Why Cameroon University Students went on Strike

By Dibussi Tande

With the nationwide strike that paralyzed Cameroon's State universities  behind us, it necessary to go beyond the media headlines, the violence, death and destruction to clearly identify the reasons advanced for the strike action.

Calm before the storm: UB before the strike

This will not only help to put the violence and intransigence that accompanied the strike in context, particularly at the University of Buea, but also serve as a guide for managing similar events in future. 

When the university strike was launched at the University of Yaounde I, ADDEC (Association pour la défense des droits des étudiants du Cameroun) had a laundry list of 11 demands, among them the following 10 which I have so far been able to identify:

1. The convening of the Higher Education and Scientific Research Council;

2. The election of Rectors (Vice Chancellors), deans and heads of all higher educational institutions;

3. The elimination of the 50,000 FCFA registration fees;

4. The establishment of a Statute of the Cameroonian university student;

5. Provision of appropriate equipment for laboratories;

6. Free meals in university restaurants;

7. The construction of more amphitheaters;

8. An end to the extortion of students by some lecturers;

9. Restoration of university bursaries;

10. Construction of toilets

When the University of Buea joined the strike movement some time later, the student demands were similar, if not identical, to the original demands of ADDEC. The major difference (due to the unique situation of UB), was the demand that all courses at UB be available for "resit".

Subsequent to the creation of UBSU (University of Buea Students' Union), there was an additional demand to have the new student union recognized as the official / sole representative of the UB student body.

In the May 9, 2005 agreement signed in Yaounde between ADDEC and the Minister of Higher Education, the Government agreed to the following 12 conditions which applied to all six State universities, and which were in line with nine of the 11 demands originally made by ADDEC:

1. Provision of laboratories with appropriate equipment in order to better train students;

2. Increased budgetary allocation to University Departments so as to allow them to efficiently fulfill their teaching and research missions;

3. Repairing toilets and other sanitary utilities on university campuses and hostels;

4. Rehabilitation of university restaurants in order to improve the quality and quantity of food;

5. Supply of university libraries with appropriate books;

6. Consolidation of the procedure for granting research funds to doctoral students;

7. Finalization of the statute of the Cameroonian university student, in line with the creation on April 22, 2005, of the ad hoc committee by the Minister of Higher Education;

8. Putting an end to the rip off of students by lecturers and university administrative staff;

9. Finalization of research and teaching benefits, and the effective payment of money owed to student monitors and tutors;

10. The regular payment of registration fees in two installments, without any attendant increase in these fees;

11. Creation of an ad hoc committee at the Ministry of higher Education in view of certifying and approving rents in non-registered student hostels, and carrying out appropriate reflection on the need to build more student lodging facilities;

12. The creation of an ad hoc committee at the Ministry of Higher Education to brainstorm on issues related to university fees in particular and to the financing of higher education in general.

In essence, therefore, this agreement took care of a good number of the UB demands.

The May 24 agreement between UBSU and the Minister of Higher Education stated the following: 

1. UBSU officially recognized as the sole representative of UB students;
2. Total immunity granted to strike leaders;
3. Registration fees reduced from 53,000 FCFA to 50,0000 FCFA;
4. Four students in detention liberated immediately;
5. Cost of restaurant meals reduced from 150 to 100;
6. All courses now available for “ resit”;
7. University Toilets to be rehabilitated and taps constructed;
8. Security forces to vacate the UB campus as a prelude to the resumption of classes.

It is worth noting that only three of the Minister's concessions were part of the original UB student demands that led the strike; that two of the concessions were already contained in the ADDEC agreement; and that the remaining three stemmed from events directly related to the strike action... Pyhrric victory? Only time will tell...

Whatever the case, I hope this information helps as we start going beyond the headlines to carefully analyze what went terribly wrong in Buea during the strike action, and why there was such a shocking display of instransigence by the key actors of this drama ; an intransigence which resulted in violence, death and destruction...

