Nomads: The Memoir of a Southern Cameroonian

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67 5 he frequency of Ahidjo’s visits to West Cameroon was increasing greatly as he struggled to impress and at once impose himself on Southern Cameroonian politicians by pitting them against each other. The nation was virtually in a state of emergency to make movement for the escaping UPCists difficult. The true heroes were fighting against foreign control over Cameroon politics, for which reason they branded them maquisards so as to hunt them down and kill them. Not only the so-called maquisards suffered; the entire population suffered greatly as movement was zealously controlled and restricted. Although they said it was from one administrative division to another, the truth is citizens could not move freely from one main town to another. To do this, the potential traveler had, in advance, to go to a government official like a District Officer (DO), to get permission to go across what were virtually arbitrary boundaries or political borders since the police were everywhere. The potential traveler applied for a pass known in French as the “Laissez Passer.” The said official could deny the subject the right to travel for some flimsy reason. Since the so-called maquisards could not go to request this document without being arrested, travelling via the main roads and by vehicle or means of public transport was out, which complicated matters for them. The said “Laissez Passer” was to be presented each time a uniform officer asked for it at one of the numerous checkpoints that now littered the highways between major towns. There were T 68 numerous sporadic checkpoints along all the roads between major towns and cities, with uncouth gendarmes demanding documents from passengers in a most disrespectful manner. West Cameroonians were wondering what was happening to them; they were not used to having disrespectful law officers harassing them; they were used to a friendly police force that was there to protect them. It was obvious the administrative landscape was changing, yet little did Southern Cameroonians, now called West Cameroonians, know their disturbing and overwhelming experience was only a prelude to the abuse of power they would soon experience as a permanent part of their lives because of their newfound relationship with la République. Cameroon was never to give up the state of emergency mentality nurtured at this time in the nation’s history, with poorly trained uniformed officers hassling citizens on a permanent basis for no good reason other than the need to be bribed for being the nuisance they were. They only intensified the nature of their badgering when decades after a certain Paul Biya became president and imposed a state of emergency on the people of Bamenda, one of several parts of the country where the people know who they are, what they want and expect from their leaders, and are not ashamed of their identity. Besides the political turbulence conjured into existence in West Cameroon as Ahidjo manipulated the population in an effort to find out those who could work with him from a subservient position, all else in West Cameroon was thriving: from Lido Bar in Kumba, a life band produced long lasting records that kept one abreast with the tide of events. There was Johnny Tezano’s “Tiko Drink Kumba Drunk” track, then there was “Competition for Kumba,” there was another 69 track “Powercam,” celebrating the coming of electricity into Bamenda, Bamenda, which was the home of West Cameroons Santa Coffee Estate, which grew, processed, and distributed high grade coffee all over West Cameroon and beyond in the sixties. Equally distinguished, was the Bali Modern Jazz Orchestra with tracks that were blaring forth from every loudspeaker one could find in those days. Life was good; there was every indication that West Cameroon was a thriving community: a disciplined police force that respected the public and so was esteemed in return and a society largely free of crime as criminals were swiftly tried and immediately punished. Nobody was above the law, such that even uniformed officers who abused the law or blundered in any other manner considered serious and unbefitting of officers of the law were immediately tried and sentenced accordingly. Health wise, there were sanitation officers who worked for the local councils, whose duty it was to visit homes to ascertain they met council standards for cleanliness. The hospitals were not only well equipped with distinguished nurses’ aides, nurses, nursing sisters, and doctors, they also handed out...