Cameroon was formed as a result of the decision of parts of two separately colonised entities to form one country. Areas colonised by Britain and others colonised by the French decided to form a country after the colonialists left in 1960.

That means the country is essentially divided into two at least – the Anglophone Cameroon and the Francophone Cameroon. The country administratively is divided into ten, though -eight of which are controlled by the French-speaking Cameroonians while two are controlled by English-speaking Cameroonians.

The Anglophone Cameroon (concentrated in the Northwest and Southwest) have for years now been complaining about being marginalised and discriminated against based on their limited french-speaking skills. Of course, this makes sense. If 8 out of 10 administrative regions are controlled by the french, then it’s sensible that many of the opportunities will be concentrated there.

They also complain about the judicial system which they say has been wired against the Anglophone-Cameroon who have to be judged by Justices trained under the French civil law some of whom barely speak English. The Anglophone Cameroon operates the British Common law like Nigeria. In fact, part of Cameroon had once voted to join Nigeria.

The clamour of Anglophone Cameroon has always been an overhaul of the current administrative system that can then be replaced with a return to federalism which obtained in the 60s.

So how did we get to internet shutdown?

So two groups – Southern Cameroons National Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium – have been at the forefront protests against the Francophone government. Since January, they have called for Ghost Town actions where members of the public to stay at home and shops and businesses close shop with the goal of peacefully showing their displeasure against the marginalisation of the Anglophone Cameroonians by the French majority trying to dominate them. By the 9th of January, many cities had been brought to a shutdown while inhabitants took to the internet to spread the word about their grievances.

The Cameroonian government’s response?

To order the state-owned internet provider, Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) to shut off the internet in the Northwestern and Southwestern Cameroon (the Anglophone region). It also outlawed the civil groups after arresting some of its members.

The shutdown took effect since the 18th of January. It’s now been nearly four weeks with no official statement made by the country’s government about the outage, nor from sub-providers like Orange Cameroon, Nexttel, or Vodafone Cameroon.

Experts say it’s not only a violation of their rights to expression but also expensive as it’s costing the Cameroonian economy a lot of money. Even a Cameroonian Google coding champion from Bamenda, one of the affected cities, Nji Collins Gbah, has had to move to his cousin’s in the capital, Yaounde to enable him to continue living the tech life.

Roqeebah

Creative mind. Enthusiast. Learner. Multipotentialite. And here, an assistant editor.