The Chiefs Are Not To Blame

By Henry Monono

The Limbe City Council in its enthusiasm to celebrate the 150th birthday of the town has been caught in a cauldron of controversy. The causus belli or the reason for the war is once again financial as money and the love of it is the root of all evil. The expenditure has been pegged at the staggering sum of 150.000 .000 francs. By all means 150 brick is a lot of moola. This is what has incensed the chiefs and made them spoiling for a fight. 

 The chiefs in the Limbe 1, 2 and 3 have for long been meeting under an umbrella and association under the cognomen of Limbe Coastal Chiefs. The primus inter pares and chief spokesman of this group is the monumentally unflappable and outspoken Chief Ekum of Dikolo. Chief Ekum is a fearless, feisty royal with a chip on his shoulder.

He and his fellow chiefs have told the authorities and anybody who cares to listen that spending 150 million francs for the birthday of the town is wasteful and prodigal giving that many villages around the town lack basic necessities. The chiefs preached ad nauseum against what in their thinking was a wasteful jamboree. Nobody listened to them.  They did what chiefs know how to do best. They first of all informed the administration that they and their subjects would be boycotting all events touching and concerning the celebrations. Then to rub in their point they came out with a royal edict threatening thunder and brimstone and the wrath of the ancestor to anyone who went against their royal injunction. People in Fako division believe in their ancestors as the Roman Catholics believe in their saints. When the chiefs proclaim the wrath of their forebears those aboriginal to the lands between the mountains and the seas know it is no longer a laughing matter.

  The District Officer of Limbe 1 did not take all this lying low. By sub- prefectorial decision N0 31/ 2009  “ all activities organized by the movement called Limbe Sub Divisional  Conference of Traditional Rulers of Limbe 1,2 and 3 municipalities  were banned throughout Limbe 1 Sub Division till further notice for inciting hatred and revolt and for the necessity of public peace and order.

 What exactly is the grouse of the chiefs? The chiefs maintain that during the centenary celebrations which were a graced by the Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubaker Tafawa Bello there was pomp and pageantry without much expenditure. At that time Victoria was a hobnob of commercial transactions.  Victoria was a busy sea port.  There were tarred and paved streets. There were many shops and business activities like Kingsway and John Holt shops. Political tolerance transparent elections and an airstrip were all in Victoria.  All of these incidences of modernity have been replaced with dilapidated structures, decrepit roads and villages without pipe borne water. Unemployment and insecurity is rife. Anti Anglophone discrimination in Sonara is the norm.  There is total control of the population by francophone administrators and law enforcement officers. The Chinese with the aid and succor of local buccaneers are depleting our fish supply and depriving the population of affordable protein.

The chiefs’ cahier of grievances sounded like a manifesto of an opposition party but they did not fail to remind administration that the ruling party always records land slide victories in their villages. The chiefs want the name Victoria to be brought back and the name Limbe which is a corruption of the German name Limburg to be jettisoned. Amadou Ahidjo changed the name of the town but left all the vestiges of colonialism in francophone Cameroon like Lolodorf and Avenue Le Clerc intact. The old dictator Ahidjo knew that changing a persons name is a way of dominating and controlling him hence without any reason he changed the name of the town. Who authorized him and whose consent and opinion did he seek. This is a clear incidence of francophone domination and it trifled with the concept recently underscored by the African Court, that Southern Cameroons are a people duly recognized in international law

   The chiefs spoke for the people. There are many people who believe that most of this money would end up being unaccounted for. The administration is notorious for using the council as a milking cow under the guise of organizing national events. This well documented fact caused Prince Johnny Manga councilor for the Beach area and the no- nonsense Chief Z B Enow representing New Town East during the last council session to question the exaggerated financial assistances given to the administration by the councils. Chief Enow quipped that the councils should not allow themselves to be used as a ‘nyangi’ by the administration. The chiefs have not seen any reason to celebrate and most people in the Limbe municipality are nodding their heads in total agreement with the gallant chiefs. People are now asking who would talk to the ancestors during the celebrations by pouring the libations if the administration maintains its curious banning orders. It would be madness to bypass the chiefs and keep them out of the celebrations despite their “intransigence” and as we all know those whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad. 

  All the parties involved should resolve this imbroglio for the good of the town and for  the living, the dead and the unborn.
 

