“The Anglophone Crises is fundamentally cultural” -Professor Paul Nkwi

Professor Paul Nkwi is a professor of Anthropology at the Catholic University of Cameroon in Bamenda and also former professor of Anthropology at the University of Yaounde.

 

Within the context of knowing Cameroon and its people better, how did the learned professor take those first steps?

Professor Paul Nkwi

I was born in Kom in a small village called Wombong in 1940. I grew up there and one of my early experience was the Ghost Town of 1958 which was declared by KNDP that is by Foncha and Ngom Jua, leading characters in the party who for one reason or the other called for a strike to disrupt the visit that was to be carried out by Endelley and that ghost town disrupted schools in present day Boyo and very few of us were fortunate to go to school then. Probably if I didn’t go to school then I would not be where I am today. Schools were suspended for quite some time although the First School Leaving Certificate Examinations were organised. I was lucky to be among the three pupils who passed the examinations in 1958.

Secondary Education and the infrastructure to provide such services were scarce at the time. How did you people go through secondary school?

Because of that disruption, Catholic School Njinikom became the meeting center for students destined for Saint Josephs College, Sasse and at that time, there were only two secondary schools in West Cameroon. These Schools were Saint Josephs College Sasse and the Cameroon Protestant College, CPC Bali. Thousands of students wrote the entrance exams and because of the disruptions I had to work the sixty Kilometers to Mankon to be able to sit for the qualifier exam to Saint Josephs College. Among those who could make it to Mankon on foot, 10 of us were eventually selected and from this only two finally made it to Saint Josephs College, Sasse. It took us three days to travel to Sasse. We travelled from Njinikom to Bamenda and then waited for Mamfe-go-down. On such days, vehicles only went down through Widikum to Mamfe. When you arrived Mamfe, you also had to wait for Kumba-go-down. This was because the roads were so narrow and for you to go against the direction of the day, the Divisional Officer had to authorise you. From Kumba we went down to Buea and from Buea if you were lucky then you could get a car for Sasse but if not you had to do it on foot.

Was there a university at the time in West Cameroon?

There was no University at the time in West Cameroon. I went to Saint Josephs College Sasse from 1958 to 1963 and we were the first batch of students in Sasse to learn three major European Languages. We studied English, French, Latin and Greek. So if you graduated with your West African School Certificate you would be expected to go and do the A levels before proceeding to the university. CCAST Bambili became the most obvious destination for most students but I ended up in a seminary in Nigeria where I did Philosophy. When we finished Philosophy we couldn’t continue so we were flown to Rome to continue theological studies. From 1967 to 1971 when I got a…..Licence in Theology I moved to the Catholic University of Fribourg in Switzerland where I spent six years studying Anthropology and ended up with a PhD.  

How satisfying has your teaching life been considering the fact that you have impacted a lot on the lives of Cameroonians in your long teaching career?

While doing my PhD I already had a teaching job that prepared me for my teaching career. After obtaining my PhD and with six months of teaching, I applied to come back home and work. When I came back, my real intention was to spend most of my time doing research but a friend of mine approached me when we met in Yaounde in 1973 even before I had left the university because I had won a German UNESCO prize and I flew to Yaounde to do the paper work. He urged me to come and join them that there was no Anglophone in the department of Sociology. I jumped on the idea and on the first of October 1976, I was recruited into the University of Yaounde which was the only University at the time. My area of specialization was Cultural Anthropology with emphases on applied domains for example: Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Development as well as Systemic Anthropology. My idea was how to use my accumulated knowledge to help my country in a number of domains. My thesis was actually based on Political Anthropology and it focused on the transformation of grass field political institutions as a tool for governance. My focus was to see the role played by chiefs in the process of independence given that the chiefs of Kom, Nso, Bali and Bafut were very active, participating in the negotiations for an inclusive form of government. How could I use Anthropolgy to help managers of civil society understand the Nitti gritty of culture which could be used in development programmes? In a sense, when I started teaching from 1976 until I retired, my focus was teaching Cultural Anthropology with emphases on applied domains.

