The King is a pivot and not the highest authority in the land. -King of Mbatu

The King of Mbatu His Royal Majesty King Muma III was born as Teku Simon but when he was crowned, he was given his Royal name. Born some 46 years ago and enthroned on the 8^th of March 1989 the King is about 29 years on the throne at the moment. He was interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante of EDEV News and Nchong Chrisantus of The Horizon Newspaper.

Excerpts

Ethnically,who are the people of Mbattu?

Without going into the details, we are the Widikums. We settled somewhere in Widikum before the coming of Zingtgraff. However because we needed to be economically more empowered, we moved out of Widikum and found ourselves in so many parts of the country before settling here. At a certain point we were at Mile 89 on Bali Road. We went to Babadjou, then left and went to Awing and came back. We eventually went to Akum and came back and settled where we are presently. The real base of Mbatu has been Mankon because we actually settled at Laambetu before leaving to settle here.

How has His Highness been maintaining the originality of Mbatu culture despite the persistent encroachment of western culture?

I can remember those excerpts of our beautiful culture when I took over the throne in 1989. Unfortunately, the whole thing seems to erode away as time moves on. Everything has been westernised. When we send our children out there, they don’t come back and some don’t even remember their roots. It is not only about Westernization but it is also about Religion. The Church is continuously draining away our culture. We have been trying to keep it alive through our cultural manifestations so that the bit that we have remaining should be preserved. Firstly, the structure of the Palace and Fondom. Those who are still attached to their culture and the way they behave. Do they still make use of their dialect to show that they come from a particular area? What kind of food do we eat? Do we still pound our Achu the way our old mothers used to do it? Do we still prepare Nangtare the way our people in Momo would do it? Are we attached to these things? These are the key questions. Culturally is the Fon supposed to drive himself and is he supposed to move out of his Palace?

What are those peak moments in your calender of activities that permit culture to be showcased?

Today is the Contry Sunday of Mbatu and it is a very important day in this community and it is a Wednesday. On this day, people who have problems have the opportunity to come to the Palace, exchange ideas and expose their problems. It is also on this day that most of the Kings of the Widikums disappeared and they were maybe laid to rest on this day. On this day nobody goes to the farm and you don’t go to hunt. Everybody sits with the family in meeting circles and some who need to come to the Palace do that but you don’t move out of your environment. Another very important day in the life of this Community is the day a King disappears. This is when the culture of the Mbatu people is manifested. The dances in the Palace and jujus all come out. They come out while some are mourning and after the mourning there is celebration. There are also Cry Dies (funerals) which are considered as events that visit every household and so you must be there. This is a forum where you always meet the people. They come out with their traditional cups and calabashes and the language is different. There is Palmwine and Achu to be eaten as well as a lot of dancing. There are also occasions like Births locally referred to as Born House when a new born baby joins the family. There are also activities like end of year dances in some Kingdoms though not in all. This is a moment when the King celebrates success with his population. I always call for a dance when there is something to talk about. We have just had electricity, for example, we’ve had a good road and similar things give reason for us to celebrate.

How is the Fondom structured?

The King is a pivot and not the highest authority in the land. The Parliament is the highest authority in Cameroon and not the Head of State. The Fon is the coordinator of institutions around the palace. The institutions here are the Royal Family, the Traditional Council, the Ndaala (Sacred house) where contry fashion(traditional practices) are carried out for things to move in the village are all natural institutions. There are other institutions that are created out of necessity like the quarter heads union, because we have decentralized the community. These quarter heads are responsible to the Fon. Only title holders work with the Fon and even members of the Royal family who are not titled can hardly work directly with the Fon. If there is a problem in the Royal Family, the people I will meet are titled members of the family. The Royal family is just consultative but the Traditional Council is the base and its members are notables and nobles who are natural from their families through inheritance but the highest authority is the Kwifor which is like the Parliament that I talked of earlier. It controls even the Fon.

Is there anything like the Mbatu Development Association?

