If truckers, teachers, doctors, students, farmers, taxi drivers, CDC workers, and the forgotten millions rise together — the chains will break. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is when fear no longer dictates silence.
By James Ntam The Independentist contributor
Cameroonians are a restless people — searching for freedom from one of the world’s most enduring and ruthless dictatorships. A week ago, truck drivers in Ngaoundéré grounded their operations, demanding justice and simple dignity. The response? Guns and bulldozers.
In Mutengene, Tiko, and Buea, desperate citizens formed human barricades. Their crime? Asking why they have been forced to live in darkness for more than a year. The regime answered them the same way — with force.
Teachers laid down their chalk and dusters, demanding the salaries they earned long ago.
CDC workers — once the backbone of the economy — went on strike for months of unpaid wages. They were told to return to work only after voting for their captors.
University lecturers are threatening to walk out. Doctors, taxi drivers, motorbike riders — all groaning under unbearable hardship. And then the silent majority, terrified into submission, suffering in isolation, praying someone else will speak for them.
Across the Anglophone regions and the far north, jungle law reigns. People die quietly, anonymously, abandoned by the authorities sworn to protect them.
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed “government” — a cartel of usurpers — hides behind thick walls and armored cars in Yaoundé. When they emerge, it is only to broadcast more lies — while surrounded by guns, shields, and the fear they have manufactured.
They have placed a Sword of Damocles over millions of heads. Yet they sleep soundly because every protest is isolated. Every sector suffers alone. Kidnapping a citizen is a crime. Kidnapping an entire nation is a crime against humanity.
We condemn the petty thieves on our street corners. Yet the headquarters of the greatest kidnapping enterprise sits proudly in Yaoundé — protected, financed, and applauded by its victims.
Cameroonians are groping in the dark — not because they cannot see — but because a corrupt regime has turned off the light and holds the switch hostage.
The Call-to-Action
For how long will each group cry separately?
How long will fear stop us from recognizing our collective strength?
If truckers, teachers, doctors, students, farmers, taxi drivers, CDC workers, and the forgotten millions rise together — the chains will break. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is when fear no longer dictates silence.
Let every community join hands. Let every region raise its voice. Let every oppressed citizen become a witness to the truth. The darkness will endure only as long as we refuse to light the match. Unity is the answer. Now is the time.
James Ntam