Comments

[Ekema]

am so proud hearing the chiefs of victoria are this reasonable and have so much concern for their people, may God give the chiefs of victoria more strength, something has to start from some where, is too much enough is enough, this is not a political issue rather is the right of the people who are suffering from the lack of water,electricity, employment,schools etc. even as a city with the biggest coorperation in the country(CDC and SANARA) yet sons and daughters of Victoria can not enjoy from their own God giving blessings; is the right of the people of victoria through their chiefs to stand and deny this celebration if a village like mukunda can not have pipe water. so i will kindly advice the so called CPDM to hands off

[red flag]

Victoria is 150 years old, Limbe is only 27 years. Who would have authorized. the camerounese . across the reast side of river
mungo to start this domination, occupation,exploitation, annexation, illegal arrests, torture. cultural genocide, rape and economic haulocaust. no body need to authorize.
them, no body have to. they will use the 1961 plebescite vote for(southern cameroons indepence) to mean an invitation for take over. and when we complain, they will say, if you dont like it here in cameroun, go to biafra. as if southern cameroons is an extension of their country, cameroun, they keep nausiatic on this faulty imaginative lie. that, they all coscuiencely became blind to our history, and even their own history that hail from the french colonial influence.
who would have imagine , that a country with a diffreent culture,language, history and worldview and value system would high jack the education of another, only to use this to brainwashed, confuse and annilihate to culture, history of the southern cameroons youths. all these with the applause pf france, england and america. who vehemently close their eyes before such crime against mankind for 47 years.
yet the ambassador is not ashame to say publicly, that( i know only one cameroun)
and that the only southern cameroons problem i hear is abroad, as if she have carried out and extensive investigation as to why , southern cameroons eduaction is controled by french cameroun,? this is called cultural genocide. why is french cameroun manadting six years to southern cameroons primary schools, which universally is seven in all
anglosaxon cultured countries> WHO GAVE THEM THAT AUTHORITY? THEY SEIZED IT ON THEMSELVES
just as they rushed their military across the boundaries to show forced occupation since 1961, ,just as they have BOXED southern cameroonians, unable to fly oversea from the territory ,ship or receieved any ships from another country for 47 yrs, this is call economic embargo. why do they do these things, who gave them the power? why is it that
southern cameroonians havent fought? to take back their country, yes they fought, they fought will all they got, their pens and papers against the guns and boots and jails
of french cameroun gerdames,police, and army
for 47 years, yet they still arent independent.
WHO AUTHORIZED THEM? WHO WILL FORCE THEM OUT?

[VA Boy]

I am literally moved to tears. Banning chiefs and kings who stood for their people is an old colonial tactic.

The french banned and exiled the renaissance king of Fumban, Sultan Njoya to Yaounde because he stood up for his people and the progress of their culture.

These arrogant invaders, usurpers, thieves are crazy. They are banning chiefs on their own soil.

[Gan Charles]

The coastal chiefs have at last awakened to the harsh reality that the Francophone has used them for 49 years. They thought that they were the chosen ones. Ngrafi was the enemy. They would stick it to the grasslanders by aligning with the east. Doula and Ewondo were their kin. Well history has proven them wrong to the detriment of their populace. I think it is too late to dig themselves out of this hole. It is too deep!
You can blame Ahidjo et al. The fact remains, they have been their worst enemy.

[manga]

So Mr. Charles, when exactly did the "Coastal" chiefs claim that the "Ngrafi" were the enemy? And are they more aligned with the Francophones than the chiefs of the NW who are core members of the CPDM central committee? And the last time I checked it was graffi chiefs who crowned a Francophone dictator from the "East" as "Fon of Fons". No respectable Coastal chief will ever indulge in such madness that desecrates their rich culture. Va dire!

[Business Loans]

A great move by the Chiefs of victoria. Keep iy up guys.
http://www.ezbusinessloans.com

[Ma Mary]

Charles and Manga. In actuality the invading frogs have played Southern Cameroonians against each other very well by exagerating existing differences as a divide and rule tactic. There is plenty of evidence that they all fell victim to their greed at some point. So lets learn and move on. It is not too late.

[Gan Charles]

Ma Mary,
I agree that the Francophone powerstructure has pitched NW & SW against each other. At some point we have to figure out what is to our best interest, work together and move on.

Manga,
I admit there is blame to go around, as our fathers mistakes and selfisness, on both sides have compounded this problem. It is for us to work to figure out how to get us out of the mess and create a progressive society. At some point we have to take a stand and I think what the Cheifs are doing is as good a begining as any.

Let move forward!