The genesis of it all is that the name we should always remember is G.A. Nangah in the fifties. MBACUDA was created in the fifties before independence at a time when the people of Bamenda had a spirit of community work. Pah Nangah was very influential financially and he used this to rally people. It is one of the oldest associations in the Northwest. As to whether they have been able to live up to their expectations, I will say yes and no. Nangah in his days had the means to defend his Fondom. When I took over I noticed that the people had not understood the spirit of sacrifice that Pah Nangah had. My Father had a great Palace but all we needed was somebody to do renovation and restructure the Palace. In 2010 I came out with my vision because we could not be talking of the Nangahs, the professor Chumbos, the Doctors when on coming here people would see just a kitchen of a palace. My intention was to put something better than we met. I started and when they saw that I was going somewhere they rallied through MBACUDA and we went on. Now the project of lights came and we keep moving on. MBACUDA has been working but the main problem they have now is that of leadership.

You certainly have a strong message for your elite and subjects who will be reading you around the world.

There is a gap between the elite and the youth. They are not preparing the younger ones well enough for transition. Let them pull the youth towards them so that they can hand over appropriately. You don’t just hand over to somebody you have not prepared appropriately. The youth should be initiated to enhance transition. A meeting point between elders and youth is needed for society to move forward.  

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“We have to remain united, positive and development oriented” Senator John Wanlo

Senator Wanlo C. John from the North West Region of Cameroon has spent a spell working with Cameroons Customs. When he eventually joined politics he started off as Mayor of Fonfuka Council in Boyo Division. He stayed in that position for about 6 years and in 2013 he was elected into the Senate.

He kick started as the National President of Bum Development Union and he was determined to work towards opening up the area which was locked up and needed to be disenclaved. Along the line he knew that the herculean task that lay ahead of him needed some help from other development stakeholders from Bum specifically and Cameroon in general. In this interview which was carried out by Francis Ekongang Nzante, the Senator takes us into development initiatives he and his collaborators have carried out in the Fonfuka Council, Bum and Boyo Division in general.

After years in the doldrums how can you evaluate development in Bum at the moment?

Firstly I will like to situate Bum. It is found in Boyo Division in the Northwest Region. Bum culturally is of the grass field. Boyo Division has four Sub Divisions. We have Bello, Njinikom, Fundong and Bum. There are two main tribes in Boyo Division and that’s Kom and Bum. There we live peacefully and we are neighbors with Mesaje and Lasn- Noni in Bui Division. When you talk about evolving, development or changes, we think about schools, roads etc. When I took over as Mayor of Fonfuka Sub Division the area was really enclaved. Many schools were eventually created. As concerns roads, it is often said that where a road passes, development follows. Now you can leave Fundong and come down to Konene easily. At the moment that we are talking, there are Caterpillars with Joe Corner Water digging from Konene to Fonfuka. He has equally started the road from Fonfuka to Kimbi near Noni. I have improved on portable water in Bum and at the moment there is also the Solar system geared towards electricity. As a Senator I intervene in all the Sub Divisions in Boyo. There have been a lot of changes but these remain unnoticed because the ring road is still uncompleted. We want just development and pray that the country should remain stable to create an enabling environment for development.

What was your vision when you got into politics?

My vision is to see how people can change. We therefore intend to leave a better place than the one we met. The future lies in being people oriented and this is only achievable when you work with the people and for the people. That is my prayer and that is what I am preaching day and night. Division doesn’t pay. We didn’t choose ourselves to be in the Northwest and we have to do everything to be united. In a similar manner, we did not also choose ourselves to be Cameroonians. I am doing my best to see that we put on one thinking cap. I know it is difficult for people to think in the same manner but for the sake of the common good, it is necessary to give it a try. With this spirit we can do many things. Irrespective of where you come from in Cameroon, you have to be positive, united and development oriented. When you start thinking positively, everything becomes possible. The Bible says seek first the Kingdom of God and the rest shall come to thee. Think positively and work for the common good and the rest shall come to pass positively. Do everything and be on the positive side and God will bless you.

Tell us about the Bum Development Union.  

It has served as a wonderful tool for development. We touch all the corners of Bum developmentally. When you are from Bum you must be part of the Bum development Union. When you want to think about water, schools and anything, you must come together. Now we have Daniel Wango, a very strong personality and President General of Bum Development Union. When I became Mayor, I handed over to him since he was my deputy. I did the same when I came to the Senate. 

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“There should be an eye to eye encounter with Anglophones and not a confrontation”

Fon Forbuzie Martin Asanji II of Chomba

The King of Chomba

How long have you been on the throne in Chomba?

