For decades, each time French Cameroon faces political turbulence, its leaders reach for the same tired strategy: add a few English-speaking faces to the cabinet, call it inclusion, and present it to the world as reform.
By Ali Dan Ismael, Editor-in-Chief, on special assignment in Maroua, Cameroun
When Issa Tchiroma Bakary stood before cameras this week to announce his new Government of National Unity, many in French Cameroon believed the country was finally turning a page.
But to the people of Southern Cameroons, known internationally as Ambazonia, it was not a page turned — it was an old book reprinted with a new cover.
For decades, each time French Cameroon faces political turbulence, its leaders reach for the same tired strategy: add a few English-speaking faces to the cabinet, call it inclusion, and present it to the world as reform.
Issa Tchiroma — the same man who once defended Paul Biya’s authoritarian rule — has simply repeated that performance, calling it “national unity.”
The Political Profile of Issa Tchiroma Bakary
To understand what this so-called unity government represents, one must remember who Issa Tchiroma Bakary really is.
He served for years as Minister of Communication under Paul Biya, becoming the voice and armour of the regime’s propaganda.
From 2017 through 2021, as the Ambazonian war of independence intensified, Tchiroma stood before the cameras, denying atrocities, rejecting dialogue, and branding Ambazonian leaders as “terrorists.”
When global media reported the burning of villages and mass killings of civilians, Tchiroma called the reports “fake news.”
He accused human-rights organisations of “working for secessionists” and presented the war as a domestic security matter — erasing Ambazonia’s distinct legal and historical identity.
Now, the same man positions himself as the architect of national reconciliation, asking the world to see him as the moderate who can rebuild what his words helped destroy.
But behind this performance lies a dangerous illusion.
Tchiroma carries a Napoleonic mindset of justice — one that believes law exists to justify power, not to restrain it.
He imagines that his cabinet’s symbolic inclusion of a few English-speaking faces will earn him international recognition and the right to re-inherit Ambazonia’s resources — its oil, timber, minerals, and coastal trade routes.
How mistaken he is.
The age of imperial re-inheritance is over.
The world now sees through the smokescreen of “national unity” used to disguise exploitation.
The “Unity” That Excludes a People
Ambazonia — the former British Southern Cameroons — makes up nearly one fifth of Cameroon’s population and covers a large part of its land.
Yet in this so-called Government of National Unity, only four cabinet members come from the entire Anglophone territory.
That is not inclusion; it is calculated marginalisation.
President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako, who leads the Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in exile, said it plainly:
“A people who make up one-fifth of the population cannot be reduced to four symbolic names and told to call that unity. That is not representation; it is humiliation dressed as dialogue.”
To outside observers, the inclusion of Akere Muna, Joshua Osih, Christopher Fomunyoh, and Jacob Diko Mukete may appear progressive.
But to Ambazonians, it is pure theatre — the recycling of opportunists who long abandoned their people’s cause.
None of these so-called Anglophone figures has ever supported the Ambazonian quest for independence.
Not one has defended the right of Southern Cameroonians to self-determination.
Their political careers have been driven by convenience, not conviction — by self-interest, not sacrifice.
They have chosen to serve power, not justice; to protect their privileges, not their people.
Their appointment in Tchiroma’s cabinet is not a reward for courage but for obedience and greed.
The Old Pattern Repeats
Ambazonians have seen this script too many times.
Whenever Yaoundé feels cornered — by protests, scandals, or foreign pressure — it stages a new “inclusive” government to buy time.
It adds a few compliant Anglophones, makes promises of reform, and continues the same system of domination.
The reality remains unchanged.
The federal system was destroyed by decree.
The Common-Law and Anglophone education systems have been dismantled.
Villages lie in ruins, thousands have been killed, and no justice has been served.
President Sako summed it up:
“Every time they feel pressure, they reach for Anglophone faces to polish a broken system. This is not inclusion; it is co-optation.”
A Diversion After a Disputed Election
After the disputed presidential election of October 12, marked by fraud and unrest, Tchiroma’s unity cabinet is designed to impress the international community — not to heal the country.
Behind the cameras, the same repressive machinery remains.
Military checkpoints choke Ambazonian towns.
Civilians live in fear.
Journalists are jailed.
This is not reconciliation — it is repackaged repression.
Representation Without Sovereignty
Ambazonians understand that ministerial appointments mean nothing without sovereignty.
No government in Yaoundé has ever recognised the legal independence of Southern Cameroons as a former United Nations Trust Territory.
The 1961 “union” was never ratified under UN Resolution 1608 (XV).
Without that ratification, there is no legal union — only occupation.
President Sako reminded the world:
“Ambazonia was never legally part of French Cameroon. The issue is not participation; it is occupation. We will not trade our sovereignty for ministerial appointments.”
Including a few Ambazonians in a French Cameroon government is not reconciliation; it is redecoration.
One Fifth of the Population, Four Seats in Power
Ambazonia represents nearly one fifth of Cameroon’s population yet holds less than one-eighth of the power.
That is not unity — it is inequality disguised as progress.
How can any people accept such a hollow gesture and call it reform?
True unity must be built on equity, not illusion.
The Hope Beyond Manipulation
Even now, the people of Southern Cameroons remain open to genuine peace — negotiations without preconditions and grounded in mutual respect.
As President Sako has said, Ambazonians are ready to talk, but only as equals, not as subordinates.
Attempts to distract Ambazonians by releasing a few prisoners or staging token gestures are signs of desperation, not strength.
As President Sako noted:
“That is juvenile fear masquerading as generosity.”
Freedom cannot be bought with bribes, and justice cannot be replaced with public relations.
The Path Forward
If Issa Tchiroma truly seeks unity, he must begin with truth.
Recognise Ambazonia as a distinct people with the right to self-determination.
Withdraw the occupying forces.
Enter open dialogue — without preconditions — on the future of two nations that have shared too much pain to continue in denial.
As President Sako said,
“You cannot build unity on denial. You cannot preach peace while keeping troops in someone else’s homeland.”
The Final Word
Tchiroma’s so-called unity cabinet is not a bridge to peace; it is a mirror reflecting the same colonial arrogance that destroyed the old federation.
A people who form one fifth of the nation cannot be reduced to four cabinet seats and told to celebrate equality.
And a few career politicians cannot claim to speak for millions who have paid for freedom with their lives.
Tchiroma’s Napoleonic arrogance — believing that control, not justice, defines legitimacy — is the very mindset that buried French Cameroon’s democracy and now threatens to bury its unity.
His attempt to use token inclusion as a passport to international recognition and to re-claim Ambazonia’s resources for Yaoundé’s benefit is doomed to fail.
The world has seen this play before.
Ambazonians will not be fooled, bought, or silenced.
They will not trade sovereignty for symbolism, or justice for gestures.
Their message remains clear:
They are ready for dialogue — but only as equals, and only without preconditions.
Freedom delayed by deception is still freedom on its way.
Ali Dan Ismael, Editor-in-Chief, on special assignment
