Alleged Ban On The Words “Anglophone”, “Francophone, Is False- Musonge Clarifies

The President of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, NCPBM, has debunked claims that the commission proposed a ban on the words ‘Anglophone’ ‘Francophone’ from public use in Cameroon.

According to a press release signed Friday, May 3, by the NCPBM’s President, Peter Mafany Musonge, the proposed ban on the two words came as a recommendation from one of the 20 experts during a colloquium organised by the commission on 24-25 April at Mount Febe Hotel in Yaoundé. The former PM outlined that, the words were recommended by an expert who said the words “Anglophone and Francophone” should be suppressed from public discourse in Cameroon. “The experts who were mainly University dons, made 62 recommendations to the commission. One of the recommendations they made to the commission was that the terms “Anglophone” and “Francophone” should be suppressed from public discourse, because they do not reflects an authentic Cameroonian identity” the release partly reads.

Mr Musonge equally went ahead to explain that the proposal has neither been examined nor adopted by the commission in session, let alone been submitted to the Head of State for consideration.

Meanwhile, the release is coming after some Cameroonians have criticised the commission saying that those words “Anglophone” and “Francophone” are as a result of the two entities that make up Cameroon.

The NCPBM President said earlier assumptions and assertions on the banning of the two words are incorrect. “ The President of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multi-Culturalism informs the public that information circulating on social media that the Commission has proposed the banning of the use of the words “Anglophone” and Francophone” in Cameroon is False” the release stated.