The tragedy of extractive governance is that it eventually destroys the state itself. The same “Chop Broke Pot” mentality once used against Ambazonia is now becoming a burden around the neck of the entire Cameroonian system: collapsing public trust,
youth hopelessness, economic stagnation, institutional paralysis, corruption, and centralized dependency.
By Ali Dan Ismael
Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist News
For decades, the governing mentality inside La République du Cameroun followed one dangerous philosophy: “If we cannot fully control Ambazonia, then Ambazonia must never be allowed to thrive.” That mentality shaped the destruction of institutions, the sabotage of infrastructure, the centralization of wealth, and the systematic weakening of the former Southern Cameroons economy.
The tragedy is historic.
In attempting to politically suffocate Ambazonia, the Yaoundé establishment may have permanently damaged its own capacity for sustainable governance. But the deeper tragedy is even larger than Cameroon itself. Because the destruction of productive African regions has long fitted neatly into a broader post-colonial global economic system built around extraction, dependency, and centralized financial control.
The “Chop Broke Pot” Mentality
Across many African communities, there is an expression: “Chop Broke Pot.” Consume everything today. Destroy the container. And never think about the future. That phrase perfectly captures what many Ambazonians believe happened after reunification. Instead of preserving and expanding the productive systems inherited from former West Cameroon, the centralized regime gradually absorbed, weakened, or destroyed them. Not because they were failures. But because they were functioning too well.
The fear inside Yaoundé was never simply separatism. The deeper fear was competition. A productive, educated, economically organized Ambazonia represented a dangerous contrast to the centralized patronage system dominating La République du Cameroun. So the strategy became:
centralize, absorb, control, consume.
Destroying the Goose to Stop the Golden Eggs
Southern Cameroons possessed many of the foundations capable of transforming the broader regional economy: deep seaports, agricultural productivity, hydroelectric potential, educational strength, English-speaking commercial connectivity,
decentralized administrative traditions, and strategic Gulf of Guinea access. But instead of feeding that productive ecosystem, the centralized system weakened it. The Limbe and Tiko ports declined while Douala became hyper-centralized.
Regional institutions weakened. Economic power migrated toward Yaoundé. Local initiative became politically threatening.
The mentality became: if Ambazonia prospers too much, Ambazonia may eventually demand freedom confidently. So the productive ecosystem itself was suffocated. This is the political psychology of insecure centralized systems: they often destroy productive independence to preserve political control.
The Imperial Globalization Connection
The tragedy of the “Chop Broke Pot” mentality did not evolve in isolation. It fitted perfectly into the architecture of post-colonial globalization inherited from Imperial Britain and reinforced through modern financial systems centered around the City of London. For decades, many corrupt post-colonial governments across Africa functioned not as engines of national development, but as extraction intermediaries within a larger international economic order.
The arrangement was brutally simple. Weak governments would: sell raw materials below real market value; suppress local industrialization;
maintain centralized dependency systems; weaken productive local economies; and export wealth outward. In return, ruling elites gained access to: offshore banking protection; foreign diplomatic shielding; luxury assets abroad; elite international networks; and safe financial havens.
Meanwhile, major global financial centers — especially the City of London — quietly became among the ultimate recipients of vast flows of: illicit wealth, capital flight, corruption proceeds, resource leakage, and post-colonial extraction money. This is one of the great hypocrisies of the modern world order.
Western powers publicly preach: democracy,
transparency, human rights, anti-corruption,
and the noble spirit of the Commonwealth. Yet many of the same financial systems quietly absorb enormous volumes of wealth stolen from some of the poorest populations on earth.
Sub-Saharan African populations are endlessly lectured about governance while billions disappear safely into: offshore accounts, shell corporations,
protected banking jurisdictions, luxury real estate,
and international financial structures tied to Western economic networks.
The contradiction is staggering. Corrupt governments weaken productive economies at home. Raw materials leave cheaply. Industrialization never fully develops. Dependency deepens. Elites export wealth abroad. And ordinary citizens remain trapped in poverty while foreign financial centers quietly profit from the dysfunction.
Why Ambazonia Became Dangerous
This is precisely why Ambazonia represented something dangerous within the post-colonial system. The former Southern Cameroons inherited stronger traditions of: local accountability,
decentralized administration, educational autonomy, commercial flexibility, and Anglo-Saxon institutional culture.
A productive, decentralized, economically sovereign Ambazonia would threaten the extractive architecture that depends on weak centralized patronage systems. Because once productive regions begin retaining and reinvesting their own wealth: dependency weakens; corruption networks shrink; local industry grows; and foreign extraction becomes harder to sustain. This is why the Ambazonian question became existential for Yaoundé. Because if Ambazonia succeeded outside centralized control, it would expose decades of failed governance philosophy not only inside Cameroon, but across much of the post-colonial extractive model itself.
The Albatross Around Yaoundé’s Neck
The tragedy of extractive governance is that it eventually destroys the state itself. The same “Chop Broke Pot” mentality once used against Ambazonia is now becoming a burden around the neck of the entire Cameroonian system: collapsing public trust,
youth hopelessness, economic stagnation, institutional paralysis, corruption, and centralized dependency.
A system built primarily to control eventually loses the ability to create. History punishes societies that normalize consumption without regeneration. And perhaps the greatest irony is that the very productive ecosystem Yaoundé feared may ultimately become the foundation upon which Ambazonia rises again. Because nations that learn how to feed their goose eventually produce enough golden eggs not only to survive — but to lead.
Ali Dan Ismael
Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist News
