| Census shock: Anglophone now a tiny minority in Cameroon |
| Written by Eugene N. Nforngwa |
| Wednesday, 21 April 2010 13:30 |
 YAOUNDE—Anglophones are a drop in the ocean of the country’s 19.4 million people, according to new government population figures released in Yaounde last week, partially ending a five-year wait. Inhabitants of the North West and South West form only 16.4 percent of the country, far lower than the 20 percent often assumed. Surprisingly, the Centre region is the most populous with about 3.5 million people. It also showed less startling numerical disparities between the two Anglophone regions, with the North West far more populous than the South West, in spite of the generally accepted trend of migration towards the south. The percentage could be deceptive, because it does not take into account Anglophones that have migrated out of the two regions, and who could account for a large percentage of the population of big cities like Douala and Yaounde. Nevertheless, the political implication of the new demographic outlook will be twofold for Anglophones, playing out differently in national and regional politics. With better numeric strength than the South West, the North West, which is the fifth most populous place in the country, stands out as a more important election battleground especially with recent CPDM incursions. But more significantly, the tiny percentage of Anglophones, compared to other political blocs like the Grand North and Grand South, could mean weaker bargaining strength in the Anglophone struggle for better representation in government. In dealing with Anglophones, Yaounde has insisted on considering numeric strength rather than the heritage in which Anglophones see themselves as a political equals with Francophone Cameroon. The census result also has national political implications. The Centre and Far North regions, which are the two most populous regions with populations in excess of three million each, are all CPDM strongholds, going by past election results. Though fewer, the South and East provinces traditional vote CPDM. This leaves the CPDM with a comfortable axes, partly because of the significant rest of the country is mostly made up of battleground regions like the Littoral, North West, West and North regions. But all of this could be deceptive. The big cities are largely fed with migrants from other regions and tend to have strong opposition leanings. Elections results are also very unreliable gauges for political preferences, given allegations that the votes are often flawed, especially during the registration process. The result came five years after a national headcount. Even then, they are lacking in details such as migration trends and the size of ethnic grouping, which could make political analyses more correct. Reports said it could take to the end of the year before such details are released. A few analysts have in the meantime questioned the credibility of the census figures, mainly because of the time it has taken to be released. 
 
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 852 Comments (4)
  written by consty, April 27, 2010
these is an incredible lie geared towards manipulating the forth coming elections in the country. the cpdm has imaginary ways of rigging, this time a strategy far aimed in to the future before election day. this is shameful after over more than 2 decades in power the ruling party still want to stay on... where is democracy, is democracy 30 years in power? this is shameful. look at examples of real democracy in the world , no matter how best a president is, he hands over power to other people to make change in a different way . the cpdm is so conservative and yet still want to cling to power
 written by Joop, April 27, 2012
These are 'political' figures and the truth will never be released or made known to the public.
Write comment
Newer news items:
Older news items:
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
