OFFICIAL
BILINGUALISM IN
CAMEROON: FARCE
OR REALITY?
Cameroon is celebrating Youth week and the Bilingualism week just
went by. Two officials were brought from the Ministry of Secondary Education to
talk on Bilingualism in Cameroon. The two held that Cameroon's bilingualism is
forging ahead.
In this academic paper, a University Don, by his observation and using
specialist approach, holds that Cameroon is not progressing as far as
bilingualism is concerned.
He says there was need for
texts to govern the practice of official bilingualism in Cameroon.
The University lecturer
Saidou Nchouat Soule of the University of Yaounde 1 argues that Cameroon is not
a bilingual country.
By SAIDOU NCHOUAT SOULE*
Abstract
There has been a lot of research on the path taken by bilingualism
in Cameroon, from pre-colonial times to present.
ARE YOU A BILINGUAL COUNTRY? |
Several writers see English-French
bilingualism as making positive progress in the country while several others hold
that the country is rather monolingual (French) linguistic set up. All the
writers have one start-off point: The Constitution. Incidentally, The
Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon has just one section on bilingualism,
and most officials quote this rather notorious section of the Constitution as
proof of Cameroon’s Bilingualism.
That over – cited Section 1/3 of the Constitution talks of the promotion
of bilingualism, but is very, very silent on
the practice, the implementation of bilingualism. The institutions (schools, pilot centres, universities, etc)
responsible for the promotion of bilingualism have so far been doing a
wonderful job.
But there is not even one institution in charge of ensuring the
implementation of bilingualism. Billboards,
posters public road signs, etiquettes on goods, leaflets, and documents meant
for public consumption, etc are mostly in one language. This is because
there is no legislation on the practice of bilingualism in Cameroon. There is
most of all no Institution responsible for the control of the implementation of bilingualism. And
since there are no rules – dos and don’ts – there are consequently no sanctions.
If a civil servant graduates from a
Pilot Linguistic Center and once back into his office he refuses to speak or use an official
language, there will be no sanction meted out on that civil servant simply because present
legislation does not provide for one. A monolingual top ranking official who
insists on using only one official language in whatever situation and at
whatever part of the country is not breaking any rules: there are no rules
for him to break; he cannot be sanctioned, there is no provision for that.
DO YOU SPEAK FRENCH? WHY NOT? |
If Cameroon has to be a country practicing French/English-English/French
Bilingualism, as we boisterously claim worldwide, then there must be some laid
down rules, there must be supervisory authority to control implementation
thereof. Furthermore, the introduction ofsome national languages as official
languages shall enhance our independence, for it is not from Europe, America or Asia that our national languages shall be
declared official.
Promoting Bilingualism is not practicing bilingualism: the best
professional cigarette sales promoters are most of the time non-smokers themselves.Key words: Implementing bilingualism, promoting bilingualism, official languages, national official language, law governing the
practice of bilingualism, translation.
1)BRIEF HISTORY OF OFFICIAL BILINGUALISM IN CAMEROON
The
evolution of the use of our official languages in Cameroon (English and French)
has gone a long way, especially since 1958 when it became clear that
the two Cameroons were moving towards a federal or a unitary state.History
holds that after the defeat of the Germans in 1919, Kamerun with headquarters
in Buea, was split up by the League of Nations as a Mandated Trusteeship
Territory to be governed between the French and the English,and
became “The Cameroons”, with the French setting up head quarters in Yaounde,
while the English remained in Buea.
AHIDJO : DID YOU SPEAK ENGLISH? WHY NOT? |
Abwa
(2011) in a presentation at a Conference in 2011 1 , holds that “had
Germany continued up to 1960, Cameroon
would have had only one imperialist …sorry! official
language”;
German would have been the
sole official language in Cameroon. In the same vein, Anchimbe (2008) cites
other writers who had examined this affirmation 2:
“The defeat of
Germany in the First World War marked the end of a decisive
project to
institute German as a “universal vehicular language” (Eco: 1995 331)
had Adolf Hitler
won the war and succeeded in reducing the USA “to a confederation of
banana republics”. Having successfully annexed Cameroon in1884 the German
colonial administration decreed German to be the only official language. Several
ordinances were proclaimed to foster the use of German. These include April 1910
Ordinance on grants-in-aid to mission schools that adopted German-language
programmes (Chumbow 1980) and the March 1913 Ordinance that made the use
of English illegal (Amvela 2001)”.
