Why Participating in Politics in LRC Is Meaningless for Southern Cameroonians

Not because politics itself is meaningless, but because the political structure we were forced into does not legally include us. Participating in a system that has no lawful authority over our territory is like voting in a country where you are not legally a citizen.

It may look like participation.
It may feel like participation.
But it produces nothing for your future.

1. The Foundation Is Missing: No Legal Union, No Political Voice

Politics only carries meaning when your citizenship is lawful.

For Southern Cameroonians:

there is no union treaty
there is no ratification
there is no UN deposit
there is no completed Resolution 1608 process
there is no legal transfer of administrative authority

This means Southern Cameroonians were never legally transformed into citizens of La République du Cameroun.

If the house was never legally built, you cannot debate who should be the chairman. You do not belong to the structure in the first place.

2. Participation Becomes a Tool to Legitimize Illegality

When Southern Cameroonians vote in LRC’s seven year election cycle, or run for office in that system, two things happen:

LRC uses your participation as proof that you accept their claim
The international community assumes you agree you are part of their state

Your involvement becomes the very evidence LRC uses to justify its illegal presence in Southern Cameroons.

So instead of empowering you, participation strengthens the system that suppresses you.

3. Working for the LRC Government Does Not Change the Truth

Many Southern Cameroonians have:

worked as civil servants
served as MPs
served as ministers
served as governors or senior officials
worked in the military, police, or judiciary

This does not change their legal identity.
It does not create a treaty.
It does not legalize LRC presence in Southern Cameroons.

Employment does not create sovereignty.
Salary does not create citizenship.
Participation does not create legitimacy.

There are many historical examples of people working inside systems that had no legal authority over them:

Indigenous people under colonial governments
Namibians under South African rule
Timorese under Indonesian occupation
Palestinians under Israeli administration

Working inside an illegal system does not make that system lawful.

4. LRC Politics Has No Mechanism to Resolve the Southern Cameroons Question

Even if Southern Cameroonians voted one hundred percent in LRC’s seven year election cycle, it would not solve anything.

Why?

Because the issue is not representation.
The issue is legal status.

The problem is not who sits in Etoudi.
The problem is that LRC has no legal authority over the territory of Southern Cameroons.

A parliament cannot fix a treaty problem.
An election cannot replace a UN procedure.
A ministerial appointment cannot complete decolonization.

You cannot fix a constitutional vacuum through participation.

5. The System Was Never Built for Southern Cameroons

The political system of LRC was built before they ever stepped into Southern Cameroons. Their:

constitution
institutions
state identity
political culture
governance model

were all created without us and never designed to include us.

We are not internal partners.
We are not co-creators.
We are an external people forced into their system.

A borrowed seat at another nation’s table is not representation.

6. Even If You Win, You Lose

Some Southern Cameroonians believe winning positions in LRC politics can create change from within. But the system was engineered specifically to block change.

The presidency is not freely chosen
Parliament has symbolic power
The judiciary is controlled
Governors are appointed, not elected
Security forces answer only to the regime
Constitutional change is impossible without Yaoundé consent

So even if a Southern Cameroonian becomes:

MP
mayor
minister
senator

they cannot change anything.

The system was built to swallow individuals, not empower them.

7. The Only Political Structure That Has Meaning for Us Is the UN Trusteeship Process

Our true political path is not inside LRC but inside the legal architecture of:

the Trusteeship Agreement
Resolution 1608
the unfinished tripartite conference
the UN body still responsible for the territory

This legal framework defines who we are and where our future is resolved.

Not in LRC elections.
Not in LRC parliament.
Not in LRC ministries.

The only solution lies in completing decolonization.

8. A Simple Message for Our People

Here is the truth:

“You cannot gain freedom by voting inside a system that has no lawful authority over you. You cannot fix decolonization by participating in the administration that replaced your rightful legal status. Whether you work or have worked for the LRC government changes nothing. Your legal identity is Southern Cameroons, not LRC.”

This is the clarity the world respects.
This is the clarity our movement must adopt.
This is the clarity that leads to lawful restoration.