Barrister Enonchong Dies

By Walter Wilson Nana

The earthly journey for the ebullient Barrister at Law came to a stop Thursday, June 26 at the Polyclinic Muna in Bonanjo, Douala. Family sources told this reporter His Majesty, Chief, Dr. Henry Ndifor Abi Enonchong suffered from a severe cardiac arrest.

Born March 22, 1934 in his native Besongabang in Manyu Division, Southwest Province, Enonchong is the direct descendant of the ancestor, Chief Abane, said to be the founder of the Besongabang chiefdom, whose father was Ayuktayak.

1940 - 49, Enonchong attended Basel Mission School, Besongabang, where he obtained the First School Leaving Certificate.The young Enonchong will move to Bali College (now known as Cameron Protestant College, CPC, Bali) as one of the pioneer students, where he will subsequently pick up an excellent distinction for the Senior Cambridge School Certificate in 1954.

Upon completion, he worked in the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC as a Clerk in the banana office in Bota, Limbe as well as taught in the CDC Middle Farm School in 1954.
1955-58, Enonchong moved to Aba, Nigeria, where he studied at the College of Hygiene and Sanitation.

After his 3-year-sojourn, Enonchong bagged the Royal Society of Health Diploma for Public Health Inspectors. He will later work as Government Public Health Inspector up to 1960 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, Victoria (now Limbe), Buea and in Tiko, all towns in Cameroon before he resigned and clinched a Cameroon government scholarship to study Law in London University and a professional course in law in the Council of Legal Education, London.

1962, Enonchong graduated with an LLB from London University and will be called to the English Bar in Gray's Inn, London.Still in quest of the Golden Fleece, Barrister Enonchong studied French and carried out legal research in Comparative Law at Grenoble University in France.

Next stop for Barrister Enonchong is Howard University, where he graduated with a Masters in Law, LLM. He became the first Cameroonian to obtain a Doctorate Degree in Comparative Law, with distinction at Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA. This included a prize in Constitutional Rights.

Professional Life

1963, the Lawyer, will get back to Cameroon and be appointed a Cameroon Federal State Counsel (a Magistrate) and posted to the Legal Department in Buea. He will be redeployed in Yaounde in 1964 as Director of Cabinet in the then Cameroon Federal Ministry of Justice.

1965, the legal luminary was a member on the Codification Committee of the currently applied Cameroon Penal Code in his capacity as Director of Cabinet and Coordinator of the Commission.

1966, Barrister Enonchong was elected President of Georgetown University Law Centre Comparative Law Association.

1967, he was seconded to the Faculty of Law, Federal University of Yaounde, where he lectured in the Department of Law and contributed in the setting up of the Department of English Law in the faculty.

December 22, 1967, Barrister Enonchong registered as a member of the West Cameroon Private Bar and three years after, July 1970, he established his Law Chambers, christened Enonchong & Co. Law Chambers in Douala, after he quit the public service.

Barrister Enonchong is recorded to have mobilised the practising Barristers in West and East Cameroons to form today's Cameroon Bar Association, CBA out of the ashes of the Federal Cameroon Bar Association, which he also founded and was the only Cameroonian in a committee of three members including; Maitre Bonnard and Maitre Aubriet.

These men drafted the internal regulations of the CBA, which were made applicable by Ministerial Order No. 05/SG/MJ of July 20 1979, made under Law No. 72/LF of 1972 and subsequent amendments.

There are also books and articles on Law, Barrister Enonchong has written. These include; The Cameroon Constitutional Law: Federalism in a Mixed Common Law and Civil Law System, published 1967 in Yaounde, The Cameroon Federal Capital, published in 1972 by Toronto University Pres.

The Socialite

A descendant of Chief Abane, Barrister Enonchong was controversially anointed Paramount Chief of Besongabang Town on April 10 1972, under the Southern Cameroons Chieftaincy Law No. 7 of December 10, 1960 as amended and confirmed by Vice-Prime Ministerial Order No.0038/A/MINAT/DOT/SDOA/SCT 20 February 1997 under the Chieftaincy Decree No. 77/245 of July 1977

1974, he founded Enonchong Memorial College, Besongabang, a secondary commercial college, aimed for the education of the children of poor parents. Most of the students, for many years, benefited from a scholarship scheme Barrister Enonchong put in place.

