By King Tabifor*
The President General of the Northwest Fon's Union, NOWEFU, Fon Isaac Chafah, says traditional institutions in the country cannot be wiped out but could be readjusted to hearken to the current multiparty dispensation.
He made the statement recently during a roundtable conference at the Friedrich Erbert Foundation on the state of traditional leadership in the country.The month's edition had as theme: "Traditional leadership and democratic process in Cameroon". It came at a time when the influence of traditional rulers is weakening administrative authorities like Divisional Officers amongst others.
The meeting focused on the situation of traditional rulers in
post-colonial Africa in general and traditional authority in the
democratic and multi-party era in Cameroon in particular.
The guest speakers enlightened the participants on the structure and
history of traditional institutions in the country in order to better
situate them as concerns the role and evolution of these traditional
chiefdoms.
Fon Chafah argued that one cannot consider traditional leadership as contrary to modern forms of governance, but rather see it as indigenous forms of leadership based on indigenous African traditions.
He recalled pre-colonial times where he presented the chiefs as enforcers of law and order, custodians of tradition and those responsible for the protection and organisation of their communities. He later traced the origin of the decrease of the power and influence of local chiefs to the advent of the Europeans who made the chiefs their assistants.
This situation, he explained, which has extended to post-colonial and contemporary times, makes these chiefs to no longer protect the people but rather use their influence to force them to support the ruling party under whom they operate, without consideration of their rights to freedom of choice.
While Robert Kpwang, lecturer at the University of Yaounde I, exposed the different traditional institutions in the country as well as the structures of traditional institutions in pre-colonial and post-colonial Cameroon; Dr. Kamgueleu Mesmin, Director of Institut Siantou Superieur, talked on the types of traditional institutions in Cameroon and the effects colonialism had on them.
The meeting reiterated the need to revise the status of chiefs and the role of the elite of the local communities to school the chiefs on the traditions and customs of the people with skills in leadership.
It also called on the state to acknowledge the authority of traditional leaders and to enhance them by training and equipping them with the skills and means to administer their spheres of influence.
(ASMAC Student On Internship)
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