Today Friday May 20, Cameroonians celebrate the 44th National
Day under the theme: “Defence forces and the dynamic forces of the nation
standing together to combat terrorism and preserve peace and territorial
integrity.”
Past celebrations of the
national day on May 20 have met with lots of controversies. Political
scientists say a national day is a designated date set aside to celebrate the
nationhood of a nation, usually the date of independence or becoming a
republic.
The choice of May 20 for
Cameroon as a national day has often been criticized, with a major question
being whether Anglophone Cameroonians should mourn or celebrate the day. While
some opinion leaders are of the stance that Anglophones shouldn’t mourn but
celebrate, another school of thought holds that the whole idea of May 20 as
national day is a sham.
Elvis Ngolle Ngolle,
Minister of Forests and Wildlife
Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, Political
Scientist and Former Minister, holds that Anglophones have every reason to
celebrate the national day because they are 100% Cameroonians and have the
right to benefit from everything the country has. “Anglophones have no reason
to make themselves feel somehow.
We were Cameroonians before, were born
Cameroonians and we should remain as Cameroonians,” he told The Cameroon
Journal.
However, a Bamenda-based
lawyer, Barrister Bobga Harmony, sees no meaning in the day.
According to
Bobga, Anglophones don’t have any business celebrating it because the date of
the celebration has no legal bases. Bobga thinks Anglophone politicians who
take part in the celebration are “political prostitutes.”
The first class traditional
ruler of Mankon, Fon Angwafor III is rather of the opinion that Cameroonians
have to make do with May 20 as national day as long as the date has not yet
been changed.
He, however, advanced that there is no reason for the date to be
changed. “We fought to create Cameroon as a nation. The UN gave us the
opportunity and we voted to become one,” Fon Angwafor III affirmed.
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