-HRH Fon George Ndikum II of Akum ‘Akum people are doing everything to maintain their original, rich culture.’

Fon George Ndikum II of Akum was enthroned on the 7^th of January 1958 the same year his late father passed away. Since then he has been on the throne for almost sixty years. Among other things, Fon Ndikum George II of Akum emphasizes that despite the upsurge of modernism, Akum people are doing everything to maintain the originality of their rich culture. In the following revealing interview, he was talked to by Francis Ekongang Nzante of Cameroon People Magazine and Manasse Vushigo of Sky Sports Radio, Bamenda.

Who is Fon George Ndikum II at a much more personal level?

I was born in 1935 and grew up in Akum and went to primary school at the age of ten. I started my A B C in the then Native Authority School Santa. I went up to Standard III and I came  back to Akum here and continued my education to Standard IV but by then there was no Standard V in Akum so we were bound to move down to Saint Joseph’s School Mankon where I attended Standard V and VI. That’s where I ended my formal education. This was in 1956. In Bamenda at the time, you had John Hold and UAC so I wrote an application to work for John Hold and I was employed as a Clerical Clerk. I served them only for one year and within this time, I was sent to victoria for some internal refurbishing. We went to Victoria and completed our training because this company was buying Kennel and coffee and selling so I became an agent for them in this part of the country.

How has your society evolved over the last sixty years as far as bringing people together and developing them is concerned?

Immediately I took over, I brought my people together though very young at that time. We sat down with the notables and a few elites and decided on how Akum could be developed.  We started by digging roads in the village to connect the quarters. We did this and then the missionary who was in Akum at that time came to me and wanted a plot for a hospital. I invited a couple of people who had some large plots and we agreed and gave out the land to the Church. Since then we have been very busy with roads linking all the quarters. I have also made sure that we have drinking water. That was the second project we took and the cooperative donated some money. A levy was equally given to everybody and they paid.  We contacted the community development people at the time. We had to build a community Hall which was very important for the village. The Community Hall was realised and now people do their marriages and any other occasions that they may have. I told them to build good houses back in the village. That’s why today when you pass through Akum you see a lot of good houses.

How have you been blending aspects of your culture with modernism and maintaining that cultural originality?

Akum people have a very rich culture and they are doing everything to maintain this rich culture. In all the quarters, we have traditional dances for both the men and the women. As concerns marriages, we inter marry. We have a day called Contry Sunday during which we do not go to the farm. Such days are usually filled with cultural activities such as dances among other things. Akum people are farmers and when I took over the throne, things automatically changed. Formerly there were Nchindas in the Palace and their work was just to go round the village and if they met any goat, chicken and a matured bunch of plantain they brought it to the Palace but now all of that has changed.

Cognizant of the fact that the people of the Northwest Region are not originally from this Region can His Highness tell us something about the origins of the people of Akum?

I was enthroned on the 7^th of January 1958 the same year my late father passed away. Since then, I have been on the throne for almost sixty years.

When I took over, I met some old traditional elders who really told me how the Akum people got to this place.  First of all, they told me that Akum people came from Tikari.  When they left, they rested at Widikum with other villages, not only Akum people. When they eventually left Widikum, their first settlement was in Mundum.  They rested there for a number of years and what caused them to leave the place was the infertility of the soil. From Mundum, they came up to this present site. When they got here, their leader who brought them from Widikum to Mundum and to this present site was called Fon Fumingom. When they got here, their first settlement was at Kapcho. Due to Tribal Wars at that time, they left Kapcho and went to Babadjou from where they came back to this present site. They had to move the Palace from Kapcho to Tinala. When they moved there the tribal wars were still going on and they fought with Bali Kumbat and then left and went to Bambili. They settled there and planted some of the raffia bushes that you find there today. They eventually left Bambili and came back here. They then moved the Palace from Tinala to Njinbawo near the forest. The reason was that if there was any attack again from other villages they could run and hide in the forest. It was until 1934 that they moved the palace to this present site.

Is there any relationship between the people of Akum and those of Mankon?