FONCHA: ARE YOU TO BLAME? |
Thus,
after the chasing away of the Germans from Cameroon, each of the Mandated
Powers, Britain and France (not colonial power), of course used its
language as the official language in the territory of mandate.
As Pondi (2011)
rightly puts it, since the indigenes were to learn the official language “not in order to develop themselves or their territory, but rather to help
the German powers better run their mandated territories”3 (3), native Cameroonians
of the time learnt the official languages – French and English –
so as to be in the good books of the masters, besides other non-native reasons.
Then
came the independence of French Cameroon in 1960, followed by the plebiscite
of 1961 which led to the independence of English Cameroon by joining
French Cameroon. The situation of the official languages took a new twist,
as the Federal Government had to handle administration in the two official
languages: English and French. The then Constitution held that in every
situation where there are two texts on the same event, the French document shall be authentic 4 (4).
BIYA: STATE OF NATION ADDRESS in ENGLISH : POSSIBLE? |
This was a clearly stated policy which relegated
the use of the English language in Cameroon to the second position
after French.
Then
came the unification (some say re-unification) of the two federal States
in 1972, and the Constitution did not deem it necessary to change the rules.
French was still authentic, while English was still the second class language. The All Anglophone Conference of 1993 in Buea indicated in a strongly
worded resolution that there is no reason for the French language to
lord it over the English language, and pointed to the equality of the two languages
as one reason not to move into the cessation of Anglophone Cameroon
from the Unitary State.
UB CAMPUS |
This
led to the revision of the 39 articles of the 1972 Constitution. However,revising
the language policy was not a priority to those undertaking the revision
of the Constitution, so only one article,rather a subsection of one article,
was included in the 68 articles of the 1996 Constitution with regard to
the official languages English and French 5(5). The article is today rambunctiously quoted
everywhere and every time today as proof of thebilingual
nature of the Country.
2) ACTIONS CARRIED OUT BY GOVERNMENT
Subsequent
amendments of the Constitution had nothing to do with the use
of
the official languages, so the situation of the official languages in Cameroon
as of 2013, that is to say 52 / 53 years after independence, is as follows:
a)
The Constitution in force is not very explicit on the bilingual nature of Cameroon,
in terms of practical usage of the two official languages in
everyday life;
b)
The promotion of bilingualism is adequately being ensured through
the Basic and Secondary Education sectors, with some considerable
input from the Pilot Centers;
DOES CAMEROON RESPECT ITS CONSTITUTION? |
c)
English/French bilingualism within the State apparatus is guided by the
existing structures set up to provide texts in both languages when the
need arises; they include:
i.
The Languages and Bilingualism of the Presidency of the
Republic,
which works for the PRC only;
ii.
The Department of Translation and Interpretation at the
PMs
Office which works for the PM’s Office only;
iii.
The Department of Translation and Interpretation at the
National
Assembly, which works for the National
Assembly
only;
iv.
Translation Units and Services in almost all public and semi
public bodies, which work for those institutions only;
v.
The National Governance Programme, which is an advisory
body, with more of a programme on paper than any
capacity whatsoever to ensure follow-up. There
exist a battery of Instructions, Circulars and other texts which go to either
“enjoin” government workers to respect bilingualism (not the private sector)
or simply ask them to scrupulously respect the directives therein. If the
Civil Servants do not respect these texts, there are no provisions for any sanctions
to be meted out on anyone whatsoever. They include 6(6):
UB CAMPUS |
1)
Decree n°077/04/PR of 6 January 1977 to regulate the publication of
official
texts in the official gazette;
2)
Instruction n°03/CAB-PR of 30 May 1996 on the preparation, signing
and
publication of official texts in the two official languages;
3)
Circular n°001/CAB-PM of 16 August 1991 on the practice of
bilingualism;
4)
Circular n°A685/CAB-PM of 25 April 2000 on the practice of
bilingualism
in State and Para Statal Institutions;
5)
Circular n°A490/SG-PR of 4 February 2003 to reiterate our
Constitutional
Option of Bilingualism;
6)
Circular n°A685/SG-PM of 24 March 2003 on the respect of the
Constitutional
option of Bilingualism;
7)
Circular n°008/CAB-PM of 18 September 2003 on the publication of
calls
for tenders in English and French;
8)
Circular n°007/CAB-PM of 23 August 2003 on the creation and use of websites
by Government Departments, public and semi public institutions. Alongside
these transversal texts, several Ministries have come up with Circulars
and Service Notes specific to their area of competence, all calling civil
servants to order with regard to the implementation of the policy on Bilingualism,
begging them to please be bilinguals. As a matter of fact,nothing
obliges a civil servant in Cameroon to be bilingual. Furthermore,
there is some unwritten but highly implemented instruction to
the fact that the language of the military and the police in Cameroon is French!!!!
