Apah Itor Johnson….The Educationist

Apah Itor Johnson

Apah Itor Johnson is a Cameroonian Educationist with many years of experience in Secondary Education in the English Sub System. Beginning as a secondary school lecturer, he rose within the ranks to eventually become the Regional Delegate of Secondary Education in the Northwest Region with seat in Bamenda, the Northwest Regional Headquarters. The unique place that the Northwest Region holds in Secondary Education in Cameroon is the fact it is increasingly becoming the backbone of education in Cameroon in terms of quantity and quality.

 The number of secondary schools and Higher Institutions of learning (of the English Language Sub-system) in the Northwest Region far out numbers those that are found in any other Regions of the country. This is also reflected in the quantity and quality of results at the end of each academic year. This therefore permits us to better appreciate the responsibilities of a Regional Delegate of Secondary Education in the North West Region. Apah Itor Johnson caught public attention following the way he handled secondary education during the volatile period that the sector sailed through during the Anglophone crises which engulfed two academic years (2016-2017 and 2017-2018) with students going to school only partially.

This encounter with the seasoned educationist from the Southwest Region takes us into the heart of his craft during the heart of the Anglophone crises in Cameroon. The following encounter also took place during a meeting that brought together all the Principals of Secondary Schools in the Region which he had convened. 

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 You came into the Region when the English Educational Sub System was at a cross roads…

I was installed as Regional Delegate of Secondary Education for the North West Region on the 23^rd of August 2017.  It has certainly been a tortuous road towards school reopening.  If things have improved up to this stage, I must thank all stakeholders for the present state of things. At a certain point we realised that we were not supposed to have left everything in the hands of the teachers and the parents so we brought in the school administrators. We brought in everybody and that’s why we have not stopped concerted efforts with the parents and the students who are at the center of it all. This will involve confidence building because what happened is that confidence was completely destroyed and the parents and teachers developed mind sets which were different from what you expected them to be. We therefore have to do everything necessary to convince everyone concerned of the necessity to go to school.

Your school principals are also assembled today in what is considered a very important meeting. What are the main issues being discussed?

From time to time we need to bring them together for rehearsals but this rendezvous is more than just rehearsals. I have been here for four months during which I have realised that they cannot operate in ignorance. We felt that it was necessary that we gave them some training. We realised that it had come to a stage where we don’t need trials and that principals really needed to know what they were doing. This workshop will build them up and make them work confidently.

What has been done to make sure that schools reopen in the private sector?

We always involve all the sectors in meetings that we hold here. Every time that we come together we make sure that the private sector is present. We invite private education secretaries so that all decisions and actions that are carried out are enforced in both the public and private educational sectors. That is why I am always present every time incidents occur in the private sector. When there was a fire incident at the Sacred Heart College at Mankon in Bamenda I was there and when the same thing occurred at Presbyterian Secondary School Bafut, I was also there. The private sector has come to help the government whose responsibility is it to educate Cameroonians.

My orientation has always been to work with stakeholders in the sector to build secondary education and keep our children in class, guarantee quality education and protect the children from unnecessary distraction. We are aware that for this to be done, certain prerequisites or preconditions must be met with. That’s why we have not stopped working.

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The Community Developer….. Fongu Cletus

Mr. Fongu Cletus

Fongu Cletus, the Community Developer is at the head of the Bamenda III Municipality, an area of the Bamenda City Council still fraught with a lot of infrastructural challenges. The Bamenda III Municipality and its transforming face stand as testimony to the community development qualities of Fongu Cletus. The successful growth of a third world nation like Cameroon depends on the good management of Local Government Areas like Bamenda III. Cameroon People took out time to visit and appreciate the community development initiatives of Fongu Cletus as Mayor of Bamenda III Municipality.

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In order to meet up with the current water shortages and difficulties within the Bamenda III Municipality, the council in accordance with her partners have constructed a second Giant water Reservoir with a capacity of 200m3 (200,000Litres) added to the former with a production capacity of 80m3(80,000litres). This second storage tank will improve filtration, sustain network and reduce shortages. In addition, with the establishment of a basement plate, another pump will be mounted thus intensifying water production and curbing shortages in quarters with difficulties to access water due to their location altitude and height. 

Mayor Fongu Cletus and Mayor Njong Donatus of Kumbo during Sister Cities International Conference Colorado 2018

The area is well enforced security wise with a site office and a barrier wall
Get more Infors on our website www.bamenda3council.org/

Bamenda III Council offering help to Internally Displaced People

 

After these measures taken to beef up water supply in the municipality, modalities for water connection were put in place. The modalities put in place seriously facilitated the connection of water to households though these conditions applied only to piped Quarters. To get water connected all that is needed is a hand written application addressed to the Mayor and titled “Application for Water Connection” submitted in Room 26 of the council.
Secondly, communal stamps for FCFA 1000 should be put on the application
followed by a visit from an inspection team from the Water department. This visit is to carry out inspection for the materials needed according to the distance from the mainline.

