His Royal Highness Senator Kumbongsi

-His Trajectory  from Childhood in Mfe to the Senate.

-His Efforts to Stem the Brewing Conflict Between Fulanis and Indigenous People in Donga Mantung!

- His Tributes to Late Honourable Mbah Ndam

His Royal Highness Senator Kumbongsi was born in Mfe village in Yamba in what is presently referred to as the Nwa Subdivision then located in Nkambe East in the Nkambe Division now Donga Mantung Division. He went to Primary School in Mfe, Gom and Luz and attended Secondary School in the Cameroon Protestant College, CPC Bali. He was later employed by the West Cameroon Government in Buea in the Lands and Surveys Department. His Royal Highness begins this interview by delving into one of his earliest working experiences with the Cameroon Development Corporation CDC.

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"After working in Buea for the Lands and Surveys Department, I was employed by the Cameroon Development Corporation CDC. I worked there for a few months and they sent me to the Cameroon College of Arts Science and Technology CCAST Bambili in the School of Agriculture. When I came back to the CDC, I worked there for some time and was lucky to benefit from a Dutch Technical Assistance Scholarship to go to Holland to the Tropical School of Agriculture where I did Tropical and Sub Tropical Agriculture. I graduated there with a First Degree in Agronomy. From Holland, I proceeded to Canada where I took a degree at Magill University in Montreal and I did my Masters in Plant Breeding. This was followed by a PhD in Agricultural Entomology. Thereafter, I worked for the Canadian Provincial Government in Agriculture working with farmers. Afterwards I had a job with the Canadian Federal Department of Forestry. After a couple of years on this job I went private. 

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How did your Practice in the Private Sector unfold?

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In the private sector, I was growing Forestry Seedlings for the Forest industry producing basically Forest Tree Seedlings at a specified height and a specified Root Collar Diameter. Logging Companies that fell trees by Law were obligated to replace two times more in this way ensuring that there would be enough trees for future generations. During that periode in the Private Sector, I was hired by the New York Department of Parks and Recreation where I worked for about five years as a Managing Director of the Greenhouse. When I returned to Canada from the USA, I became a consultant in the industry.

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Tell us something about your family, your Dad for instance.

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My Father was a member of the former House of Chiefs in Buea. Following his demise in 2011, he designated me as his successor. When I returned to Cameroon in 2012, all the King Makers and notables put me as the designated successor to my father. 

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So how did you  get elected into the Upper House or the Senate?

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Yes at the same time, the Social Democratic Front Party SDF asked me if I could run on the party's ticket for the Senate. I had supported the party when I was out of the country. I accepted the offer, participated in the elections and was elected. That was in 2018 and I have occupied that position till now. 

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How do you think your training, work experience and exposure can be put to use in Cameroon?

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My training and work experience abroad has given me an exposure that we can use in this country. Our Forests for example are being cut down and there is no systematic system of replanting including the undergrowth which provides shelter and feed for animals. So in the long run if we don't replace the vegetation, we are going to lose the fauna as the animals may migrate to other places.I think that now that I am at home, I can suggest to the authorities what we can do to replace what is being cut down including the undergrowth. That way we can secure for future generations what we have now. 

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While in the Senate you certainly have occupied some key assigned roles. 

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Yes at the Senate I am a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. We consider the bills sent to us from the Lower House that have to do with foreign issues. We are in a position to scrutinize those laws before they are given Presidential approval to become Law. I also feel that I can be a member of another Commission which is that of Production and Trade because that will involve aspects of Forestry and Agriculture both domains in which i have lots of experience. I am working on that with the Secretary General of the Senate. 

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 You certainly have a good grasp of the restlessness that has been taking place in parts of Donga Mantung recently?

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One thing that really worries me is that the Fulani "Ardo" resident in Mfe in the Nwa Subdivision  has gone to Nigeria and recruited Fulanis from there, armed them and these people have been terrorising our people to the extent that some very innocent people have been killed. They have engaged themselves in stealing property such as cattle, goats, sheep, fowls and burning down Grain Storage Facilities and whole houses to the extent that a lot of people have ran out of the village. This doesn't only end in my Subdivision. If you go to the Ako and Misaje area, you have a similar phenomenon where Fulanis have turned against the people. They have been used by the Forces of Law and Order to point out the "Amba Boys" as the Separatist Fighters are locally referred to. Unfortunately they've not done only that but have used the opportunity to also point out their rivals as far as Cattle Farming Business is concerned. Their long term plan is to rid the place of the natives and convert it into Grazing Land. I take exception to that. A lot of people who were born and raised there have run away and are now in other towns. They will want to come back one day and when they do, its not going to be pretty because they will not be happy that strangers have come and taken over their land. This situation is creating a very fertile ground for future conflicts.