CAN ASTI BE OF HELP? |
3)THE PILOT LINGUISTIC CENTERS
The
Pilot Linguistic Centers, which are not found all over the national territory
(and that is already a setback – Maroua and Ngaoundere are still lacking),
are part of the Bilingual Training Programme under the coordination
of the Secretariat General of the Presidency of the Republic. These
Centers have as missions 7(7)
to:
Ø enable participants to acquire the required general
skills to
communicate
orally or in writing in their second language, under
working
conditions described by their employers;
Ø contribute to national unity and integration as well as
to the
promotion
of the two official languages;
Ø encourage participants to carry out self tuition at
their own pace and
according
to their language and professional needs.
These
centers provide training and ensure the
promotion of
bilingualism, but there are
no incentives for the graduates of these centers to
ensure the practice of
bilingualism. For example, there is no job
offer published
in Cameroon in which a clause indicates that “holders of diplomas
from the pilot centers will have an edge over other candidates….”. There
is no civil servant who has been given a promotion or increment because
he or she successfully completed a course from the Pilot Centre, even
when the course is paid for by the Ministry or other Government structure.
The Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic has not been
known to punish any graduate of the Pilot Linguistic Centre who refuses
to put to practice what he or she learnt in the Centre.
4)EFFORTS TOWARDS BILINGUALISM BY OTHER ACTORS
Considerable
efforts have been made by other actors in a bid to implement
and
practice English/French Bilingualism in Cameroon. The above set of texts,
alongside the schools and linguistic pilot centers for the teaching and
learning
of both official languages, can be considered efforts made by
the Government to ensure the implementation of the policy. There are
several
other identifiable efforts.
a) Efforts made by professionals. Translators and interpreters when
and
where they are involved always make sure the use of the two languages
is
well enhanced. Other professionals include terminologists, who in several
instances
help out in difficult cross lingual contexts. The teachers of English
and
French in bilingual contexts, from primary to tertiary levels, are all
professionals
who are out to promote bilingualism. Such
teachers should not be confused with purely language teachers who as a
matter of fact do inculcate in their students a notion of the superiority of the
language they teach over all other languages.
MENDO ZE: DID YOU HELP PROMOTE BILINGUALISM? |
For example, Professor Mendo
Ze as a die-hard promoter of Francophonie says it loud and clear, anywhere
anytime, that French is the only language worthy of human usage on
Earth.
In a recent conference at the Amphi 700 of the University of Yaounde
I on the harmonizing of the wordings of the National Anthem 8(8),Professor
MENDO ZE made it clear that the exquisite beauty and linguist savour
of the French version of the National Anthem makes it imperative to harmonize
in one and only one direction: translate the French version into English!!!
(hmmmm!!!, that is a different research topic altogether:
harmonizing
the National Anthem).
b) Efforts made by parents. : Most parents make sure they send their
children
to a school other than that of their first language. It is thus very
common
for francophone parents to send their children to Anglophone
schools,
and vice versa.
There is a steady increase in the intake of francophone students
into the school, and this trend has been ongoing since the early 90s.
A similar study carried out in Presbyterian Secondary School Mankon and
Saker Baptist College Limbe indicated similar trends. Meanwhile the number
of Anglophone parents who send their children to francophone schools
is very minimal.