Water Projects

After estimates are made and money paid in at the cashier’s desk, the
connection is done within 24 hours if the customer is ready to excavate.
Excavation is not done by the water team but by the customer.

The next community development initiative of Fongu Cletus is the partnership between the council and the Livestock and Fisheries Development Project North West Region. This partnership is described on the council’s facebook platform in the following manner:

“ The Bamenda III Council in partnership with the Livestock and Fisheries Development project North West Region(LIFIDEP),have carried out an educative and sensitization campaign aimed at providing financial assistance to farmers involved in livestock and fisheries. With an objective to contribute to increase rural income and living standard through increase productivity and production, LIFIDEP has launched microcredit loan scheme to enable livestock farmers to improve on their productivity.
This assistance will be timely and highly competitive and the criteria is a follows
• For small scale and resource limited farmers, the client must have received training and capacity building from LIFIDEP, and should equally operate an account with the selected Microfinance Institution.
• For medium and large farmers, clients must have been in business for at least 6 months, operate at a profit and have some inventory in stock and should equally operate an account with the selected MFI.( which is United savings and Agricultural Credit limited (USA-Credit Union Ltd) Bamenda and , Nsanimunwi Cooperative Credit Union Bafut)

Water Tank Being constructed in Bamenda III

 
• Have a clear simple business plan
• The president of the cooperative or the quarter head must be a “moral guarantor” for each client, vouching for his or her business acumen, character, integrity and commitment to honoring the terms of the contact.
• Age of beneficiaries range from 18 years to 75 years….”

Next, the Bamenda III Council under Fongu Cletus donated Material, Financial and Moral support to Internally Displaced persons IDPs from Momo Division (Batibo) and Manyu Division (Kendem) resident at Ma Camp David’s home at Mile III Nkwen, on June 21,2018. Some of the items included, Rice, Mattresses, Blankets, Salts, Oil, Cloths and a Cash Sum of 50000Frs to purchase cloths for the IDPs.

With these community development strides, other development stakeholders started developing interest in working in partnership with the Bamenda III Council. A case in point is the interest shown in the activities of the council by Jude Nforngang, proprietor of Telefree Digital Network Systems & Services. He states his interest in working in partnership with the council in the following manner:

“I have read your comments here and it appears all your troubles center around Fraud, Cost and Time. I will be very happy to provide a digital system to Bamenda III to automate the registration of birth right from the Martenity where delivery is done and the council can print out the birth certificate of the children automatically in a mater of a mouse click and fitting paper into a printer, print and hand over to the mayor to sign. This system is ready and you do not need to install any computers. Let me know if you need my help on this. You can contact me from company website http://www.mytelefree.com God bless as you take a new turn to be fraud free as I help you go digital.”

Earlier on in 2018 in a briefing with Fongu Cletus, the Lord Mayor had predicted a positive 2018. Taking a retrospective look at 2017 he said “I think 2017 was a very interesting year as far as the Bamenda III Council is concerned even though a number of challenges came up. A lot was done this year and we have been able to realise some road projects within the municipality and provide water to the population. We have equally been able to assist some areas in the provision of electricity and other social projects. We have equally built bridges, culverts, classrooms and provided assistance to people with special needs.

The Lord Mayor said these projects were realised thanks to the commitment of the municipal councilors, the population and stakeholders in the process of development. He said they would have loved to achieve more but due to the socio political crises affecting certain Regions of the country they could not do more. “These crises have affected us adversely and this is because the population during this period did not pay its taxes” he said.

Fongu Cletus has recently participated in Sister cities international conference the most recent being that which took place in Colorado, USA, 2018.

The Bamenda III Council now has a newly updated website where you can catch up with recent news, on projects, partners, and more. www.bamenda3council.org/.

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Royal Fathers: Fon Kevin Shomitang II of Bambalang

 

His Royal Highness, Fon Kevin Shomitang II of Bambalang comes from a Dynasty that has produced a series of High profiled Fons (Kings) but the most recent before him and very popular was his father Fon  Yakum-Ntaw, erstwhile Governor, Administrator and Fon of Bambalang. Bambalang is located in Ngoketunjia Division in the Northwest Region of Cameroon.

