As the anticipated controversial lockdown of Anglophone Cameroon approached, a tactic that was enforced by proponents of secession as means of venting their anger on the government of Cameroon for the life sentence jail term that was slammed on the Nera10 team headed by Sisiku Ayuk Julius Tabe on Tuesday August 20th 2019 and also to reenforce effective school boycott for the 2019/2020 academic year, there's been a mass exodus of multitudes of persons mostly women and school age children from Anglophone Cameroon, these days referred to as "Ground Zero" to Francophone Cameroon, these days referred to as "La Republic". Hundreds of thousands of passengers had been trooping all travel agencies within the North West and South West Regions to scramble for any available ticket.
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| Hundreds of Passengers at a Travel Agency in Bamenda Scrambling for Tickets |
It was a sunny Saturday morning, August 24th 2019. From where I stood at the Mbon Motor Park, Mile 18 Mbengwi, I could count hundreds of passengers that just came in from Ngie, Njikwa and the hinterlands of Mbengwi like Tugi, Munam, Touembeng, Mbengbu, Zang Tabi. They all had one destination, Bamenda, from where they shall be continuing their journey to other urban towns like Bafoussam, Douala and Yaounde.
Fortunately, the fare between Mbengwi - Bamenda remained unchanged. In the past, drivers would've instantly hiked the fare. I later learnt they had been warned by Amba Boys (non state armed groups) never to take advantage of many travellers to add transport fare. Curious to see the end of the trail, I boarded a cab too to Bamenda.
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| Child Who Wants to go to School |
Here, I was perplexed with what befell my naked eyes. At all the travel agencies, passengers kept cuing just to obtain a travel ticket. Under the baking sun, they stood with all perseverance, non ready to give up his/her position to another. The passengers were mostly women and children of school going age. They carried along with them boxes, mattresses, beds, tables and other household items, indicative of how lengthy their stay across the other side was going to be. They were like illegal immigrants fighting to cross over into the land of milk and honey against all odds. At the ticket sales points, it was a matter of fighting with one's last strength to obtain one.
Between 2017/2018, proponents of secession had called for a school boycott. The call wasn't fully respected as in some areas, schools kept functioning. Many had hoped things will get better in 2019 so that those who had stayed out of school could resume studies. Even parents who had sent their children across to Francophone Cameroon for studies were also hopeful things will normalise so they could bring back their kids to school in Anglophone Cameroon. Prior to the commencement of the 2019/2020 school year, several campaigns mostly on social media were being carried out to support school resumption. Even the government too joint in singing the back to school choruses.
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| Passengers Cuing for Tickets at a Travel Agency |
Many had hoped freeing the detained leaders of the Anglophone struggle otherwise referred to as the Nera10 will be a positive decision that will in effect give way for effective school resumption. But when news broke on Tuesday August 20th 2019 that the leaders have instead been slammed a life jail sentence, all hopes became dashed to the wall. To make matters worst, Chris Anu, Communication Secretary of the Interim Government that was formed in the course of the struggle announced a three weeks shutdown of Anglophone Cameroon beginning August 26th 2019. These two bitter peels; life sentence and lockdown are what caused the biggest exodus ever of Anglophone Cameroonians from the comfort of their homes to "the enemies camp" since secessionists had been referring to Francophone Cameroon as enemies.
Parents who couldn't bear the grunt of another wasted academic year saw a cross over to the other side as last option. Those who hadn't the means only had to continue grinding and gnashing their teeth as an illiterate generation was being raised due to the inconsiderable decisions of a few. Despite the increase in transport fares and deployment of empty buses to come transport passengers, at the end of the day, not all ended up succeeding in travelling. Some remained stranded and only had to return home in tears. The lock down date met them on the ground.
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| Traffic Jam at Sonac Street Caused by Mass Exodus out of the Region |
Meanwhile those who made it through have been seeking admission spaces for their kids in the many bilingual schools that have sprouted up almost everywhere across Francophone Cameroon. Even though Francophone Cameroon is now remedying the increasing level of illiteracy across Anglophone Cameroon brought about by the armed conflict, many see it as a well calculated plan put in place to assimilate the once cherished Anglo Saxon system of education and instead of rescuing the system, proponents of secession are rather simplifying the process by enforcing school boycott across Anglophone Cameroon.
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