The
reason given by the francophone parents, however, is far from ensuring
the
promotion of bilingual Cameroonians. Most francophone parents hold
that
their children stand a better chance to study and even live abroad in the
USA,
Germany, Australia, etc, while the French background limits the
children
only to France. So, while this effort made by parents may end up
somehow
to produce bilingual Cameroonians, the raison d’être of the action
is
not to enhance Cameroon’s bilingualism.
c) Efforts made by individuals: most Cameroonians readily, without
any
coercion or other motive, use the other language in professional
milieus.
Some government minister have taken upon themselves to speak in
the
two official languages, much to the chagrin of some of their francophone
collaborators
who sometimes openly reproach the Minister for speaking “in
a
foreign language”: English. When a speech is rendered in French there is
no
complain from either the francophone or Anglophone audience. But
when
a speech is rendered in English, there come cries of “condense,
condensé
“ from the francophone audience.
5)THE NATIONAL BILINGUALISM DAY/WEEK
As
Kouega (2004) indicated 10(10),
“a National Day of Bilingualism in public
and
private schools in Cameroon was instituted (Decision no 1141/B1/1464/MINEDUC/IGE/IGP/BIL
of October 28, 2002)”. This Decision still holds today
even with MINEDUC split up into MINEB and MINESEC. This is yet
another
aspect of the promotion of bilingualism, though most nationalobservers
consider this approach to be child’s play since it is left in the hands
of children.Furthermore,
what is the idea behind any day or week? The idea is to raise awareness
on a subject which otherwise will not be looked at because it does
not
affect the day-to-day lives of those observing the day or week.
We all know
the use of “awareness” or “commemorative” days or weeks, and most of
the time those involved in the “celebration” of especially awareness days or
weeks are usually a handful of persons who are either carrying out some perfunctory
activity or are involved in some personal interest activity therein.
One can safely conclude that after the Bilingualism Day or Week is over,
every other thing goes back to normal, business as usual.
PROF SAIDOU: TELL THEM! |
Kouega
(2004) further indicates 11(11)
“a circular letter instructing secondary
education state officials to see that the National Bilingualism Day is
observed in all schools and that, in addition, Language Clubs (LC), to be called
Club Français for anglophone pupils and “English Club” for francophone
pupils, be set up in all schools, that the National Anthem be sung
in English and French on alternate days and that a prize be awarded to the
best bilingual pupils in each class (Circular letter No
B1/1464/MINEDUC/IGE/IGE/GP/BIL
of December 2, 2002)”.
The
same argument for “days” and “weeks” also holds for “clubs”: a club is a
place
where people freely join, no constraints, no stress, and if they falter or
even
drop out, or worst still dilute or change the objectives of the club, there
will
be no punishment. So bilingualism in Cameroon is also a matter of
clubs
for children.
6)THE PROBLEM: PROMOTION VERSUS PRACTICE
Is
Cameroon a bilingual country? Is it only the country that is bilingual or
only
the citizens who are bilingual? Is there any set of rules laid down and
adopted
by legal procedure for all to follow? If such rules exist, are there any
11 Op
cit Kouega 10
punishments
for individuals, groups, institutions or otherwise who
deliberately
or inadvertently break such rules?
Echu
(2004) had since put the problem in another perspective:
“As regards the
implementation of the policy of official language bilingualism,
there is clear
imbalance in the use of the two official languages as French
continues to be the
dominant official language while English is relegated to a
second place within
the State. The frustration that ensues within the Anglophone
community has led
in recent years to the birth of Anglophone nationalism, a
situation that
seems to be widening the rift between the two main components of
the society
(Anglophones and Francophones), thereby compromising national
unity.”
What
makes the situation even more frustrating is the fact that some
Cameroonians
feel that the French Language makes them a superior entity
over
others, and there is no punishment whatsoever for any individual or
group
who trample on the language rights of the other. This is the more so
as
there is no legal framework within which official bilingualism operates in
Cameroon.
1)
The Constitution does not make any clear statement on the
use/practice of bilingualism in Cameroon: promotion is just
the
first step towards usage or practice. Furthermore, the Constitution
does
not say on what the promotion of the bilingualism should bear:
English/Ejagam
Bilingualism, French / Fulfulde Bilingualism, etc
2)
There is no official definition of expressions; in the context of
Cameroon:
a.