The relationship between the two is just that they understand each other and nothing more because all along, the Akum people have been on their own and Mankon people have been on their own as well.

How many quarters make up the Akum Fondom?

We have almost 25 quarters in the Akum Fondom. Each of these quarters has at its head a quarter head that assists me in my duties. They hear minor cases in the quarters and if there is any difficulty they consult me. I have some people who assist me to settle such matters and when they don’t agree then they can move to the administration.

Who are your neighbours and what type of relationship do you have with them?

Formerly, Akum was bordered by Bali, Pinyin, Babadjou, Baligham, Awing, Bambili, Nkwen and Mankon. Now with the coming of the other villages, the colonial masters who were here took Akum land and gave to Mbatu, Chomba, Nsongwa, Alateneng, Mbei, Njong, and Mendangnkwe. These are the villages that were given land to settle. Now with the present administration I also have boundaries with Mendangnkwe, Mankon, Mbatu, Nsongwa, Alateneng, Mbei, Njong.

Why is Akum referred to sometimes as Small London?

It is a nick name which came about when the Colonial Masters were still here. Most of the Akum people worked under them as cooks and Stewards. When the Europeans were going on leave, they would say they were going to London.  Some of them stayed in London for a month or two. Akum people who worked for them during these periods equally said that they were going on leave to Small London. That’s exactly how that name came about.

The Bamenda metropolis seems to be expanding much more towards Bambili and Mankon, Bali and Bafut than it is doing towards Akum. What do you think accounts for this?

 I think that Akum is also expanding because the Bamenda City Council has expanded to one of my quarters Azaane. That’s my boundary with Mankon where you have the old CENAJES.  This is an indication that the city is expanding into Akum as well.

Can titles be bought in Akum?

There are two types of titles. There is the title of Nkum or King Maker. They have their number and this number increases only when a Fon is lost. When this happens, the first son joins the group. This title cannot be bought. The second title which somebody can come up for it is the Cho. It is not anybody who comes up for it.  When somebody comes up for it, we have to be sure that the person in question is of good morals meriting such a title. The third title is that of the red feather. Formerly, when a young man in the village killed a Tiger he was entitled to a red feather.

Can His Highness use this medium to send out a message to his subjects? 

I call on my subjects both in Cameroon and the Diaspora to always remember home no matter what they become and where they are. Each time I travel abroad, I always advice them.  We have a shrine here in Akum called Minjiilem and we go there every year to pray to our ancestors to bless the yields so that we have plenty of food.  

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Honorable Emmanuel YoYo The Parliamentarian, Community Developer and Business Magnate

Development initiatives should not be politicized all the time

Honorable Emmanuel YoYo

Who is Honorable Emmanuel YoYo?

 I am a native of Baba I in Ndop in Ngoketunjia Division. I am a father of six and a business man at the moment doing general business as well as animal breeding. I am equally a member of the National Executive Council of the Social Democratic Front SDF and te National Financial Secretary of that party.

What are some of the highlights on this long road that you have had with the SDF?

We cannot say anything about the SDF without thinking about how it was created. We all know that the National Chairman of this great party Ni  John Fru Ndi with a certain number of Cameroonians lead the Cameroonian people to understand that we needed Democracy rather than the autocracy that was ruling this country at the time. Of course the party was created and went to the extent of winning the Presidential Elections of 1992. Ni John Fru Ndi was known by the whole international Community and even the Cameroonian people to have won that election but at the time, the victory was stolen by people who were in power and who are still in power today. These people were not used to democracy. All of this notwithstanding, the SDF still marched on and at one moment I left the police force with which I was working and joined the band wagon because I understood at the time that the SDF was fighting a just cause and till today it is still fighting  a just cause. We went ahead and won the Municipal elections and we won in almost all the big municipalities in this country. We won in the urban municipalities because in these municipalities we were dealing with people who knew something about what was right or wrong and their victory could not be easily stolen. But in the rural areas the government was able to manipulate the local population trough cheating and changing of results. SDF won in the much more enlightened communities. Then the government in order to frustrate the party created the post of government Delegates in all those big municipalities. This made the CPDM to hijack our victory and made it impossible for us to show the population of those urban areas what the SDF stood for. These are some of the things you should always remember and of course we still marched on. The government realizing that the SDF was so powerful and its leader so popular went ahead to improve upon its fraud mechanism and made sure that each time we had elections they took all their time to fraud but we were not again taken by surprise as was the case in 1992. That is why up till today, the SDF as not been able to take over power in this country.

