“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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Biya’s Regime only reacts and doesn’t anticipate problems

-Hon. Chief Paul Nji Tumasang

Hon Chief Paul Nji Tumasang is Member of Parliament at the National Assembly for Mezam South, Santa Special Constituency. Speaking during the National Executive Committee Meeting of the Social Democratic Front that took place in Bamenda on Saturday May 27, the outspoken MP said among other things the Biya Regime only reacts and doesn’t anticipate problems. Pointing at the problems presently plaguing Cameroon, he said for more than fifty years of Independence problems which have always starred at us in the face are suddenly resurfacing and taking the regime by surprise. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante.

Excerpts  

The just ended National Executive Convention of the SDF is seen to be very strategic since it is considered by many as the end of an era. What were its highlights?

The journalist may say that it is the end of an era but it is just a continuation of what the Social Democratic Front stands for and what we have been working on for a long time. During the last Convention we postponed the Elective Convention just to better organise things on the ground. Talking about the crises that have been plaguing the country, we insist in our support of the legitimate demands of the teachers and lawyers. We are amazed by the non-challant attitude of the Government so far. Cameroonians in the Northwest and Southwest Regions have stuck to the requests of these Trade Unions and the SDF has simply continued to do what it has always done. There is nothing new in all of that. We are blaming the government for letting a situation that could have been easily handled in the first place to go out of hand. We are also preparing for the eventuality of any elections. You know with the Biya regime, things can be announced at anytime to surprise us. The Chairman as such called for us to go back into the field and get our structures organised at the level of the base in view of the elections. 

We understand that elective exercises were already carried out in seven Regions except in some three problem areas; the South, Centre and Adamawa. How did the National Executive Meeting seek to redress this?  

NEC approved the report of the South and Adamawa Regions and encouraged them to continue working in the right direction so as to complete their work by putting in place the Regional Executive. In the Center Region there was a problem of collaboration between the out-going Executive and the NEC team that was sent in to work with them in order to re-organise the structures. Our Constitution makes room for a solution of such a problem by what we call 18.8. which states that if a certain structure is being disturbed from functioning normally, the regional team will be suspended and a NEC team will be sent in to coordinate the activities until such a time that the problem is resolved. That is the resolution that was taken as far as the Centre Region was concerned. The outgoing executive was suspended according to the provisions of article 18.8. Before the Elective Convention in October, the NEC team would have finished its work.

How hopeful are you with regards to the mellifluous continuity of the party against a backdrop of general feelings that there is no preparation for transition?

 

We have always been grooming the younger ones within the party and encouraging them to work hard and take over. I am surprised that any one should think that there is no preparation for continuity. Look at the National Executive Committee and you will see that a cross Section of them is made up of young people. A good number of the Mayors and Parliamentarians are young people. The idea of not grooming young people is really not a problem in the Social Democratic Front. When you go into the field you will see that most of them are taking up positions in the party from the wards up to the level of the Regions. Our advice now is for people to go into the field and prepare for elections at the various levels; the National Executive, at the level of the Municipals and the Parliament.

As a person with a National image considering your presence in Parliament what message do you have for Cameroonians?  

  

I call on SDF Militants and Cameroonians in general to join us in this fight against a regime in place that has run short of ideas on how to run the country. They are bankrupt of ideas on the way forward for the solution to the problems of the country. To participate in the political life of the country SDF militants and Cameroonians in general simply have to register massively and vote when the time comes so that we can increase our representation and why not a majority in Parliament. Our orientation as Social Democrats is putting the people first. The problems of the people include the present Anglophone Crises, the lawyers and teachers problems, and infrastructural problems that we have all over the country, general poverty among many other problems plaguing the people. 

What was your political vision when you decided to step into politics?

What generally inspired me was the fact that Cameroonians were being misused by the regime. The basic necessities of life were not being given to the Cameroonian people. Problems like the lack of roads, no assistance to farmers, very epileptic water and electricity supply, very expensive telecommunication services, security of Cameroonians especially the young ones have been completely ignored. The people as such have been left without a sense of direction to the extent that the government has actually turned a blind eye to the barbaric activities of sects like Boko Haram. When I looked at the political landscape I felt that SDF was the best platform for these problems to be solved and in good time. After 21 years of decentralization in Cameroon nothing has happened. Biya’s regime reacts to and doesn’t anticipate problems. After more than 50 years of independence, problems are coming up despite the fact that these problems were staring at them in the face all the time. When we told them in Parliament that the law on terrorism could turn everybody into a terrorist they went ahead and passed it and now they are using it to stifle political discussions in the country. We have been so abused that radicalism is stepping in and we’ve got to step in and de-radicalise the situation. Let us focus on building the State in a way that everybody will belong. We should build a Cameroon in which everybody belongs. 

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Nakuve Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley; the Political, Legal and Cultural luminary.

His Royal Highness Nakuve Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley, the Paramount Chief of Buea was born on June 9, 1923 to Chief Mathias Lifafa Endeley and Maria Mojoko Endeley.

As a young boy Moka Endeley studied at the German Basel Mission Vernacular Kindergarten School at Soppo Wongaga and obtained the Statutory First school Living certificate with distinction in 1939. This permitted him to gain admission into the Government College at Umuahia in Eastern Nigeria and the School of pharmacy in Lagos from where he obtained the Pharmaceutical Chemist Diploma in Forensic pharmacy.

