“The noble objectives of Anglophone lawyers and teachers were derailed”

Ntumfor Fru Jonathan and Achidi Achu during 4th Scholarship Award in 

Baligham

-Ntumfor Fru Jonathan, Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Contracts

Ntumfor Fru Jonathan is the Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Contracts. Back in his native Mbe Village in the Santa Sub Division, he is not only the CPDM Section President but also a Ntumfor firstly of the Mbe Village and also a Ntumfor of the North West Fons. Ntumfor is a very important title that is conferred by a Fon or group of Fons on an outstanding individual or group of individuals in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. Professionally Ntumfor Fru Jonathan has passed through all the rungs of administration frame work in Cameroon. In an exclusive interview with this elite and nation builder from the Santa Sub Division in the North west Region of Cameroon, he touches on wide range of issues and uses this medium to state that the noble objectives of the Anglophone lawyers and teachers has been derailed and as a result Anglophones are confused and need to sit up and evaluate the state of things so as to move forward meaningfully. Mistakes of the past he says should not repeat themselves. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante. He begins by delving into his active political life and the vision he had when he began his political career. Excerpts 

My political vision is that of service. For me, getting into politics is deciding to serve  the people so when you get into politics you should always be available to serve the people. Service equally means that you share with who ever you are with. You are always available around them and you can share ideas,  consoling words when somebody is in problems and you can eat together. That’s the vision I’ve had from when I started growing up to when I began realising that I could do anything for some one. That had always been my vision from Secondary School, High School to University. I have always been around my people sharing everything with them. That’s why you will always see me back in my village. I started politics there and grew to the highest level because I discovered that to reach there, the people needed to recognise what you are doing. They need to appreciate and recognise it, and if I have climbed up today to be Section President one of the highest political posts at the grassroots becoming one of the political bosses of the area from Branch President to Sub Section President and to where I am, it is because of that vision.

What challenges have you had in your trajectory in the CPDM?

You should realise that we are working within a particular context in a very shaky political environment. A lot of changes were introduced into this environment with the passage of the wind of democracy. We needed time for people to understand and some people just came in to say they were democrats and created political parties with everyone proposing to change the lives of the people. I decided to stay with the CPDM because I discovered that the programme was clear compared to that of the other political parties. The SDF for instance came into politics and was shaky. When you come into politics and start staying away from elections then you are shaky. The CPDM is a stable party with a clear vision even though the environment was very hostile to it because the dream of the average North westerner was that a brother had created a political party that could bring change and they as such had to adhere to it. Unfortunately we waited and the change did not come and it made me to feel comfortable with my position of staying with the CPDM. So I moved ahead for the people to follow me and to do this, I ensured that I came back to the people to tell them that this is what the CPDM had given me and shared it with them. Coming back and being with them and sharing with them made them to see that after all they had somebody whom they could follow and identify with. The old mother in the village doesn’t know President Paul Biya. It is me that they know and I am a replica of President Paul Biya on the field and I present to them how the President want us to do things and if what I present to them is good, they follow. Through me they follow the President and that’s why we’ve successfully been moving slowly but surely in Santa from the SDF to the CPDM. We have been progressing positively in the sense that in local elections, results of the CPDM have evolved from say 5% to 10% and has continued in that manner. For a period of 17 years, the opposition was controlling the Council but during a recent mandate we shared the council with the CPDM having ten seats and the opposition having 31. In the following mandate the reverse occurred with the CPDM having 31 and the opposition having ten which means that we are now progressing towards getting everything. This progress shows that the people understands. They want what we present to them and not dreams. That’s how I function and we have used the CPDM to transform the people of Santa following the footsteps of the people ahead of me like Pah Simon Achidi Achu, J.B. Ndeh both of whom I consider as my mentors. Each of them as they got tired called on a younger person for help. Pah Simon Achidi Achu pushed in J. B. Ndeh and he in turn pushed me in and when I get to a certain point I will be looking for somebody to push in.

There is the cultural aspect of you. Is the title of Ntumfor a reflection and recognition of what you have been doing by the traditional rulers?