As a huge voice in the party, how do you appreciate the activities of the party in this build up to the 2018 Presidential elections?

Under the leadership of Ni John Fru Ndi, we have been able to analyse the problems we are facing in this country ahead of those elections. One of the things we thought we could do is to reorganize our party to put it on a very strong footing and to make sure that all those who are ready to work and bring about change in this country take positions in this party to effect this change. We are carrying out a general reorganization of the party over the whole nation in preparation for the upcoming elections. We intend to make sure that the fraud mechanism put in place is tackled in a manner as to reduce it to almost nothing.

As we carry out this reorganization in the field like in the Littoral where I am working, we have been able to appreciate the popularity of this party because when you look at the enthusiasm wit which people are trying to gain positions in the party. You understand that they know that it is the party of the future and they want to be part of it. So you find out that as we move out in the Littoral the turnout is massive. You find people determined to take positions in the new executive that we are trying to build. This is something that is very promising and very encouraging for the party.

Are you expecting any spectacular changes with the upcoming convention?

Anybody who understands the constitution of the SDF may not ask this question at the moment because there is a way changes are brought about during a convention of the SDF. Militants of the party are authorized to come up with constitutional amendment procedures and there is still a lot of time for them to be able to do so. If any change has to take place, it may be initiated by one of the members of the party and following a certain procedure and introduces this into text that may be visited during the convention. It comes from several sources because as I am here talking about one thing another person may be somewhere suggesting something else. I think it is rater premature to talk about changes in the party. You should however understand that a party is a dynamic unit that has to always revisit its text. I will therefore not be surprised if suggestions are put forth to bring changes to the constitution of the party but this is not the right time for me to say whether there will be changes or not.

Back to your community how do you interact with this community in terms of development and social activities generally speaking? 

I live in Noketunjia Division and since I left Parliament, I have been closer to the population. In Parliament I was a questor and resident member of the bureau of the assembly living in Yaounde but back home now I am with them and we interact much more and I look into their problems much more profoundly at the moment. It is interesting to note that even though I am no more in parliament they come mostly to me to ask for assistance for developmental projects in their areas. The person who took over from me who is of the CPDM is somebody who has his own idea about development. For him development is to share sugar, soap, among other things to some people in the division. One thing that we forget is this; when you are elected a member for an area you represent all the people of that area. Now when you come because you are a Muslim and you give sugar and tea to the Muslims what about the Christians? While not a parliamentarian I have been carrying out development projects that serve the whole population of my area. I have given water to the whole of Ndop town because water source there is one of the main problems we have. And when it is done, no body checks to know whether it is a CPDM or an SDF militant that is carrying the water. I just want to serve the people. I told the parliamentarian to carry out projects that will serve everybody. When I realise such projects with the sum of at least a hundred millions FCFA to bring water to my people, I always tell my militants that this water is for everybody. When I build bridges like some that I have done there are no toll gates and barriers preventing some people not to use the bridges? That is what development means. Development initiatives should not be politicized all the time. If the time comes and I am still interested in politics I think they will remember that. But I may not even show up to be a parliamentarian or take any elective post but that doesn’t stop me from giving certain amenities to the people of my area.

A bill was passed in parliament concerning the immunity of ministers. As an old member of the house, what is your take on this?