What is official bilingualism?
b.
What is an official language?
c.
What is a national language?
d.
What/who is a bilingual person (this should be important for the
criteria
to appoint persons to hold certain offices);
e.
Etc.
3)
In the process of promoting bilingualism, there should be a clear
definition
of what a bilingual primary school, secondary school or
university
is. What is the language of administration, communication
and
instruction?
4)
Bilingualism in Cameroon is an issue of the Government services
alone:
private institutions and business concerns feel no obligation
whatsoever
to practice bilingualism, especially when the use of the
other
language will not procure direct commercial gain to the business
concern.
5)
THERE ARE NO SANCTIONS ANYWHERE to be meted out on
those
who infringe on the rules governing the practice and usage of
bilingualism
in Cameroon. By the way, THERE ARE NO RULES, so
there
can be no defaulters. The existing decree, instruction and
circulars
cited herein above all say what has to be done, in some
specific
situations, not in all situations, and do not say at all what
must
not be done (by the way, that was not the intention of these stopgap
texts).
6)
THERE IS NO STATUTORY AUTHORITY IN CHARGE OF THE
IMPLEMENTATION AND THE FOLLOW-UP OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
BILINGUALISM IN CAMEROON. The
SG/PR to whom the Languages
and
Bilingualism Division is attached, feels neither professionally nor
morally
bound to ensure the implementation (of the non-existent
policy)
of bilingualism in Cameroon. The Bilingual Programme
Coordinator
works on the promotion of bilingualism, not on the
practice/usage.
The Secretary General at the Presidency, more
specifically,
one of the two Deputy Secretary Generals, goes round the
country
each year to chair the graduation ceremonies from the Pilot
Linguistic
Centres.
His very presence at the graduation ceremonies is
a
pointer to the importance the State attaches
to the training.
However,
what the graduands do with the acquired skills, how the
graduands
put those skills to practice for the benefit of Cameroon and
Cameroonians,
is not at all the business or the worry of the Secretary
General
of the Presidency.
Situations
can change if there is the will to do so. The desire to update
situations
could be through arm-twisting or by simple political will of the
powers
that be in Cameroon. For example, Cameroon was one of the
original
signatories of the OHADA Treaty in 1993; a year later, the
Cameroonian
parliament, by Law No 94/4 of 4 August 1994, authorized the
President
of the Republic to ratify the Treaty. Two years later, by decree No
96/177
of 5 September 1996, the President ratified the Treaty, thus
incorporating
it into Cameroonian law.
This Presidential Decree of 1996
gave
rise to the question whether the effect of article 42 of the Treaty
renders
application of the Treaty in Cameroon unconstitutional as being
inconsistent
with article 1/3 of the Cameroonian Constitution, which states
that
English and French are the official languages of the country and that
both
languages have the same status. As Enonchong (2007) pointed out, all
the
Anglophone countries of Africa refused to ratify the treaty before
modifications.
The OHADA Treaty was revised in 200812(12), with article 42
changed
as follows:
Art 42 original
(1993) : La langue de travail de l'OHADA est le français.
Art 42 new (2008) :
Les langues de travail de l'OHADA sont : le
français,
l'anglais, l'espagnol et le portugais. Avant traduction dans les
autres langues, les documentsdéjà publiés en
français produisent tous leurs effets. En
cas de divergence entre les différentes traductions,
la version française fait foi.
Furthermore,
the other issue is the question whether, even if application of
article
42 is technically not unconstitutional in Cameroon, its application in
Cameroon
may not be tantamount to an infringement of the human rights
of
the English-speaking people of Cameroon protected under international
human
rights instruments including the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’
Rights 13(13)
which prohibit both discrimination on the ground of
language
and domination of one people by another.
Why does one have the feeling that this
last part of article 42 (new) takes us back to the Cameroon
Constitution of 1972? With “le français étant la version authentique”!!!!