Doctor Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley Later enrolled to read law and eventually graduated with a Law Degree in 1959 in London. He returned to Cameroon in 1960 and worked in the Court of West Cameroon. He was later appointed judge of same in 1966.

An aspect of his personality that many still refer to as controversial was the declaration on several occasions that he was not an Anglophone, but simply a Cameroonian. Opinions from those close to him hold that the Pharmacist and Chief Judge saw things from the vantage point as he was immersed in all local customs, culture and expressions as was the tradition in his family. He defended Cameroon energetically in the case over the Bakassi conflict with Nigeria at the International Court of Justice at The Hague in The Netherlands.

He succeeded his Uncle Mbella Endeley as the Paramount Chief of Buea in 1982. From then, Samuel Moka Lifafa Endeley played a stabilizing role on the Sociopolitical landscape of Cameroon. He got married to the late Gladys silo Endeley who passed-on in 2010. They had five sons and a daughter.

  Things here and there

In 1940, SML Endeley passed the competitive entrance into the Government College Umuahia in Eastern Nigeria. During the Second World War, the college was closed down and converted into an internment camp for German war prisoners. As a result, the students were transferred to Hope Waddel Training Institute in Calabar. SML Endeley left Hope Waddell at age 22 after obtaining the Cambridge School Certificate.

In 1946 SML Endeley passed the highly competitive examinations into the prestigious Nigeria School of Pharmacy in Yaba, Lagos, where he obtained a Pharmaceutical Chemist and Druggist Diploma with a distinction in Forensic Pharmacy.

From 1950 to 1957, he worked as a government pharmacist in Lagos and Port Harcourt in Nigeria, and Tiko, Bota, Victoria(both now in the Limbe City Council Area) and Kumba all in the former Southern Cameroons which now constitute the Southwest and Northwest Regions of the Republic of Cameroon.

In 1953 SML Endeley married Gladys Silo Steane, an Accounts Clerk with the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC).


Against the tumultuous backdrop and the soci-political effervescence of the late 1950s in Southern Cameroons,Sam Endeley soon lost his passion for pharmacy and turned his attention to law, a profession through which he believed he would contribute more to the development of Southern Cameroons.

In 1956 he was admitted into the University of Leeds where he obtained a diploma in Sociology. In 1957 he sought and gained admission into the Middle Temple Inn of Court where he read law at the Inns of Court School of Law in London. In 1959, he passed the final examination for the Barrister-at-law degree and was called to the English Bar in January 1960. He returned to Cameroon in April of that same year when he got called to the Nigerian Bar.

Between 1960 and 1966 he ran his bustling and lucrative private practice, Lifafa Chambers, located around the Buea town market. This was a period when Nigerian lawyers dominated the legal field in the Southern Cameroons but Samuel Endeley rose and stayed at the top.

 

Young Sam Endeley with Lawyers Fred Eko and Koffi Mensah, the first generation of British-trained Southern Cameroons lawyers. Picture courtesy of Cameroon Census forum/Henry Monono.

During this period, Samuel Endeley became involved in the major contemporal social and political issues. In the 1950s and 60s, he was instrumental in setting up the Bakweri Co-operative Union of Farmers (BCUF) and the Bakweri Land Committee (BLC) which sought to reclaim Bakweri ancestral lands wrested by the Germans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a major role player in the plebiscite campaign leading up to the unification of the British and French Cameroons, and was even selected to address the UN Trusteeship Council in 1961. He was also part of the Southern Cameroons delegation to the Foumban constitutional conference of that same year.

 Arriving at the Foumban conference. From left to right, PM Kemcha, SML Endeley and legnedary photographer, E. Mbwaye. Southern Cameroons archives.

He later became a prominent member of both the CNU ;Cameroon National Union and the CPDM;Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.
In 1966, SML Endeley turned his back on private practice and turned to the bench and it turned out to be a lengthy and luminous legal career.

In 1966 he was appointed Judge of the High Court of West Cameroon and President of the West Cameroon Bench of the Federal Court of Justice.

In 1968, he became an Appeals Judge of the Full Bench of the Federal Court of Justice Yaoundé, and a year later, he was appointed member of the Higher Judicial Council.
In 1970, he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of West Cameroon.

When the Cameroon Federation was dissolved in 1972, SML Endeley moved to Yaounde where and became Vice President of the Supreme Court of the United Republic of Cameroon. In 1973 he was appointed President of the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court and later returned to Buea as President of the South-West Court of Appeal.

 Justice Endeley with J.C Ngoh (Federal Inspector of Administration for West Cameroon,) and Mr Ngwa, SDO Fako Division. Source: Cameroon Census forum/Gervase Ndoko.
Throughout his legal career, SML Endeley was a member of every law harmonisation and law revision commission set up by the government of the United Republic of Cameroon ;a clear indication of how his legal opinions were valued by the state. He was also a Member of the Cameroon-Nigeria Joint Border Commission and was also a member of the Cameroonian legal team in the land and maritime border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria which culminated in the award of the Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroon by the International Court of Justice-ICJ.  Between 1982 and 1990, SML Endeley served as Board Chairman of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC).

Justice SML Endeley was as crowned Paramount Chief of Buea in 1990 in succession of his uncle Gervacius Mbella Endeley who reigned as District Head and Chief of Buea from 1925 to 1982.