Well I followed up very closely the debate on that bill and what I understood was that since the CPDM may be voted out in subsequent elections they are already trying to put in place some few mechanisms that will help the people who have been stealing public money to escape even without being apprehended. What it meant is that if the head of State sees somebody who has stolen money and wants to help such a person, he will easily do so by appointing such a person a minister and from that moment he has some kind of immunity. This is what it meant, to protect people who are not elected. We should talk of immunity for the head of State who is elected, for the members of parliament and senators who are elected. I am very proud of the SDF Parliamentary group that refused to collaborate and I think that what they did is what any reasonable Cameroonian would love to do. I was told that they have revised that bill though I was not told about the content of the new bill. I hope that President Paul Biya who has been fighting corruption should not permit such a bill to pass. I call on SDF militants and sympathizers to continue to have confidence in the party.

As an Anglophone elite, what can you say in the phase of strikes by Anglophone Lawyers and teachers accompanied by civil unrests and arrests in the Northwest and Southwest Regions?

I am of the same mind frame with those who have seen all that English speaking Cameroonians have been through in the form of marginalization, assimilation and a host of other issues that can hardly leave any right thinking English speaking Cameroonian indifferent.

As somebody who has lived and experienced the injustices of the system it is indeed sad that the Government doesn’t yet seem to be ready to carry out real dialogue with disgruntled Cameroonians. 

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-Donatus Achu, Treasurer Paymaster General for the Southwest Region.

At 34, the CPDM is better poised and organised to focus on development.

Donatus Achu, the Treasurer Pay Master General of the Southwest Region in Buea has declared that at 34 the CPDM is better organized to focus on development.

He was speaking recently in Santa at the Joint Section Conference of the CPDM Mezam II Section.

He said from 1990 up to now, the Party had progressively asserted its grip on the National Territory in general and the Northwest Region in particular. “The Party has been organised from the grassroots and progressively the heads of basic organs are being installed. 

With this reorganization, the party is now poised to move ahead in a more organised manner” he said. Most of the development projects that the party is now poised to execute he explained were already being executed across the country.

Talking about political options in Cameroon at the moment, he said the CPDM was the better option that could assure development and that the people knew it. “From the 1990s up till now things have settled down and people are seeing the truth. Truths as they say lasts while lies are short lived. That’s why the party has progressively gained grounds even in the Northwest formerly considered to be the heart and nucleus of the Social Democratic Front-SDF.”  

The top class civil servant and undisputable nation builder with a solid political pedigree said the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement-CPDM was shifting from Party Politics to Politics of Development. He further said and truly so, that Santa is one of the nucleuses of CPDM politics in Cameroon. “In Santa, politics is done maturely accepting differences that might possibly exist between brothers and sisters from Santa. Santa brothers now vote wisely knowing how to differentiate what is correct from what is incorrect. The Party has grown and covered grounds in the past 34 years.”  

The top flight civil servant and nation builder was speaking at a heavily attended event that saw the attendance of a cross section of movers and shakers from the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. Some of these include the erstwhile Prime Minister and Presently Senator Simon Achidi Achu, Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, Coordinator of the CPDM Academy, Hon. Rose Abunaw Agbor, Dr. Chi Asafon Cornelius Internal Auditor, Supreme State control CONSUPE, Ntumfor Fru Jonathan, MezaM II Section President and Secretary  General at the Ministry of Public Contracts, Senator Otteh Andrew, Makoge Ivo Charles, Inspector General for Security in the Northwest Region as representative of the Governor of the Northwest Region Adolfe Lele L”Afrique, President of Northwest Fons Union-NOWEFU;HRH Fon Teche Njei of Ngemboa;  Hon. Regina Mundi, Simon Kumasi, Director of  the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum in Limbe, among many others.

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Makoge Ivo Charles: Inspector General in charge of Regional Services for the Northwest Region.

The post of Inspector general came into being after the 2008 reforms in MINATD Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation. An Inspector general is in charge of Good Governance, fight against corruption and many other things…

Makoge Ivo Charles

As one of the finest professionals in your domain, our readers would like to know the trajectory you’ve so far covered to be where you are.