Echu
(Yaounde/Bloomington 2004) expressed the feeling of most language
experts
in Cameroon, a feeling which holds true even today:
“Although
successive Constitutions of the country since independence have
always reiterated
the policy of official bilingualism, there exists no well-defined
language policy
till date as to its implementation. In the first place, in spite of the
fact that English
and French are considered to be equal in status as per the new
Constitution,
French has a de facto dominance over English in the areas of
administration,
education and the media”.
To
summarize the problem, it can be stated here that the State is doing
quite a lot to ensure the promotion of bilingualism, as stated in the
Constitution,
but is doing absolutely very little to ensure
practical
implementation of bilingualism in the country. There can be no
implementation
without legislation. For Cameroon to be a truly bilingual
Country,
practicing Official French/English – English/French Bilingualism,
there must exist a legal framework within which to function, what
must
be done, what must not be done, what constitutes a breach of language
rights,
who to meet in order to seek redress, and
most of all what
punishment awaits defaulters. If
Cameroon is a State of Law, it is not
only
because the laws exist but also because the said laws can be enforced.
7) USING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN CAMEROON’S
ADMINISTRATION
In
July 2010 The Ministry of External Relations of Cameroon, in
partnership
with the Commonwealth Organization, organized a workshop
on
“Administrative drafting in English for Cameroon”. This exercise, which
was
repeated in June 2011, came about because the Government of
Cameroon
came to realize that the use of English as an official working
language
in Cameroon’s administration was a big challenge both to the state
agents
and users of their services.
It is interesting to note that this exercise,
though
highly priced by the Ministry of External Relations, was not really
taken
as a serious issue by other Government Institutions. Ministries sent
people
to attend the seminars not on the basis of their ability to implement
the
resolutions emanating thereof, nor on their capacity to effect any
meaningful
change in their institution with regard to enhancing the use of
English
as an official language in Cameroon.
Anglophone
secretaries,drivers and junior office staff, alongside some francophone service heads who could babble some words that sound English,
were sent to attend the seminars. This
being the only attempt made by Government so far to ensure the effective
use of English as an official language in Cameroon, many seniorofficials
who later attended some of the sessions felt that it would havemade
more sense if the opening and closing ceremonies were chaired by the
Prime
Minister Head of Government, or even the Secretary General of the
Presidency
of the Republic, to show how important it is to use English as an
official
language in Cameroon. But, no, the seminars were opened and
closed
by some lower ranking officials who were even in a hurry to leave for
more
important duties.
The
efforts thus made by the Ministry of External Relations culminated in
the
production of a manual entitled Manual for Administrative drafting in
English for Cameroon’s public Administration. The 130page document,
edited
by a team with the highly respected Professor SIMO BOBDA of ENS
at
the head, contains 31 chapters and handles mostly some curricula with
which
students of schools of translation and interpretation are very familiar.
Chapter
4 dwells on the “Features of Administrative Drafting in English”
with
much emphasis on the differences between drafting in administrative
documents
in English and in French.
Nevertheless,
this will not help Anglophone purist of this country who
always
get into trouble when they use English the proper way. A colleague
wrote
to the Head of State and started his letter with
“Sir,
I
wish to draw your attention to….
And
his office superior sent him a query, insisting that the President of the
Republic
cannot be addressed simply “Sir”. The colleague should write
“Your
Excellency The President of the Republic and Head of State,
I
have the most sincere and respectful honour to …”
Deification
seems to be absent in the Anglophone administrative drafting
style,
which is a priority in the franchophone administrative drafting style.
It
is therefore with no surprise that we read official letters written in English
and
signed by the Head of State ending with “Please accept the assurances
of
my highest esteem”. Maybe someone could enlighten us whether that is
British,
American, Australian etc usage; well, maybe it can be registered as a
“camerounese”.
It is this regard that we are proposing that there should be a code to govern the practice of official bilingualism in
Cameroon.Furthermore, after over half a century, Cameroon should start using some of her national languages in official business. English
is somebody’s “contri-tok”, so too is French.
When shall we see one of our own “contri-tok being studied
by the CIA and the KGB? Must Cameroon breed terrorists before
the national languages become interesting even to Cameroonians
themselves? It appears that when
multiparty politics started in Cameroon, that is when some francophone officials saw the need to understand English!!!!