To understand this, it will be important that we revisit the origin of it all. This was in 2003/2004 when I was appointed to the Ministry of Transport as the Director of General Affairs. Before then I had been somebody who was working at the grass root working with people in Mbe village carrying out a lot of activities. I was President of the Students Union when I was in the university and did a lot for my village through that forum. Eventually I became the Secretary of our development Association here in Yaounde and later on became Secretary in the National Association MBECUDA with one of my god fathers Yango Fidelis as President. We spent most of our time shuttling between the village, Yaounde and Douala. So it so happened that Minister J.B. Ndeh appointed me as the Director of general Affairs at the Ministry of Transport and that was the highest at the time in my village. When this happened, a very big reception was organised for me in my village and my Fon was involved in this organisation. So like in any village, they decided that they were going to give me a red feather to crown my activities. It is like a son who goes and captures a Tiger or a Lion and they decide to honour him with a red feather. When the Fon took that decision with his notables they said they will not only give a feather but will accompany it with a title. In the event, I didn’t even know what title was going to be given to me. I was presented to the public; a very huge crowd that day and a red feather put on my cap. My hand was raised and they pronounced that this is the Ntumfor of Mbe Village. I became friends with so many Fons and at that time I was fully in politics serving my people and serving Santa and my activities were recognised by many. I eventually got close to the President of the Fons Fon Chafa when he was President and Senator Fon Teche. The Fons then decided that hence there will be a number of Ntumfors from the Region unlike formerly when there was only one Ntumfor. They identified a number of us. I was there alongside Honourable Nji Fidelis, Mbaku Jerry and Eric Njong of Burns and if I am not mistaken Minister Fuh Calistus. If the Fons recognise you as their Messenger or errand boy, you cannot say no. 

Professionally you equally have a long trajectory. How do you think you have used it to live up to the people oriented vision that has always guided you?   

   Professionally I am about 27 years in service which means that in about three years I will be going on retirement. I think  God has blessed me in my professional career because I have climbed from the first rungs to the last. After University, I went to ENAM which is one of the prestigious schools in this country and graduated like a Civil Administrator. When I left ENAM I was appointed Chargee D’Etudes in the Ministry of Plans and Regional Development currently ministry of the economy. That was the rank of the assistant Chief of Service then. I then moved on to Douala as the Provincial Chief of Administration and Finance for Agriculture. I later on had an opportunity to work with a private German company that came in for two years as Director of Cocoa and Coffee. I later on came back into Administration as Assistant Director of General Affairs in the Ministry of Agriculture. When the post of Assistant Administrator was scrapped off, I was appointed Sub Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Agriculture and from there I went on to head the Legal Department of that same Ministry. From the Legal Department I moved up to the Director of General Affairs in the Ministry of Transport  where I worked for Ten years serving six Ministers. I was removed from there and appointed Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Contracts where I am now. This is the rank of Secretary General and is the last rank in Public Administration that you can aspire to except you are looking for a political post or that of a General Manager. For me I have lived a fulfilled professional life moving from the first level to the last level. In the french parlance, you climb from Administrateur Civil to Administrateur Civil Principale and then to Administrateur Civile de classe exceptionelle. From here you go to hors echelle which is where I am. Apart from Administration I have occupied other posts like President of Tenders Board in the Ministry of Transport and I am presently the President of Tenders Board in Hilton Hotel Corporation. I was Board Member in Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority and Board member in Chantier Naval.

What advise can you give Anglophones on the present unending crises?

The problem of English speaking Cameroonians affect all of us but I think that like in every environment, the only thing to be done is for people to sit around a table and talk. After the First World War, for peace to come, people had to sit round a table and talk about it. We also have to be patient with government because government is not an individual who can take an abrupt decision. Decisions come slowly but surely. If we are patient and try to appreciate what government is doing, it will be good. I equally think that there is no situation where violence has ever solved a problem. You can express your annoyance but violence is not good. It is also important to stop and evaluate what has been done. You cannot strike without stopping to evaluate what has been achieved. When you begin a strike, you must stop it at a given time to evaluate. You cannot ask somebody to satisfy a grievance and you think you have to strike until that grievance is satisfied. We should know that the government is impersonal. It is an institution so you cannot punish yourself and say that you are punishing government. As far as I am concerned, we must have dialogue.   

  Every effort is gradually turning towards the reopening of schools in September. What is your take on this?

I am hopeful. If you are moving on a path and you fall in a hole when you are going up and you come back and fall in the same hole when you are going down then there should be something wrong with you. What has happened shows that we made a mistake somewhere in the approach. Anglophones had authentic problems but the method remains a subject of debate. If we say schools should not start in September then it will be going too far and it will affect us negatively. In 1992 we had ghost towns but are we now satisfied that we carried out things the way we did? We burnt our property, our roads and people died. We seem to be doing the same thing and if we continue, then there is a problem somewhere. So I think the declarations that our people are making with regards to the fact that it’s a blank school year are not true. It is not a blank school year. There is no new state as they declared. Our people have been wrapped in a cobweb. We have lost the noble objectives that the teachers and the lawyers went on strike for. The noble objectives of Anglophone lawyers and teachers were derailed. What is the problem at the moment? Some people say release those who are in prison, others say we want a new state called Ambazonia. If you give a new state it will not solve the problem and if you release the people in prison it still wouldn’t solve the problem. Anglophones are confused and I think it is time they sat down and evaluate the situation before deciding on what to do.   

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