Well I am an old Administrator because I am heading towards the end of my career. I started off immediately I left ENAM-the National School of Administration and Magistracy as the Sub Divisional officer for Oballa in the Center Region. I later moved to Manjo in the Littoral Region, Limbe and Mbonge in the SW Region. After that, I was promoted to the post of Seniour Divisional Officer for Meme Division and passed 3 years in Kumba in that capacity before I was called up to the ministry for another post of Inspector General No. 2 in charge of Election matters. I worked there for eight years after which I was sent back to Kumba as the Secretary General of the City Council. From the City Council where I spent just a year, I was sent to the Northwest Region as Inspector General.

  

 Inspector General in charge of Regional Services for the Northwest Region recently at Santa representing the Governor of the Northwest Region during the CPDM Mezam I Section Conference.

What have been the most challenging moments of your career?

The most challenging thing in my career has been making people accept the truth. People did not always tell the truth and I was a victim for telling the truth. I found out that when you stick to the truth it becomes very difficult for people to accept you in certain circumstances.

 What is it like working in the Northwest Region as Inspector General?

The post of Inspector general came into being after the 2008 reforms in MINATD Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation. An Inspector general is in charge of Good Governance, fight against corruption and many other things regarding services like people going early to work and rendering services as they are expected to. That’s my job.

What is your message of inspiration to other career people like you?

My message to Civil Servants and to my younger brothers who are coming up is for them to be patient. They should also be satisfied with what government puts on their table as pay package. They should not imitate people. Simply because they see somebody riding an expensive car, a young civil servant will want to do the same. Get on with your career patiently and with God you will get where ever you were supposed to be. We have problems today because people don’t have that fear of God and want to eat where they did not sow. If civil servants render the services that they are supposed to render without asking for favours, it will be a good thing for our country.

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I plan to introduce the production of motor tires in Cameroon.-Kumasi Simon:

 Director of the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum, Beside SONARA-Limbe

This press chat is taking place in the heart of a joint section conference for CPDM Mezam II so it will not be out of place for you to tell us who you are within the ranks of the CPDM in Mezam II.

Politics in Santa is all about the National Chairman who is a model to us. The Head of State has given us a lot here so we cannot really say who is a political Icon. At 34 you can see it yourself that the party has done much in Santa in terms of development. This is summarised in the theme of today’s event From Party Politics to Politics of Development. There is a time for information when people need to be educated and there is a time for people to move from education to reality. CPDM is now doing things for the world to see.

Can you introduce the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum in Limbe to Cameroonians?

You heard the head of State talking about the emerging Cameroon. That’s his vision and as a leader, when he gives the vision, we simply take it along. The vision is, emerging Cameroon in 2035. This simply means becoming a Cameroon that can do things and not a Cameroon on paper. Cameroonians should be people who can do and not only talk. This is what is called emergence. For Cameroon to be referred to as emerging means Cameroonians should be capable of doing these things. We should not wait for people to come from outside and do things for us. We should stop this idea of paper work, certificates and things of that nature. We should begin to do things. So I thought that the petroleum sector is a very complicated one and that being complicated as it is, Cameroonians should be capable of doing anything at anytime because they have somebody who is directing the youths telling them that tomorrow is for you and for tomorrow to really be for you, you should be able to do and not just talk.

So I thought that the Cameroonian Education system must look productive and therefore I came out with the Gulf Field National Advanced School of Petroleum which is today the Gulf Field University Institute of Petroleum, Mining and Management Sciences. We Cameroonians must be capable to do seismic studies, to be able to determine where there is petroleum and to be able to drill it. From here they should be capable of getting the Chemical which the refinery should be capable of refining. They should also have the capability to put the logistic aspect together and then you will see everything moving. After seventy years we cannot be still talking about the whites coming to do things for us. We Cameroonians can do it and this is possible my dear brothers.

What is the next thing in your plan of action?

I plan to introduce the production of motor tires in Cameroon. There is rubber in Tiko and therefore we don’t need to transport the raw material back to Europe for tires to be produced and transported back to Cameroon. We are the losers because we pay the cost of transportation and the cost of bringing it back here. That’s why tires and cars are so expensive here and not expensive over there. The raw materials are from here so why can we not do it? This is why I am coming out with this idea of productive education for the Cameroonian people.