Do you think the mastery of Cultural Anthropology can enhance good governance?

I have always said that Africa’s emergence from its underdevelopment requires an understanding of Africa’s Cultural values and norms. We cannot wake up one day and take development as if it were a copy card issue. My philosophy is what I call the African pragmatic Socialist. Those values that we have can be used for better governance. The British by introducing Indirect Rule recognized the value of Traditional Governance Institutions to move the development process forward. My job has been to help government to help those who are involved in the development of our local communities. Don’t begin any development initiative without understanding what the local culture is. Development that takes into consideration the cultural dimensions ensures its sustainability. In 1982 at the World Conference on Culture which took place in Mexico they arrived at the conclusion that for Africa or any country to move forward, the European model was not the answer. Studying and understanding African Culture, its values and norms should be the starting point.

How hopeful are you with regards to development in Africa?

Through the sixties and seventies and even up to the eighties, billions and billions of money was thrown into Africa to develop the continent and we didn’t make any fundamental breakthrough. The 1982 conference in Mexico simply sort to find out where we went wrong. Let me site an example. In the seventies, the Cameroon Government in an attempt to integrate the Pigmy in development projects elaborated a project which sort to build schools, clinics and encourage production of food crops. Well they thought that if we built schools all the people would come to school but nobody came there. This is because when the hunting season came parents came to the schools picked up their kids and they were gone. Nobody cared to understand the life style of the Baka Pigmies or the Bantus in the East and the project collapsed. We should have known that the best form for this people was to train ambulant teachers to travel with the pigmy colony.

Is the Anglophone Crises a cultural thing?

The Anglophone Crises is fundamentally cultural. Whether we like it or not, the British came here and built schools, fabricated syllabuses, taught us how to live and acquire knowledge. They gave us a life style which we have come to identify ourselves with. Nobody can take that from us. Look at the student revolt in the nineties when they tried to take the GCE from us. Simply saying look here my friend we have come decades. The GCE system which was organized in Cameroon, controlled by the University of London or University of Cambridge as the objective way of appreciating the intellectual capacity of a people isn’t something cooked over night that can easily be changed. The Nkar people had a language before the Nso people came and wiped out a culture and a language so much so that the Nkar people now speak the Nso language and even identify themselves as people from Nso but there is something that makes them unique and can’t be taken from them. The Anglophones are simply asserting that they were brought up in a manner that can’t be taken away from them.

Let’s talk about the award that you received recently at the hands of the Minister of Arts and Culture.

It came as a surprise. I received a phone call to come to Yaounde for an award. I think it’s an acknowledgement of my contribution to the building of a culture vision in Cameroon. Having taught for 40 years, there are hundreds of Cameroonians in the various services and ministries. Many of them are working in the Ministry of Culture and other ministries and I think it is simply in recognition of this that I received this award. The Bilingualism and the Multi-Cultural Commission does not solve the Anglophone problem. It is important that we see that Cameroon is made up of four diverse cultural groups.

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At ordination of Auxiliary Bishop of the Bamenda Arch Diocese:

Cameroons Bishops reaffirm allegiance to the representative of Saint Peter

Group Picture after Ordination with Prime Minister Philemon Yang, Governor Adolfe Lele LAfrique, , Minister Paul Atanga Nji and Bishops of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference.

 The Vice President of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference His Lordship Bishop George Nkuo of the Kumbo Diocese speaking on behalf of the Bishops of Cameroon has expressed immense gratitude of the Bishops of Cameroon to the Holy Father and also reaffirmed allegiance to the representative of Saint Peter. He was speaking on Saturday March 25, 2017 at the Big Mankon Metropolitan Cathedral during the ordination of Mgr. Michael Miabesue Bibi as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Bamenda Arch Diocese.

The Vice President of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference said Cameroon has been blessed with a young group of Bishops and went ahead to name the Bishops of Ebolowa, Bafoussam, Mbalmayo and Bamenda as Bishops who had been ordained in the last four months adding that four Bishops and an Arch Bishop in the last four months was an immense blessing to the Church in Cameroon. He went on to thank the Head of State President Paul Biya who was represented by the Prime Minister and Head of Government for always being present during the initiatives of the Church especially an event such as this one that marked the anointing of a successor of the Apostles.

Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi in his address to the mammoth crowd of Christians simply said, “This is the day that the Lord has made, we rejoice and we are glad”. He seized the occasion to thank God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for the gift of Priestley Vocation and for calling him to serve the people of God in the Arch Diocese of Bamenda as Auxiliary Bishop. Every vocation Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi said is a gift from God and no one takes this honour upon himself. “It is God who takes the initiative to call and a human being simply responds to that call” Mgr. Michael Miabesue Bibi said adding that every vocation is a call by God to serve in the Church.

The prelate said it was his wish to carry out his duties in a spirit of humility, collaboration, readiness to serve the laity, the religious, the clergy and all the Christians and people of goodwill in the Arch Diocese of Bamenda and beyond. The Holy Spirit he said used some human instruments to make this vocation a reality. For this reason, he thanked the Arch Bishop of Bamenda His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua, who immediately after the appointment of the former Auxiliary Bishop of Bamenda the Right Rev. Agapitus Nfon as Bishop of the newly created Diocese of Kumba on the 15^th of March 2016 wrote to the Holy Father requesting for another Auxiliary Bishop.

The new auxiliary Bishop of the Bamenda Arch Diocese further thanked the Holy Father Pope Francis, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, the Arch Bishops and Bishops of Cameroon, the priests, religious and laity for allowing themselves to be used by the holy trinity to make this gift to become a reality in his humble person.

The event proper saw the Bishop elect being questioned in the presence of the people with regards to his resolve to contribute in the building of the body of Christ. Mgr. Michael Bibi was equally questioned on the following issues among others:- His resolve to remain in unity with the body of Christ and guide the holy people of God- His resolve to be merciful and welcoming to the poor and to pray without ceasing for the Holy People. The ordination exercise continued with a chanted call in Latin to all the Saints to pray for the Church. This was followed by the laying of hands as God was beseeched to pour out the oil of mystical anointing. The Bishop subsequently received the ring symbolic of his being a bride of God and a sign of his fidelity among other things.  

Present at the occasion was the Secretary of the Apostolic Nuncio for Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea Ambrosini Cosmas, the Bishops of Cameroon, The Prime Minister and Head of Government Philemon Yang, The Governor of the Northwest Region Adolfe Lele L’Afrique, The Governor of the West Region Awah Fonka Azu, Minister in charge of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic Atanga Nji Paul, a host of invitees from Europe and South Africa.

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-Honorable Wallang Richard Eboa

Both the public and private sectors transform a country in to a giant.

 

Many would want to know how the Honorable Wallang Richard Eboa that we know today started out.

 

I am MP for Menchum South Constituency. I was born in Wum to John and Theresa Eboa. I attended my Primary School in Kumba and later on moved to Wum where I attended Government Technical College at the time. Later on I went to High School but after High School, I could not really continue with my formal education.  After this I decided to do Vocational Training which took me to Germany where I did a Columns on how to work on pillars inside the water and when I came back I decided to create my own company. Later on, I dashed back to Germany where I did Company Management and later on moved to Malaysia where I did Plantation Management specializing in Palms. Today I have my own Palm Plantation in Dibamba from where I later on moved to Wum where I have a Plantation. I am also into road construction contractor. In 2008 when I had my first medal recognizing my efforts towards development. I have so far received four awards amongst which is the Commander of the Knights of National Order of Valour.

 

Why this switch to Agriculture?

You know Agriculture is the life wire of this nation and I have never put it in my mind that I want to work in the government. In a country where you have a good private sector you must work in synergy with the government. If you look at the world today, it is not those working with the government who make things happen. It is the private sector that make things happen. I have travelled to many countries and this has widened my scope and makes me to know how the world looks like. There is this need to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship among our young ones but I don’t know why in Cameroon today everybody wants to work with the government. The government cannot absorb everybody.

