The Southern Cameroons needs its pioneers again. It needs their discipline. It needs their memory. It needs their courage. It needs their capacity to build. The struggle must not be weakened by the absence of those who helped give it structure. The homeland cannot afford to lose its builders at the very moment when institution-building matters most.
By Timothy Enongene
Associate Editor-in-Chief, Independentist News
BUEA – July 14, 2026 – The Southern Cameroons struggle has entered a critical phase. At such moments, every serious movement must pause, examine its wounds, recover its memory, and call back the people whose work made the journey possible in the first place. No struggle survives on emotion alone. It survives through leadership, organization, sacrifice, discipline, financing, local trust, civic courage, and institutional continuity.
To the leaders, coordinators, community organizers, intellectuals, funders, and foundational figures who have found themselves marginalized, exhausted, disillusioned, or pushed away by internal disputes, the homeland still needs you. Many of you did not leave because you stopped believing. You left because the burden became heavy, the attacks became personal, the accusations became painful, and the work you once carried seemed unappreciated. Some withdrew quietly. Some stepped back in frustration. Some were driven away by factionalism, rumor, suspicion, or ego battles that weakened the very cause they claimed to defend. But withdrawal cannot be the final chapter.
Every serious liberation movement faces internal strain. No historic struggle has ever been clean, seamless, or free from betrayal, disappointment, rivalry, exhaustion, and strategic error. The American Revolution faced mutiny, hunger, unpaid soldiers, political intrigue, and leadership disputes. Other movements for national dignity across the world endured deep internal disagreements before finding the discipline required to move forward. The existence of internal conflict does not mean a cause has failed. It means the cause must mature. The Southern Cameroons struggle must now mature.
The people have already crossed a psychological threshold. They cannot easily be forced back into silence. They have seen too much, suffered too much, buried too many, lost too much, and understood too clearly the cost of remaining politically invisible. The question now is not whether the old order can restore trust by slogans. The question is whether the people of the Southern Cameroons can rebuild the institutions, civic structures, leadership discipline, and collective confidence needed to carry their aspirations responsibly into the future. That is why the pioneers must return.
The movement needs those who understand county structures, community finance, local administration, communications, humanitarian coordination, documentation, legal advocacy, diplomacy, education, logistics, and public accountability. It needs those who can draft frameworks, keep records, resolve disputes, mobilize communities, mentor younger activists, and rebuild trust where suspicion has done damage. It needs people who can think beyond slogans and beyond personalities. It needs builders.
Re-engagement does not require pretending that nothing went wrong. It does not require forgetting injuries or ignoring legitimate concerns. It requires something more mature: the courage to separate the cause from the conflicts, the homeland from the personalities, and the future from the pain of the past. Past disagreements must be reviewed honestly, but they must not become permanent prisons. Where apologies are needed, they should be offered. Where accountability is needed, it should be structured. Where systems failed, they should be redesigned. Where trust was broken, it must be rebuilt through transparency, not mere sentiment.
The pioneers must not allow bitterness to write the final history of their contribution. Those who built early structures, funded local initiatives, organized communities, gave intellectual direction, or carried administrative burdens should not disappear from the story because of temporary disputes. A people fighting for dignity cannot afford to lose its institutional memory. Every capable person pushed away by internal quarrels represents a loss to the nation-building project.
This is a time for reconciliation with discipline. It is a time to rebuild civic confidence, restore channels of communication, reconnect local networks, and strengthen accountable structures. It is a time to replace rumor with records, suspicion with audits, ego with service, factionalism with coordination, and improvisation with institutions. The struggle must become larger than personalities and stronger than temporary disappointments.
The path to Buea must be understood not merely as a geographical destination, but as a symbol of political restoration, civic maturity, and institutional readiness. Buea represents memory, legitimacy, history, and the unfinished question of the Southern Cameroons. To reach that destination responsibly, the people must do more than resist. They must prepare to govern. They must prove that they can organize, protect civilians, manage resources, respect due process, build institutions, and speak with disciplined clarity before the world.
The pioneers have a role in that preparation. Their experience is still needed. Their networks are still needed. Their wisdom is still needed. Their mistakes, too, can teach the next generation what to avoid. No movement becomes mature by discarding everyone who once stumbled. It becomes mature by learning, correcting, rebuilding, and moving forward with greater discipline.
Therefore, to every foundational figure who stepped aside in frustration, this is the moment to reconsider. Return not for titles, but for service. Return not to reopen old wounds, but to heal what can be healed. Return not to dominate, but to strengthen. Return not because the road is easy, but because the work remains unfinished.
History does not remember only those who started loudly. It remembers those who endured wisely. It remembers those who placed the future above personal injury. It remembers those who came back when the people still needed them. It remembers those who chose rebuilding over bitterness.
The Southern Cameroons needs its pioneers again. It needs their discipline. It needs their memory. It needs their courage. It needs their capacity to build. The struggle must not be weakened by the absence of those who helped give it structure. The homeland cannot afford to lose its builders at the very moment when institution-building matters most.
Let the pioneers return. Let the wounds be acknowledged. Let the systems be repaired. Let the people be served. Let the path to Buea be rebuilt through unity, maturity, accountability, and disciplined national purpose.
Timothy Enongene
Associate Editor-in-Chief, Independentist News
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