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What is the root cause of the problem and what has so far been done by you as Senator from the area?

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I am doing all I can to communicate with the fulanis, firstly those in Nwa Subdivision and to tell them that what they are doing is not right and that they cannot be part of a community and at the same time teaming up with the Forces of Law and Order to exact brutality on the indigenous people. 

The father of the "Ardo" that I mentioned earlier was "Ardo" Nyana. When he was Ardo, he was caught with arms in his residence, arrested and taken to Bafoussam, the Military Headquarters of the area and from there he was released under circumstances that we don't understand. Now his son to whom he handed over as "Ardo" (meaning ruler) has gone to Nigeria, brought in Fulanis, armed them and they are terrorising the villagers. That is unacceptable. If the military come into the village they should go after the "amba boys" and should not rely on the fulanis who unfairly point at innocent citizens who are competitors with them on the grazing lands. Some of these natives have cows and their cows have all been stolen. These cows have been taken to Nigeria and sold and the money used in buying arms which are in turn used to brutalise the same villagers.

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Apart from trying to disuade the fulanis from their heinous activities what else has been done?

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I complained to the Seniour Divisional Officer in Nkambe. I wrote to him and copied the Governor of the Northwest Region in Bamenda and the Minister of Territorial Administration in Yaounde. I also copied the Gendarmerie Brigade Commanders in the Five Subdivisions: Nwa, Ndu, Nkambe, Ako and Misaje. I equally copied the Police Commissioner of the Special Branch in the Five Subdivisions telling them exactly what the Fulanis were doing and entreating them to do something. Up to this moment that I am talking to you I have had no feed back from anyone of them. I didn't end there. Since I am temporarily settled in Yaounde, I booked for an interview with the Head of the Military Security and he directed me to see the person who reports directly to the Minister of Defense. I met this gentleman who reports directly to Joseph Beti Assomo(the Minister of Defense) and explained what the Fulanis were doing back in my area. He looked at me and told me to go there. I wondered how my going there would solve the problem. I told him I couldn't go there because of the violence and insecurity. Then he asked me to write another letter copying the same people who had already received letters from me. I told him all these people had already been notified and that there was no reason to do so again. Though I temporarily live in Yaounde, I have my informants on the ground who provide me with information about all the happenings in the area. The Fulanis involved in these atrocities are the same ones who had problems with the Mambila People in Nigeria and the Mambila People defeated them. The Ardo now openly moves around visibly armed. 

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Recently Honourable Mbah Ndam passed on. He was the Head of the SDF Parliamentary group for many years and Vice President of the House. How would you like people to remember him?

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Honourable Mbah Ndam was a staunch member of the SDF Party. He was the Legal Adviser of the National Chairman and the Party and to the best of my knowledge he did a lot to calm the waters as far as the Anglophone Crisis is concerned. He went to his constituency and emphasised on the fact that the SDF as a Party was for Federalism in Cameroon and not secession and died without wavering from that stance. I remember Honourable Mbah Ndam as somebody who was consistent in what he believed in. He was consistent in emphasising on what had to be done to bring peace to this country. It's unfortunate that he died so early. Even though he lost his seat in parliament during the recent elections,  his wealth of experience would have still been very useful. He had lots of experience on the workings in Parliament and on how things are done in Yaounde. 

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Don't you think the SDF as a party is shifting to the next era of its existence with many possible changes in the offing?

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I do know that SDF lost a lot of steam in the last elections. Due to the peculiar circumstances, it lost more seats and now has fewer seats than before. As Senator and a member of NEC there are certain principles by which any Political Organisation operates. In August 2019 we had a NEC Meeting in Douala during which it was decided that SDF would not participate in the elections if the problem of the Anglophone Crisis was not solved. In the other NEC Meeting that we had in December 2019 in Yaounde we maintained that the Party was not going to participate in the elections if the Anglophone Crisis was not settled. Many of us were taken aback when we were informed that the National Chairman had decided that we should participate in the elections. As it turned out, we went in for the elections and the results were obvious. We have lost more Parliamentarians than we had before and the second position that our party formerly occupied has been taken over by Professor Maurice Kamto's Cameroon Renaissance Movement. I don't know how we are going to recover from that but I want to state that given a free and fair election,  the situation wouldn't have been the same.

Interviewed in Yaounde by Francis Ekongang Nzante