Wanaku Quotes

Ramble in the Jungle

Quotes from a man in self-exile
on the plight of his people,
who, as a result of historical mistakes,
find themselves in a political no-man's land,
with a need to redefine and trace a path
to a guaranteed future for themselves and
their children.

These rambles highlight the high and low points
in the march towards the restoration of the
State of former British Southern Cameroons
as a political entity in the concert of
world nations, given that the
people of the State of former British
Southern Cameroons are "a distinct people",
the result of a common history and political
culture, equal and similar to neighbouring nations
with the same colonial past and post-colonial present.

There is no reason why the State of former British
Southern Cameroons should be under the occupation
of French Cameroun. It is that simple. It will not work.
It has not worked. Only a fool will pretend that it works.
Why is it not working? You tell me.

---

On education

There is no reason why these kids should not receive a world-class education, so that they do not end up trying to speak "camfranglais". It is a useless language in global space. Have you ever heard a pilot calling the control tower in camfranglais? It is a ploy to water down the power and influence of the English language, especially where Anglophones use it in their own cultural space. Because of the overbearing influence of the majority, non-English-speaking Francophone Negro-Africans in the Cameroons, the standard of English has been deliberately brought down to the lowest common denominator.

One parent confessed: "I spend more time correcting the errors of my kids' teachers than actually teaching them (the kids)." The problem is the slow dismantling of an education system that was once sacred, and is now reduced to one where fewer than 20% can pass the GCE O Level in maths and English (see the 2014 results).

On record-keeping in Kom

Our ancestors did a great job in their time, creating a whole set of tools (including language, a counting system, art, etc.) to deal with daily life in the kingdom. The missing link (as with most indigenous cultures) is record-keeping: collecting, sifting, organizing and storing information about the kingdom over time.

Here's the kicker: if we do not do it, some outsider will, and when they do, they do it for a reason, for example to earn a PhD. If an outsider can earn a PhD just collecting, sifting, organizing, storing, analysing and synthesizing information about Kom, how much easier would it be for a KOMrade to do the same? You tell me.

iBoisɨ

Who is "African"?

If you ask me (please don't), the term "African" is sometimes confusing, not only to so-called "non-Africans" but to what we may call "Africans". So when someone asks, "Why are Africans doing this or that?", the question is: who really is "African"? Is the concept clear in everyone's mind? Not mine.

On the other hand, the concept of being a WainKOM is written in stone (and you can ask me that).

With that said, if there are really any "Africans" out there who are aware of the huge potential of this continent of eleven million square miles, let them know that they may be running 400 years behind, and that is being conservative.

Jvɨ kɨti
~wv

Tools from another culture

Africans spend time running each other down using tools they have hardly mastered since "independence". I will dare say they are using tools created by another culture. Since the world wars and decolonization, generations of Africans have been undecided: follow the Europeans' culture (of law and justice systems), or use some brain power to create something more original and better suited to the needs of their people?

No pain, no gain

If you believe in magic… here's the real magic: no pain, no gain. Even Jesus had to carry his own cross. If you expect a cross-free ride, you are in for an epiphany. Work is freedom. Idleness is the devil's workshop. Figure.

TribalMonk

Why the people need the truth

Replying to an article on fuel subsidies:

Thanks, sir, for spelling out this blatant injustice with simple arithmetic, in language the MOTS (man or woman on the street) can understand. Why do the people need the truth? Because it is the weapon against the evil meted out by so-called entitled Negro-Africans with little or no foundation in true African culture: UBUNTU. We have miniature versions of the French colons running our backyards, making us jump, sit and stand when they say so. All this in an atmosphere of corruption and dishonesty so deep and decomposed that its stench reaches high heaven.

The restoration of the State of former British Southern Cameroons is a task that WILL be done.

TribalMonk

The "care buttons"

The so-called "care buttons" on humans are triggered by factors that are mysterious even to the best marketing engineers. Advertisers spend millions trying to find them. Good luck finding the button that makes humans care more about Palestine than about football.

The State of former British Southern Cameroons has been under occupation for half a century. Yet most of its citizens care more about the football exploits of the occupier's team than about self-rule, complete decolonization or the restoration of their own state. Humans are humans: mysteriously unpredictable. That's the algebra of the situation.

TribalMonk

Leaders and cultural foundations

Leaders in Africa who have no cultural foundation do not have the ingredients to sow and nurse one iota of so-called "nationalism" or "patriotism".

What makes an "African" a "nationalist" or a "patriot"? Or what makes a Camerounese a "patriot"? Recolonizing British Southern Cameroons, or winning the World Cup?

Leaders without vision will seize on anything to keep power, even if they know not what to do with it. It is like the football player who gets the ball and cannot decide what to do with it. Next thing, someone who knows exactly what to do with it cuts him down. Red card. Green card. Yellow card. No solution.

Three short pieces

In the highway of life,
if you are driving faster than everyone else,
you should wonder why.
Maybe there is a reason others are slower
than you are.
When you are sure of your destination,
your pace should be measured and tempered.
We will all get there.
Walk softly.

A house built on sand will not stand,
no matter how hard the builders try.
So-called "elites" or "intelligentsia"
cannot take a credible stand on a
foundation of blatant lies
about the political history of the two Cameroons.

Standing for what we believe is important.
What is more important is whether what we believe is true.
It is strange (very strange) to watch grown men and women
look truth in the face, then, without blinking,
turn around and walk in the opposite direction.
Has someone cast a spell on us?
Maybe?

If we expect solutions to the problems of
our families and village communities to come
from somewhere other than us, we will be waiting a long time.
The only thing that comes from a system built on lies
is more lies.
And all the while, the children are watching (and learning).
Let's take a stand.

The mistreatment of one of our citizens
is the mistreatment of ALL OF US.
The case of Oben Maxwell is one of those
to follow closely, watchful, not blinking:
"not a time for cover eye".

A fool, no matter how clever,
will one day make a mistake.
The wise know from experience
to stop breathing
when the timing is right.

TribalMonk

The AfoaKom and the Fon

When the AfoaKom statue was returned in 1973, some people talked about keeping it in Yaoundé. The Fon of Kom replied: "If you keep it here, then you have to keep me here too." End of story.

— Wanaku Verdzekov