In a recent op-ed by a Cameroonian journalist based in Italy, the true nature of tribalism in Cameroon is laid bare.

Tribalism isn’t just an ethnic divide—it’s a class divide, cloaked in privilege and intellectual posturing. Consider the story of a woman from Cameroon’s Far North, educated at the École Supérieure des Sciences et Techniques de l’Information et de la Communication (ESSTIC) and the Institut des Relations Internationales du Cameroun (IRIC)—prestigious institutions where connections matter more than merit.

Her father was a senior customs official, a sector notorious for its entrenched privileges. While she secured her place through sheer advantage, my own extended family—despite generations of independence—has never had such opportunities. Yet she casually dismissed the country’s challenges as the fault of the Beti ethnic group: “The country is tough, unless you’re Beti—then everything’s easier.”

Her audacity peaked when she claimed my 20-year exile was a result of “pride,” suggesting I need only “apologize” to my “Beti brothers” to return home. “Apologize for what crime?” I asked. When Martinez Zogo, a Beti journalist, begged his tormentors for mercy before they murdered him, did they show any? His killers, like so many predators in Cameroon’s power circles, came from all ethnicities. Crime and corruption have no tribe.

Confronting her with the hypocrisy of her own privilege changed nothing. With a single sentence, she dismissed two decades of exile, struggle, and resilience as if they were trivial. The result? I cut ties with her. Tribalism among the privileged is the most insidious kind.

The real divide in Cameroon isn’t ethnic—it’s between:

1. Those who hold the keys to the system: Families who place their children in elite schools like IRIC, ESSTIC, or the École Nationale d’Administration et de Magistrature (ENAM) through backroom deals.
2. Everyone else: The children of street vendors, farmers, and hustlers who sell water by the roadside just to survive.

The system isn’t rigged by ethnicity—it’s rigged by wealth and connections. Don’t be fooled by those who benefit from it while complaining about marginalization. The true battle is not regional, but social.

Jean Claude Mbede Fouda