THE CODE
The
use of the expression “code” entails that it is a set of documents put
together,
not just one document. We shall define an official bilingualism
code
for Cameroon as:
“A systematically arranged and
comprehensive
collection of regulations and rules of
conduct and
procedure governing the use of English and
French as
official languages in Cameroon”.
Similar
documents already exist in Cameroon:
a)
The Penal Code: Law and several decrees;
b)
The Town Planning Code: The law and five attendant decrees;
c)
The Family Code: Law and Decrees
d)
The Electoral Code: Laws and Decrees
e)
etc
Efforts
are already underway to draft a law to govern the use of National
Languages
in Cameroon 14(14).
The Language Code for Cameroon in a
Context
of English/French Official Bilingualism could thus comprise the
following
instruments:
1)
Law to govern the use of English and French as Official Languages in
Cameroon;
2)
Law to govern the use of National Languages in Cameroon;
3)
Decree to regulate teaching and learning within the context of
English/French
Bilingualism in Cameroon;
4)
Decree to regulate use of the official languages in the Civil
Administration
in Cameroon;
14 The
draft is presently being examined (2012) by an interministerial committee
chaired by the Office of the PM.
5)
Decree to regulate use of the official languages at the National
Assembly
and Municipalities in Cameroon;
6)
Decree to regulate use of the official languages in the Semi public
bodies
in Cameroon;
7)
Decree to regulate use of the official languages in the private sector
and
business concerns in Cameroon;
8)
Decree to regulate use of the official languages in professional and
labour
relations in Cameroon;
9)
Decree to regulate practice of the professions of translation and
interpretation
in Cameroon;
The
focus here shall be on the “Law to govern the use of English and French
as
Official Languages in Cameroon”. Of course, the attendant decrees,
should
also be made available and instantly. This will enable us avoid the
highly
cherished approach of “progressively putting in
place” all the
elements
that should ensure implementation thereof. We have seen that
“progressively”
can go beyond 20 years, as is the case with the Senate, the
Constitutional
Council, implementing Section 66, the Regional Councils,
etc.
CONCLUSION
The
present texts governing the practice of official bilingualism in
Cameroon
are, as we have seen, not strong in themselves to ensure any
proper
implementation, both at Regional, National and even International
levels.
Worst still, the existing texts are even not available to the general
public,
so even the public cannot act as watchdog.
This set of rules will laydown
a clearly defined policy on the use of English and French as OfficialLanguages
in Cameroon, how to ensure the practice of official bilingualism in
the Country, while providing a prominent place for our national
languages. The
introduction of the notion of Official National Language in the law
entails
that some of our national languages shall have official language
status.
This means that it is incumbent on Cameroon to promote its
national
languages, and not wait for some European country to validate the
use
of one Cameroonian language in administration, commerce, education
and
the army.
The
idea of a Code is to determine good practices in the implementing of the
policy
on bilingualism and it is hoped that when adopted by all the
stakeholders
it will go a long way to enhance economic growth and ensure
political
stability, while giving a sense of belonging to Cameroonians.
Simplistic
as it may seem, the unavailability of regulation to govern the
practice
of official bilingualism in Cameroon is a very good weapon in the
hands
of all the Anglophone separatist movements.
The frustration created
by
such misuse of an official policy, coupled to the fact that French,
someone
else’s language, makes one Cameroonian feel superior over
another,
is reason enough for one to seek for a geographical space where the
language
of an imperialistic foreigner, whilst still leaving that bitter aftertaste
of
colonialism, will not constitute a source of superiority.
This
Code is being proposed 52/53 years after independence, while the laws
governing
the practice of bilingualism in Canada (Official Languages Act)
were
drafted in the 1800s: “it is better late than never”.
NOTES
1) In a conference organized by the UN/ECA in Yaounde, October
2011, Professor
Daniel Abwa presented a paper on the historical evolution of
political parties
from Kamerun through The Cameroons to Cameroun; he concluded that
the
German language, like all the other German legacies, were thrown
out of
Cameroon when Hitler was defeated.
2) Anchimbe, like some of us, is not necessarily crying over spilt
milk : Cameroonians
do not need to move from one colonial master to the other. However,
if the only
official language was German then we should have had fewer
problems.