He will also initiate the rice scheme, which is called the Tonkorong-Manyu Upland Integrated Rice Project in Manyu Division.

The deceased was the founder and patron of Manyu Elite Cultural and Development Association, MECA, Douala and a member of the MECA National Committee of elders.
1997, he was unanimously elected President of the Mamfe Central Chiefs Conference.

His official traditional residence is named TONKORONG PALACE, Besongabang, Manyu Division. He is survived by his wife, 14 children, 9 grand children and lots of friends and relations.

Comments

[rexon]

It is theoritically vague to say someone studied in the "University of London". The current University of London plays just a ceremonial role as it is some sort of a collegiate University with a mixture of seemingly independent colleges/Universities like Imperial College, Royal Holloway University, School of Oriental and African Languages, London School of economics, etc. For verification purposes, it is important to always cite where our statesmen studied. I know for sure that Carlson Anyangwe studied in the School of Oriental and African studies, but going by this note, i cannot clearly verify where Enonchong studied.

[rexon]

RIP Enonchong the Great.

[Reotinto]

Mr. Rexon, get your facts right if you graduate from any of these schools or collages your certificate is awarded by the University of London. I will refer you to those who graduated from Ibadon Nigeria prior to 1969 who issued their Certificate.
See,http://www.lon.ac.uk/

[Delors]

When the ones we count on them die, who are those who stay, the Munas,achidi, musonge, inoni, ngolle ngolle, ndeh, mukete, atanga etc. What a punishment for anglophones.

May the Lord rest his soul.

[rexon]

Reotinto,

I think you have misunderstood what i mean. There are collegiate Universities where the colleges are independent and there are those where the colleges are not. The colleges of the University of London are somewhat independent and sometimes offer thesame courses. Thus, an MBA graduate from London Business school will not be classified thesame as an MBA graduate of Royal Holloway, LSE, which are independently rank. Other courses like law are offered in more than one of these colleges. Thus, many identify with their respective colleges for employment purposes and not with the overall university of London. An Employer will find it vague to read a CV saying the University of London without a specification of the specific college that the candidate studied at. Unlike Durham University where the colleges are not independent, they do not offer similar courses and the management of their respective programs are all centralised.

[Reotinto]

Mr. Rexon,
University of London is a federation of schools and collages. Most of these schools and collages only became independent after the university reforms in the early 1990s. Also note that the university of London has foriegn branches in countries like Australia. If mr Enochong's certificate was awarded by the university of London then thats where he Studied. When he went there in the 1960s, these schools where not indepent. I do not see your reasoning on this issue please search the history of the university of london. I will give the most common example now, there are over 5 medical schools in the university of London federation, take a look at the The GMC their graduate references are MBBS(Lon). Even those who studied at Ibadon nigeria prior to 1969 still have MBBS(Lon) see Prof Lantum and Anomah in Cameroon. Ibadon was part of this federation in those days.
My challenge to you is when did these schools you mentioned came to be independent? I don't think you know the evolution of the university of London well enough. if the employer saw the certificate he is going to see University of London. so get the point

[Reotinto]

And moreso, Royal halloway is not part of the university of London federation. LSE was before it became independent.

[rexon]

Reotinto,

You gave me a website to check the colleges making the University of London: http://www.london.ac.uk/colleges_institutes click on the link yourself and you should be able to answer your last argument that Royal Holloway at Egan is not part of the University of London. Secondly, i will draw your attention to the fact that Prof Anomah Ngu have always publicly said he studied in the Univesity of Ibadan and rarely mention the University of London. That does not mean that his degree was not issued by the University of London. I stand by my point that saying anyone studied at the University of London without specifying their college is somewhat vague, even though i have rightly said there is a university of London that plays more or less a ceremonial role, but in practice, none exists. I am not talking about the University's history here, however, i will draw your attention to the fact that even before the reforms in the early 90's, the respective colleges had some form of autonomy. The reforms only came to broaden their autonomy vis raising and management of research grants, admission, award of degrees , etc.