I have been on the throne in Chomba for for 53 years having been enstooled at the age of 15. So I have been here for a very long time. I had my primary, Secondary and University Education as a Fon then I got into the public service where I served for 36 years. In the course of my public service life I served in various capacities. I am a teacher by profession and I went through all the rungs of that profession. From classroom teacher, to Vice Principal and to principal. I reached the ceiling when I got up to Provincial Delegate of Secondary Education for the Northwest for seven years. There after I started my backward journey and became a Principal again of CCAST Bambili, then Divisional Delegate from where I retired. As a Traditional ruler, as a student, as a civil servant I have had to put on several caps at the same time. 

Can you throw light on the history of the people of Chomba?

Chomba belongs to the Widikum tribe. The Widikums have a long history with a very long journey. We have it that they migrated from Sudan and moved down and went to Nkambe. From Nkambe they moved to Ngoketunjia then to Babadjou, Dschang, parts of Lebialem precisely Bamumbu and crossed to Widikum and settled in a place called Tarkun Widikum. From there they moved up and found these plains of Bamenda and settled here. They were moving in waves like a family and Mankon was the leader. From the name Mankon which means a mighty tail, the movement pattern was that of an animal with a mighty tail. That’s how we find ourselves here and in the course of our settlement the Balis came later to join us and settled in our midst. Zingtgraff came and created havoc. We will always say we came from Tarkun Widikum but that is not our origin.

How do you package your cultural year?

As for the calendar in fact we have activities all year round but we have specific activities that we hold at heart. For example we have the Fons Annual Dance which only comes up when we think we are prepared for it. Apart from that there are other smaller ceremonies such as marriages, births, deaths amongst others. These are ceremonies that come up when there is need. At a certain point in time I created the Chomba Cultural and Development Association. This was intended to rally all my sons and daughters so that they put in their effort and all their resources towards the development of the village. Since we instituted that close to 30 years ago, we have gone places. That organisation has spurred our development endeavor so we meet every year  for that one preferably during the Easter Weekend which is March April. This period is usually the end and the beginning of our fiscal year. It is equally a transitional period between the dry season and the rainy season. It is also at that time that we conduct the Abengefu and the Lere. There is one cultural event that we carry out which is the Lere. In between March and April there are many other events that we carry out such as visiting the shrine and pouring libations and initiating people into various cultural domains of our society.

There is this bridge relating to the way we relate to our creator and the Eurocentric approach to religion. How do you blend Christianity and Traditional practice?

God as we always say is omnipotent, omniscient…summarily meaning that he is everywhere at all times and in all manners. That is God and He can be seen from different perspectives. The Christians see God through their own perspective and they would want to go to God through Christ. The Muslims see God through their own perspective through the prophet Mohammed. The Buddhists or we Africans also see God from our own perspective. We go to God through our ancestors. The simple reason is that our ancestors came before us and if we are moving towards God then they are certainly nearer him than we who are alive. So we use them to go to God. The bottom line of it all is that we worship God from different angles. There is no religion that is superior to the other so there shouldn’t be that holier than thou attitude and nobody should say I am closer to God than you are. We are all equal before God.

Could his Majesty run through the evolution of Chomba landscape over the years?

Like every other village, Chomba has transformed. I inherited the leadership of this village from my father and with the help of all my collaborators and with the blessings of our ancestors and God we have gone so far. We have developed to a certain point depending on our resources. All of this has happened because we work like a team and we think we should make life better in this place. Chomba has evolved a lot and if my father were to come back to see this village that he left 53 years ago, he would not believe it. We’ve equally had problems that have retarded our growth. Due to the fact that we are within the periphery of Bamenda City Council, much attention may not be directed to us and the fact that we are also a small village makes it difficult for us to achieve to a certain extent. If we had resources coming from a large population you can imagine the development feats that we would achieve. So we have used the little that we have to make the place what it is. Without boasting I will say that the leadership of this village has been guided, directed and championed by my humble self. For any organisation to work the leadership must be forward bound and dynamic. May be it has been that but it is the Chomba people who should say that. Every Kingdom depends on the leadership and I think I have made my meager contribution in that direction.

What gave you this special touch that you have used to push Chomba forward?

I think the fact that I have been blessed with good education contributed to it. We have been talking about Religion and I think I am profiting from a blend of it. I am a Christian and at the same time an African who practices African Religion.

How are traditional titles given in Chomba and what is the highest title that you confer on an individual?

