The King is a pivot and not the highest authority in the land. -King of Mbatu

The King of Mbatu His Royal Majesty King Muma III was born as Teku Simon but when he was crowned, he was given his Royal name. Born some 46 years ago and enthroned on the 8^th of March 1989 the King is about 29 years on the throne at the moment. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante of EDEV News and Nchong Chrisantus of The Horizon Newspaper.

Excerpts

Ethnically,who are the people of Mbattu?

Without going into the details, we are the Widikums. We settled somewhere in Widikum before the coming of Zingtgraff. However because we needed to be economically more empowered, we moved out of Widikum and found ourselves in so many parts of the country before settling here. At a certain point we were at Mile 89 on Bali Road. We went to Babadjou, then left and went to Awing and came back. We eventually went to Akum and came back and settled where we are presently. The real base of Mbatu has been Mankon because we actually settled at Laambetu before leaving to settle here.

How has His Highness been maintaining the originality of Mbatu culture despite the persistent encroachment of western culture?

I can remember those excerpts of our beautiful culture when I took over the throne in 1989. Unfortunately, the whole thing seems to erode away as time moves on. Everything has been westernised. When we send our children out there, they don’t come back and some don’t even remember their roots. It is not only about Westernization but it is also about Religion. The Church is continuously draining away our culture. We have been trying to keep it alive through our cultural manifestations so that the bit that we have remaining should be preserved. Firstly, the structure of the Palace and Fondom. Those who are still attached to their culture and the way they behave. Do they still make use of their dialect to show that they come from a particular area? What kind of food do we eat? Do we still pound our Achu the way our old mothers used to do it? Do we still prepare Nangtare the way our people in Momo would do it? Are we attached to these things? These are the key questions. Culturally is the Fon supposed to drive himself and is he supposed to move out of his Palace?

What are those peak moments in your calender of activities that permit culture to be showcased?

Today is the Contry Sunday of Mbatu and it is a very important day in this community and it is a Wednesday. On this day, people who have problems have the opportunity to come to the Palace, exchange ideas and expose their problems. It is also on this day that most of the Kings of the Widikums disappeared and they were maybe laid to rest on this day. On this day nobody goes to the farm and you don’t go to hunt. Everybody sits with the family in meeting circles and some who need to come to the Palace do that but you don’t move out of your environment. Another very important day in the life of this Community is the day a King disappears. This is when the culture of the Mbatu people is manifested. The dances in the Palace and jujus all come out. They come out while some are mourning and after the mourning there is celebration. There are also Cry Dies (funerals) which are considered as events that visit every household and so you must be there. This is a forum where you always meet the people. They come out with their traditional cups and calabashes and the language is different. There is Palmwine and Achu to be eaten as well as a lot of dancing. There are also occasions like Births locally referred to as Born House when a new born baby joins the family. There are also activities like end of year dances in some Kingdoms though not in all. This is a moment when the King celebrates success with his population. I always call for a dance when there is something to talk about. We have just had electricity, for example, we’ve had a good road and similar things give reason for us to celebrate.

How is the Fondom structured?

The King is a pivot and not the highest authority in the land. The Parliament is the highest authority in Cameroon and not the Head of State. The Fon is the coordinator of institutions around the palace. The institutions here are the Royal Family, the Traditional Council, the Ndaala (Sacred house) where contry fashion(traditional practices) are carried out for things to move in the village are all natural institutions. There are other institutions that are created out of necessity like the quarter heads union, because we have decentralized the community. These quarter heads are responsible to the Fon. Only title holders work with the Fon and even members of the Royal family who are not titled can hardly work directly with the Fon. If there is a problem in the Royal Family, the people I will meet are titled members of the family. The Royal family is just consultative but the Traditional Council is the base and its members are notables and nobles who are natural from their families through inheritance but the highest authority is the Kwifor which is like the Parliament that I talked of earlier. It controls even the Fon.

Is there anything like the Mbatu Development Association?

The genesis of it all is that the name we should always remember is G.A. Nangah in the fifties. MBACUDA was created in the fifties before independence at a time when the people of Bamenda had a spirit of community work. Pah Nangah was very influential financially and he used this to rally people. It is one of the oldest associations in the Northwest. As to whether they have been able to live up to their expectations, I will say yes and no. Nangah in his days had the means to defend his Fondom. When I took over I noticed that the people had not understood the spirit of sacrifice that Pah Nangah had. My Father had a great Palace but all we needed was somebody to do renovation and restructure the Palace. In 2010 I came out with my vision because we could not be talking of the Nangahs, the professor Chumbos, the Doctors when on coming here people would see just a kitchen of a palace. My intention was to put something better than we met. I started and when they saw that I was going somewhere they rallied through MBACUDA and we went on. Now the project of lights came and we keep moving on. MBACUDA has been working but the main problem they have now is that of leadership.

You certainly have a strong message for your elite and subjects who will be reading you around the world.

There is a gap between the elite and the youth. They are not preparing the younger ones well enough for transition. Let them pull the youth towards them so that they can hand over appropriately. You don’t just hand over to somebody you have not prepared appropriately. The youth should be initiated to enhance transition. A meeting point between elders and youth is needed for society to move forward.  

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