Questions to Dr Vakunta

How do you see the role of the artist in the Cameroon Crisis? What do you want to achieve with this poem?

The intellectual/artist has a seminal role to play in the current Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon.The Cameroonian intellectual has the choice either to side with the downtrodden and marginalized or with the leadership. Without fear or favor, the genuine intellectual has to have the courage to blow the whistle on social injustice and gross human rights violations. Most importantly, the intellectual must seek out opportunities to speak truth to power, the more so because unquestioning subservience to authority in contemporary society is tantamount to a threat to an active and sane intellectual life. It is my fervent hope that Gravita will go a long way in serving as a whistle-blower on the genocide that is ongoing in Cameroon.

You are quite polemical in your poem. What is your own attitude in this situation? Do you want reunification or separation? How do you see the future of Cameroon?

The poem may seem polemical but my stance as far as the Anglophone Crisis is very clear. Here is the antidote that I propose in my book:
• Cameroonians have to get rid of the colonial mentality and assume the posture of architects of their own destiny. The belief that international goodwill will solve our perennial problems is a fallacy. We must be prepared to look one another in the face and say: look, this is where we went wrong; it is time to correct mistakes of the past and move on toward seeking a long-lasting solution to the Anglophone Question.
• Cameroonians must make sure that their hard-won political independence is not a sham. To put this differently, political independence must be backed by economic freedom. This is the point Ngwane (2004) underscores when he wonders: “Of what use is political freedom without economic emancipation?”(14)Ngwane’s question is not an idle one.
• Last but not least, the question of Ambazonian autonomy, in other words, total independence for the Republic of Ambazonia must be on the table for discussion sooner rather than later. Time is against Cameroonian stakeholders.

You write about much more than just the linguistic divide. What else plays a role in the Cameroon Crisis according to you?

Party politics is another sore point in Cameroon.The failure of political opposition is monumental. Leaders of Cameroon’s opposition political parties have failed woefully in the task of righting political wrongs in the country. Cameroonians know full well, that Cameroon is a one party State where opposition parties pay lip-service. Cameroon now counts about 253 registered political parties, with more than three-quarters being mushroom parties that harbor the sole objective of causing confusion and mayhem in the Cameroonian political landscape. Fragmenting the political tapestry bodes ill for the movement toward concrete change in Cameroon. These self-styled opposition parties are comporting themselves like a bunch of chickens without heads. These are signs of very bad times to come in Cameroon. In the real world nothing works like this. The game plan has to change quickly. If not, Cameroonians will be fighting a battle that is lost from the onset.

Why do you choose poetry as an art form? What can it achieve? You also use many “obscure” words; how does this fit into the image of the poet as “town crier”/”voice of the voiceless”?

I chose poetry because the poet has what is often referred to as ‘poetic license’ to speak truth to power. My recourse to veiled words is deliberate. My message is directed primarily to the rank and file to whom my message of revolution is directed. The languages they best understand are ‘pidgin’ and ‘camfranglais’. These are creolized lingos that the masses speak in Cameroon. Like Nelson Mandela once said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”(In the Words of Nelson Mandela( Penguin, 2009).

What is the role of consciencism in your poem: Is it for you about unity of Cameroon or of the whole of Africa?

Consciencism is a clarion call to all Cameroonians of good will to wake up from their deep slumber and take their destiny into their own hands. I speak to Cameroonians, first and foremost. However, my message applies to all Africans because Africans are living the same fate, regardless of geographical location. Colonialism and neo-colonialism are cankers in every African country.

Can you/do you want to move back to Cameroon?

I lost my Cameroonian citizenship as soon as I took American citizenship. Cameroonian is one of the few blighted African countries that deny their citizens dual citizenship. Having said that, it should be noted that citizenship and nationality are not synonymous terms. I retain my nationality with mine by birth, and will move back to my cradle whenever I feel like doing so.

Additional questions:

Why do you use NOOREMAC when referring to Cameroon
Nooremac is an anagram for Cameroon. It is ‘Cameroon’ written in reverse order. This writing technique is another masking contraption used by some Cameroonian writers to evade the wrath of the powers-that-be.

What is the role of (looking for) identity in your poem?
Cameroonians live in a multicultural and multicultural context. Hence, this perpetual quest for self-identification

You are sometimes optimistic about the future of Cameroon. You write about unity and uniting, etc. But at the end of the poem, you choose to leave Cameroon behind. Why do you do that? How should we read this?

I strongly believe that successful battles need sustenance from supporters in the diaspora. I constitute part of the powerful diaspora intelligentsia that is lending indispensable support to the
ongoing struggle in Cameroon.

Who is Mbiya? Do you mean Paul Biya? You mention this name in some of your other works as well.
‘Mbiya’ is the distorted form of ‘Biya’, the name of the Cameroonian Head of State. Cameroonians resort to the use of this pseudonym in a bid to mask the intent of their parole, or criticism of Paul Biya, current President of Cameroon. Given the fact that Cameroon is a police state writers are prudent enough to have recourse to veiled nomenclatures in any form of writing that smacks of anti-establishment sentiments.

Do you want to read some excerpts of the poem for us?

I am unable to read any of the poems on account of distance.

You’re very welcome. More power to your pens!
Dr. Vakunta