We have awarded a handful of titles to our subjects. A handful because titles should not just be dished out to people who are lobbying for them because nowadays people just go hunting for titles. I have given a few titles to meritorious subjects of Chomba and when this is done, it is not a one-man-show. We have all types of factors that are taken into consideration. Many agents are involved and we do this in order to let the titles be encouragements or a mover or a catalyst for subjects who obtain titles to work better and also for titles to encourage those who were perhaps still dragging their feet not wanting to toe the line to come up and work to deserve titles. I hesitate to talk about highest titles because it will mean that some people are more equal than others. We give titles to people and they use these titles and do great things. If for example we give the title of Ntumfor to somebody and he doesn’t use it well then that title is like a feather that is carrying no meaning. The title of Akamantso which means somebody who can lead the rest of the people towards a war if not well used will have no meaning. Mesangmefu is a title which means the Fon’s eyes and Machinefu means the Fon’s Machine. A title is a mark of recognition and not a mark of classification of people. I would say the highest title in my Kingdom is that of the prince. When you are born a prince it qualifies you to be the next King.

There are some titles that are awarded. If for example you are the member of a sacred society you automatically have a title. You can also inherit a title from your father. There are some other titles that come by dint of nature. If you were to have twins today we will start calling you Taanyi adding two read feathers on your cap. Titles are a whole subject of research for so much can be said about it.

As an elite we would want to hear you say something on what has come to be called the Anglophone Crises.

The common denominator is that we are all Cameroonians. It is the Colonial Master that came and divided us. Prior to that we were Cameroonians and we will continue to be proud Cameroonians. That period of separation from our brothers is a sad page in our history because we were now brought up in two cultural types and when we decided to reunite it was a wonderful turn in our history. Having come back together, there have been problems. There is no family without a problem. If the problems are surfacing now and taking horrible dimensions, they are only pushing us to learn our lessons in order to forge ahead. Now there are many schools of thought. Some are talking secession, some are talking federalism and some even say there is no Anglophone problem. I think like some us feel, we need to sit on a round table and discuss our problems. Once this is done we will arrive at answers and solutions. The unfortunate thing is that the situation has been hijacked by people who want us to do specific things. I wonder what is really behind their modus operandi. We are forced to ask in the final analyses where we are headed to from now on. My heart really bleeds that here in the Palace my children are not going to school, that our markets and our schools are being burnt down and we are now living in fear of what we don’t even know. The right thinking Cameroonians; the elite should begin to question where we are drifting to. We are now in a boat that has lost paddles and is being toast in the mighty Ocean left and right and if we are not careful that boat will sink and all of us may sink with it. In other words, in the final analyses there may be no survivors.  The appeal is that the Head of State should assume his responsibility. The Head of state took an oath to channel the affairs if Cameroon forward. We should take responsibility and call Anglophones and listen to them. There should be an eye to eye encounter with Anglophones and not a confrontation. I am your father, what is your problem should be the approach of the President. We should make the problem to be the solution. If there is an Anglophone problem let Anglophones be the solution. They should be at the forefront of looking for the answers. Right now a lot of self interest seekers are taking advantage of the situation and calling the shots from behind the scenes.

How have you managed your life over the years as a Civil Servant and as a Traditional ruler?

I think I have been blessed that over the years since I was put on the throne I decided to go back to school. I shelved Royalty and chose the way to education. I was going incognito playing a double image game; one time student and the next minute I am a Fon or traditional ruler or one time a civil servant and at another time, a traditional ruler. I only give thanks to God for helping me to organise all these things. While playing, studying, joking and fighting with my friends in school, the cloak of royalty was here in the Palace waiting for me. In the Public Service I got through very difficult times. My seven years of stewardship to the nation as Provincial Delegate of Secondary Education to the Northwest Region I got entangled with a whole lot of issues ranging from the civil servant strike calling for no school to being at the helm of the Province on a wide range of educational issues ranging from Basic to Secondary Education and much more. I equally got entangled with political issues since the opposition had just surfaced and things were going tumultuous in Cameroon and I was at the heart of education in those difficult times. Then came the GCE saga when there was the fight for the creation of the GCE and the creation of the management board. I was in it and I went through difficult times. My life as a civil servant was rough and very challenging and there were time I saw death looming. I was described as a traitor at one time because I fought for children to go to school when they said children should not go to school. At the time Bamenda was the hotspot being the birth place of boththe leading opposition party, the SDF and the ruling CPDM. Now again both Bamenda and Buea are hot spots.

Interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante  

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“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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