Back on campus how is methodology reflecting this focus on savoir faire?

Since we are focused on savoir faire, the second year of our programmes is focused on practical. After practical, the students are selected to travel over there in Europe to do specialised programmes. This permits them to become masters meaning that these are people coming back ripe enough to go into the productive sectors such as the mining,petroleum,engineering, production exploration among others. They are there in Ukraine and in Russia and when they come back they will make Cameroon productive. To become productive will not just mean to sit in class and after that they give you a paper that it’s a certificate. No! Look at the whole country now. Everyone talks about Professors, doctors all over the place but what is happening? Where is the country? This is because we have been mentally enslaved by foreign educational systems that do not reflect Cameroon. It is time we go down and get to do it, to fabricate, to produce. This is the time. When we do this then we can realise the 2035 vision of emergence that the President is talking about.

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HRH Fon Angwafor III of Mankon: The Vice National Chairperson of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement.

“We should solve the Anglophone Crisis as a Nation”

The Party is celebrating its 34th Anniversary and it is but proper that we seek your opinion on the performance of the party so far.

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We celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the country and now we are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the leadership of Paul Biya. The grounds we have covered in more than half of the 50 years is highly commendable and we can only give account of the progress for these 34 years.

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As a political party how far has the CPDM gone in pushing Cameroon towards Democracy and Emergence?

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CPDM has contributed so much in 34 years in terms of progress. We have always operated within a democratic framework throughout the 34 years that we’ve been at the helm of power in Cameroon. What we really need is peace and we’ve done that so it’s a great achievement. President Paul Biya is poised to take Cameroon to the stage of emergence by 2035.

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After 34 years, are you in support of another term of office for President Paul Biya?

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  I am a militant of the party no matter the position and President Paul Biya is leader of that same party. It is his government and it is his party. You do not impose on any militant but if he is determined to continue, it is left for the party to support him and it is left for the population to endorse that taking into account his successful 34 years of peaceful administration.

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How successful do you think the party has been towards bringing people together?

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From the beginning CPDM has been going step by step towards our goal in peace. We’ve also talked to people to work for our country. If you see the improvement and the contribution individuals and organisations are making then you will agree with me that we are moving towards somewhere. We West Cameroonians voted for reunification and so far we’ve had it. We voted it in peace and we are living it in peace. Democracy is what we are practicing and there are hurdles on the way but we are moving forward step by step and it’s admirable.

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What is your take on the fact that some Cameroonians of English expression call themselves Southern Cameroonians and are actually gunning for a separate state?

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Come on, that’s simply politics. I am the Fon of Mankon and I’ve been here for more than fifty years.We worked for independence and we’ve celebrated our fiftieth year of reunification. I have been a member of the party for 34 years. I provided land for the construction of the Congress hall in Bamenda. I was the Chairman of the Mankon Council. We now have the Bamenda City Council with a government Delegate and this is all progress administratively. You cannot have democracy without people talking otherwise it will be a democracy with people who are dead. If we don’t have problems then Cameroon is dead. Cameroon moved from a mandated territory to independence. The Germans and subsequently the British ruled Cameroon. Today we are ruling ourselves. Every time there is change, people must talk. What sense is there to break all that we’ve built as a nation and start all over again? You can’t move forward without talking and without mistakes. The worse of it is to start afresh because if we start a new Cameroon, in fifty years we would have discovered other problems and some may resolve to start again. We’ve gone far more than half a century. If you stop to think you will see that it has not been good for all of us. In that case it is right to say that the government should do something.

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Do Anglophones in Cameroon have a problem?

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They do have a problem. Government has always moved forward by solving problems and if they have a problem the government will solve it just like it’s been solving problems all along. The country should never think of moving backward and starting all over. If the Anglophones have a problem the whole country should solve it. We should solve the Anglophone problem as a nation. If they think that the problem can only be solved trough separation ten when they eventually have a problem after separation maybe another separation will be required. Together we must move forward. We must accept that we solved the problem by the plebiscite we had. We were divided by the colonial people. We became an independent nation by a plebiscite. If we have another plebiscite we should be aimed at solving the problems that we have. We can’t move forward without problems. I am Fon of Mankon. Don’t you think I have problems with the other Fons of the Northwest? We should discuss the problem, find a solution and move on. Life is full of problems and you don’t solve problems by running away from them.

