By Bakah Derick
Cameroonian multiple award winning journalist Comfort Mussa has expressed disappointment with the public use of pidgin and local languages with apologies. She was speaking in Bandjoun near Bafoussam on Thursday 31 March 2022 during a symposium on unraveling the development and underdevelopment notions in the world.
According to Comfort Mussa, story telling is an important tool for the development process of every people. With originality being key in story telling, she explains that stories told in the language best understood by the people have a stronger impact following the high level of acceptance.
Pointing out pidgin commonly used in the North West Region of Cameroon as well as other local languages, the founder of Sisterspeak 237 regrets that many use these languages in a debasing manner. By always apologising or taking excuses before speaking in them while prioritising foreign languages enforces colonisation considered gone and kills the self determination of the people.
Comfort Mussa has challenged all to be intentional in the use of their local languages as a way of expressing their desire for self determination.
According to Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung promoter of SAVVY Contemporary and organiser of the Bandjoun symposium, the get together is "to open our year-long project on the 50 years of Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa with an invocations programme here at Bandjoun Station to reflect together on the myths of development and underdevelopment as well as imagining and crafting a Post-(under)development world." He told participants at the opening
With the slogan "de ting weh e do cacao na e go do cafe, on sowing and reaping of holistic overstansings of cultures, greenhouse agriculture promoter Roland Fomundam, experts and researchers in culture amongst them Enama Leon, Jeannot Domchie, Välery Tîto, Henry Kah, Linus Kwokom of Bobo Leennox Arts are sharing their thoughts and experiences with participants from the West, North West, South West and otyer regions of Cameroon.