 

How do you think your upsurge can be an inspiration to the younger ones who are not interested in entrepreneurship?

 

The government should encourage them much more. You know when you open a door before somebody can get into the room to clean it. The government should create such avenues that will push the young ones into entrepreneurship. The government could for example open a bank where they can give loans. They could also create a decentralized set up where they go to the various Divisions and identify children who have raw talents and accompany them. Later on about ten years on, we will not be talking about people looking up to the government. Everywhere in our country we have vast land but everybody wants to come to the city. The government should also subsidize initiatives like poultry to help young Cameroonians to overcome the problems sometimes involved in such an activity. It is both the public sector and the private sector that makes the country to become a giant. In Cameroon for instance, everybody wants to work in the Public Sector In life there is the past, the present and the future but the most difficult one is the present. One thing that I admire about our President is the fact that he looks very far but the main problem is the entourage. If you meet the President, you will be surprised that it is such a person that the people are talking so negatively about.

We cannot be talking about emergence when people are not development oriented. Development oriented communities are those where people are doing their things without thinking about the government. Such communities grow fast. You see when you think so much about the government you forget your own self.

 

Is it the love for your community that pushed you into politics?

 

When I came into full business I was doing benevolent acts and the people saw in me somebody who could be their leader. They wrote a letter to me, to the Head of State and to the Central Committee. When the letter came to me it looked like an appeal and I told them that what I was doing was community work and that I was simply a public servant. .  I was simply a Community Instructor who needed no post. But you know people’s voice is always Gods voice and should be heeded to. At the time, I was not serving in any political Party and I said if I had to do what these people wanted I had to get into politics. In 2007 when I registered, my card did not even come but I was so surprised that the people voted for me. Anything that you do in life people see, so in the community that you live always do your best. It is these people with whom you live that you will need when you are going up or going down. That’s how I find myself here and that’s why when I have the least I always pay my tithes back to my opportunity. I don’t need to tell you but you should go back and see it for yourself. I must always be there to see that my people are having their share of the National Cake.

 

There is a seeming lack of direction among the youths. What message do you have for them?

 

What I will tell them is that there is this issue of patience. They should know that there is no home where there is no problem.  None of us have ever been to Heaven but even there God fell out with Lucifer and threw him out. That’s the Satan that’s troubling the world today. Temptation is everywhere and if you allow your heart to be penetrated by Satan, you are a finished person. Youth should be hard working. This country has problems and if the President can say we have problems who can say we don’t have problems. The problems have taught us that we must do something to make something. Most of the people who are controlling the world today are from Ghetto homes. Young people should know that they have their place waiting for them and they should remember that no one can take their country away from them.

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Honorable Enwe Francis ‘There is an Anglophone problem but Communities should stay calm and avoid violence.’

Permit us to ask that you re-introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born some 46 years ago at Befang in the Widikum Sub-Division, Momo in the Northwest Region. I attended my primary school in Mankon where I lived for a couple of years. I went to Secondary school at GHS Batibo and went to high school at GBHS Mbengwi from where I graduated in 1992 with my Advanced level.

Honorable Enwe Francis

 From there I proceeded home and started practicing with the Church where I was finally ordained as Pastor in the New Apostolic Church where I worked from 1993 to 2000.

 When did the switch in your life come about?

 I decided to relocate to South Africa for greener pastures. I got to South Africa in January 2000. A couple months later I was privileged to have a good job with a company and from there I decided to proceed with my own education.  From my first company I was taken by another company for a better salary. In 2003 I created my own company and in 2007 I already had about 21 workers. I was doing capacity building and performance improvement in the Ministries. I actually worked with the governments of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Malawi.

 How was this company called and how enabling is the business environment in South Africa?

New Era Coaching, Africa was the name of the company and the South African Business Environment was quite good. We noticed that the government of South Africa had budgeted a lot to empower its citizens considering the setbacks that they had because of the apartheid regime. As a result, quite a lot now was put in training and even those that were working with government needed training. The environment in South Africa was very enabling. When I set up the company, it was doubted if I could really make it but it went on so well for someone doing business in a foreign country. I think it was because of the quality of services that I offered. Those that attended my seminars went back as good references. 