Comments

[Stephen B Makia]

i honestly think all those demands were reasonable.the students should have a better learning enviroment,and the minister should be ashamed to have let such minut thing to pave way for a strike.

[mukong_shom]

Greetings
I will not understand why the university of B
uea students should be chase by the police while those of other universities did not face such a situation in the same strike? is it because buea is the only anglophone university or because the cameroon government realy hate anglophones. Not forgeting to ask whether the government will take care of the death once or thier families will do so.
Thanks

[robert tene]

AM In 1960, imprisoned and tortured hard by his torturers with the pay of the Western imperialism, Patrice Lumumba will forward a last letter to his Pauline wife, and in whom, a sentence summarizes all: "does not cry not cherished! that dead or alive, which counts, it is the independence of Congo and the dignity of Africa... Freedom is the ideal for which, from time immemorial and throughout the world, of the men and the women knew to fight and die "In 2005, that is to say nearly one half-century later, George Bush, president of the United States, in the ideological logic of its most dogmatic predecessors, declares: "the expansion of the democracy and freedom, is the best pledge of peace in the world". After the attacks of September 11 2001 in the United States, the bloody taking of hostages in a school in Russia, and carnage in the trains in Madrid, all the leaders of the world, without geopolitical distinction, made the same profession of faith: "There will be no negotiation with the terrorists, and nothing can justify acts of cruelty which give blindness death and endeuillent whole humanity". But here that in Togo, of the soldiers, become of the instruments of a clan of criminals eager to preserve the capacity by all the means, citizens cut down coldly who claim the democracy, and that in Cameroun of the students who ask for the improvement of their conditions, falls under balls, exactly like the six hundred schoolboys of Sowéto in 1976.

[PETER WUTEH VAKUNTA]

The most annoying thing about the Buea strike is the manner in which some bigoted role-players running that unversity have let the whole incident degenerate into the now belabored Graffi/South-WEST saga.I recently ran into a UB Departmental Head and Vice Dean of Student affairs on vacation at the UNVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON, USA and her responses to my questions relating to the genesis of the strike and the reaction of DOROTHY NJEUMA and her cronies to the grievances of the students were totally devoid of common sense. In fact, this woman who is being paid a "fat" salary from the taxes paid by the parents of her students sounded so arrogant and nonchalant to the plight of the students that I said to myself: " If UB is being run by numskulls like this then there's no hope." She sounded so illiterate in the course of our discussion that I honestly feared for the future of UB. Statements such as: "It's the students who need degrees, if they don't want to learn, that's their business!" struck me dumb. This and many more unprofessional remarks coming out of the mouth of a dean of studies speak volumes about how she got not only her post but also her academic qualifications. It's shameful to say the least.

The man in the street can afford to rave and rant like a demented idiot, but not leaders of our academic institutions. They simply don't have such leeway.If they persist in displaying their inanity in public, then they would better spare us their collective stupidity by resigning from the positions of authority which they did not earn in the first place.

[Romeo]

hello i must say that i am not in sorport of the strike but i also want a pnsideration so plz consider them

[kingsley mbanwei]

the time has come when somebody must help me say this the 21st century miracle is unfolding befor my eyes,a dream comes true.youths today are able to defend their rights but before i go,take this gemtle advice.it is better to die for something than to live for nothing.

[Michael Kongnyuy]

i, being a leader to one of the movements especially the the SCNC youth Movement, was detained for two weeks without food but escaped finally. i am now in the states but never will i get back home because life is astake. Fellow guys stay calm and things will get cold but for me i may never be part of Cameroon again; i miss u cameroon.

[MIKI GILBERT NGWANEH]

I'm a student in UB.I want to think the relative instability that incorporated state universities in Cameroon was mainly to agrade the degraded potholes that existed within the administerial setup

[Ngwa]

These students had a genuine reason to strike

[Jessica]

I totally understand the need of the students. The demands are reasonable.