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There is no English on bank notes in Cameroon

There is no English on bank notes in Cameroon

Paru le jeudi, 08 décembre 2016 06:26

It is said that bank notes from FCfa 10,000 to FCfa 5,000 were created while omitting to take into account the Anglophone component of the country.

 

Since 11 October 2016 when Cameroonians from the two English-speaking zones in the country (North-West and South-West) started making demands, based on the fact that they see themselves as marginalised by the public and mostly French-speaking administration, comments have been springing on social networks to the point of noticing that even the bank notes used in the country do have any English words on them. And therefore, do not take account of the bilingual nature of the country.

Actual desire to marginalise or not, the fact remains that indeed, the English language is not visible on the notes to translate for example the inscription “Banque des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale” (Central African States Bank). Or “Dix mille francs” (Ten thousand francs), “Deux mille francs” (Two thousand francs) … Even worse, there is no translation of the notice: Les auteurs ou complices de falsification ou de contrefaçon de billets de banque seront punis conformément aux lois et acte en vigueur” (Those found responsible of falsification or counterfeit of bank notes or their accomplices will be punished in compliance with the current laws and regulation). Everything is in French

17.

To prepare against the argument that the currency used in Cameroon is meant for use throughout the entire community (Central African Economic and Monetary Community) and does not therefore specifically take into account the bilingual nature of the country, Euro notes or the Canadian currency are cited as evidence. Indeed, on these foreign bank notes, the amounts are written in accordance with the linguistic diversities (French, Greek, German, Italian, etc.) which form the European Union.

But it is also important to note that the absence of bilingualism on the FCfa, CEMAC zone, could open the way for more demands coming this time from another community who has for the moment kept silent: the Spanish speakers. Indeed, Equatorial Guinea has Spanish as one of its official languages. But this language, just like English, cannot be seen on the currency used in the CEMAC which gathers Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo and Central African Republic.

Sylvain Andzongo

Dernière modification le jeudi, 08 décembre 2016 06:32

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