 

What brought you back to the country and what pushed the community into placing so much confidence in you?

I was at the peak of good business in South Africa when I left but something touched me by the end of February 2006. I had this urge to go back home. I was with my whole family and kids going to school in South Africa.  I tried coming home with businesses so that I could settle in Cameroon and it never worked. But something told me to look at Politics. My area is so cut off, and had never had a Parliamentarian.  And the whole area was full of opposition parties so I decided to get back home. I came in early 2007 to talk to the political leaders of my area of the ruling CPDM. We talked on how we could improve upon the performance of the party in the area which was 70% SDF at the time. They said it was risky considering the SDF dominance at the time. So I said if they backed my candidature I would handle the situation and they accepted. That’s how I got in and in July 2007 I won the elections. My mind became divided. Was I to remain in South Africa with my family or stay in Cameroon and work as a Parliamentarian?  I eventually chose to stay back home and serve my people as a Parliamentarian.

How changed can you say the area is at the moment since you came back home and took your place as a Parliamentarian?

Lots of changes have taken place today and I would say that’s what really comforts me.  Let me start with education which was my main pre-occupation. When I came in, Widikum had only three colleges for 42 villages with about close to 50 primary schools. After touring the constituency I had to put up centers where 5 to 6 villages could have a secondary school and I created a series of secondary schools in the area.  Now Widikum is proud of not less than 12 secondary schools and high schools are already there now. The number of children who go to school has risen and all those earlier problems of early pregnancies and marriage have stopped and everybody is now concentrating on the education of their children.  When I came to Widikum I knew only of three people in uniform in the military but I encouraged many able bodied young men who were either in the bike riding business or idle to join the military and even helped many in the process. Today about 50 young men are in the military from my area. It’s the same in Ngi and Njikwa Sub Divisions and I tried hard to promote an elite class in the area by chipping in a word here and there on their behalf especially for those who were already in the civil service. Today you have a reasonable number of Secondary school principals among others who have been appointed from the area. That’s how we have tried to build the human resources of our various Sub Divisions. Many have been appointed as Delegates and I think as a man between the government and the people, I  have worked hard to see how I can sustain a solid base of human resource in our Sub Divisions Widikum, Ngi and Njikwa which is one of the largest in this country with 72 far off villages. I have to visit these villages and most of my journeys are on foot moving across forests and dangerous rivers to get to some villages. But I am proud to say if you go to Widikum now you will agree with me that no Sub Division is receiving the kind of attention that Widikum is getting now. Quite a lot is being done because of my contacts in Yaounde. The pace of electrification is alarming and as I speak 5 villages are being electrified back home. I do a lot of follow up to make sure my projects are in the budget. 

I think you have a message for your constituency, its traditional leaders, elites and Cameroonians at large.

For the youths, many of them know what I used to do before I left for South Africa. I had a garden and I used to sell local Palm wine that I transported every morning over a distance of about 5 kilometers to sell. I used to trade even with smugglers to Nigeria to carry cargo and when we trekked three days to Nigeria and three days back, we got 15000 FCFA. They knew me for selling even loin clothes carrying them on my head to some villages to sell them to women. I have done a lot of things including getting married early. I married at 24 to an 18 year old girl chosen for me by my parents and I think that’s the best gift my parents gave to me. I have five kids with my wife.  I call on youths therefore to be hard working. For the Community especially with the ongoing Anglophone problem, I call on them to be calm and to avoid anything that deals with violence. There must be a solution and every problem must have a solution and I think. Government is working towards that. I have been part of the negotiations too and most of the negotiations that I have been doing have been personal not assigned by anybody.

  

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HRM Fon Ndofoa Zofoa III of Babungo

Babungo since the 12^th Century is seen in its 3000 carvings and artifacts. 

His Majesty has declared that most rulers of this Kingdom have always stayed for long on the throne. The Babungo Kingdom he said was founded around the 12^th Century. 

