us to the Yaoundé
meeting. And to indicate that the trade Unions that are supposed to have taken
part in that meeting, are not credible Unions. we don’t even work with them.
The Francophone Trade Unions and the leaders with whom we work, who were duly
invited for that meeting, boycotted that meeting.
And because we had together
with them written to government over the years to solve this problem and
government has not, they have written to the PM, giving him a strike
notification, and they have given the government and ultimatum, up to the 25th
for the government to address the issues that we had long tabled to them concerning
Anglophone education, without which they themselves will be calling for a
nationwide strike for their own teachers in sympathy to our course.
“We were not
safe going to Yaounde”
I like to reiterate why we didn’t go to Yaoundé.
Originally we had two points, two reasons why we shouldn’t have gone, today we
now have three. The first point is that the Ministry of Higher Education, and Minister Fame Ndongo, are the reasons for which we have these crisis, because
most of the problems that we are raising are caused by that ministry, and then
placed upon Anglophone children in secondary education.
 |
| FAME NDONGO : NO LAUGHING MATTER |
“We blame
Fame Ndongo”
We have met Minister Fame Ndongo on two occasions in
Bamenda and in Yaoundé and he has shown to us adamantly that he didn’t even see
that there was a problem with what was happening.
He told us and I quote in
Bamenda that “Cameroon is a bilingual country, anybody can go anywhere and
teach in any Language.” Strangely, it is only Francophones that have to come
and destroy Anglophone children. Minister Fame Ndongo as an intellectual, should
have known better being a university professor.
“If they
could brutalise lawyers, what about teachers?”
The second reason had to do with our security. You
know, after what happened to our brothers and sisters, the lawyers, in Buea, we
came to the conclusion that government has resorted to state terrorism. So
that, even the lawyers who have immunity of the law, of the robes and the wigs.
If that could happen even to them, that they were attacked even in their hotel
rooms and brutalised, then anything could happen to teachers. Not that we are
afraid to die, but we owe our people a duty to protect ourselves so that we can
conduct this fight to a successful end.
 |
| VIOLENCE ON LAWYERS |
UB Synes must be invited
The third reason that we had not seen, or for which we
shouldn’t have gone is that our colleagues of the University of Buea who signed
the memorandum with us, were not invited to the meeting. Instead Minister Fame
Ndongo decided to invite the National Bureau of SYNES, instead of the Buea Chapter, and the person who they invited to that meeting, is a francophone,
the very one who has struggled to put out Anglophones in the
national bureau of SYNES.
You know, as we speak, the SG of SYNES was supposed
to come from UB, but in their last convention in Ngaoundere, they did
everything to keep out UB from taking over the position of Secretary General of
SYNES. And that’s what they did, and that’s because that person was going to be
an Anglophone.
"Stay at Home for your safety"
So this fight is going on, and we are saying that we have not repented from the call that we made to teachers not to
go to school on Monday (November 21). In fact, we are asking them that they should not even
venture out of their houses, that they should stay home and be prayerful. And
that parents should keep their children under lock and key, for their security
because we have heard that forces have been deployed in town, and who knows
what will happen? In the cause of the day, they could foment trouble and then
blame it on the union. We have not called for street demonstration. It's a sit in strike.
Teachers and students and pupils should stay home.
POST SCRIPT : In another statement dated November 20 2016, the Teachers' Trade Unions reminded school administrators of their responsibilities. The statement read: " All school heads; headteachers, principals, directors, and Vice Chancellors are expected to exceptionally be on campus daily on Monday and daily until the present sit-in strike is suspended.Their assignment, watch over the schools and inform appropriate quarters in case of any suspicious activities."...
Some school administrators are still sitting on the fence saying or wishing that if students or pupils come teachers present should teach them. This is ethically, legally, insensitively. frightening and situation provoking. Teachers and pupils and students are not insured against insecurity so what if a child in trying to get to school is kidnapped or forcefully arrested? What would be the responsibility of these so called government-frightened administrators. Some even go as far as saying that they have not had any instruction or official letter to tell them that there should be a sit in strike. To these administrators I can only warn that a word to the wise is enough, keep your children at home and let their schools be empty, do not let your students be caught between such administrators and the government.
ReplyDelete