TOWARDS A NEW FORM OF FEDERALISM CHOSEN BY THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE
“LetMy dear compatriots,Cameroon deserves a political system that rises to the level of its challenges—one that is faithful to its history, respectful of its diversity, and adapted to the realities of its territories.
It is time to turn the page on a centralized system that has reached its limits. It is time to bring the State closer to the citizen, to listen to local realities, and to build a country that is fairer, more balanced, and more coherent.
I propose a territorial re-foundation in stages. Each municipality, each region, must have the means to decide, to act, and to innovate. This will not be a favor, nor a privilege—it will be a right. A right for every territory to be a full-fledged actor in the national destiny.
The State must no longer dominate from a distance. It must serve up close. It must become once again what it should never have ceased to be: a common home—protective, just, and responsive.
To our Anglophone compatriots in the North-West and South-West regions, I want to speak frankly. The crisis affecting them is not only a security issue. It is also political, historical, and identity-based. They do not need others to speak for them—they need to be heard. They must feel, in concrete terms, that the Republic is their home too, that their voice matters, and that their history is acknowledged.
It is by building together, while respecting their specificities, that we will establish lasting peace.
Let me be clear: centralization has failed.
And when our democratic, institutional, and social foundations are strong enough, we will engage—through a concerted and transparent process—in a journey allowing the Cameroonian people to choose, via referendum, the form of the State that reflects their aspirations.
This will not be a decision imposed from above, but a sovereign choice of the people—made in peace, in serenity, and in dignity.
This too is what the Republic means: trusting in the collective intelligence and political maturity of the Cameroonian people.
The referendum as a tool for territorial justice.”