Fon Ndofoa Zofoa with the Turkish Ambassador recently during the Nikai Cultural Festival in Babungo

The name Ndop is a Babungo name and the people always called those who came to Babungo Ndo meaning stranger and it is from there that the whites called it Ndop adding a letter P to the original name the Fon explained adding that Babungo has maintained its culture for centuries and that if you look round the palace you will see over 3000 carvings or artifacts reasons being that all the rulers who came to the throne left their inspirations through craft work or woodwork. The history of Babungo since the 12^th Century he explained is seen in its 3000 carvings or artifacts.

 

Is the Babungo person a much more settled person or a nomad like the Tikars?

 The Babungo people were nomads and migrated from the Tikars and came here to a place in Babungo called Fogai their god that was there gave them a sheep and they were supposed to settle where ever this sheep died. This sheep came and died here in this plain in Babungo where the first palace was located and that’s where it was buried. The day the sheep was buried has always been considered as the Contry Sunday; a traditional day kept aside for the worship of the gods and respect for tradition which corresponds to the Christian Sunday. Since then we have not been moving from place to place and Babungo has been a blessed land. The shrine of the sheep is still here and Babungo remains a blessed land because since the departure of the Germans we don’t go on inter tribal wars.

 

You just rounded up one of the most colourful Cultural Festivals this year.  What were the peak moments of this festival?  

 

The Cultural Festival takes about one week and a half during which they beat the drum of the cultural festival. The first week fell this year on the 11^th of March the day on which the Fon comes out in a masquerade and the last day on which the Fon comes out normally and dances with the people and sharing seeds to farmers. The raison d’être of the Nikai Cultural Festival is abundant harvest and the blessings of the blessings of the gods.   In some villages when it’s time to prepare for planting winds and other natural forces like winds disturb. . That’s why we always consult our gods for abundant harvest. We all know that Babungo is a chain of mountains and we are in the valley and those mountains are occupied by grazers so their cattle deposit dung which comes down the hill making the valleys very fertile.  Through the cultural festival we don’t only ask for abundant harvest but also for peace in the Fondom and in the whole nation. That’s why you find visitors coming in like the Turkish Ambassador coming in. He stayed in the Palace though I rented a place for him in the hotel he preferred to pass the night at the Palace refusing the best suites in hotels so as to receive the blessings of the Palace.

 

What is this special thing about the Babungo Kingdom?

It is the peaceful nature of the people and its leadership. Unlike other Kingdoms in the area with constant problems and continuous change of leadership and in violent manners, Babungo is peaceful and has its method of going about with its own things. Everybody is fallible and if the Fon goes wrong the Ngumba meets and places a fine on him, looks for a lasting solution and the village moves on.

Can His Majesty throw light on how far Babungo has gone developmentally?

 

Since I came to this throne in 1999, I can hit my chest that many things have gone positive in this land. I don’t want to name bridges and when I came to the throne there was no college and most of the students were going to nearby villages like Bamunka, Bamenda and elsewhere to go and school since there was only one private college that was not up to standard. I have been able to have a Government Secondary School and a Government Technical School and about 9 Government primary schools. When I came we had just a Government Health Center but now we have a Catholic and a Baptist Health Center a Mental Health Care Center. The village is now linked with many bridges and we even proud of street lights being paid by the council. We have many things that are going positive, even the look of the Palace. We now have a museum that was partially sponsored by the US Embassy and the Italian Government. There is the Ambassador of the Netherlands and the Government that equally invested here. Now there is a Babungo Community Radio by UNESCO and a Modern Palace now, a huge edifice under construction right in front of you. We equally have our elites that are excelling in the various ministerial posts and in other areas of life. We equally have a catalogue putting together the Babungo History so I think many things have been going positively.

 

What message do you have for the Government?

 

When His Excellency Philemon Yang came to the helm of the Government, he was talking of inertia and it is still the same inertia that is plunging us into serious mess in this country.  Because when people are complaining about something they will not react but will wait until things get to the worse before they start looking for solutions.  So if I have a word for the government I will say they should always listen to the people and anticipate before the situation degenerates into the uncontrollable.  

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