Committee on Bilingualism, Diversity and Social Cohesion

Languages act among other suggestions

Members of this committee want a law that treats the usage of both languages in the public service.

The suggestion is to give Cameroonians the right to receive services from public services and all state-run corporations in both official languages. Through this law, citizens will be able to be heard in courts in the official language of their choice. One of the things that sparked the crisis was linked to this phenomenon.  Magistrates in the Northwest and Southwest regions spoke only French to Anglophones who do not understand a single word during hearings. If the recommendation is embraced, Parliament will have to adopt laws and to publish regulations in both official languages, and both versions should be of equal legal weight. Anglophones had to wait for long to have a poorly translated copy of the laws into English or never get one. The members of the group also want individual bilingualism of the civil servants to be a qualification for the prominent post in the administrative ladder. Besides, the language act the committee suggested the creation and implementation of bilingual programs from pre-school ages. In the domain of cultural diversity, the committee suggested the strict respect of the regional balance policy. In this light, the committee wants 30 percent of all recruits into the public service and security forces likewise appointments to be attributed to the Anglophone regions. Social cohesion among the different people has been difficult in the country’s immediate past. Hence, members of this committee think that the government should “conceive and implement a curriculum on inter-community fellowship, rebuilding fraternal trust and civic engagement.” Members of the Committee were satisfied with the report of their deliberations. This dismissed the narrative that the government had prepared the reports beforehand.Osih Joshua, vice-president of the SDF and the party’s candidate was the president of the committee. He chaired a committee of 70-persons.

Jude Viban