Bilingualism Law : Enhancing Culture At Centre Stage

Law NO. 2019/019 of 24 December 2019 on the Promotion of Official Languages in Cameroon President Paul Biya promulgated on December 24, 2019 comes to solve a cultural problem. The law was drawn up within the context of grievances presented by Common Law lawyers and teachers trade unions of the English-sub system of education calling for the respect of the two official languages, that are English and French in all public institutions and transactions. English and French are enshrined in the Constitution of 1996 as the official languages of Cameroon with equal status. The two official languages that now constitute the pride of Cameroon and give the country an enviable position as a bilingual country in the concert of nations were inherited from the French and Anglo-saxon cultures. They are legacies left by Great Britain and France that ruled the present day English and French speaking parts of Cameroon first of all as the League of Nations Mandated territories and after the Second World War as United Nations Trust territories before the country finally gained independence and reunification. The law is therefore a response to the respect and equal use of the two languages that reflect the bi-cultural nature of Cameroon with the  North West and South West Regions ruled by Britain practising the Anglo-saxon culture in educational and judicial systems and the remaining eight regions practising the French culture bequeathed to them by France that ruled them.
Besides the two official languages, Cameroon is also a deeply multicultural and diversified country with more than 250 ethnic groups with corresponding national languages. It is with the objective of harnessin...