3) In this publication on the historical places and events of the
City of Yaounde,
Professor Jean-Emmanuel Pondi shows how some Cameroonians learnt
the
German language so as to be friends of the colonial master, and
not for the
development of the city.
4) The Constitution has been modified several times: the first was
in 1960, after
French Cameroon became independent; the second in 1961 with the
Federal
Constitution, the third in 1972 after re-unification, the fourth
in 1996, and the
fifth in 2008.
5) This time around, the authenticity of French was taken off, but
the word
bilingualism appears only once in the whole text. The 2008
Constitutional
modifications did not affect the language situation.
6) Some of these texts exist only in French
7) The website of the Bilingual Training Programme outlines the
goals and
objectives of the Programme. The Programme is out to teach and
promote, not
to implement.
8) University of Yaounde I, Mercredi des Grandes Conférences , Wednesday 4 April
2012. Theme: “Towards the harmonization of the Cameroon National
Anthem”.
Moderator: Professor Jean-Emmanuel PONDI; Speakers: Prof Gervais
Mendo Ze,
Prof Efoua Mbozo’o, Dr Nug Bissohong.
9) Anchimbe in the publication cited herein clearly defines the
notions of
« Anglophone child and francophone child »
10) Kouega JP documents the circulars and decisions signed by the
Ministers of
Primary and Secondary Education and also ends up concluding that
quite a lot is
being done as regards the promotion of bilingualism.
11) Op cit Kouega 10
12) The 2008 OHADA treaty has been ratified by Cameroon, another
source of
linguistic problems in Cameroon.
13) See all Charters on Human Rights and Freedoms, especially the aspects
on
language use. It is paradoxical that some Charters are meant to
protect some
language groups from the overbearing weight of English in the
world, yet in
Cameroon English needs protection!!!
14) The draft is presently being examined (2012) by an
inter-ministerial
committee chaired by the Office of the PM.
FOOT NOTES
1 In a conference organized by the UN/ECA in Yaounde, October 2011, Profesor Daniel Abwa presented a paper on the historical evolution of
political parties from Kamerun through The Cameroons to Cameroun; he concluded that the German language, like all the other German
legacies, were thrown out of Cameroon when Hitler was defeated.
2 Anchimbe, like some of us, is not necessarily crying over spilt milk : Cameroonians do not need to move from one colonial master to the other.
However, if the only official language was German then we should have had less problems.
3 In this publication on the historical places and events of the City of Yaounde, Professor Jean-Emmanuel Pondi shows how some
Cameroonians learnt the German language so as to be friends of the colonial master, and not for the development of the city.
4 The Constitution has been modified several times : the first was in 1960, after French Cameroon became independent,; the second in 1961
with the Federal Constitution, the third in 1972 after re-unification, the fourth in 1996, and the fifth in 2008.
5 This time around, the authenticity of French was taken off, but the word bilingualism appears only once in the whole text. The 2008
Constitutional modifications did not affect the language situation.
6 Some of these texts exist only in French
7 The website of the Bolingual Training Programme outlines the goals and objectives of the Programme. The Programme is out to teach and
promote, not to implement.
8 University of Yaounde I, Mercredi des Grandes Conférences, Wednesday 4 April 2012. Theme: “Towards the
harmonization of the Cameroon National Anthem. Moderator: Professor Jean-Emmanuel PONDI; speakers: Prof
Gervais Mendo Ze, Prof Efoua Mbozo’o, Dr Nug Bissohong.
9 Anchimbe in the publication cited herein clearly defines the notions of « anglophone child and francophone
child »
10 Kouega JP documents the circulars and decisions signed by the Ministers of Primary and Secondary Education
and also ends up concluding that quite a lot is being done as regards the promotion of bilingualism.
12 The 2008 OHADA treaty has been ratified by Cameroon, another source of linguistic problems in Cameroon.
13 See all Charters on Human Rights and Freedoms, especially the aspects on language use. It is paradoxical that some Charters is meant to
protect some language groups from the overbearing weight of English in the world, yet in Cameroon English needs protection!!!
Bibliographical
References
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PROF SAIDOU IS LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF
YAOUNDE 1. ARTICLE FIRST PUBLISHED JUNE 2013
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