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How has the party evolved in this strategic part of the country called the Northwest Region? 

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I equally have a problem. Why don’t I have a tarred road to the palace? I simply want the road to be tarred but I don’t want the country to be divided simply because I have a problem. Life is changing and we must change with the trends. I am dissatisfied with the level of development in the Northwest region like any Cameroonian is dissatisfied with the problems that they are facing. I normally want the problems to be looked into. Northwest needs a greater share in the national cake.

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Your highness, you certainly have a message for Cameroonians on this 34th anniversary of the party.

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I have been Fon since independence. I have tested the reunification we voted for. I have tested the CPDM. I went to Parliament as an independent candidate in 1960. I became a member of the CNU Party. With my new party I provided the land for the party Congress hall. We are presently working together to solve our individual problems. Cameroon needs everyone onboard so that all of us can be part of that emergence. I have to take myself into development efforts just like anyone of you. To do this we have to accept that all of us belong to one country. Those who are working will get there and those who are talking will continue to talk.

Interviewed by Francis Ekongang Nzante and Nchong Chrisantus in 2016

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Baba Ahmadou Danpullo :

TheDiscrete Emperor of the Cameroon Business landscape.

According to Forbes Africa, the richest man in francophone sub-Saharan Africa is Baba Ahmadou Danpullo whose fortune has been valued at 547 billion FCFA approximately 920 million dollars. He obtained these riches from his multiple investments in real-estate, telecom and agro-industry.

Just back from the Mosque during the feast of the Ram

The billionaire detains 30% of Nexttel’s (third mobile operator in the country) shares through his company Bestinvet Cameroon (BestCam). However, Danpullo, who according to his close acquaintances holds more assets in Nigeria than Cameroon, is popular in Cameroon for his massive Ndawara Tea Plantations in the North-West Region from where tea is exported by Ndawara Tea Estates.

Additionally, his ranch in Ndawara counts thousands of cattle heads from which, the biggest specimen was exposed at the Ebolowa Agro-pastoral Show. The animal amazed the head of State President Paul Biya.

Residence in  the heart of  the Ndawara Ranch a few KM from Bamenda

Apart from all these achievements, Cameroon’s richest man, has numerous real-estate assets in Nigeria, France, Switzerland and South Africa including two malls in Cape Town and the Johannesburg’s Marble towers, 32 floors and 152 m tall, third tallest in Nelson Mandela’s nation.

In 2009, Baba Ahmadou Danpullo donated 100 million FCFA to the ruling party, the CPDM. He then ventured into the Communication Sector creating the TV channel DBS (Dan Broadcasting System).The Billionaire is also a minority shareholder in state-owned companies such as Sodecoton, Airports of Cameroon (ADC) and took over the Tea Industry from Cameroon Tea Estates (CTE), privatizing it.

Multiple sources hold that he backed the Philippine firm ICTSI to acquire the Container Terminal at the Kribi’s Deep Sea Port which was finally awarded to a Franco-Chinese consortium led by the Bolloré group.

Baba Ahmadou Danpullo is of the Peul ethnic group and is a Muslim. He grew up in a modest family and started his activities as a Truck Driver and owner of a couple of shops.  Having obtained an importation license for rice and flour he obtained a   huge bank loan and immersed himself in the world of importation.

He has been described differently by different journalists across the national territory. On jeuneafrique.com on the 7^th of August 2013 he was described as the discrete emperor of Cameroonian Business. On June 28, 2016 he was again described by the same medium as the friend of the government.

His discreteness was manifested in the surprise of many Cameroonians when monthly Forbes Magazine in the November 2015 edition announced that he was the richest man in francophone Africa. This revelation was completely contrary to the popular Cameroonian imagination.

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