His Royal Highness was born on September 27, 1986 as a young prince and given the name Yakum Kevin. He lived part of his life in Garoua where his father was governor and when his dad went on retirement, he lived in the village where the young prince attended primary and secondary school and eventually high school in Bamenda. He attended Government Primary School and Government Secondary School in Bambalang. In Bamenda the prince attended Government Bilingual High School Ntamulung where he obtained the GCE A Levels in the A4 series in 2008. The future King went to the University of Buea and started a Bsc in Economics in that same year. After a year his father disappeared and he had to ascend the throne. He was presented to the people of Mbaw Yakum on the 18^th of September, 2009 as the new Fon of Bambalang. There after he returned to the University where he continued with studies and eventually had a Bsc in Economics in 2011. In an interview with His Royal Highness he disclosed that he had always loved to govern and little did he know that he was going to be given this huge task to govern a Kingdom. Within the palace as a young prince he used to gather his brothers and sisters always, to clean the palace and take care of the farms for their mother. At that young age he didn’t know what awaited him ahead.

Encounter with Fon Kevin Shomitang II of Bambalang….. 

Can His Highness throw some light on the history of the kingdom he rules? Just like other kingdoms with lengthy narratives on the history of its people, we would want to believe the people of Bambalang have a history that can be shared with other Cameroonians.

The people of Mbaw Yakum which is Bambalang originated from a thick forest which is three kilometers long and situated in the heart of the village. This forest is called Pa’ah Nuongh and it is believed the Mbaw Yakum people originated from there. In the middle of this forest is a mystical water body. If you go there purposefully to find it you will never see it. It is believed that it is from this water body that Mbaw Yakum people came. They were nine in number that’s why the Council of elders in Mbaw Yakum are referred to as the Big Nine. When they originated from this lake one of them had the peace plant on the forehead and a woman was among them and immediately the people recognised the one with the peace plant as the Fon and that was the first Fon in the history of Mbaw Yakum. In those days there were a lot of wars. The people were referred to as Mbaw Yakum but it was with the coming of the white man that you had the people of Mbalang referred to as Bambalang. As the clan grew, after sometime, about five other tribes joined them and Fon Yah Kum-Ntaw I was the one who succeeded to bring all these tribes under his rule.

As an auxiliary of the Administration, can you say there is a cordial relationship between the kingdom and the administrative authorities? What are those challenges that you have had in carrying out this important role of an auxiliary of the government?

As an auxiliary to the administration, there is a cordial relationship between the Kingdom and local administrators of Ngoketunja Division. I myself being an administrator, I understand my colleagues and work with them easily. My late father Fon Yakum-Ntaw was also a Governor and a seasoned administrator and laid the foundation at that time. It is impossible for us not to be working in harmony especially given the fact that my late father was a seasoned administrator at that time. In fact his father HRH Fon Mingo Ghogomu laid a very strong foundation with the administration. You may like to know that during the days of the Bafut-Ndop Council, Fon Mingo Ghogomu used to be the Paramount ruler of Ndop and even had a stipend which the Bafut-Ndop Council used to give him as the Paramount ruler. He laid that good foundation and my father Fon Yakum-Ntaw continued in the same vein. I have also continued to work in the same manner creating that cordial relationship with the Administration. It has however not all been a bed of roses. There are the inevitable misunderstandings but when they come up, we are always able to handle them. We may have problems like the Land Consultative Board. You have administrators who will come and will like to go to the field to plant pillars without the consent of the Fon. Also some administrators feel that they are supposed to be worshipped. It’s unfortunate because in school we are thought sociology and anthropology which gives us a background of all the sector components of the state. There is the Northern Region, the West Region, Centre Region etc. In other areas traditional rulers are controlled and insulted but in the Northwest it cannot work. If rulers are disrespected in the Northwest, it will be practically impossible to rule or control the people.

Bambalang is culturally very rich. What measures have been taken to make sure this culture is preserved? What are the high points in Bambalang’s annual cultural calendar?

About 86 years back HRH Fon Mingo Ghogomu, succeeded to organise a cultural manifestation to be done within one week. At the time it was spontaneous and could take place even ten times in a year. When they discovered that this cultural festival to appease the gods, the ancestors and some late monarchs was impacting upon the socio-economic activities of the Kingdom, they concerted with the secret societies to organise the event for 11 days. This measure put in place long ago was meant to preserve our rich culture and transfer it to the younger generations. It has been moving gradually beginning only with the village and then my late father Fon Yakum-Ntaw started bringing visitors from all over. He brought in traditional rulers from other regions. Lamidos came in to enjoy the festival with him when he was in the North. I came within the context of the cultural festival with modernization. Because of the presence of the Bambalang Lake I now created a manifestation on the shore like canoe race, swimming competitions, diving competitions and within the Palace Plaza you have a mini agric show to expose the agricultural produce of the village. Within the present dispensation with sociopolitical crises raging on I call on my subjects and Cameroonians to do everything possible to get and maintain peace. Peace is invaluable.

Interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante Lenjo

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