By Tapuka Gerald, Thursday January 12, 2017
Cameroon Journal, Bamenda – Like other emissaries from Yaoundé, Garga Haman Adji’s mission to Bamenda has ended with no compromise between him and the Anglophone Civil Society Consortium he was trying to convince to call off a strike action launched since October.
Meeting in Bamenda with members of the Consortium, Garga Haman who is leader of the opposition Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) after listening to the proposals of the consortium instead opined that “effective
decentralization” should be the best option for Cameroon. He reiterated the idea while speaking to reporters after the meeting on Wednesday, January 11. “They said they wanted federalism, but I asked; what kind of federalism? Effective decentralization can be practiced.” Garga said.
Responding to Garga, Wilfred Tassang, CATTU SG and Programs Coordinator of the Consortium told Equinoxe TV that “forget about the meeting with Garga Haman Adji, he came to play around.”
Garga’s proposals did not cause leaders of the consortium to moderate their stance. They remained resolute on the quest for Federalism which to them is the best way of preserving the bi-jural, bi-cultural nature of Cameroon.
Garga Haman was in Bamenda at the behest of President Biya who had hoped he did convince the consortium to end their strike action already in its third month.
Popular view today in Anglophone Cameroon is for “total and unconditional independence” as was the case prior to the 1961 plebiscite. Nevertheless, federation remains the midway and the most compromising stance for both Cameroons.
Garga had promised that he would go to Bamenda and come back with a solution. Opinion leaders gave him the benefit of doubt based on his past record; being one of the rare persons to have resigned from the Biya government because of massive corruption. He resigned as Minister of Public Service in August 1992.